British Drama

Starring Idris Elba (THE WIRE) LUTHER is a deeply thrilling crime series, crackling with energy, distinctive characters and snappy, clever dialogue. On a moral crusade, too often with only his convictions for company, John Luther is a deeply troubled man, a philosophical cop possessed by the insoluble problem of evil and justice in a Godless world. Confronting depravity in its many terrible forms, over a succession of psychological duels between hunter and hunted, perpetrator and prey, Luther reveals his capacity for violence as well as kindness; his sudden vulnerability and dizzying, visionary mind; why his wife left him for another man, and why his colleagues are frequently left open-mouthed in awe. As the stakes get ever higher and more personal, Luther's lonely path pulls him towards the very edge of temptation. Will the relentless pursuit of light tip him into the ultimate darkness?

Based on ex-SAS man Chris Ryan's bestseller Strike Back is a story of deception, redemption and revenge, all played out in the interlinked lives of two former soldiers; Major Hugh Collinson and discharged veteran John Porter. Their paths last crossed seven years ago. Now, amidst a new hostage crisis in the Middle East, their lives are about to collide again.
It’s 1993, Basra City and Porter leads a team to rescue a kidnapped British businessman. The decisions taken on that night inexorably unite the fate of both Porter and Collinson. Porter bares the burden of guilt and the repercussions haunt him for years, until an opportunity presents itself for him to return to Iraq and redeem himself.

Award-winning actress Amanda Burton (Silent Witness, The Commander) stars as solicitor and crown prosecutor Helen West in three sophisticated, psychologically gripping feature-length dramas based on the acclaimed suspense novels by Frances Fyfield. A workaholic with a messy personal life, Helen West juggles gruesome cases of domestic abuse, sexual molestation and murder alongside her rocky relationship with policeman Chief Superintendent Bailey (Conor Mullen Rough Diamond, Holby City). Contains all three feature-length episodes Deep Sleep, Shadow Play & A Clear Conscience.

"Based at police HQ in Dover, the small, under-resourced Missing Persons Unit is run by a charismatic woman detective: DS Mary Jane Croft, played by Pauline Quirke. Mary Jane and her story form the emotional heart of the series. MJ, as she likes to be known, harbours a dark personal secret: a missing sister of her own. It is her journey to face up to her past that runs through each episode and provides the emotionally charged dénouement of the series. Each episode tackles a very different missing person case which MJ and her team must try and solve. They are in a race against time, since each case often involves people at risk, either from themselves or others. The process of investigation is a key element in their journey to find the missing person and also provides dramatic impetus for the viewer. This includes MJ s psychological profiling of the missing person and also the team s tracking and tracing, which requires the use of all manner of modern technology as well as old fashioned police legwork. Whether it is thirty minutes, or thirty years, when someone goes missing, lives are irrevocably changed. Those left behind are plunged into a sense of limbo: not knowing why their loved one has left and worse still, if their loved one is still alive."

An epic adaptation of John Wyndhams best-selling iconic novel, which brings his terrifying creation of carnivorous plant species to life in a CGI extravaganza, supported by a sensational all-star cast that includes Dougray Scott, Joely Richardson, Brian Cox, Eddie Izzard, Vanessa Redgrave and Jason Priestley. In this electrifying thriller, social order collapses as humanity confronts a double catastrophe. The majority of people have been blinded in a freak solar storm leaving them at the mercy of opportunists who still have their sight. Meanwhile the Triffids are evolving and advancing on the towns in search of human prey. In the face of total human annihilation, it is down to a select few to take a stand against mankinds deadliest adversary, a foe with a fatal sting and an unquenchable taste for human flesh.

Robbie Coltrane (CRACKER) and Sharon Small (THE INSPECTOR LYNLEY MYSTERIES) star in the tense crime drama MURDERLAND. The events surrounding a murder are told from the perspective of the three main protagonists; including the daughter of the victim, for whom the investigation becomes a traumatic obsession.
Murderland is an emotional and passionate thriller that tells a traumatic murder story through the eyes of three central characters: Carrie the daughter of the murdered woman, Douglas Hain, the detective in charge of the investigation and Sally the murder victim.

Some people say the gun is the great equalizer. But fans of this 1980s series know the real answer: Robert McCall. A retired secret agent with a bad temper, McCall (Edward Woodward) has embarked on a new mission: fighting for the innocent victims of an indifferent judicial system. But while McCall's motives as a private investigator may be noble, his tactics are just as ruthless as those he used on the government payroll. He's not nice, but he gets the job done. Stalking the mean streets of New York in search of the truth, he's one-man army who won't take no for an answer. This collection presents the first series, full of strong-arm tactics, witty comebacks, and tough-guy posturing.

