Winter Solstice is the entrancing story of shattered lives and broken hearts and a Christmas retreat which brings healing and happy endings.When recently bereaved Elfrida Phipps moves into a tiny cottage she soon makes friends with her new neighbours the Blundells.Elfrida's favourite niece Carrie returns from Austria heartbroken and briefly meets businessman Sam on her flight home.A tragic accident befalls the Blundells and with everyone's lives in ruins
A big Oscar winner in 1975, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest still holds up remarkably well. Ken Kesey's novel, an allegory of repression and rebellion set in a mental hospital in the early 1960s, is cannily adapted by Czech director Milos Forman into a comedy drama with a cool, unassuming, near-documentary look. Jack Nicholson has his most jacknicholsonian role as Randle P McMurphy, a livewire troublemaker who unwisely cons his way out of prison and into a mental institution without realising he has switched from serving a sentence with a release date to being committed until adjudged sane by the same people he is winding up on a daily basis. Louise Fletcher, in a career-defining turn, is Nurse Ratched, the soft-spoken sadist who represents the worst type of matronly authoritarianism and clashes with Randle all down the line. Taking another look at the picture after all these years, it's a surprise that all the unknown actors who seemed like real mental patients have graduated to becoming prolific character actor stars: Danny DeVito, Christopher Lloyd, Vincent Schiavelli, Brad Dourif, the late Will Sampson, Sidney Lassick, Michael Berryman. Unlike many Best Picture Oscar winners, this deals with profound subject matter without seeming self-important: Forman's approach and all-round great acting make it play as a small character story as well as a Big Statement about the human condition. Full marks also for Jack Nitzsche's musical saw-based score. On the DVD: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest comes to DVD in a two-disc special edition with a great-looking anamorphic 1.85:1 print and 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack, plus tracks in French and Italian and optional subtitles in half a dozen languages. Disc 2 has the trailer, about 13 minutes of deleted scenes (mostly from the first third of the film, and all pretty good) and a making-of retrospective documentary with interesting material from producers Michael Douglas (who inherited the rights from Kirk) and Saul Zaentz, Forman, screenwriter Bo Goldman and many cast-members (though not Nicholson). There's also a commentary track by Forman, Douglas and others which repeats a few things from the documentary but also goes into more scene-specific detail about the development and shooting. --Kim Newman
Last time it landed in the jungle. This time it's chosen Los Angeles. Ravaged by open warfare between rival drug gangs L.A. is the perfect killing ground for the Predator who is drawn by heat and conflict. When the police find mutilated bodies Lieutenant Mike Harrigan (Danny Glover) thinks it's the work of the feuding gangs. Then a mysterious government agent (Gary Busey) arrives and orders him to stay off the case. Instead Harrigan sets out to learn what is really going on and
GaolbreakA 1962 Butchers Production Crime Drama where The Wallis's are a family of burglars led by Ma Wallis (Avice Landone). Their plans for a safe cracking job are scuppered when one of the family is arrested and jailed. Her idea is to spring him and rob the safe as planned. Also stars Peter Reynolds David Kernan and features an early performance by Carol White who found fame in Ken Loach's television play 'Cathy Come Home' and his feature 'Poor Cow' in her too short life. Danger by my SideWith the help of the Met Police Lynne (Maureen Connell) tries to find the gang that killed her detective brother. The trail leads to a steamy club in Soho where she takes a job to help catch her brother's killer. Also stars Anthony Oliver Bill Nagy and Alan Tilvern. A 1962 Butchers Production filmed at Shepperton Studios.
Children of the Stones was an undisputed landmark in children's television. Jeremy Burnham and Trevor Ray's groundbreaking fantasy series, starring Iain Cuthbertson and Gareth Thomas and filmed largely in Avebury in Wiltshire, combined scientific fact and fiction with pagan mythology and rural folklore in its portrayal of a village held captive by the sinister power of its Neolithic stone circle.Intelligent, atmospheric and genuinely unnerving, the series - often cited by those who grew up in the Seventies as the most frightening thing seen on television - was the result of collaboration between writers Burnham and Ray, producer Patrick Dromgoole (whose previous credits had included classic HTV series Sky and Arthur of the Britons) and producer/director Peter Graham Scott; classical composer and conductor Sidney Sager scored the series' chilling theme and incidental music. Unsurprisingly, Children of the Stones has gained a devoted cult following in the decades since its first transmission in 1977
The story of an incredible expedition through a world untouched by time and civilisation a voyage to a land where humans are the species at risk of extinction!
