This ten-part adaptation of Flora Thompson's classic novel tells the story of two Oxfordshire communities at the end of the 19th century. The birth of a new baby brings financial hardship to the Timmins household obliging eldest daughter Laura (Olivia Hallinan) to leave her home in the quiet hamlet of Lark Rise and embark on a new life in the busy neighbouring market town of Candleford. Her adventurous cousin postmistress Dorcas Lane (Julia Sawalha) takes Laura under her wing and they soon become firm friends experiencing together the romances rivalries and comedies of close-knit rural life.
A rare Carry On with more interest in having a proper plot than tossing off gags every line, Cabby is also one of the friendliest of the series, built around the relationship between a cackling but good-hearted Sid James and an unusually touching Hattie Jacques. Sid's so obsessed with his taxi business that he neglects his wife, spending their wedding anniversary driving expectant father Jim Dale to and from the maternity hospital on a false alarm that naturally pays off with a delivery in the back of the cab. This drives Hattie to set up her own rival firm ("Glam Cabs"), employing dolly birds in tailored uniforms to undercut the likes of Kenneth Connor and Charles Hawtrey. It ends happily, with a pair of hold-up men trapped in a ring of taxis and the marriage saved. Among the expected Carry On bits: Connor in drag, Amanda Barrie in a corset, Hawtrey in a leather jacket as a devout rambler ("We like to go as far as we can"), Liz Fraser as Connor's perky intended. Kenneth Williams is missed, but his role as the obnoxious shop steward (Carry On producer Peter Rogers never missed a chance to be nasty about the unions) is ably taken by Norman Chappell. Other familiar faces are Bill Owen, Peter Gilmore, Milo O'Shea, Renee Houston and Michael Ward as the tweedy businessman who has apparently left a pearl earring in the back of Connor's cab. On the DVD: No extras, but it's a smashing widescreen presentation of a pristine black and white print. --Kim Newman
The breath-taking, generation-defining Broadway phenomenon becomes a soaring cinematic event as Tony, Grammy and Emmy Award winner Ben Platt reprises his role as an anxious, isolated high schooler aching for understanding and belonging amid the chaos and cruelty of the social-media age. Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Stephen Chbosky ( The Perks of Being A Wallflower, Wonder ), the film is written for the screen by the show's Tony winner Steven Levenson with music and lyrics by the show's Oscar®, Grammy and Tony-winning song-writing team of Benj Pasek & Justin Paul ( La La Land, The Greatest Showman ). Featuring Grammy winning songs, including the iconic anthem You Will Be Found, Waving Through a Window, For Forever and Words Fail, Dear Evan Hansen stars six-time Oscar® nominee Amy Adams, Oscar® winner Julianne Moore, Kaitlyn Dever, Amandla Stenberg, Colton Ryan, Nik Dodani, DeMarius Copes and Danny Pino.
When Inspector Morse first appeared on television in 1987, nobody could have predicted that it would run into the next century, maintaining throughout a quality of scripts and storylines that raised the genre of the detective series to a new level. Much of its success can be attributed to John Thaw's total immersion in the role. Morse is a prickly character and not obviously easy to like. As a detective in Oxford with unfulfilled academic propensities, he is permanently excluded from a world of which he would dearly love to be a part. He is at odds with that world--and with his colleagues in the police force--most of the time. Passionate about opera and "proper beer", he is a cultural snob for whom vulgarity causes almost physical pain. As a result, he lives from one disillusionment to another. And he is scarred--more deeply than he would ever admit--by past relationships. But he also has a naïve streak and, deep down, sensitivity, which makes him a fascinating challenge for women. At the heart of Morse's professional life is his awkward partnership with Detective Sergeant Lewis, the resolutely ordinary, worldly sidekick who manages to keep his boss in an almost permanent state of exasperation while retaining his grudging respect. It's a testament to Kevin Whately's consistently excellent performance that from such unpromising material, Lewis becomes as indispensable to the series as Barrington Pheloung's hypnotic, classic theme music. Morse's investigations do occasionally take him abroad to more exotic locations, but throughout 14 successful years of often gruesome murders, the city of Oxford itself became a central character in these brooding two-hour dramas: creator Colin Dexter said he finally had to kill Morse off because he was giving Oxford a bad reputation as a dangerous place! --Piers Ford
Featuring light entertainment legend Bruce Forsyth in his only sitcom role, Slinger's Day charts the trials and tribulations of the beleaguered manager of a London supermarket. This hilarious Thames series boasts scripts by veteran comedy writers Brian Cooke and Vince Powell, Sorry creators Ian Davidson and Peter Vincent, and novelist Alex Shearer. This set contains both series. Environmental protesters, a shoplifting epidemic, a burgeoning butter mountain and largely incompetent staff are just a few of the problems facing Cecil Slinger, the new manager of Supafare. And just how is he supposed to offload 560 packets of Jacobson's Savoury Fishcakes when no-one wants to buy them? Slinger is forced to concede that the public doesn't respond to lying, cheating and deception any more. Whatever happened to the old values?