A devastating road accident is the catalyst for ITV serial COLLISION. Featuring a stellar ensemble cast the high-octane drama tells the epic tale of the survivors, their friends, their family and their colleagues. The multi-layered narrative interweaves the stories of the lives touched by the crash, with the stories of those investigating it. The investigation itself soon exposes a web a disturbing revelations, from Government cover-ups to smuggling and even murder. Douglas Henshall (PRIMEVAL) plays Detective Inspector John Tolin, who takes up the case despite having recently lost his wife in a road accident which left his daughter disabled. As Tolin pieces together the events leading up to the crash we are introduced to its key figures; including a millionaire property dealer, two brothers involved in a dubious deal, a disgruntled son-in-law, a guilty piano teacher, and police officers pursuing a speeding BMW, to name but a few.

Dramatisation of the events surrounding the capture of the Channel Islands during World War II and three of the families that struggle to come to terms with life under a new, dictatorial regime. REVIEW Having thorougly enjoyed this on TV I was desperate to obtain on DVD and have not been disappointed when re-watching it. Although it is only a few years since on TV it is interesting to see a few of the actors e.g. Laurence Fox becoming more well known. Scenery was magnificent and the acting made me feel for the islanders during this awful time. Am sure it depicted a good view of what happened on the channel islands during the war.

Martin Shaw stars in a masterly exploration of an isolated and beleaguered community coping with the evil and disruption of murder, based on PD James' bestselling novel. The story is set in an Anglican theological college on a desolate stretch of the British coastline. When the body of one of the students is found on the shore smothered by a covering of sand, his wealthy father demands that Scotland Yard should re-examine the verdict of accidental death. Commander Dalgliesh agreed to pay a visit and finds himself embroiled in one of the most horrific and puzzling cases of his career.

Dedication and results have earned Detective Chief Inspector Ross Tanner the prestigious charge of the Special Murder Unit, but Tanner has a secret - he is suffering from a rare disorder that causes intermittent blindness and hallucinations.
When his deputy, Detective Inspector Tully, deduces the nature of his debilitation an uneasy alliance is formed between them. She will be his eyes in return for his help in furthering her career.

P.D. James' plucky detective heroine Cordelia Gray should be careful what she wishes for. At the beginning of the fabulous British series An Unsuitable Job for a Woman, Gray is a young assistant to a longtime private detective, hoping to learn the ropes as an investigator. But getting her wish plunges her, ready or not, into the murky worlds of passion, philandering, surveillance, and murder. Gray's career is truly one learned--and earned--by fire. Helen Baxendale (snippy Emily from Friends) plays Cordelia with nuance and pluck--she's what Helen Mirren's Jane Tennison (Prime Suspect) might have been as a very young, idealistic, wet-behind-the-ears novice. Cordelia suddenly inherits a detective firm when her mentor commits suicide, so she's thrust into investigation with little besides her own wit, and the help of her flinty assistant, Mrs. Sparshott (Annette Crosbie). "We may not look the part," deadpans Mrs. Sparshott, "but appearances can be deceiving."

Patrick Stewart (X-Men, Star Trek: The Next Generation) brings his commanding screen presence to the role of Ian Hood, special scientific troubleshooter for the British government. A brilliant professor with a taste for danger, Hood has the scientific acumen, analytical skills, and passion for justice that make him the ideal expert-on-call in a crisis. Backed by his tough-minded bodyguard Rachel Young (Ashley Jensen, Topsy-Turvy, Extras), Hood takes on rogue cloners, ruthless polluters, resurgent viruses, and other menaces at the very frontiers of contemporary science. Created by acclaimed sci-fi writer Stephen Gallagher (Doctor Who), Eleventh Hour delivers high-energy investigations that will keep you on the edge of your seat. "Grips you straightaway." —The Guardian (U.K.)

Starring Juliet Stevenson (Truly, Madly, Deeply and Bend it Like Beckham) and Lee Ingleby (TheLast Region) and based on the novel by award-winning author Val McDermid, Place of Execution is a taut psychological thriller that explores, exposes and explodes the borderline between reality and illusion in a multi-layered narrative that turns expectations on their heads. A modern day story with flashbacks to the tragic events of the past. On a freezing December night in 1963, the worst kind of fear strikes the secluded Derbyshire hamlet of Scardale. Thirteen-year-old Alison Carter has vanished without a trace. Against all their instincts, the self sufficient villagers are reluctantly forced to ask the outside world for help. For newly-promoted Detective Inspector George Bennett, its the first chance to show his bosses what hes made of. But in spite of his dogged efforts, her disappearance remains a mystery until he uncovers a piece of evidence that turns the investigation on its head and leads him to the gruesome answer and the apparently incontrovertible evidence of Alisons violent death.

