Written by the acclaimed screenwriter Sally Wainwright (Children's Ward Coronation Street) and starring Amanda Redman (Sexy Beast New Tricks) as Alison Braithwaite head of the dysfunctional family that lurches from disaster to crisis and back again this second series of At Home with the Braithwaites was a huge commercial and critical success for ITV1 when it was first broadcast in 2001. Also starring Peter Davison (Black Beauty Dr Who) Lynda Bellingham (All Creatures Great & Small Second Thoughts) and Sylvia Syms (Ice Cold in Alex Victim) this emotional roller-coaster of a series was nominated for a number of awards and won the TV Quick Awards 2000 for Best New Drama as well as receiving an Emmy-nomination for Best Drama Series in 2002. Featuring all episodes from each series!
Starring Paul Hogan as the eccentric Australian crocodile poacher who becomes the subject of an article by an investigative journalist from New York the Crocodile Dundee 1 & 2 Boxset is a superb package of two of the funniest films of the 1980's. The original story of the outback crocodile wrangler who is taken back to America by the journalist doing an expos on him is a hilarious example of what can happen when two diverse cultures collide. Hogan's Mick Dundee is a fascinating
As Detective Sergeant Michael Logan extorts his way into the drug trade, Albanian and Turkish gangs take over London’s criminal world. With events spiralling out of control, Logan takes a ruthless course leading to irrevocable consequences. Respected by both sides of the law, Detective Sergeant Michael Logan lines his pockets through predatory extortion and drug dealing whilst simultaneously climbing the ranks of law enforcement.
Stand by for another action-packed adventure from the amazing international rescue team! Thunderbirds Are Go: The excitement begins as Zero X a 21st Century spacecraft is leaving the earth's atmosphere bound for Mars with five men on board. The craft is suddenly blasted by a mysterious explosion. Sabotage! Can the Tracy team uncover the perpetrators and save the next launch? Thunderbird Six: The trouble begins when rescue team member Alan Tracy sets out on a holida
Originally transmitted in the early 2000s, At Home with the Braithwaites received a number of award nominations, including ones at BAFTA, the British Comedy Awards and the International Emmys, and won the TV Quick Award in 2000 for the Best New Drama. This complete set brings all four series together.
Peter Sellers stars as gang-leader Pearly Gates who has a double life as Monsieur Jules the manager of a fashion house. The criminal world of London is being reduced to chaos by an Australian 'IPO mob' who acting on information provided by Gates' girlfriend Valerie (Nanette Newman) impersonate police officers and take the spoils of the true criminals after the crime has been safely committed. The crimes are relatively victimless involving jewellery thefts from the rich or robbe
Filmed in VIDECOLOR--[explosions, drum roll, music builds to a climax]--and SUPERMARIONATION"! The opening sequence of Thunderbirds is itself a masterclass in Gerry Anderson's marionette hyperbole: who else would dare to make a virtue out of the fact that (a)the show is in colour and (b) it's got puppets in it? But everything about this series really is epic: Thunderbirds is action on the grandest scale, pre-dating such high-concept Hollywood vehicles as Armaggedon by 30 years and more (the acting is better, too), and fetishising gadgets in a way that even the most excessive Bond movies could never hope to rival. Unsurprisingly, it transpires that the visual effects are by Derek Meddings, whose later contributions to Bond movies like The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker echo his pioneering model work here. As to the characters, the clean-cut Tracey boys take second place in the audience's affections to their cool machines--the real stars of the show--while comic relief is to be found in the charming company of Lady Penelope and her pink Rolls (number plate FAB1), driven by lugubrious chauffeur Parker, whose "Yes, milady" catchphrase resonated around school playgrounds for decades. (Spare a thought for poor old John Tracey, stuck up in space on Thunderbird 5 with only the radio for company.) The puppet stunt-work is breathtakingly audacious, and every week's death-defying escapade is nail-bitingly choreographed in the very best tradition of disaster movies. First shown in 1964 and now digitally remastered, Thunderbirds is children's TV that still looks and sounds like big-budget Hollywood. On this DVD: The four episodes are: "Vault of Death", "The Mighty Atom", "City of Fire" and "The Imposters". Amazon.com
