A mad helter-skelter rude awesomely violent unpredictable swaggering staggering joyously infantile exhilarating steamroller of a sitcom The Young Ones provided the breakthrough for the new generation of aggressive and forthright 'alternative' comedians. Join Rik Vyv Neil and Mike in their crazy and surreal comedy adventures!
Do not lean out of the window! Join Vyv, Rick, Neil, and Mike in celebrating the 40th anniversary of the iconic cult sitcom, THE YOUNG ONES. Released on Blu-ray for the very first time - so you can enjoy the squalor as never before. Including 10 new exclusive audio commentaries, featurettes and never-before-seen bonus material. From Scumbag College to the AEC Routemaster, this is the ultimate complete collection of this classic British comedy. There was Mike, the suave, sensible one; Vyvyan, the psychotic punk-metal mohican; Neil, the lentil loving hippy and Rick, right-on anarchist revolutionary and Cliff Richard fan: four students - desperate for money, excitement, girls or just something to help fill the day - sharing a house. From this simple set up came an amazing speedball of comic caricature, slapstick, infantile humour, animation, musical performances, rants, violence, abuse and surreal jokes - leaving an impression as jaw-dropping as finding one of Vyvyan's steel-capped boots through our television screens. The Young Ones brought the irreverence, anarchy and energy of the new alternative comedy movement to situation comedy - and it would never be the same again. Product Features 10 new commentaries from cast and crew Never seen before deleted scenes Rediscovered rushes from the cutting room floor Extensive photo gallery featuring the original music score and unpublished images from the production team Raw studio footage A workprint edit of 'sick' Fundamental frolics featuring an early appearance from rik And for the first time, both episodes of 'boom boom out go the lights', introduced by the producer who put alternative comedy on the telly Also including: 'alternative rebellion', 'the making of the young ones' and 'the guest stars of the young ones' featurettes
A horrible, vile, disgusting sitcom about four students who live in the most revolting house in Britain", The Young Ones became an instant BBC comedy landmark in 1982 by launching an all-out assault on the moribund sitcom, mixing Monty Python-esque madness with post-punk anarchy. There are no real stories, only a succession of often hysterically funny scenes as ingenious gags collide with deliberately corny lines, cartoon-like ultra-violence, pop music breaks, surreal interludes with characters ranging from the Three Bears to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and gross-out moments based on various bodily functions and substances. Rik Mayall, Adrian Edmondson, Nigel Planer and Christopher Ryan are the four housemates: Rick (Cliff Richard-worshipping radical sociology student), Vyvan (violence-loving punk medical student), Neil (put-upon suicidal hippie) and Mike (self-styled cool guy). Alexei Sayle appears regularly playing various mad Russians. Taking a cue from National Lampoon's Animal House (1978) the show now seems to anticipate the teen gross-out flicks of the late 1990s but to far more amusing effect. In retrospect The Young Ones is cheerfully un-politically correct in a way which may shock more now than 20 years ago; certainly some of the insults and drug-taking would have trouble getting on TV today. The first series was followed by a second equally hilarious series; Mayall and Edmondson played essentially similar characters in Filthy, Rich and Catflap (1987) and Bottom (1991-5). On the DVD: The Young Ones on disc has disappointingly no extra features except optional English subtitles. The sound is full, clear mono and the 4:3 picture is as good as can be expected from a 1980s BBC comedy shot on video and certainly far better than the show appeared when it was broadcast.--Gary S Dalkin
Screenwriter Andrew Davies describes Tipping the Velvet, his adaptation of Sarah Waters's acclaimed novel of lesbian love, betrayal and redemption in Victorian England, as "Pride and Prejudice with dirty bits". This three-part BBC production chronicles with relish the story of Nan Astley (Rachael Stirling, the ravishing image of her mother, Diana Rigg), barely 18, and certain that life holds more for her than her oyster girl's existence. "You'll meet someone who'll have your head spinning and your legs turning to jelly", her sister promises. That someone surprisingly turns out to be "gay and bold" Kitty Butler (Keeley Hawes), a music-hall entertainer with whom Nan falls instantly, and swooningly, in love. Nan follows her to London, where, as a double act, they become the toast of London, until Kitty's "marriage of convenience" breaks up the act and Nan's heart. The outcast Nan, decked out in Victor/Victoria duds, becomes a streetwalker, and then "tart" to the aptly named Diana Leatherby (Anna Chancellor). This affair, too, comes to "a bad end" as a destitute Nan is deposited back on the streets, where she insinuates herself into the lives of Florence (Jodhi May), a social worker, and her socialist brother. Is Nan "too spoiled and stained for love"? Will she risk her blossoming relationship with Florence when Kitty inevitably returns to rekindle their affair? Nan's couplings, while tastefully done, do carry what Waters calls "a queer erotic charge". They are graphic by BBC standards. But the sterling writing and performances will captivate even the most sensitive viewers, making this groundbreaking mini-series, to quote one character, "a delightful evening... a rare treat". --Donald Liebenson
Martin Cruz Smith's bestselling mystery novel seemed ideal material for a movie version, but in Gorky Park director Michael Apted and the usually reliable writer Dennis Potter couldn't quite solve the problem of taking the story from page to screen. William Hurt plays Renko, a Cold War-era Moscow police detective who must cope with both crooks and Communist party protocol as he tries to solve a murder case in the middle of one of Moscow's public parks that leaves three faceless corpses. The strands of the mystery involve corruption, American money and the fur trade and, ultimately, take Renko to New York. But the tension is never all there, despite a deliciously menacing performance by Lee Marvin as the bad guy and Brian Dennehy as an American cop who becomes Renko's ally. --Marshall Fine