Famous entrepreneur Sir Alan Sugar puts a bunch of aspiring young businessmen and businesswomen through the grind to find his next 'apprentice'. The lucky winner will land a fabulous six figure contract in one of Sir Sugar's affiliated companies. Features the best moments from the popular reality TV show's first four series.

The streets of London's East End are awash with blood. A murderer stalks the night, picking off vulnerable women and leaving them brutally butchered. But this is not the 19th Century; this is not Jack the Ripper – this is a copycat killer and once again the police remain clueless… .For fast-tracked, media savvy DI Chandler it's his first big murder case; for front-line, hard-bitten DS Miles, he’s now saddled with a boss who would rather talk about Emotional Intelligence than gut feeling. Neither of them have a clue, until renowned 'Ripperologist' Edward Buchan draws their attention to the similarities between the Jack the Ripper killings in 1888 and the modern-day murder. The race is on to succeed where police officers failed over 100 years before – to catch the copycat killer before he strikes again.

James Nesbitt plays Max Raban, a former high-flying journalist whose unfortunate career dive finds him rooting through bins in the hope of uncovering juicy celebrity stories. However, Raban gets more than he bargains for when he discovers an international conspriacy that plunges him into a world of danger and deceit.

Burn Up is a high-stakes conspiracy thriller in which two friends--power players in the international oil industry--face a series of violent events and shocking revelations that could tear apart their friendship, their business, even civilization as we know it. Rupert Penry-Jones plays Tom McConnell, an up-and-coming oilman whose best friend Mack (Bradley Whitford) calls the shots as Washington’s top oil lobbyist. When environmental activist Holly, played by Neve Campbell, infiltrates Tom’s company, she opens Tom’s eyes to a world where the end may be near, and both sides--those fighting climate change and those determined to get rich off the status quo--are willing to kill and be killed. Tom, Mack, and Holly must all decide where their loyalties lie, and how far they are willing to go in order to win. Burn Up takes viewers from the oil fields of Saudi Arabia, to the oil mansions of London; from Arctic villages where thawing gases burst into flame, to the UN convention where the fate of the world hangs in the balance. Burn Up delivers an eviscerating tale of the last great game, where the earth is at stake, and time is running out.

The worst thing Ben has ever done is, tonight, he takes his Dad's black cab out without his permission. But that's not why Ben ends the evening in a police cell. What looked to be a spontaneous evening of fun with a sexy stranger, Melanie, has culminated in a dead girl and Ben covered in her blood, holding the murder weapon. All the evidence points to Ben. There are no other leads. But he didn t do it. He can t remember all the events of the night, but he s sure he didn t. Ben is about to see what the criminal justice system does to someone who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Ben Graham (RICHARD COYLE) and Alisha Cole (INDIRA VARMA) are two lawyers about to witness something that will take them into a world of few moral certainties. They observe a miscarriage of justice on their own doorstep and, instead of giving in to the temptation to look the other way, they speak out. However, by trying to do the right thing, Ben and Alisha suddenly find themselves on the other side of the law enemies of the state. Produced by Carnival Films, The Whistleblowers is a six-part series created by the award-winning Tony Marchant (The Mark Of Cain, Passer By, Holding On, Recovery, Kid In The Corner), who writes three of the six episodes. One episode is written by real life whistleblower and ex immigration officer Tony Saint, another by ex teacher Steve Thompson and a sixth by Paul Logue (Sea of Souls). Each episode of The Whistleblowers begs the question could you? Or, more truthfully, would you?

After four years abroad, Stephen Ezard (Benedict Cumberbatch, Atonement) returns to London for his brother Michael's (Max Beesley, Hotel Babylon) funeral. Following a major terrorist attack, Britain has become a security state and U.K. citizens have their movements tracked by the government. Stephen finds himself in the midst of a conspiracy as he sets out to discover what really happened to his brother.

A chilling reinvention of the unforgettable 1970’s series – written by Primeval writer, Adrian Hodges and based on Terry Nation’s original novel.Left bewildered and numb, untouched by a virus that had swept across the world destroying all but a random selection of desperate souls, these are the ‘lucky ones’ left alive when so many died. This lonely few now have to step into a strange new world where everything that was once safe and familiar is now strange and dangerous. Among those struggling for survival are Abby, a devoted mother with a missing son; Greg, a loner, hiding the pain of his past; Anya, a doctor who has seen too much; Al, a playboy who becomes surrogate father to Najid; and Tom Price, handsome, dangerous and a high security prisoner before the virus hit. In the ghost cities and empty fields, power, water and food supplies are scarce. Just to stay alive they will have to band together, utilise their talents and learn new skills. But can they all be trusted? And what new trials await those trying to rebuild a dead civilisation?