Katie Morag follows the adventures of a feisty independent red-hairded young girl who lives with her family on the fictional Scottish Island of Struay. Although she lives in a fairly unique and remote setting her adventures are full of experiences and feelings that all children can recognize and identify with. Her stories are full of jealousy bravery and rivalry surrounded by an annoying little brother busy shopkeeper parents and a couple of grandmothers who between them know everything about everything. Katie Morag is a girl who has been known to get herself into scrapes but who generally emerges from them in a funny and endearing way. Broadcast on CBeebies Katie Morag is the first adaptation of the much-loved books and stories created written and illustrated by Mairi Hedderwick. The TV series stars Cherry Campbell as Katie Morag. The DVD Katie Morag: Delivers the Mail features 7 episodes from the series including Delivers the Mail The Two Grandmothers The Old Teacher Granny Island's Ceilidh and The New Boy.
Meet Ally McBeal she over-analyses her relationships (and sometimes lack of) to the point of becoming emotionally neurotic. Sounds annoying? It can be. Sounds so-American? It can be. Sounds addictive? It will be... They are young successful lawyers some of them could even be called beautiful a lot of them could be called eccentric and they all work and play together. In this first season we are introduced to the Unisex (the bathroom they all share). Ally is living with Renee st
Nowadays, the word "event" is thrown around all too often when describing television programmes, but back in 1983 the debut of V: The Mini Series was a television event in the truest sense. The appearance of gigantic flying saucers over the world's largest cities heralds the arrival of aliens from a distant galaxy who look human and act benevolently. Of course, things aren't exactly what they seem, and when some suspicious humans start to question the visitors' intentions they uncover a vast alien conspiracy, along with some unusual culinary habits. Soon, the visitors have enslaved the Earth under their fascist rule, and small groups of human rebels are forced underground to fight for the freedom of their entire species. But with the future of the planet still in question the epic story comes to an abrupt end, forcing the viewer to wait for the resolution in V: The Final Battle and the on-going series. That's not to say that the original V isn't worth the price of admission: in over three hours, it manages to capture the spirit of the great classic science fiction of the 1950s and 60s. The feeling of paranoia and insecurity that runs throughout the whole thing makes it feel, at times, like an expanded episode of The Twilight Zone, only shinier (hey, it was the 1980s). The special effects were impressive for their day, inspiring similarly themed films in the 90s (the gigantic flying saucers were seen again in Independence Day, and the storage area of the mothership turns up in The X Files Movie and The Matrix). What does irritate, however, is the utter lack of subtlety in the allegorical storyline. In fact, it could only have been made more obvious by demanding that the entire cast wear "This is how it was in 1930s' Germany" t-shirts. But if V occasionally doesn't live up to its own high standards, it's still a remarkably high-quality slice of epic television drama. On the DVD: The picture is an impressive widescreen 1.85:1 ratio and the soundtrack is adequate Dolby stereo. The DVD boasts a feature-length commentary by writer and director Kenneth Johnson, as well as a 25-minute "Behind the Scenes" documentary. --Robert Burrow
Spanning the three series of this superb sitcom, The Very Best of The Royle Family is a prime taster for those not familiar with the series. Co-created by Caroline Aherne and Craig Cash, who star as Denise and Dave respectively, The Royle Family deserves its own comedic category. They had a hard fight persuading the BBC to leave a laughter track off the show, which would have disrupted its unique ambience and chemistry. Never departing from the house of lazy, good-for-nothing but defiantly sardonic Jim Royle (Ricky Tomlinson) and wife Barbara (Sue Johnston), The Royle Family chronicles the everyday chat and banal comings and goings of this Northern household, which barely qualifies as "working" class, since mostly they are slumped on the sofa in front of the telly in a cathode-induced stupor. Confused viewers waiting for something to "happen" in the conventional sitcom