The second and final series of The Young Ones was screened in 1984 and continued in the anarchic, surreal, scatological, slapstick yet subtly satirical vein of the first series. When hippie Neil's blazer and furcoat-clad parents step horrified into the filthy student digs he shares with prissy sociology student Rick (Rik Mayall), the psychotic punk Vyvyan (Ade Edmondson) and wide-boy Mike (Christopher Ryan) a parody of The Good Life promptly ensues, signalling just what a giant leap this show represented from mainstream sitcom of the time. Nigel Planer's put-upon Neil is as fine a creation as the putting-upon Vyvyan. Guest appearances from Alexei Sayle, Stephen Fry, co-writer Ben Elton and Jennifer Saunders among others confirmed The Young Ones' status as an academy for future establishment comedians. But Mayall's creation is still the show's greatest legacy: Rick is self-righteous to the point of fascism in his right-on-ness, a mass of studenty pretentiousness, pathetic inadequacy and egotism ("Hands up who likes me!"). Anything went in The Young Ones--talking hamsters and toilets, bizarre digressions into period sketches, subliminal images, guest appearances by bands from Dexy's Midnight Runners to Motorhead--yet through Rick in particular, the show implicitly mocked shopworn Goodies-style notions of "zaniness" ("You have to watch me, I'm a bit nutty!"). This series includes "Bambi", the University Challenge episode; "Cash", in which Vyvyan announces his pregnancy; and the final show, a parody of Cliff Richard's The Young Ones itself, in which the quartet exit ingloriously. The Young Ones is among the most youthful and radical of all sitcoms, yet it still manages to contain a timelessly astute critique of youthful radicalism--and bottom-burp jokes aplenty. On the DVD: The Young Ones, Series 2 comes to DVD with no extra features. Visually, it's well up to the usual BBC standards but the transfer can't disguise the datedness of some of the early 80s special effects. --David Stubbs
The sensational 'discovery' of Hitler's diaries and subsequent realisation that they were forged caused a world-wide scandal in 1983. Alastair Reid's tongue-in-cheek five-part dramatisation, based on Robert Harris's best-selling novel, exposes the machinations that led to Stern magazine's announcement of the scoop of the century, the ensuing bidding war for serialisation rights, acrimony among the eminent historians who were taken in and, finally, the diaries' exposure as an elaborate hoax. ...
Having first disembarked upon Britain's windswept shores in 1973 Iowa-born writer Bill Bryson spent the best part of two decades living among the inhabitants of our small often charming and occasionally exasperating island. In 1998 inspired by his best-selling book Notes from a Small Island Bill returned to his adopted country for a humorous and affectionate television safari – conducted over six episodes. This series saw him journeying from Dover to John O'Groats while trying to explain what it was that first attracted him to this land of rain sweet tea and disagreeable landladies. Between hailing a London cab driven by Stephen Fry analysing Scouse humour with Alexei Sayle and conversing with Victoria Wood in a Bournemouth beach hut Bill puts it all into perspective – taking in blue plaques ballroom dancers fell runners cable tossers and churches called St Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe along the way...
The man with the hat is back. And this time he's brought his Dad. Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade sees Harrison Ford don his rumpled fedora for the third time as Indiana Jones. When Dr. Henry Jones (Sean Connery) goes missing whilst pursuing the Holy Grail the intrepid archaeologist - Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) must follow in his father's footsteps in order to find the mythical Holy Grail before the Nazis get their hands on it...
Two young boys in Venice are befriended by a gang of young urchins and their enigmatic leader, the Thief Lord.
Features the complete thirty-nine episodes from the ground-breaking comedy series.
It is 1492 and the Sultan of Turkey controls overland trade from the Far East to Europe. Christopher Columbus looking to make his fortune persuades the King and Queen of Spain to finance an expedition to find a new sea route to India.
In 1998 two piglets escaped from an abattoir. This is their story as they hit the headlines as 'Butch and Sundance'. Evading capture for some time they finally earn their freedom and take up residence at an animal sanctuary in Kent.
A Woman Born Of Electricity - A Man Driven By Obsession Available on DVD for the first time! In this update of James Whale's classic The Bride of Frankenstein pop star Sting furthers his burgeoning film career by portraying cinema's signature mad scientist. Disgusted by his dim-witted and ugly original creation (Clancy Brown) Dr. Frankenstein sets out to animate an improved version. Though lovely on the outside Eva (Jennifer Beals) begins her new life as litt
This DVD features the popular Liverpudlian comedian in his pomp; a winning combination of Pythonesque surrealism and 'alternative' comedy philosophy honed with a satirical edge.
Who is Dennis Carter? Well Dennis is a moron. His mum knows it his friends know it and even he knows it. But the police don't. So when Dennis tries to impress Andrea with his fantasies about multi-million pound drug deals Dennis gets nabbed and finds himself a supergrass. The trouble is Dennis doesn't know anything; or does he?
This DVD features complete second series of the popular Liverpudlian comedian in his pomp; a winning combination of Pythonesque surrealism and 'alternative' comedy philosophy honed with a satirical edge.
This DVD features the complete third series of the popular Liverpudlian comedian in his pomp; a winning combination of Pythonesque surrealism and 'alternative' comedy philosophy honed with a satirical edge.
Curacao is a foreign intrigue drama set in the Caribbean off the Venezuelan coast, which involves a retired sea captain and bar owner (George C. Scott) and an exiled CIA agent (Petersen) finds themselves at the centre of a poisonous web of international intrigue on the exotic isle of Curacao.
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