Filmed in VIDECOLOR [explosions, drum roll, music builds to a climax] and SUPERMARIONATION"! The opening sequence of Thunderbirds is itself a masterclass in Gerry Anderson's marionette hyperbole: who else would dare to make a virtue out of the fact that (a) the show is in colour and (b) it's got puppets in it? But everything about this series really is epic: Thunderbirds is action on the grandest scale, pre-dating such high-concept Hollywood vehicles as Armaggedon by 30 years and more (the acting is better, too), and fetishising gadgets in a way that even the most excessive Bond movies could never hope to rival. Unsurprisingly, it transpires that the visual effects are by Derek Meddings, whose later contributions to Bond movies like The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker echo his pioneering model work here.As to the characters, the clean-cut Tracey boys take second place in the audiences' affections to their cool machines--the real stars of the show--while comic relief is to be found in the charming company of Lady Penelope and her pink Rolls (number plate FAB1), driven by lugubrious chauffeur Parker, whose "Yes, milady" catch phrase resonated around school playgrounds for decades. (Spare a thought for poor old John Tracey, stuck up in space on Thunderbird 5 with only the radio for company.) The puppet stunt-work is breathtakingly audacious, and every week's death-defying escapade is nail-bitingly choreographed in the very best tradition of disaster movies. First shown in 1964 and now digitally remastered, Thunderbirds is children's TV that still looks and sounds like big-budget Hollywood.On this DVD: The four episodes are: "The Man from MI5", "Cry Wolf", "Danger at Ocean Deep" and "Move and You're Dead".
Filmed in VIDECOLOR [explosions, drum roll, music builds to a climax] and SUPERMARIONATION"! The opening sequence of Thunderbirds is itself a masterclass in Gerry Anderson's marionette hyperbole: who else would dare to make a virtue out of the fact that (a) the show is in colour and (b) it's got puppets in it? But everything about this series really is epic: Thunderbirds is action on the grandest scale, pre-dating such high-concept Hollywood vehicles as Armaggedon by 30 years and more (the acting is better, too), and fetishising gadgets in a way that even the most excessive Bond movies could never hope to rival. Unsurprisingly, it transpires that the visual effects are by Derek Meddings, whose later contributions to Bond movies like The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker echo his pioneering model work here.As to the characters, the clean-cut Tracey boys take second place in the audiences' affections to their cool machines--the real stars of the show--while comic relief is to be found in the charming company of Lady Penelope and her pink Rolls (number plate FAB1), driven by lugubrious chauffeur Parker, whose "Yes, milady" catch phrase resonated around school playgrounds for decades. (Spare a thought for poor old John Tracey, stuck up in space on Thunderbird 5 with only the radio for company.) The puppet stunt-work is breathtakingly audacious, and every week's death-defying escapade is nail-bitingly choreographed in the very best tradition of disaster movies. First shown in 1964 and now digitally remastered, Thunderbirds is children's TV that still looks and sounds like big-budget Hollywood.On this DVD: The four episodes are: "Edge of Impact", "Day of Disaster", Thirty Minutes After Noon" and "Desperate Intruder".
