"Actor: Kara Wilson"

• Dombey and Son - Charles Dickens Classics | DVD | (03/07/2017) from £10.13   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  The first BBC television adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic, Dombey and Son (1969) is now available for the first time to own on DVD. Starring John Carson, Kara Wilson, William Moore and Clive Swift. Hugh Leonard s third Dickens adaptation for the BBC, first broadcast in 1969, is an absorbing portrayal of proud logic undone by staunch affection. The timeless story of a father s blinkered pride, public downfall and emotional rescue. Paul Dombey (John Carson) is the wealthy owner of a shipping company whose sole desire is to have a son to inherit the family firm. But when a son arrives, his wife dies soon after, and the sickly boy s own days are numbered. Dombey finds no solace in the affections of his elder child Florence (Kara Wilson). He sees little use in daughters in the business world. Encouraged by the sinister Major Bagstock (Clive Swift), Dombey enters into a second, loveless marriage with Edith Grainger (Sally Home), who eventually flees to France with Dombey s double-dealing business manager James Carker (Gary Raymond). Dombey s livelihood is further undermined by a burgeoning railway network. All seems lost unless his pride will allow him to salvage a relationship with Florence. The colourful characters also include put-upon clerk Walter Gay (Derek Seaton), retired sea-captain Cuttle (William Moore), scatterbrained Mr Toots (Christopher Sandford), Florence s faithful maid Susan Nipper (Helen Fraser), Dombey s fusspot sister Louisa Chick (Hilda Braid) and the spurned but loyal Lucretia Tox (Pat Coombs).

• Jason King - Vol. 1 - Episodes 1 And 2 - Wanna Buy A TV Series? / A Page Before Dying | DVD | (10/07/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Although crime-writer-turned-detective Jason King, as played by the deep-voiced Peter Wyngarde, was the star supporting character of the 1969-70 series Department S, he seemed rather diminished when given a show of his own, thus robbing him of the straight characters necessary to show off his flamboyance. Jason King also ditched the impossible mysteries of the parent series in favour of more ordinary puzzles that the Saint or any other two-fisted hero could have solved without having to spend so much on fabulous fashion gear. That said, Wyngarde is well-matched by his foils, the value-for-money hams Dennis Price and Ronald Lacey, as the government agents who forced Jason to catch villains for them by threatening to turn him in for failing to pay his back taxes on the earnings of his bestsellers. Jason King was also the only hero on television who would take any brutal beating from the bad guys and shrug it off, only to become quite agitated when they threatened to slice his suits to bits. Volume One includes: "Wanna Buy a Television Series", in which Jason pitches a series based on his books, with guest star Anna Palk; and "A Page Before Dying" wherein Jason's latest book gives away spy secrets, and he's kidnapped to East Germany. --Kim Newman