A new restoration of the acclaimed British period drama VERA DRAKE by BAFTA-winning filmmaker Mike Leigh (Happy-Go-Lucky, Another Year, Mr. Turner, Peterloo). London, 1950: Vera Drake (Imelda Staunton) lives with her husband Stan (Phil Davis) and their grown-up children, Sid (Daniel Mays) and Ethel (Alex Kelly). They are not rich, but they are a happy, close family. Vera cleans houses, Stan is a mechanic in his brother's garage, Sid works for a tailor and Ethel works in a factory testing lightbulbs. But selfless Vera has a side-line which she keeps secret from all of those around her: without accepting payment, she helps young women to end unwanted pregnancies. When one of these girls is rushed to hospital following an abortion, the police investigation leads to Vera and her world comes crashing down.
Hal, Tom and Alex are three housemates with some serious issues on their hands, and they're not all about the washing up rota. Hal (Damien Molony) is a 500 year-old vampire, Tom (Michael Socha) is a hardened werewolf and Alex (Kate Bracken) has recently had the misfortune of becoming a ghost. But threat lurks around every corner. There is the volatile and deluded Crumb (Colin Hoult) - a newly recruited vampire, and the sinister Mr Rook (Steven Robertson) - head of a secret government department. With bills to be paid, our heroes take jobs in Barry's kitschest hotel, but alongside the flock wallpaper and the cocktail umbrellas dwells an evil greater than anything faced before. On the face of it, Captain Hatch (Phil Davis) is just another foul-mouthed decrepit old man but he hides a dark secret that threatens not only our heroes' friendships but the entire world.
After newlywed Georgina's billionaire husband Constantine is killed in a yacht explosion, she is shocked to discover the fortune and lifestyle he maintained was surrounded by violence, lies, secrets and murder. She soon must step out of her comfort zone to protect the family and herself.
Spanning five years from 1964 to 1969, this boxed set includes all the episodes from series one to seven of Inspector George Gently. Heading North following the death of his wife to solve one more case, Gently decides to stay. Partnered by the young Detective Sergeant Bacchus, Gently discovers a whole new world as the swinging sixties make their way up to Northumberland. Guest stars include Helen Baxendale, Lee Boardman, Warren Clarke, Sarah Lancashire, Pixie Lott, Neil Morrissey, Neil Pearson, Alison Steadman, Kevin Whately plus 2 more. This 21 disc set contains all 23 feature length episodes plus extras including fascinating Behind the Scenes features and interviews with Pixie Lott and Martin Shaw.
All 18 episodes from the first two series of the BBC drama starring Aidan Turner as Captain Ross Poldark. Upon returning to Cornwall after fighting in the American War of Independence, Poldark must rebuild his life following the death of his father with his estate in ruins and his childhood sweetheart Elizabeth (Heida Reed) engaged to his cousin Francis (Kyle Soller), after hearing premature reports of his death. With the help of his new maid Demelza (Eleanor Tomlinson), Ross attempts to navigate the hostile, poverty-stricken locals and the region's wealthy and influential businessmen to reopen his family's disused copper mine, Wheal Leisure.
An amiable knock-off of the Ealing comedy style, The Smallest Show on Earth starts with aspiring novelist Bill Travers and his "nice gel" wife Virginia McKenna inheriting a cinema from a hitherto unknown uncle and discovering that it isn't the sumptuous modern Grand, which specialises in those "smash 'em in the face, knock 'em over the waterfront" pictures, but the decrepit Bijou, known locally as "the fleapit". The initial plan, set up by lawyer Leslie Phillips, is to sell off the cinema to the owner of the Grand so he can knock it down to make a car park, but our heroes are put off by the arrogant bullying of the rival manager (Francis De Wolff) and succumb to the inept charms of the crazed, aged staff--drunken projectionist Peter Sellers, doddery commissionaire Bernard Miles and dotty ticket lady Margaret Rutherford (who joined the team as a piano accompanist). In the 1950s, there was a run of gentle British comedies in which outmoded and broken-down local institutions (steam trains, tugboats, vintage cars) were saved by collections of committed eccentrics who despised the new-fangled bus services or soulless council bureaucracies and were willing to resort to a little larceny (in this case, arson). The Smallest Show slots in perfectly with the cycle, getting laughs from the Bijou's already outmoded programme of scratchy Westerns and desert dramas (which increase ice cream sales) and sentiment over the staff's midnight screenings of silent movies that remind them of better days. It's likeable rather than hilarious, with Sellers and Miles buried under crepe hair and fake wrinkles competing to out-dodder each other and losing the picture to the inimitable Rutherford, who doesn't have to fake her eccentricity. Pin-up, June Cunningham, is the glamorous usherette and Sid James plays her annoyed Dad. On the DVD: The Smallest Show on Earth is presented in a decent print, but with no extras. The film is also available as part of the four-disc Peter Sellers Collection. --Kim Newman
Alan Graham and Terry have been best mates since primary school. Now pushing forty the three friends are still inseparable. Naturally Alan and Graham are going to give Terry a stag night to remember. A big fry-up breakfast bubbly down the dogs for a flutter ten-pin bowling...fantastic. But when the boys pay a late night revenge visit to their despised former headmaster things begin to go disastrously wrong. A tragic accident sets off an unforeseen chain of events revealing terrible secrets. Life will never be the same again.
