Forthcoming DVDs

Little Sir Nicholas to be released by Simply Media – 10th October 2016

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Little Sir Nicholas will be released by Simply Media on the 10th of October 2016.  Review here.

Based on the classic children’s novel by Cecilia Anne Jones, Little Sir Nicholas is a gripping Victorian saga about blood rights, identity and family rivalries. This six-part BBC adaptation co-written by and featuring Oscar winner Julian Fellowes (Downton Abbey), arrives on DVD on 10 October 2016.

It has long been the destiny of the sons of the Tremaine family to serve as officers in the Royal Navy, but this tradition seems doomed when Sir Walter Tremaine, his wife and their four-year-old son Nicholas (Max Beazley – Maigret) are lost at sea in a wild storm. Five years on, Lady Tremaine (Rachel Gurney – Upstairs, Downstairs), still stricken by the loss of her son and grandson, advertises across the country for a distant heir to come forward.

Penniless Londoner Joanna Tremaine (Bernice Stegers – Undercover) is thrilled when her son Gerald (Jonathan Norris) is chosen to inherit the family title and fortune. But just as they settle into a life of luxury, Little Sir Nicholas is found alive and well in a small coastal French village.

 

Animated Power of the Daleks to be released by BBC Worldwide – November 2016

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Although there have been rumours for a few weeks (following the posting of a clip on YouTube) it’s now been confirmed that a fully animated Power of the Daleks will be released in November.  It’ll debut initially on the BBC Store with a DVD release following later the same month.

A very unexpected but welcome early Christmas present.  Hopefully sales (both download and physical) will be healthy and further releases will follow in the future.  The press release is below.

BBC Worldwide to release animation of lost Doctor Who story, The Power of the Daleks

Doctor Who: The Power of the Daleks is being produced by the team behind the highly successful animation of lost Dad’s Army episode A Stripe For Frazer, first released on BBC Store in February this year. The producer and director is Charles Norton, with character designs from acclaimed comic book artists Martin Geraghty and Adrian Salmon.

Charles Norton says:
“The Power of the Daleks animation is the most ambitious Doctor Who archive restoration ever attempted and we’re all very honoured to be a part of such a an exciting project. Intelligent, suspenseful and magnificently staged, Power of the Daleks is one of the great lost classics of 1960s television and a superb example of the black and white era at its finest.”

Paul Hembury, Executive Producer, BBC Worldwide says:
“Charles and his team are remarkably talented and passionate about Doctor Who and we are thrilled that fans will soon be able to enjoy this rather sinister but wonderful, classic story.”

Doctor Who: The Power Of The Daleks will be released on BBC Store on Saturday 5th November followed by the DVD on Monday 21st November.

An impressive list of special features has now been announced.  Given the bare-bones releases of The Web of Fear and The Enemy of the World, the effort put in here is surprising, but very welcome.  An Andrew Pixley booklet, PDFs of the camera scripts and a full telesnap reconstruction are just some of things which caught my eye.  The 1966 studio recordings of the Dalek voice recording sessions is a slightly staggering feature – presumably this is a recent find as I can’t recall ever hearing about it before.

Alternate soundtracks [DVD only]
The option to listen to the story with a series of completely new digital re-masters of the original soundtrack – a stereo mix; a 5.1 surround sound mix and version of the original 1966 mono sound mix.

Animation Test Footage
A compilation of animation tests, created during the production of the new animated series.

Audio Commentaries on all 6 episodes [DVD only]
Members of the original cast and crew are joined by members of the new animation unit to discuss the production of the story and its new animated reconstruction. Moderated by Toby Hadoke. Please note: this commentary also includes archive audio.

Booklet with Production Notes [DVD only]
An extensively researched set of production notes, written by the noted television historian Andrew Pixley, covering the behind the scenes story of how the original production was made.

Original Camera Scripts [DVD only]
Selected items of original production paperwork and a complete set of original camera scripts

Original Title Sequence – new restoration
An unedited presentation of the full original ‘Doctor Who’ title sequence, prepared using an all new HD re-master of the original film elements.

The Power of the Daleks Animation and Photo Gallery
An extended gallery of images, featuring production photographs from the original 1966 series and artwork from the latest animated production, accompanied by incidental music from the story, which has been digitally re-mastered from the original music production tapes.

The Power of the Daleks Surviving Footage & Original Trailer
A compilation of short film fragments and clips from the original 1966 BBC television production – the only surviving footage to remain of the show’s original BBC1 run.

