When British engineer Barry Collier is injured in an accident in Cyprus, his brother David (Peter McEnery) immediately flies out to be at his side but it is too late. After the funeral David is approached by the beautiful Helene (Alexandra Bastedo), eager to inform him that the death was no accident. And her mysterious companions Basileos (Brian Blessed) and Charalambos (Stefan Gryff) seem to know a great deal more. But can he trust them? Collier finds himself drawn into a complex conspiracy.
This series of 4 made for TV feature length thrillers stars Dennis Waterman (The Sweeney, New Tricks) as John Neil, a Falklands War hero whose family were murdered in an IRA terrorist attack. Neil has withdrawn from society and lives an isolated existence, until MI5 come calling. Former special-forces operative John Neil is a lone agent for hire for Britain's security services. Whether taking on Irish terrorists, tracking down professional assassins, or pitting his wits against ruthless drug dealers, the ex-SAS man harbours no illusions about the work he's doing, or the people he serves. Knowing he is expendable to the security services Neil must face down deadly adversaries relying on his instincts and his SAS training in a world of betrayal, danger, and deceit. These 4 films were made for broadcast on Yorkshire TV between 1993 and 1996.
Matters of Honour" launches the third series of Babylon 5 with the introduction of the White Star, a spacecraft added to enable more of the action to take place away from the static space station. Also introduced is Marcus Cole (Jason Carter) who, in another nod to The Lord of the Rings, is a Ranger not so far removed from JRR Tolkien's Strider. In "Voices of Authority" the show finds an epic scale as Ivanova seeks the mysterious "First Ones" for allies against the Shadows, and evidence is discovered pointing to the truth behind President Santiago's assassination. A third of the way through the series "Messages from Earth", "Point of No Return" and "Severed Dreams" prove pivotal, changing the nature of the story in a way previously unimaginable on network TV. Earth slides into dictatorship, the fascistic Nightwatch takes control of off-world security and Sheridan takes decisive action by declaring Babylon 5 independent. "Interludes and Examinations" presents the death of a major supporting character, while the two-part "War Without End" reaches apocalyptic dimensions in a complex tale resolving the destiny of Sinclair and the fate of Babylon 4 (dovetailing elegantly with the events of Year One's "Babylon Squared"), resolving a 1,000-year-old paradox and presenting a vision of a very dark future for Sheridan and Delenn. All this is trumped by the monumental "Z'ha'dum". In the preceding "Shadow Dancing", Anna Sheridan (Melissa Gilbert, Bruce Boxleitner's real-life wife) returns from the dead, no longer entirely human. In the mythologically resonant climax Anna invites Sheridan back to the Shadow homeworld with no hope of survival. Just as Gandalf fell into the abyss at Khazad-Dum, so Sheridan takes a comparable leap into the unknown on an alien world. On the DVD: Babylon 5, Series 3 presents all 22 episodes anamorphically enhanced at 16:9 for widescreen TVs. While not up to blockbuster movie standards these are the finest looking B5 discs yet. Likewise the remixed Dolby Digital 5.1 sound packs a considerable punch in the many action scenes while remaining clear and atmospheric throughout. Reasonable though unremarkable extras are in line with previous box sets, with detailed and informative commentaries by series creator J Michael Straczynski on episodes "Z'Ha'Dum", and the Hugo Award-winning "Severed Dreams". Actors Bruce Boxleitner, Jerry Doyle, Richard Biggs and Ed Wasser offer a more jokey and backslapping appraisal of "Interludes and Examinations". Introduction to Point of Return is essentially a six-minute trailer for the season, while Behind the Mask: Creating the Aliens of B5 offers make-up artist John Vulich, JMS, and producer John Copland reflecting on the creation of various races. Complementing this is a seven-minute look at Building a Better Narn. Designing Tomorrow: The Look of Babylon 5 focuses on the work of production designer John Iacovelli. Finally The Universe of Babylon 5 presents five short character profiles. The set offers an alternative French soundtrack and subtitles in English, English for the hard-of-hearing, French and Dutch. --Gary S Dalkin
Young priest Father Peter Clifford (Stephen Tompkinson) arrives in the small Irish town of Ballykissangel. Captivated by local beauty Assumpta (Dervla Kirwan) he is unpopular form the outset and has to work hard to win over the eccentric inhabitants... Episodes comprise: 1. Trying To Connect You 2. The Things We Do For Love 3. Live In My Heart And Pay No Rent 4. Fallen Angel 5. The Power And The Gory 6. Missing You Already
The fourth series of Babylon 5 begins on a high point with Centauri Prime in the grip of the insane Emperor Cartagia (Wortham Krimmer) and a run of six shows leading to the climax of the war against the Shadows in "Into the Fire". If this colossal narrative is resolved a little too easily and the ultimate aim of the Shadows turns out to be a tad disappointing, it's still one of the most powerful slices of space opera ever to grace the small screen. In the aftermath the sheer scale drops back a little but the pace never slows as the rest of the year plays out in one relentless cycle of conspiracy, betrayal and conflict, Babylon 5 siding with the rebel Mars colony against the totalitarian Earth regime. Meanwhile, Delenn finds herself increasingly in conflict with her own people and, paralleling her relationship with Sheridan, Garibaldi becomes involved with his ex-fiancée Lise Hampton (Denise Gentile); in addition, an intense platonic love grows between Ivanova and Marcus Cole. On an unstoppable wave fuelled by roller-coaster plot twists and spectacular action shows from "No Surrender, No Retreat"--when Sheridan avows to overthrow EarthGov--to "Rising Star"--when the aim is realised--this series of Babylon 5 achieved a consistent excellence rare in television. Yet within that run "Intersections in Real Time" stands out as a bold experiment; essentially a two-hand drama taking place entirely within one dimly lit room. Then in "The