manner will be disappointed. What they'll get instead is an irresistible stream of dialogue that captures unerringly the humdrum cadences of "ordinary" people. These episodes capture the Royles in customary, festive mood--Denise's marriage, Christmas, baby David's birthday party and so forth--which is good, as we get to see more of Liz Smith's magnificent Nana. As each seemingly inconsequential scene vividly illustrates, this is hardly a romanticised family. Denise is an appallingly negligent mother, there's probably never been a green vegetable in the house, most of their friends, including Darren, are well dodgy, and mum Barbara is unfairly put-upon ("Eh, I've been so busy this morning I haven't had time to smoke", she laments at one point). Yet undoubtedly, unlike their regal counterparts, this Royle Family are close-knit, somehow getting by. The family that watches telly together stays together. On the DVD: The Very Best of the Royle Family, disappointingly, has no extra features. --David Stubbs
Live. Laugh. Lie. Cheat. Grow. Share. Connive. Love. In California's beach paradise they do everything under the sun. There's trouble (and plenty of fun) in paradise in this Season 2 collection of the smash-hit series set in Orange County's posh Newport Beach. Hook up with what's coming down as the core-four romances of Ryan-and-Marissa and Seth-and-Summer may (or may not) go from very over to very on; Sandy and Kirsten face choices that could trainwreck their 20-year
Comprising the 1961 & 1962 serials A For Andromeda and its sequel The Andromeda Breakthrough both written by Fred Hoyle and John Elliott. A For Andromeda sees the construction of an alien designed computer by scientist John Fleming (Peter Halliday). Once built however the computer secretly kills one of the lab assistants Christine (Julie Christie) then gives detailed instructions for a new biological organism to be created which quickly develops into a full
In this world humans are the endangered species! An indigenous girl remains all that stands between a lost group of explorers and a tribe of half-human apes...
In 1979 The China Syndrome was the movie everyone was talking about thanks to the enormous publicity generated by the real-life Three Mile Island accident that not only mirrored the events depicted in the film but occurred just twelve days after the movie's release. Nominated for four Academy Awards - Best Actor (Lemmon) Best Actress (Fonda) Best Original Screenplay Best Art Direction The CHina Syndrome remains ""as explosive as the metaphor of its title"" (Los Angeles Herald Exa
In his breakout television role, multiple award winner Clive Owen stars as the talented, devious and utterly charming Derek 'Dex' Love - a City business analyst whose brilliant career, strategised under the pseudonym 'Stephen Crane', is stalked by a shady past. This complete-series release revisits the fast-paced and emotionally compelling scripts that made Chancer such a critical success, brilliantly capturing the heady atmosphere - and the pitfalls - of the late '80s and early '90s' financi...
Rosamunde Pilcher - The Complete Set Best-selling novelist Rosamunde Pilcher is renowned for her storytelling. Her rich romantic tales and their beautiful settings are captured perfectly in this special seven disc DVD boxed set which contains five sumptuous adaptations based on Pilcher's books: Coming Home Nancherrow Winter Solstice Summer Solstice and The Shell Seekers. The films feature a star-studded cast which reads like a who's who of great actors including Joanna Lumley Peter O'Toole David McCallum Honor Blackman Jacqueline Bisset Jean Simmons Sinead Cusack Peter Ustinov Robert Hardy Maximilian Schell and Vanessa Redgrave. Coming Home introduces the glamorous and wealthy Carey-Lewis family and Judith Dunbar. Judith is at boarding school and her family is in Singapore at the outbreak of the Second World War. When she loses touch with her family the Carey-Lewis's welcom her into their home.This story is continued in Nancherrow when the family must struggle to come to terms with post-war Britain. Winter Solstice is an entrancing story of shattered lives and broken hearts. When Elfrida Phipps moves she soon befriends her new neighbours. Tragedy strikes and they all decamp to a house on a Scottish Estate. Set in the beautiful wild Highlands of Scotland the saga is continued in Summer Solstice. The Shell Seekers is the story of love family life and an exquisite painting that has captivated millions and which tears a family apart.