When Inspector Morse first appeared on television in 1987, nobody could have predicted that it would run into the next century, maintaining throughout a quality of scripts and story lines that raised the genre of the detective series to a new level. Much of its success can be attributed to John Thaw's total immersion in the role. Morse is a prickly character and not obviously easy to like. As a detective in Oxford with unfulfilled academic propensities, he is permanently excluded from a world of which he would dearly love to be a part. He is at odds with that world--and with his colleagues in the police force--most of the time. Passionate about opera and "proper beer", he is a cultural snob for whom vulgarity causes almost physical pain. As a result, he lives from one disillusionment to another. And he is scarred--more deeply than he would ever admit--by past relationships. But he also has a naïve streak and, deep-down sensitivity, which makes him a fascinating challenge for women. At the heart of Morse's professional life is his awkward partnership with Detective Sergeant Lewis, the resolutely ordinary, worldly sidekick who manages to keep his boss in an almost permanent state of exasperation while retaining his grudging respect. It's a testament to Kevin Whateley's consistently excellent performance that from such unpromising material, Lewis becomes as indispensable to the series as Barrington Pheloung's hypnotic, classic theme music. Morse's investigations do occasionally take him abroad to more exotic locations, but throughout 14 successful years of often gruesome murders, the city of Oxford itself became a central character in these brooding two-hour dramas: creator Colin Dexter stating he finally had to kill Morse off because he was giving Oxford a bad reputation as a dangerous place! --Piers Ford
Sylvia (Anne Raitt) leads a quiet life caring for her sister Hilda (Sarah Stephenson) who has complex care needs. Their lonely suburban existence is accentuated by a social awkwardness that detaches them from the community and fuels a life of seclusion and despair. Released in 1971 to critical acclaim, Mike Leigh's debut feature film is a haunting study of social isolation. Uncompromising and deeply affecting, the film introduced Leigh's unique and highly influential natural style that he has continued to develop over a 50 year career. A true landmark in the history of British film Bleak Moments has been newly remastered by the BFI and is presented on Blu-ray for the very first time. Special Features Newly remastered by the BFI in 2K Extras TBC
Featuring three episodes starring Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd: ""Pilot"" ""The Lady in the Iron Mask"" and ""A Womb with a View"".
*Artwork subject to change
A rare Carry On with more interest in having a proper plot than tossing off gags every line, Cabby is also one of the friendliest of the series, built around the relationship between a cackling but good-hearted Sid James and an unusually touching Hattie Jacques. Sid's so obsessed with his taxi business that he neglects his wife, spending their wedding anniversary driving expectant father Jim Dale to and from the maternity hospital on a false alarm that naturally pays off with a delivery in the back of the cab. This drives Hattie to set up her own rival firm ("Glam Cabs"), employing dolly birds in tailored uniforms to undercut the likes of Kenneth Connor and Charles Hawtrey. It ends happily, with a pair of hold-up men trapped in a ring of taxis and the marriage saved. Among the expected Carry On bits: Connor in drag, Amanda Barrie in a corset, Hawtrey in a leather jacket as a devout rambler ("We like to go as far as we can"), Liz Fraser as Connor's perky intended. Kenneth Williams is missed, but his role as the obnoxious shop steward (Carry On producer Peter Rogers never missed a chance to be nasty about the unions) is ably taken by Norman Chappell. Other familiar faces are Bill Owen, Peter Gilmore, Milo O'Shea, Renee Houston and Michael Ward as the tweedy businessman who has apparently left a pearl earring in the back of Connor's cab. On the DVD: No extras, but it's a smashing widescreen presentation of a pristine black and white print. --Kim Newman
A battered houseboat on the Thames provides the setting for this romantic British comedy. Two newlyweds rent the leaky floating home but the trouble begins when the husband decides to move the boat to a better location; as fog descends they lose all sense of direction and eventually end up in France! Fortunately their landlord's yacht is moored nearby and the pair are able to borrow some petrol from him; not without the condition though of a race back across the Channel...