Original Dalek Voice Session Recording (1966) [DVD only]
Rare and previously unreleased sections from the studio recordings that were made at Maida Vale Studios in 1966 for the Dalek voices.

Servants and Masters – The Making of The Power of the Daleks
A specially prepared documentary directed by John Kelly and featuring interviews with members of the original 1966 cast and crew.

Telesnap reconstruction
Around 400 individual still frames of film exist from the original 1966 television production of ‘The Power of the Daleks’. These images were kept in the programme’s production files by the BBC Written Archive Centre. These images are here combined with the programme’s soundtrack to present a photographic reconstruction of the original programme.

Today (3rd November 2016) it’s been announced that a colour version will be able to be downloaded from the BBC Store at the end of the year whilst a BD will follow next year. This will include the colour version, although whether the black and white edition and all the DVD special features will also be included isn’t yet known.

So if you want Power on disc in colour then you’ll need the BD. Plenty of buying options then, although I think I’ll stick with the b&w DVD.

Treasure Island (BBC, 1977) to be released by Spirit Entertainment – 21st November 2016

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I’m delighted to hear that the 1977 BBC adaptation of Treasure Island, starring Alfred Burke as Long John Silver, will shortly be available on DVD from Spirit Entertainment.

Adapted by John Lucarotti, directed by Michael E. Briant and produced by Barry Letts, this has a cast to die for.  The likes of Talfryn Thomas, Patrick Troughton, David Collings, Jack Watson, Anthony Bate, Terry Scully, Stephen Greif, Thorley Walters, Richard Beale, Edward Peel and Brian Croucher all feature.

It’s due to be released on the 21st of November 2016 (pushed back from the original release date of early October).

The Life and Times of David Lloyd George to be released by Network – 3rd October 2016

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This is another very welcome BBC Network title – due for release in early October.

Philip Madoc gives a career-best performance as one of Britain’s most revered, inspiring – and controversial – leaders in this celebrated BBC series. Scripted by BAFTA-winning Elaine Morgan with input from leading historian A.J.P. Taylor – and with famously haunting theme music by Ennio Morricone – The Life and Times of David Lloyd George paints a multifaceted portrait of a political icon who steered Britain through the First World War and its aftermath, and whose pioneering reforms laid the foundations of the welfare state.

Brought up in a remote Welsh village, on his way to the top Lloyd George inspires both hysterical adoration and an enmity bordering on bloodlust. A passionate social reformer, his struggle to lift the spectres of poverty and the workhouse provokes the ire of the political establishment, while his indefatigable womanising fills many a gossip column; his political dexterity as the Liberal prime minister of a wartime coalition government, however, raised him to a new level of power and influence.

Sink or Swim to be released by Network – 3rd October 2016

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The first fruits of Network’s new deal with the BBC will be arriving this October.

Doctor Who star Peter Davison headlines this well-remembered BBC sitcom, starring alongside BAFTA-winning Hustle stalwart Robert Glenister in his TV debut.

They play brothers Brian and Steve Webber, whose attempt to strike out in business involves a soggy narrowboat and a dubious decision to ply the Thameside tourist trade. Unfortunately, Steve is as loutish and lazy as Brian is charming and ambitious – and the latter finds both his enthusiasm and his relationship with idealistic girlfriend Sonia severely hampered by his brother’s persistent presence!

Scripted by Alex Shearer, creator of The Two of Us, Sink or Swim is a much-sought-after comedy. This set contains all three series.

Happy Ever After to be released by Simply Media – 26th September 2016

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Happy Ever After will be released by Simply Media on the 26th of September 2016.  Review here.

Terry and June Fletcher (Terry Scott and June Whitfield – Terry and June) are a middle-aged, middle-class couple in middle England whose children recently left home. However their path to domestic bliss is soon interrupted by the permanent arrival of scatty Aunt Lucy (Beryl Cooke – The Bill) and her chatterbox mynah bird.

Running from 1974 to 1979 across 41 episodes, including the Comedy Playhouse pilot and Christmas specials, essentially the same characters would be transposed to the even longer-running Terry and June (1979-1987). Relive the exploits of TV’s happiest hapless couple from the beginnings of their perennial partnership in this original series, directed and produced by BAFTA winners Ray Butt (Only Fools and Horses) and Peter Whitmore (Yes Minister), which arrives on DVD 26 September 2016.