Thunderbird 6 was the second feature spin-off from the hit Gerry Anderson puppet-animation TV series Thunderbirds, and revolved around a new addition to the line-up of International Rescue's five emergency craft. The plot sees Lady Penelope, Alan, Tin-Tin and Parker as the only passengers on the maiden, round-the-world flight of a futuristic airship, which is hijacked in a bid to capture Thunderbirds 1 and 2. From the moment Alan arrives on a Bond-style jetpack, the film veers away from the TV show into espionage adventure territory, and while the only people International Rescue rescue are their own members, they kill a fair number of baddies. The global tour means there are more locations than ever, and though the story takes a long time developing, the Die Hard-on-an-airship finale delivers the most explosive set piece of Gerry Anderson's career. As for Thunderbird 6, opinion remains divided as to whether it's an ingenious twist or a disappointing gimmick, but the movie's blend of model and live-action footage results in two superbly staged stunt sequences. Predecessor Thunderbirds Are Go (1968) is also available, and the Andersons would make one further feature film, Journey to the Far Side of the Sun (1969). On the DVD: The anamorphically enhanced 2.35:1 ratio image is sharp, full of detail and boasting well-saturated colours, only the briefest moments of damage and some graininess revealing the age of the print. The film was shot in ultra-wide Techniscope, and there are moments were it is very obvious that parts of the original 2.74:1 picture have been cropped at the sides. The mono sound is powerful with no hint of distortion. Extras are the original trailer, galleries of behind the scenes photos and promotional artwork, though the highlight is the highly informative commentary by Sylvia Anderson and director David Lane where they note how they made this film and worked on Captain Scarlet simultaneously.--Gary S Dalkin
A satirical, surreal and acutely observed comedy-drama from the mid-1980s, A Very Peculiar Practice stars Peter Davison, who, following turns as a vet in All Creatures Great and Small and the Doctor in Doctor Who, here plays naïve Dr Stephen Daker, a profoundly nervous new addition to Lowlands University's medical practice. The distinctly eclectic team he meets is headed by the compassionate, incompetent, alcoholic and suicidal "Jock" McCannon (the gloriously theatrical Graham Crowden). Barbara Flynn is marvellous as the manipulative bisexual Dr Rose Marie, and David Troughton as Dr Bob Buzzard personifies the "greed-is-good" ethos of the era. The seven 50-minute episodes here form an overall arc following Daker from sheer terror through romance with behavioural psychologist Lyn Turtle (Amanda Hillwood), to ethical conflict with the sociopathic vice-chancellor (played with relish by John Bird). Increasingly surreal (from strange nuns to stranger dream sequences--the second, even better series was more bizarre still), the series launches an acidic assault on the Thatcherite asset-stripping mentality that was then laying waste not just British universities, but the entire nation. Written with an acute irony by Andrew Davies, whose move into more mainstream adaptations such as Pride and Prejudice (1995) was contemporary TV drama's greatest loss, A Very Peculiar Practice is a television landmark that, alongside The Singing Detective and Edge of Darkness, marks 1986 as one of the finest years in the history of the medium. --Gary S Dalkin
Although they made their name in the medium of radio, the legendary Goons also made brief forays into the world of television and, with Down Among the Z Men, film. It captures the team at a very early stage in their career, with Michael Bentine still in the fold, and with their unique, anarchic brand of humour still in its infancy. Sadly, the style and feel of the film does little to suit their comedy style. While radio offered an opportunity for their imaginations to run riot, here the four find themselves tied to a few stock characters, most of whom would make a more animated appearances later in their career. The plot--with its tale of eccentric professors and evil spies--sees a series of musical numbers and a variety performance crow barred into the proceedings. Those who wish to add to an already existing Goons collection may want to consider this, but anyone wondering what all the fuss is about should head straight for the many radio collections available and hear the sound of true genius at work. On The DVD: Down Among the Z Men offers little to recommend, with the DVD lacking in any extras whatsoever. Being taken from an original fifties print, the black and white picture is of reasonable quality yet cannot help but look extremely dated. At best it is the sort of curio that would pass time on a Sunday afternoon but it is hard to consider this a particularly essential DVD release. -Phil Udell
Fifty years on from its first UK broadcast, The Prisoner remains as fresh and dynamic as when it was first unleashed upon an unsuspecting world in 1967. This set presents the complete series, stunningly restored, together with a wealth of new special features.