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover is both adored and detested for its combination of sumptuous beauty and revolting decadence. Few directors polarise audiences in the same way as Peter Greenaway, a filmmaker as influenced by Jacobean revenge tragedy and 17th-century painting as by the French New Wave. A vile, gluttonous thief (Michael Gambon) spews hate and abuse at a restaurant run by a stoic French cook (Richard Bohringer), but under the thief's nose his wife (the ever-sensuous Helen Mirren) conducts an affair with a bookish lover (Alan Howard). Clothing (by avant-garde designer Jean-Paul Gaultier) changes colour as the characters move from room to room. Nudity, torture, rotting meat, and Tim Roth at his sleaziest all contribute the atmosphere of decay and excess. Not for everyone, but for some, essential. --Bret Fetzer
The brand new Sea World complex in Florida offers visitors the chance to view the undersea kingdom from the safety of glass tunnels on the sea-bed. All seems well until a thirty-five foot Great White shark appears on the scene.....
The story's setting is 1947 England where hard-hit Brits won't let mandatory food rationing keep them from celebrating the wedding of the future queen to Lt. Phillip Mountbatten. But there may be no public banquet for citizens in a Yorkshire town. The contraband guest of honour they've pampered and fattened has been pignapped!
Seinfeld is widely regarded as one of the finest examples of American sitcoms, and this long-delayed box set goes a long way in demonstrating why. From the first episode of the first season, it hit the ground running with its collection of oddball New Yorkers: Theres stand-up comedian Jerry Seinfeld, who plays himself; Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), his pushy ex-girlfriend; his neurotic loser of a best friend George (Jason Alexander); and Jerrys wacky neighbour Kramer (Michael Richards). Co-written and co-created by Seinfeld and Larry David (who later went on to plumb greater depths of misanthropy with Curb Your Enthusiasm), it revolutionised American sitcoms with its cynical and mature comedy, and its ability to find comic gems in the most mundane situations (one classic episode is set entirely in a mall car-park). Seinfeld was, as all involved frequently admitted, a show about nothing. But this extras-laden collection--which features extensive cast and creator commentaries, deleted scenes, trivia tracks, outtakes, interviews and more--is most definitely something. --Ted Kord
All four series' of the British television comedy about the feuding Brandon family. Uncle Mort (Robin Bailey) constantly argues with his sister Annie (Liz Smith), who in turn can't stand her husband Les (John Comer). The only thing that unites them is their determination to turn their laid-back son Carter (Stephen Rea) into a go-getting executive before he marries his fiancée Pat (Anita Carey).
Please note this is a region 2 DVD and will require a region 2 or region free DVD player in order to play. A teenage boy's descent into the dangerous world of the Internet and the harrowing consequences of his actions. A true story.
Julie Walters (Filth: The Mary Whitehouse Story; Mamma Mia!) stars in A Short Stay In Switzerland for BBC One a one-off drama inspired by the true story of Dr Anne Turner by award-winning writer Frank McGuinness one of Ireland's foremost dramatists. Having just witnessed the death of her husband Jack from an incurable neurological disease Anne Turner (Julie Walters) is diagnosed with a near identical illness. With determined rationality Anne's answer is that once her illness has reached a critical point she will take her own life. And she needs her children's support. But the more her son and two daughters struggle to gain consensus over their mother's desire to die as they struggle to find another way through the further they pull apart. From Jessica's silent recriminations to Sophie's stubborn practicality the magnitude of the situation threatens to tear the family to pieces. Anne must also face the fury of her best friend Claire - whose opposing views bring them into direct and vocal conflict.
Available for the first time on DVD! A teacher of thirty years experience takes a job at a run-down multi-racial high school in Chicago and begins teaching the youngsters respect.
A great British crime comedy always worth another watch, Two Way Stretch is the one about the cosily imprisoned crooks who hatch a scheme to pull off a heist with a perfect alibi by breaking out of their nick, doing the job and then breaking back into the jug again to serve out their sentences. Peter Sellers, usually an eccentric support in these things, takes a rare lead as cocky mastermind Dodger Lane, confident enough to share the screen with performers who would be doing serious time if scene-stealing were an actual offence. The chief delight of the film, obvious inspiration for Blakey from On the Buses, is Lionel Jeffries' bristling, infuriated, hilariously humiliated warder Sidney Crout, forever fuming as Dodger gets away with some new scheme. Also in on the scam: Wilfrid Hyde White as a bogus clergyman of extreme unctuousness, David Lodge as the dim-witted muscle bloke, and Bernard Cribbins in the nice young man part. The wayward plot finds room for cameos from such national institutions as Beryl Reid, Irene Handl and Liz Fraser. Director Robert Day, probably best known for the Hammer version of She, is nobody's idea of an auteur, but he puts this pacey little gem together perfectly. The British cinema has been turning out an unheralded series of wonderful caper comedies for decades, from The Lavender Hill Mob through A Fish Called Wanda to The Parole Officer; this effort--along with the follow-up The Wrong Arm of the Law--ranks among the best. On the DVD: Two Way Stretch comes to disc in a nice print. The film is also available as part of the four-disc Peter Sellers Collection.--Kim Newman
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