 

Sleepers to be released by Simply Media – 24th October 2016

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Sleepers will be released by Simply Media on the 24th of October 2016.  Review here.

Amidst the thaw of glasnost, the Kremlin discovers that two Soviet agents, sent to England under deep cover in 1965, have been ‘lost.’ Sultry, unrelenting KGB high-up Nina Grishina (Joanna Kanska – The Tall Guy) flies into London to lead the search and soon becomes embroiled in a tangle of CIA, KGB and MI-5 plots and counter-plots as the two lost agents, now utterly assimilated, try to avoid detection.

A cat-and-mouse chase follows, delivering a hilarious cross-cultural comedy thriller directed by BAFTA winner Geoffrey Sax (Doctor Who), which is released on DVD on 24 October 2016. Nigel Havers (Chariots of Fire) and Warren Clarke (Dalziel and Pascoe) star as the spies who’d rather stay undercover, alongside Michael Gough (Batman).

 

Meet the Wife to be released by Simply Media – 24th October 2016

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Meet the Wife will be released by Simply Media on the 24th of October 2016.  Review here.

One of the BBC’s earliest domestic sitcoms, Meet the Wife affectionately dissects the trials and comforts of mid-life marriage after the kids have flown the nest.

Written by Ronald Chesney and Ronald Wolfe (On the Buses), and running for five series from 1963 to 1966, the series was immortalised in The Beatles’ ‘Good Morning, Good Morning’: ‘It’s time for tea and Meet the Wife’.

BAFTA-winning Dame Thora Hird DBE (Last of the Summer Wine) and Freddie Frinton (Dinner for One) are Thora and Fred Blacklock, a middle-aged couple in the north of England, just about managing to make ends meet. Fred is an amiable, hard-working plumber who likes a pint on the way home, while Thora has ideas of improving the couple’s social standing. Meet the Wife contains all remaining episodes from series 1-5 (including the Comedy Playhouse pilot ‘The Bed’), and is released on 24 October 2016.

 

World War Two: 1942 and Hitler’s Soft Underbelly – to be released by Simply Media on the 5th of September 2016

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Due in early September from Simply Media is another documentary written and presented by David Reynolds, 1942 and Hitler’s Soft Underbelly.  Review here.

The British fought the Second World War to defeat Hitler. World War Two 1942 and Hitler’s Soft Underbelly asks why, then, did they spend so much of the conflict battling through North Africa and Italy?

Reynolds reassesses Winston Churchill’s conviction that the Mediterranean was the ‘soft underbelly’ of Hitler’s Europe. Travelling to Egypt and Italian battlefields like Cassino, scene of some of the worst carnage in western Europe, he shows how, in reality, the ‘soft underbelly’ became a dark and dangerous obsession for Churchill.

Reynolds reveals a prime minister very different from the jaw-jutting bulldog of Britain’s ‘finest hour’ in 1940 – a leader who was politically vulnerable at home, desperate to shore up a crumbling British empire abroad, losing faith in his army and even ready to deceive his American allies if it might delay fighting head to head against the Germans in northern France. It arrives on DVD on 5 September 2016.

 

World War Two: 1941 and the Man of Steel – to be released on DVD by Simply Media on the 8th of August 2016

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Due shortly from Simply Media is the two-part BBC documentary, 1941 and the Man of Steel, presented by David Reynolds.  This was originally broadcast in 2011.  Review here.

In World War Two 1941 and The Man of Steel, due for release on 8 August 2016, Reynolds examines Josef Stalin’s handling of the conflict between the Soviet Union and Germany during the Second World War. The name Stalin means ‘man of steel’, but Reynolds’ penetrating account reveals that the man himself was anything but.

Releasing to coincide with the 75th anniversary of Operation Barbarossa, the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, Reynolds reveals how the dictator’s mental frailties nearly caused his country to fall to the Nazis, and examines the compromises Stalin was forced to make to survive. He also investigates the events that led to Stalin eventually siding with the Allies, including Winston Churchill’s controversial visit to Moscow in 1942.

Travelling to the sites of the main battles and using original telegrams and official documents, he re-examines how Britain and America were drawn into alliance with Stalin, a dictator almost as murderous as the Nazi enemy.

 

Chucklevision Series One and Two to be released by Simply Media – July/August 2016

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Simply Media will release Chucklevision Series One on the 25th of July 2016 with Series Two following on the 29th of August 2016.  Review here.