Thrown together to join George Cowley's new C15 organisation....Hard men no patience nor time for subtleties. Charged with combating terrorists criminals and corruption wherever they find it. Capable of using any means necessary. The only people they can trust are themselves... Heroes: Following the assassination of a US politician visiting Britain CI5 are dismayed when the press print the names of the witnesses! It's a race against time to protect the innocent before the assassin can track them down... Private Madness Public Danger: Nesbitt is threatening to poison London's water supply; this chemical expert with a grudge has the capability to carry out his terrible promise. Can Bodie and Doyle find him before people start dying? The Female Factor: The KGB have found a way into British politics by exploiting a young girl's links to a politician tipped as a future Prime Minister. Fortunately CI5 are on the case with an old flame of Doyle's... Everest Was Also Conquered: Who's killing police officers and what connects the dead men? The clues lie in a case from 35 years previously when a witness was murdered by the very people supposed to protect her...
These three compelling dramas reveal the extraordinary and often turbulent off-camera lives of some of Britain's favourite comedians. Based on the testimonies of friends colleagues and family members these fascinating portrayals uncover the turmoil and heartache found behind the laughter. Frankie Howerd Rather You Than Me: Frankie Howerd is to this day an enduring and celebrated icon of British comedy well known for his camp persona and classic catchphrases. However behind the scenes Howerd was racked with depression and self loathing. In this compelling one-off drama David Walliams (Little Britain) gets to play one of his own comedy favourites telling the moving humorous and poignant story of Howerd's fight with his inner demons. The Curse Of Steptoe: Steptoe and Son was one of the most successful comedy series ever giving birth to the modern sitcom and transforming its actors into national treasures. It told the story of two rag-and-bone men Harry H Corbett (played by Jason Isaacs) and Wilfrid Brambell (Phil Davis) trapped together for eternity. But off-screen a stranger story would mirror fiction as the two men find themselves unable to escape their inner complexities or each other. Hughie Green Most Sincerely: Starring Trevor Eve (Waking the Dead) this fascinating drama tells the inside story of Hughie Green the avuncular front man of Opportunity Knocks and Double Your Money. Hughie's professional rivalry with Stars On Sunday presenter Jess Yates (Mark Benton) and serial womanising ultimately produced an explosive celebrity secret. This drama tells of the destructive power of success and celebrity and explores what family and fatherhood meant to this iconic character. These three compelling dramas reveal the extraordinary and often turbulent off-camera lives of some of Britain's favourite comedians. Based on the testimonies of friends colleagues and family members these fascinating portrayals uncover the turmoil and heartache found behind the laughter.
All 28 episodes from the first three series of the BBC drama starring Aidan Turner as Captain Ross Poldark. After spending three years fighting in the American War of Independence, Poldark must rebuild his life in the small Cornish copper mining town he calls home. However, when he finds his father dead, his estate in ruins and his childhood sweetheart Elizabeth (Heida Reed) engaged to his cousin, the life he once knew seems to no longer exist. With the help of his new maid Demelza (Eleanor Tomlinson), Ross attempts to navigate the hostile, poverty-stricken locals and the region's wealthy and influential businessmen to reopen his family's disused copper mine, Wheal Leisure.
Although probably best remembered for the controversial and groundbreaking dramas Scum, Made in Britain and The Firm, the breadth of Alan Clarke's radical, political, innovative, inspirational work, along with his influence on generations of filmmakers, such as Gus Van Sant, Paul Greengrass, Andrea Arnold, Harmony Korine, Clio Barnard, Shane Meadows, should see him rightly regarded as one of Britain's greatest ever filmmaking talents. This long-overdue box set brings together all of the surviving stand-alone BBC TV dramas that Alan Clarke directed between 1978-1989, including such neglected classics as Baal (starring David Bowie), Contact, Road and Christine, and also includes the first ever presentation of Clarke's original Director's Cut of The Firm, assembled from his personal answer print, discovered in 2015. Extensive extras include David Leland introductions, extracts from BBC discussion show Open Air, newly-produced documentaries and audio commentaries and material from Clarke's previously-unseen documentary Bukovsky (1977).