Like a good claret laid down for a couple of decades, Victor Victoria (1982) just improves with age. Based on a 1930s German screenplay, Blake Edwards' cross-dressing musical tackles sexuality and gender with a sweet generosity of spirit and endearing warmth. To Edwards' credit and that of his wife Julie Andrews in the title role it is far more than a star vehicle, with James Garner, Lesley Ann Warren and, particularly, Robert Preston (as worldly gay Toddy) contributing quick-fire performances that brim with brilliant timing. Andrews, too, is wonderful in a deceptively complex part. It shouldn't have worked at all. Victor Victoria was made at a time when the Hollywood musical's currency was at its lowest and Andrews might have been deemed a rather old-fashioned sort of star. But by keeping Henry Mancini's songs in context as stage numbers, the traditional values of the musical are subverted. And the whole thing is bathed in a soft, intimate light; this is a film of considerable artistry on every level. On the DVD: Victor Victoriais presented in widescreen with a sharp Dolby Digital soundtrack; the picture quality is splendid. Extras include lists of cast, crew and awards as well as the original theatrical trailer. Best of all is a touching--if occasionally repetitive--commentary from Blake Edwards and Julie Andrews, who clearly remember the project with great pride and affection. Somewhat belatedly they resurrected it as a Broadway show in the 1990s, in which Andrews again scored a considerable personal triumph. --Piers Ford
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
Though he gets solo above-the-title billing, Will Hay was no more a solo comedian than Groucho Marx. Teamed with sidekicks Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt the trio formed one of British cinema's greatest comedy gangs. Oh, Mr Porter!, one of their finest vehicles, finds Hay as congenial William Porter, an inept railway worker who is shunted off to the dead-end job of stationmaster in Buggleskelly, Northern Ireland. The delight of the film is in the interplay between Hay and Marriott, the single-toothed dotty old-timer, and Moffatt, the chubby smart kid, as they fail the most basic requirements of their jobs but come up trumps when investigating the ghost of One-Eyed Joe and his haunted mill. --Kim Newman One of Will Hay's brisker comic efforts, 1936's Convict 99 sees Dr Benjamin Twist, Hay's clueless schoolmaster, caught in a case of mistaken identity and invited to head up a prison for especially hard-boiled criminals. It's a typical outtake from Hay's bizarrely lawless universe in which, for all his harrumphing and bluster, he's unable to exercise any sort of discipline whatsoever over the men in his charge. Hay plays exactly the same character from film to film, one so ill-equipped for any situation he's equally suited for all. Whereas Twist is an incompetent who somehow muddles through, Hay the comic actor is a master of timing and double-takes who knows precisely how to create the air of a shambles. --David Stubbs
Filmed in VIDECOLOR [explosions, drum roll, music builds to a climax] and SUPERMARIONATION"! The opening sequence of Thunderbirds is itself a masterclass in Gerry Anderson's marionette hyperbole: who else would dare to make a virtue out of the fact that (a) the show is in colour and (b) it's got puppets in it? But everything about this series really is epic: Thunderbirds is action on the grandest scale, pre-dating such high-concept Hollywood vehicles as Armaggedon by 30 years and more (the acting is better, too), and fetishising gadgets in a way that even the most excessive Bond movies could never hope to rival. Unsurprisingly, it transpires that the visual effects are by Derek Meddings, whose later contributions to Bond movies like The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker echo his pioneering model work here. As to the characters, the clean-cut Tracey boys take second place in the audiences' affections to their cool machines--the real stars of the show--while comic relief is to be found in the charming company of Lady Penelope and her pink Rolls (number plate FAB1), driven by lugubrious chauffeur Parker, whose "Yes, milady" catchphrase resonated around school playgrounds for decades. (Spare a thought for poor old John Tracey, stuck up in space on Thunderbird 5 with only the radio for company.) The puppet stunt-work is breathtakingly audacious, and every week's death-defying escapade is nailbitingly choreographed in the very best tradition of disaster movies. First shown in 1964 and now digitally remastered, Thunderbirds is children's TV that still looks and sounds like big-budget Hollywood. On this DVD: International Rescue's very first adventure provides a template for all the rest: in "Trapped in the Sky" an experimental new aircraft becomes the target of an evil Bond-style megalomaniac who wants to get his hands on all the neat pieces of kit operated by the Tracey siblings. The show introduces, in fetishistic detail, the recurring set-pieces: Thunderbird 1 taking off from the roll-back swimming pool, which pod will Thunderbird 2 use this week--the mole or the submarine perhaps?--and so on. Nostalgia fans will be pleased to learn that despite digital remastering the puppet strings are still in evidence, and no amount of high-tech restoration could remove the clunky expository dialogue: Stewardess: "It's the maiden flight of the new atomic-powered Fireflash." Passenger: "Isn't that the new aircraft that flies six times the speed of sound?" Stewardess: "That's right, but don't worry: it's perfectly safe." [Cut to: interior, Fireflash landing gear, a device clearly labelled "Auto-Bomb Detonator Unit"] Sinister bad guy (talking to himself for no readily apparent reason): "Perfect. Enough explosives to smash the Atomic Reactor." In the second episode, "Pit of Peril", an absurdly impractical US Army vehicle falls into the eponymous pit, necessitating use of pod five, the mole. Joy! Lady Penelope indulges in some James-Bond-style counter-espionage measures in the third episode, "The Perils of Penelope", while Parker indulges some of his famous Eliza Dolittle-isms; although he is trumped by the Cary Grant sound-a-like character Sir Jeremy Hodge (or 'odge as Parker would have it), whose response to a crisis is, "I say, open the door, we're British!". Then it's back to the action for the fourth episode, "Terror in New York City", in which poor Virgil is shot down by the US Navy in Thunderbird 2 before the boys must rescue an unscrupulous newshound from the wreckage of the Empire State Building (featuring the first appearance of their very own yellow submarine, Thunderbird 4) --Mark Walker
Following the disappearance of Inspector Clouseau Surete call on the world's second-best detective to bring him back. However Clouseau's nemesis the evil Chief Inspector Dreyfus interferes with the computer which assigns the world's worst detective to the case Detective-Sergeant Clifton Sleigh! Hilarity ensues as the bumbling Sleigh stumbles from disaster to disaster!