Episodes Comprise: 1. Plenty to Grouse About 2. Charity Begins at Home 3. Every Dog His Day... 4. Hair of the Dog 5. If Wishes Were Horses 6. Pig in the Middle 7. Be Prepared 8. A Dying Breed 9. Brink of Disaster 10. Home and Away 11. Alarms & Excursions 12. Matters of Life and Death 13. Will to Live 14. Big Steps and Little 'Uns
You're travelling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind; a journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. Your next stop, The Twilight Zone.
Carry On Don't Lose Your Head (1967): Carry On laughing until you have hysterics but...Don't Lose Your Head as the Carry On team destroy everything sacred about the classic story of the Scarlet Pimpernel set during the French Revolution. Sid James stars as the Black Fingernail always one jump ahead of Citizen Camembert and Citizen Bidet... Carry On Dick (1974): Notorious outlaw Dick Turpin (More commonly referred to as Big Dick) is running rings around King George's Bow Street runners. Can the half-witted Captain Desmond Fancey Sir Roger Daley and Sergeant Jock Strapp succeed in bringing the wily rogue to justice? Sid James and the rest of the 'Carry On' gang are having a ball and everyone is invited; merry England was never merrier! Carry On Up The Jungle (1970): The Carry On Team go ape crazy in darkest Africa as Professor Inigo Tinkle (Frankie Howerd) and his clumsy sidekick Claude (Kenneth Connor) embark on a bird fancying expedition. Primitive passions are unleashed a forgotten tribe of gorgeous man-hungry females is encountered and a loin-clothed vine-swinging jungle boy (Terry Scott) is the unlikely hero in this riotous romp. Sid James as the fearless white hunter Bill Boosey Joan Sims as the naughty Lady Bagley and Charles Hawtry as Tonka - the father of countless happily go native for this classic Carry On. Carry On Henry (1971): Carry On Henry is the (almost) true story of the love-life of that much-married British monarch Henry VIII (Sid James). A right Royal Flush is guaranteed when flirty Bettina (Barbara Windsor) becomes a favourite at court much to the displeasure of Queen Marie (Joan Sims). Discover the previously hidden details of Henry's private life such as his hatred of garlic and his love of hunting... wenches that is! Carry On England (1975): Make love not war! The Carry On team are part of an experimental mixed anti-aircraft battery during World War II. The Luftwaffe never had it so easy! Recruits ready (Jack Douglas) Willing (Judy Geeson) and Able (Patrick Mower) join forces to strike terror into the heart of the enemy and run rings round their pompous captain S. Melly (Kenneth Connor). Discover where Churchill's famous Victory sign originated from in this classic khaki caper: patriotism has never been funnier! Carry On Up The Khyber (1968): British India 1895. The Burpas are revolting but then again 'The Devils In Skirts' who guard the Khyber Pass are not too inviting either! Can Sir Sidney Ruff-Diamond (Sid James) prevent the scheming Khasi of Kalabar (Kenneth Williams) from starting a full blown rebellion massacring thousands of innocent people ending British rule and making his kushy job obselete? Can he rely on the help of the wayward Brother Belcher (Peter Butterworth)? And can he prevent the secret concerning the 3rd Foot and Mouth Regiment from becoming common knowledge among the natives? All will be revealed in this masterly tale of passion greed and missing underpants!
One of the most unsettling films in the Peter Sellers canon, Hoffman sees the actor in a sinister starring role as a bachelor who obsesses over his secretary Miss Smith (Sinead Cusack, Tam Lin, Revenge). Hoffman discovers Miss Smith's boyfriend (Jeremy Bulloch, The Spy Who Loved Me) has been fiddling the books at work, and blackmails her into spending a week with him. Their time together reveals Hoffman's tragic, lonely existence. Alvin Rakoff (Death Ship) directs a film which is by turns amusing, poignant and uneasy, and which boasts a central performance so uncomfortable and revealing that its star tried to have the film's negative destroyed. Hoffman makes its worldwide debut on Blu-ray.
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