Deconstruction of Falling Stars", a descendant of humanity one million years hence reviews excerpts from the history of Babylon 5. In one sequence set in 2762 a Brother is devoted to the preservation of history some time after the "Big Burn". In a homage to Walter M Miller's SF classic A Canticle for Leibowitz, Sheridan and Delenn have themselves become the stuff of legend. --Gary S DalkinOn the DVD: All 22 episodes of Season 4 of Babylon 5 are presented on six DVDs. Anamorphically enhanced for widescreen TV, the picture is significantly stronger than on the original TV broadcasts, if not up to blockbuster movie standards. The remixed Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is punchy and richly impressive, if again not quite state-of-the-art. As with previous seasons the main extras are three commentaries. The first, by actors Bruce Boxleitner, Jerry Doyle, Peter Jurasik and Patricia Tallman, finds these leading cast members having a great time joshing around on Falling Towards Apotheosis and failing to say anything very interesting. Series creator and writer J Michael Straczynski and director Michael Vejar discuss The Face of the Enemy, the conversation tending towards a technical scene-by-scene analysis, while by far the most interesting commentary is J Michael Straczynski alone on The Deconstruction of Falling Stars. JMS covers many aspects of the show, going into depth explaining both his ideas behind the series and the practicalities of realising his vision. Celestial Sounds is an interesting but too-short five-minute look at the scoring process with composer Christopher Franke, complemented by a powerful six-minute musical suite. The package also includes a six-minute introduction, a three-minute gag reel and video data files of characters, organisations and places. An Easter egg offers a comparison between untextured and completed CGI models of Babylon 5 itself. There is an optional French soundtrack, plus English, English for Hearing Impaired, French and Netherlands subtitles. --Gary S Dalkin
In the gap between seasons four and five of Babylon 5, fans suffering withdrawal symptoms were sated by this first TV movie. As a prequel to the series' timeline, creator J. Michael Straczynski had an awful lot of continuity to consider. Amazingly, there's only one inconsistency throughout (a matter of who met whom and when), making this an essential part of the overall storyline. The tale is told cleverly from the future as the remembrances of Londo (Peter Jurasik), who is now Emperor of a dying Centauri homeworld. He looks back at the beginnings of the Earth-Minbari war and links together many clues strewn throughout the shows' early years. We see exactly how Delenn contributed to the first blows, the death of dignitary Dukhat, and most importantly what really happened to Sinclair (Michael O'Hare) at the Battle of the Line. The FX showcased by the battle are genuinely spectacular, but overshadowed by the make-up department which had the thankless task of making everyone look younger. Their best success is on an uncredited Claudia Christian who appears as an 18-year-old Susan Ivanova dealing with the death of her brother. Being a prequel there's little in the way of a surprise finale, but there's plenty of intrigue along the way. --Paul Tonks
A disappointment after the superb two previous seasons, the final run of Babylon 5 found Claudia Christian departed and Ivanova replaced by Captain Elizabeth Lochley (Tracy Scoggins), who in a soap-opera twist turned out to be Sheridan's first wife. Sheridan was promoted to President of the Interstellar Alliance and the action moved to a group of telepaths seeking sanctuary from the PSI-Corp on B5. Giving a prominent role to Patricia Tallman's Lyta Alexander, a love story for her was woven with the leader of the telepaths, Byron (Robin Atkin Downs). Meanwhile the aftermath of the Shadow War was explored as the origin of human telepaths became clear in "Secrets of the Soul," and the appearance of PSI-Corp's Bester (Walter Koenig) brought the plight of the refugees to a powerful close in "A Tragedy of Telepaths" and "Phoenix Rising." This was immediately followed by a rare episode not written by J. Michael Straczynski. Much was expected of "Day of the Dead," penned by Neil Gaiman, the British creator of DC's landmark Sandman comic and graphic novel series. Yet despite a change of tone including a guest appearance by Penn & Teller as 23rd-century comedy favorites Rebo & Zooty, the story proved an incongruous side trip into an unexplained twilight zone of fantasy. As usual the season picked up toward the end, with a string of fine political episodes leading to "The Fall of Centauri Prime" and the haunting "Objects at Rest," in which Sheridan and Delenn leave Babylon 5 for new quarters on Minbar. The final episode, "Sleeping in Light," was directed by J. Michael Straczynski and made an epilogue to the series. Set 20 years later, after all the sound and fury this quiet, elegiac tale is the apotheosis of the love story that proved the balance to the tragedy of the preceding darkness. A personal story resolved against a background of the epic, at once transcendent, deeply human, and profoundly optimistic, "Sleeping in Light" is as moving as any hour in the history of television drama and a thoroughly satisfying conclusion to one of the greatest series ever made. --Gary S. Dalkin
The complete first series of ITV's comedy drama comes to DVD for the first time. The Braithwaites are a dysfunctional family who live in Leeds and comprise mother Alison (Redman) father David (Davison) and their three daughters Virginia Sarah and Charlottle. The story begins with Charlotte giving her mother a Euro Lottery ticket for her birthday and subsequently scooping a 38 million jackpot. However Alison decides to keep the win a secret from her family and sets up a charity - t
XX is a new horror anthology featuring four murderous tales of supernatural frights, thrills, profound anxiety, and Gothic decay. Written and directed by four fiercely talented women the film stars female leads and is framed around innovative animator Sofia Carrillo. Vigorously challenging the status quo within the industry, this collection of tightly coiled short films by some of horror's most influential women offers a refreshing jolt to the senses.