Filmed in VIDECOLOR [explosions, drum roll, music builds to a climax] and SUPERMARIONATION"! The opening sequence of Thunderbirds is itself a masterclass in Gerry Anderson's marionette hyperbole: who else would dare to make a virtue out of the fact that (a) the show is in colour and (b) it's got puppets in it? But everything about this series really is epic: Thunderbirds is action on the grandest scale, pre-dating such high-concept Hollywood vehicles as Armaggedon by 30 years and more (the acting is better, too), and fetishising gadgets in a way that even the most excessive Bond movies could never hope to rival. Unsurprisingly, it transpires that the visual effects are by Derek Meddings, whose later contributions to Bond movies like The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker echo his pioneering model work here.As to the characters, the clean-cut Tracey boys take second place in the audiences' affections to their cool machines--the real stars of the show--while comic relief is to be found in the charming company of Lady Penelope and her pink Rolls (number plate FAB1), driven by lugubrious chauffeur Parker, whose "Yes, milady" catch phrase resonated around school playgrounds for decades. (Spare a thought for poor old John Tracey, stuck up in space on Thunderbird 5 with only the radio for company.) The puppet stunt-work is breathtakingly audacious, and every week's death-defying escapade is nail-bitingly choreographed in the very best tradition of disaster movies. First shown in 1964 and now digitally remastered, Thunderbirds is children's TV that still looks and sounds like big-budget Hollywood.On this DVD: The four episodes are: "End of the Road", "The Uninvited", "Sun Probe" and "Operation Crash Dive".
Filmed in VIDECOLOR--[explosions, drum roll, music builds to a climax]--and SUPERMARIONATION"! The opening sequence of Thunderbirds is itself a masterclass in Gerry Anderson's marionette hyperbole: who else would dare to make a virtue out of the fact that (a)the show is in colour and (b) it's got puppets in it? But everything about this series really is epic: Thunderbirds is action on the grandest scale, pre-dating such high-concept Hollywood vehicles as Armaggedon by 30 years and more (the acting is better, too), and fetishising gadgets in a way that even the most excessive Bond movies could never hope to rival. Unsurprisingly, it transpires that the visual effects are by Derek Meddings, whose later contributions to Bond movies like The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker echo his pioneering model work here. As to the characters, the clean-cut Tracey boys take second place in the audience's affections to their cool machines--the real stars of the show--while comic relief is to be found in the charming company of Lady Penelope and her pink Rolls (number plate FAB1), driven by lugubrious chauffeur Parker, whose "Yes, milady" catchphrase resonated around school playgrounds for decades. (Spare a thought for poor old John Tracey, stuck up in space on Thunderbird 5 with only the radio for company.) The puppet stunt-work is breathtakingly audacious, and every week's death-defying escapade is nail-bitingly choreographed in the very best tradition of disaster movies. First shown in 1964 and now digitally remastered, Thunderbirds is children's TV that still looks and sounds like big-budget Hollywood. On this DVD: The four episodes are: "Alias Mr. Hackenbacker", "Lord Parker's 'Oliday", "Ricochet" and "Give or Take a Million". Amazon.com
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