‘To me to you to me to you’… a phrase that will bring a chuckle to many generations.

With its catchy theme song Chuckle Vision Chuckle Chuckle Vision and inimitable stars The Chuckle Brothers, Chucklevision was one of the BBC’s longest running children’s series gracing our screens from 1987 – 2009 and now series one and two of the hilarious, madcap, much loved series arrive on DVD courtesy of Simply Media.

The Chuckle Brothers aka Barry and Paul Elliott are a TV phenomenon, with their unique humour that transcends kids TV to entertain all ages, and in 2008 they received the Special Award at the Children’s BAFTAs for their work.

Chucklevision first aired in 1987 and now The Complete Series One arrives on DVD on 25 July 2016 and features 13 original barmy episodes. With laughs and larks aplenty, Paul and Barry Chuckle try to launch their own television series, with a little help from Simon Lovell, the magician extraordinaire, and Billy Butler’s Armchair Theatre. It’s quite a show with dancing, singing, conjuring and even bodybuilding as the brothers try their hand at a bit of everything for our entertainment.

The second series of the wacky and thoroughly entertaining show aired from 1988 – 1989 and now Chucklevision The Complete Series Two, featuring another 13 zany episodes, arrives on DVD on 29 August 2016.

This series sees the boys investigate hobbies, farming and U.F.O.s, celebrate Christmas and the Australian Bicentennial, perform with a symphony orchestra and learn the art of puppetry, invent a robot and observe wildlife… and that’s not all!

Liverpool 1 to be released on DVD by Simply Media on 15/8/16

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Liverpool 1 will be released on DVD by Simply Media on the 15th of August 2016.  Review here.

Liverpool: the home of heroes and legends. Football, The Beatles, Ferry Across the Mersey – people know this city. At least, they think they do… Merseyside CID know another Liverpool. Day to day, on the streets, they’re at the sharp end of the fight against the drug pushers, porn barons, paedophiles and pimps who run this great port’s crime networks.

Liverpool 1 is a gritty drama that originally aired on ITV in the late 1990s, from BAFTA award-winning directors Ken Horn and Terry McDonough. Starring a wealth of great British acting talent including Samantha Womack (Eastenders, Game On), Scot Williams (Mersey Beat, Meadowlands) and Mark Womack (Murphy’s Law, Babylon) and featuring the inimitable Carry On favourite Leslie Phillips CBE, it comes to DVD for the first time in the UK thanks to Simply Media.

DC Isobel de Pauli has taken on a new job, in a new city where she soon discovers she is a stranger to the ancient, hidden connections that tie Liverpool’s criminals together… and its cops. On arrival she comes face to face with John Sullivan, the city’s most charismatic and influential crime boss. He’s as fascinated by her as she is by him—but Sullivan is the least of her worries.

Her new partner, the silent and indistinctive DC Mark Callaghan, knows this world inside out ­– and he’s doing everything in his power to shut de Pauli out of it. Callaghan is the subject of an internal police investigation, and de Pauli has some serious suspicions about his links to Liverpool’s criminal underworld.

This uncompromising drama pits cops versus criminals, but who is on whose side? Liverpool 1: Complete Series 1 and 2 comes to DVD as a bumper 4-disc set on 15 August 2016.

The Ambassador to be released on DVD by Simply Media on 15/8/16

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Simply Media will release both series of The Ambassador on the 15th of August 2016.  Review here.

British acting legend Pauline Collins OBE (Shirley Valentine, Dickensien) stars as The Ambassador in this powerful BBC drama from award-winning, BAFTA-nominated Russell Lewis (Inspector Morse, Endeavour), which originally aired in 1998 and now makes its UK DVD premier courtesy of Simply Media.

Harriet Smith is the newly appointed British ambassador to Ireland; recently widowed, this sharp-witted confident woman, holds one of Britain’s most coveted and powerful Embassy posts and has unenviable task of quelling the mounting tensions between the two countries. She must perform a delicate balancing act between raising her two teenage sons and the demands of her career.

John Stone (Denis Lawson – Bleak House, Star Wars) is Harriet’s determined commercial attache and main aide. But the ever-crafty Stone also works for another master – MI6.

Harriet finds herself in a sinister and dangerous world far removed from the cocktail parties of Downing Street. Entangled in a complicated web of half-truths and withheld information – rife both in and outside of the Embassy walls – Harriet is up against a host of people who would love nothing more than to see her fail.

