"Actor: Lesley Collier"

• Downton Abbey Movie & TV Collection | DVD | (05/10/2020) from £34.00   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Downton Abbey, with all its splendour and scandal, has found its way into the hearts of millions around the globe. Now the full collection of six award-winning seasons and one sensational movie is yours to treasure, forever. Home to the Crawley family and their servants, Downton appears to be all elegance and order upon first glance, but no family is ever quite what it seems. Between the desires and dreams of all the residents, both upstairs and downstairs, a day in this household is never far from high drama. Re-live the laughter, tears, tragedy and triumph leading up to the most spectacular event in the history of this grand estate, a Royal visit. BONUS FEATURES Over 5 Hours of Bonus Features Including: Feature Documentary:The Story of Downton Abbey Deleted Scenes Behind the Scenes The Downton Diaries s Upstairs & Downstairs Cast Conversations Feature Commentary with Director Michael Engler And More!

• Liszt - Mayerling | DVD | (03/03/2008) from £13.79   |  Saving you £1.20 (8.70%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Recorded live at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden London on 1st and 5th February 1994.

• Mayerling | DVD | (22/04/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

• Tales Of Beatrix Potter | DVD | (12/07/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Entertaining children's stories danced by the Royal Ballet wearing animal masks. Music by John Lanchbery choreography by Frederick Ashton. The adventures are alive with same energy and passion of the books and feature unheard melodies from British Museum manuscripts recovered and transcribed by composer John Lanchbery. As the characters waltz their way across set to the rhythm of the songs you'll join in with the merriment and hot step with the cast - a must see treat for the entire family.

• La Fille Mal Gardee | DVD | (23/02/1998) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  La Fille Mal Gardée ("The Unguarded Maiden"), perhaps the best-known work of composer Ferdinand Hérold, is here presented in a Royal Ballet production freely adapted, arranged and conducted by John Lanchbery. The unquestioned centre of attention is Royal Ballet superstar Lesley Collier who plays Lise, the beautiful farm girl whom her widowed mother (Brian Shaw) plans to marry to the eligible Alain (Garry Grant) despite Lise's love for young farmer Colas (Michael Coleman). This is a colourful pastoral romp with pause for tender and lyrical moments and plentiful opportunities for Collier to enchant her many admirers. Royal Ballet principal conductor Lanchbery--himself composer of the well-loved Tales of Beatrix Potter (1971)--brings all his flair for this sort of carefree entertainment to play and the result is delightful. Filmed for BBC television at Covent Garden in January 1981, the witty, energetic and romantic choreography is by Frederick Ashton (his dancing chickens are hilarious, as is Shaw's "clog dance" in Act Two) and the stage design by Osbert Lancaster, whose legacy adds charm to a much more recent BBC Royal Ballet film of Coppélia (2000). Hérold's score is filled with playfulness, melody and laughter, making this a very superior pantomime. --Gary S. Dalkin On the DVD: Presented at the original 4:3 TV ratio, the focus is soft throughout and details lacking in long shots are reduced to a formless blur. The image looks washed-out, with colours missing any sparkle or depth. The live stereo sound is much better, being detailed, full, and free of the hiss one might expect from a TV soundtrack of this vintage. The disc offers one page of credits, a three-page synopsis and a web link. The drab black and white booklet repeats this information in more detail in various languages, but offers nothing on the performers, composer or conductor. --Gary S. Dalkin

• The Nutcracker | DVD | (23/02/1998) from £14.98   |  Saving you £3.01 (20.09%)   |  RRP £17.99

  If Christmas is an elusive, childhood state of mind, Peter Wright's 1985 Royal Ballet production of The Nutcracker, recorded at Covent Garden, is just the thing to recapture it. The delicately symmetrical choreography of Wright and Lev Ivanov ensures that the stage is constantly filled with the mesmerising enchantment demanded by Tchaikovsky's perennial favourite. The ballet's success will always lie, in part, in its familiarity and its intrinsic status as Christmas entertainment, but the best productions, like Wright's, give equal weight to the dark forces of Hoffmann's original tale, which must be overcome before good and innocence can prevail. Here, the sadness of Drosselmeyer is a potent thread in the ballet, resolved in a moving, well-judged moment as the curtain falls. There is real magic in the dancing, from Julie Rose's charming, constantly involved Clara to the irresistible images of the divertissements. But rightly, the laurels go to Lesley Collier as the Sugar Plum Fairy and Anthony Dowell as the Prince for a pas de deux that seems to hover above the stage without making contact. And, like Wright's production, the splendid sets of Julia Trevelyan Oman--combining traditional Victorian Christmas images, a delicate filigree flower garden and pre-Raphaelite angels--steer the right side of sentimentality. On the DVD: The Nutcracker has no extras on this DVD, although the booklet provides adequate production notes. The 4:3 format also provides adequate picture quality for a mid-1980s television production, although no amount of colour adjustment improves a slightly washed-out look. The sound, Linear PCM Stereo, makes the orchestra sound robust and solid at the occasional expense of subtlety. --Piers Ford

• Highlights From The Royal Ballet | DVD | (12/07/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  This DVD features a selection of stunning performances from one of the world's leading ballet companies. Extracts from four of The Royal Ballet's most popular works are featured here including Tchaikovsky's magical ballet The Nutcracker and the delightful comedy La Fille Mal Garde choreographed by Sir Frederick Ashton. There are also highlights from Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet and from Manon two ballets choreographed by Sir Kenneth MacMillan who created so many powerful works