An uproarious mockumentary about the British film industry.
"Doubt" is a gripping story about the quest for truth, the forces of change and the devastating consequences of blind justice in an age defined by moral conviction.
Bred from the creators of the classic horror 'Night Of The Living Dead' comes the long awaited sequel 'Children of the Living Dead'. Starting a new life in a quiet Pennsylvania town Matthew Michael's only thought is to turn an old farm property into a profitable car dealership. He soon discovers that beneath the gentle surface this small town is anything but calm and peaceful.
Face: At thirty five Ray's learned the tricks and done the time. Now he's a face - a villain to be reckoned with and definitely not to be crossed - ready for the blag the big score that'll really set him and his team up. Although the job goes smooth and sweet the take doesn't scratch the three million the gang had it figured for. And when somebody starts thieving from the thieves and people start getting blown away Ray's got some serious thinking to do before the traitor -
Kát'a Kabanová, Janácek's 1921 tragedy, is proof if any were needed that tales of personal oppression and turmoil will always make fine raw material for opera composers. Janácek took Ostrovsky's tumultuous drama of infidelity , The Storm, and created a compelling piece in which his music heightens the relationship between the troubled landscape of Kát'a's inner mind and the elements doing battle outside. In 1988, this Glyndebourne Festival production successfully distilled the heroine's wretched journey from put-upon wife and daughter-in-law to suicide via the ecstasy of a forbidden love affair into 100 minutes of intensely emotional operatic drama. At its heart, Janácek's unique tonal score underlines a powerful, almost naturalistic dialogue and exposes the impact of Kát'a's experiences on her escalating self-destruction. Felicity Palmer's Kabanicha--the mother-in-law from hell and the real instrument of Kát'a's downfall--is curiously remote and muted rather than the domineering figure of fear that we might expect. But the singing, particularly by Nancy Gustafson (tremendously affecting and emotionally convincing in the title role) and Ryland Davies as Kát'a's weak husband Tichon, is outstanding. Gustafson's performance alone makes this essential viewing for anybody with a passion for the great modern soprano roles. On the DVD: Sadly the only additional features are trailers for Seven Gates of Jersualem and The Damnation of Faust. The sound quality (PCM stereo) is more than fair, but inevitably the film of the production is constrained by the design: the stylised set is either very light or very dark and we don't get as close as we'd like to the characters in what is, after all, a disturbingly intimate piece. Arthaus Musik's booklet meets the expected high standards of information and background. --Piers Ford
Featuring the films: 'Hoffman' 'The Smallest Show On Earth' 'Carlton-Browne Of The F.O.' and 'Two Way Stretch'. Hoffman *(WS 1.85:1 Anamorphic 1970 1 hour and 47 Minutes Colour): Peter Sellers is Hoffman a middle aged misfit who blackmails his young attractive secretary into spending a week with him. Although he behaves like a creep throughout the weekend he actually emerges as a sympathetic character in the end. Two Way Stretch *(FS 1960 1 hour and 23 minutes B&W):
Alan Graham and Terry have been best mates since primary school. Now pushing forty the three friends are still inseparable. Naturally Alan and Graham are going to give Terry a stag night to remember. A big fry-up breakfast bubbly down the dogs for a flutter ten-pin bowling...fantastic. But when the boys pay a late night revenge visit to their despised former headmaster things begin to go disastrously wrong. A tragic accident sets off an unforeseen chain of events revealing te
Based on the best-selling and multi-award-winning novel by Zadie Smith White Teeth is superbly adapted to the screen in this outstanding drama which features a compulsively watchable cast including Robert Bathurst Phil Davis Geraldine James James McAvoy Om Puri and more. Set in the far from glamorous Willesden Green London from the 1970s to the 1990s White Teeth finds Archie Jones interracially married to the post-Jehovah's Witness Clara meeting up with an old colleague Samad Iqbal who with his family has just arrived in England. The secrets they share from the past and the secrets they will share in the future are tossed and tumbled in a rich stew that bubbles with racial and sexual tension new-found freedoms old school politics genetic science animal liberation and the end of the world as we know it. It all adds up to a feast to be relished from start to finish.
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