 

Long Shadow: The Great War to be released by Simply Media on 4/7/16

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Long Shadow: The Great War will be released on DVD by Simply Media on 4/7/16.  Review here.

Based on the prize-winning book, powerful BBC WWI documentary series Long Shadow: The Great War makes its UK DVD debut courtesy of Simply Media.

Renowned British historian David Reynolds explores the enduring impact of The Great War on our world and the shadow it has cast over Europe since the last shots were finally fired. This powerful, eye-opening three part series comes to DVD for the first time on 4 July 2016.

In the series Reynolds aims to change the perceptions of the First World War from the mud, blood, Tommies and trenches to give a sense of the broader consequences of war and its effect over the whole of the twentieth century.

Travelling to locations across Europe-from Slovenia to the Sudetenland, Belfast to Berlin- he examines everything that World War I left in its wake, illuminating how the conflict unleashed forces we still grapple with today.

This remarkable series also chronicles how the experience of war haunted the generation who lived through it, and the soldiers who survived it- dynamic characters such as Benito Mussolini, Eamon de Valera, Philippe Petain, James Ramsay MacDonald and Thomas Masaryk.

Drawing on years of research and a wealth of historical footage, Long Shadow provides a fresh, captivating and-at times-terrifying look at The Great War and its lasting legacy.

 

Fred (Fred Dibnah) to be released by Simply Media on 23/5/16

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Simply Media will release Fred on the 23rd of May 2016.  Review here.

With his specs, cloth cap and infectious toothy grin, Bolton born steeplejack Fred Dibnah was instantly recognisable. He burst onto TV screens in 1978 blithely repairing Bolton’s town hall clock at the dizzying height of some 250 feet and quickly found a place in the nation’s heart, becoming a familiar face on TV for many years. Now some of Fred’s most famous programmes can be enjoyed again thanks to the forthcoming DVD release from Simply Media.

Following that first local news report, the BBC commissioned the BAFTA winning 1980 documentary ‘Fred Dibnah: Steeplejack’, which showed him demolishing giant factory chimneys with ease and casually hopping across the chimney tops with death-defying agility.

After that, seven 30-minute programmes were made, exploring Fred’s eccentric life as a steeplejack and steam tractor fanatic, and now for the first time together on DVD, the seven episode 1982 BBC television series ‘Fred’ arrives alongside ‘Fred Dibnah: Steeplejack’.

In Fred, director by Don Haworth (A Year with Fred) caught Dibnah at great heights doing what he does best – and filmed him far below. Driving his favourite steamroller Betsy, soon the man with two very Victorian tastes became a television star just for being himself, long before the days of reality TV.

With the world literally at his feet, Fred was much in demand as a television presenter and after-dinner speaker on industrial history and all things mechanical – and especially anything related to his overriding passion: steamrollers – he even arrived on one to collect his MBE from Buckingham Palace.

Step into the fascinating life of national treasure, Fred Dibnah in this fantastic collection of his first ever appearances on TV in Fred, available on DVD for the very first time on 23 May 2016.

The Further Adventures of the Musketeers to be released by Simply Media on 23/5/16

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Simply Media will release The Further Adventures of the Musketeers on the 23rd of May 2016.  Review here.

Simply Media is also pleased to announce the release of another BBC classic family favourite The Further Adventures of the Musketeers (1967) on DVD for the very first time on 23 May 2016. Starring Brian Blessed (Z Cars), Joss Ackland (The Hunt for Red October) and Michael Gothard (The Three Musketeers), this classic adventure series is set twenty years on from the original and is based on Alexander Dumas’ sequel of The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After.

Roobarb & Custard – The Complete Collection to be released by Simply Media on 16/5/16

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Simply Media will be releasing Roobarb & Custard – The Complete Collection on the 16th of May 2016.  Review here.

More than 40 years after making their debut on British TV screens, and over a decade since their return, green dog and pink cat Roobarb and Custard are bounding back into view again, accompanied by their ubiquitous theme tune (acclaimed as one of finest children’s TV title songs ever).

The groundbreaking animated series and its sequel are being paired together for the first time ever on a DVD due to be released as Roobarb and Custard: The Complete Collection on 16 May 2016 courtesy of Simply Media.