Miss Julie is a claustrophobic class study set within a 19th-century Count's kitchen. It chronicles the events of one midsummer night when the housemistress--an obstinate and confused Julie (Saffron Burrows)--is beaten in a round of sexual gaming with footman Peter Mullan. Based on the play by August Strindberg, the film maintains a constant sense of theatre by only having three speaking parts (the other coming from Maria Doyle Kennedy as Christine, the long-suffering cook and fiancée), just one set and a penchant for hand-held camerawork by director Mike Figgis. Known for his experimental approach to storytelling, this is technically a predecessor to Figgis' Timecode, since the all-important rape scene is conveyed through a disorientating split-screen technique. He'd worked with fellow Brit Burrows before on The Loss of Sexual Innocence and One Night Stand, but gives the gal with the outsized cheekbones top billing here and is rewarded with a thoroughly rounded performance. Backed by the director's own musical score, this melodrama has a very personal feel to it. --Paul Tonks
The complete second series detailing the adventures of the Braithwaites and the effect a massive lottery win has on their family. Featuring all 8 episodes.
It is 1945 and the war has just ended in China. A discharged soldier Jet comes to Tsing Tao to stay with Cheung a rickshaw puller and narrowly misses being hurt by a US naval officer Hans when he comes to a local's aid. Soon after Jet is challenged to fight and Bailey swears revenge. Following this Bailey and Na a local bar girl are dumped out of Cheung's rickshaw because of their fighting Bailey then badly beats and hospitalizes Cheung. Han challenges Jet to a fight but the fight spreads into the crowd and leads to a riot. In the commotion Jet is injured by Hans and is taken home to recover. After discovering that Na is Cheung's daughter Jet tries to reunite them but this ends in tragedy. Seeking revenge Jet is arrested but he escapes from prison and sets up the American soldiers for a final showdown in the factory!!!
The Darkman pits himself against a drug dealer as he attempts to protect his research and his team.
Digital Devil: Digital Devil is the name given to a menacing force created with computers born from the mind of a teenage genius; a force so evil that it demands human sacrifice. Yet this story is more than a science-fiction horror tale. For it also carries the timeless messages of forgiveness and reconciliation along with the charm of a love story. Handsome high school student Akemi is a computer genius. One day a new girl Yukimo transfers to his class from another school. She quickly falls in love with Akemi but absorbed in his computers he pays her no attention at all. The reason for his absorption is the monster he has created with these same computers. Digital Devil has become his own evil genie and Akemi summons this devil after school and sets it to work wreaking revenge on his enemies. First to be sacrificed to the hunger of the devil Roki is Akemi's home-room teacher; soon to follow are other teachers and leaders of the high school's gangs. But first Akemi intends to unleash Roki on poor Yukimo. The tables quickly turn as Roli runs wild slipping from the teenager's control to begin attacking all the students including even Akemi himself. Cockpit: Mr. Leiji Matsumoto the author of 'Uchusenkan Yamato' (Space Cruiser Yamato) celebrates this his fortieth year as an author. He is the author of the War Comics series his lifework which he has continued to write from the depths of his emotions. These three titles from 'The Cockpit' which his fans declare to be his greatest work have now been animated. The men who bled on the battlefield often suffered disgrace and at times gave their lives in the name of honour. The pain the sorrow and the glory have now been clearly brought to life. Slipstream (August 1944) A disgraced Nazi airman is offered eternal glory if he flies just one more mission. But as with all pacts with the devil such an opportunity does not come cheap... Sonic Boom Squadron (August 1945) Ensign Nogami has volunteered to fly a human bomb into the American fleet. To all those around him he is already dead. But ensign Nogami seems cursed condemned to keep living... Knight of the Iron Dragon (October 1944) Only shelling Japanese positions can hold off the Allied advance on the Phillippines. A lone motorcyclist volunteers to find the last artillery group and promises his friends that he shall return to live or die at his comrades' side...
Featuring World Famous Chefs Peter Doyle Eric Chavot and Ian Scully.
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