Famed for both entertaining kids at the end of children’s TV programming, and, ahead of the teatime BBC news, wooing a cult audience of grown-ups, Roobarb and Custard is instantly recognisable, from its distinctive theme tune, penned by library legend Johnny Hawksworth (Man About the House), to its crazy lead characters. That theme tune was even sampled for a rave friendly chart version in the early 1990s.

Simply Media’s splendid new DVD release pairs the original 30 episodes from the 1974 series – the first fully animated television series to be made in the UK – as well as the 2005 Roobarb And Custard Too series, comprising of 39 episodes.

Both come from the mind of original creator Bob Godfrey (Henry’s Cat) and each feature the distinctive narration of British comedy legend Richard Briers (The Good Life). Each of the two series features the antics of the green dog Roobarb and his outlandish schemes and hapless plans, seemingly forever foiled by his next-door nemesis, pink cat Custard.

Network announce new BBC deal

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Heralded by a short, enigmatic video (which seemed to suggest they’d be offering old copies of the Radio Times for sale!) Network have announced that they’ll be releasing some choice archive gems from the BBC archive.

With Network having recently signed long term deals with both ITV PLC and Fremantle, this is another intriguing announcment – although it’s slightly tempered by the fact that a slew of proposed ITV DVDs announced last year have gone back into limbo (possibly this is why they mention that delays may occur with certain titles).

The lack of new archive releases from Network recently has been slightly puzzling, but the BBC deal is encouraging news.  Their announcement is reproduced below –

They’re Back! – BBC Announcement

The early days of our fledging label saw us rescuing Robinson Crusoe, crossing borders into Communist-state fairyland and presenting some old public information films to a baffled 21st century audience. It all looked just a bit weird on paper.

These unusual and now almost library-standard releases led us, inevitably, to ask for more of the same but we instead got ’The Goodies’, ‘Ripping Yarns’ and ’Till Death Us Do Part’ for our troubles.

So now we are almost back where we started, having recently concluded an agreement with the BBC to revisit some of our older releases as well as bring a lot of new material to add to our range.

Towards the end of the year and beyond we’ll be releasing complete series box sets of shows that we’d distributed many years ago including ‘The Goodies’, ‘Till Death Us Do Part’ and ‘Sykes’ amongst rarer fare like ‘All Passion Spent’ and ‘Johnny Jarvis’, some Screen Two presentations such as ’The Vision’, bafflingly unreleased classics like ’The Life And Times Of David Lloyd George’ and much more.

We’ll be sharing news on these releases with you as we work through them but you’ll need to be patient. There are substantial technical and clearance issues to attend to but it is underway as we write. The first titles will appear before the end of the year, hopefully sooner.

 

Simply Media BBC DVD Releases for March 2016. The Missing Postman, Children of Green Knowe and Stalky & Co

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Released next week from Simply Media are three more classic BBC dramas.

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The Missing Postman, which won Best Comedy Drama at the British Comedy Awards in 1997, stars James Bolam as postman Clive Peacock.  Forced to take early retirement, he decides to deliver his last batch of letters by hand, which sets him off on an adventure up and down the country.  Apart from the ever solid Bolam, there’s a quality supporting cast which includes Alison Steadman, Larry Lamb and Barbara Dixon.

The Missing Postman has a running time of 150 minutes and an RRP of £19.99.  DVD Review.

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Toseland (Alec Christie) seems doomed to spend the holidays at his boarding school, but an invitation from his mysterious great-grandmother Mrs Oldknow (Daphne Oxenford) provides him with a welcome diversion.  Her estate, Green Knowe, is impressive, but things take an unexpected turn when he sees the spirits of children who lived in the house during the reign of Charles II.  Transmitted in 1986, The Children of Green Knowe is a fondly remembered series which some rate as highly as The Box of Delights.  Soon we’ll be able to see if they’re right.

The Children of Green Knowe has a running time of 100 minutes and an RRP of £19.99.  DVD Review.

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Stalky (Robert Addie), M’Turk (Robert Burbage) and Beetle (David Parfitt) are three schoolboys resident in a Victorian public school.  They entertain themselves by playing practical jokes on their schoolmasters and they currently rule the roost – but will they remain on top?  Produced by Barry Letts and based on the novel by Rudyard Kipling, I’m looking forward to rewatching this 1982 adaptation, not least for the performance of the late Robert Addie (probably best known as the much put-upon Guy of Gisburne from Robin of Sherwood).

Stalky & Co has a running time of 180 minutes and an RRP of £24.99.  DVD Review.

All three titles are released on the 28th of March.