The damned are not content to burn in hell any longer. There is one man they must destroy before they can be free. Father Jacob is drawn into a terrifying struggle for his faith and his life. Witnessing startling acts of supernatural possession, demonic attacks, and satanic births. Exorcism is his only weapon but it may not be enough. God doesn’t always answer our prayers.

The Complete Forsyte Saga is a four-disc box set comprising series one and two of the television drama, which is based on the novels by John Galsworthy. Set at the turn of the 20th century, it profiles three generations of the Forsytes--an upper class Victorian family--and their relationships with each other, as they experience a tumultuous period in British history. Damian Lewis stars as Soames Forsyte, a rich London lawyer who marries the very gorgeous Irene (Gina McKee) in order to complete his picture-perfect life. The show also stars Ioan Gruffudd (as an architect named Phillip Bosinney), and Rupert Graves (as the serial-marrying painter and Irene's later husband, Young Jolyon Forsyte).

Richard Sharpe (Sean Bean) began as a brash young commander in the Napoleonic Wars who found himself in charge of an inexperienced battalion, in the continuing television saga SHARPE, based on the novels of Bernard Cornwell. This collection contains all 15 SHARPE adventures to date, covering all of Sharpe's battles, both personal and professional. Includes 'Sharpe's Rifles', 'Sharpe's Eagle', 'Sharpe's Company', 'Sharpe's Enemy', 'Sharpe's Honour', 'Sharpe's Gold', 'Sharpe's Battle', 'Sharpe's Sword', 'Sharpe's Regiment', 'Sharpe's Siege', 'Sharpe's Mission', 'Sharpe's Revenge', 'Sharpe's Justice', 'Sharpe's Waterloo' and 'Sharpe' Legend'.

Mobile is a new conspiracy thriller which unfolds against the backdrop of the Iraq War and the corrupt world of the multi-billion pound mobile phone industry. It flashes back and forth to retrace events from the perspectives of three different people: the engineer, the soldier and the boss. Each episode features the same story told from a different viewpoint and only in the final scenes of the third episode is the shocking connection between all three stories made for the first time.

The State Within A flight explodes in mid-air during take off near Washington DC. Later that day, as a shocked capital struggles to come to terms with the disaster, a diplomatic catastrophe envelops the British Embassy. A cat's cradle of tangled affinities and conflicting interests told through interlinking stories unfold as British Ambassador Mark Brydon slowly realises that he is being played by an invisible puppeteer with great power. A tightly plotted conspiracy thriller about the limits of diplomacy in a world where government has abdicated responsibility for war.

The Cold Blood - Complete Series 1 DVD contains all episodes from the first series of this gripping ITV crime drama. In series one we're introduced to Wicklow (Matthew Kelly)--the serial killer who was jailed after a macabre murdering spree, which rendered him one of Britain's most infamous criminals. Vilified by the popular press and despised by fellow inmates, Wicklow's notoriety is compounded by the fact that detectives investigating his crimes never found the body of his last victim. And even though Wicklow is behind bars, no one is safe...

Series one boasts a fantastic cast, which includes stars such as Matthew Kelly ("Bleak House"), Jemma Redgrave ("Mansfield Park"), John Hannah ("The Mummy"), Pauline Quirke ("Down To Earth"), Russell Brand ("Russell Brand's Got Issues"), Tony Slattery ("Whose Line Is It Anyway?"), Bill Ward ("Coronation Street"), Phil Davis ("Rose & Maloney"), Nikki Sanderson ("Coronation Street") and Steve John Shepherd ("This Life"). The Cold Blood - Complete Series 1 DVD also features a 60-minute look "Behind the Scenes".

In Touching Evil, Detective Inspector Dave Creegan and his partner Susan Taylor--of the Organised and Serial Crime Unit--deal with crimes involving the seamier side of human nature, like a serial killer with a predilection for the scalps of young women, a tortured relief-worker bent on exorcising demons carried back from Bosnia, and an international ring of black-market adoption agencies. This box set includes every episode from the first three series of the show.

This sensational multi-stranded thriller about five individual days during the aftermath of a young mother's abduction gripped the nation all the way to its heart-stopping conclusion. Featuring an impeccable, all-star cast including Hugh Bonneville, Janet McTeer, Edward Woodward and David Oyelowo this is a stunning journey into the heart of a family's worst fears becoming reality.

Three episodes featuring the Scottish detective from Ian Rankin's novels. In 'Black And Blue' Inspector Rebus' investigations become more complex when he is faced with an internal enquiry into his work. Also features: 'The Hanging Garden' and 'Dead Souls'. John Hannan steps into the role.

Nominated for two BAFTA Awards, this edgy forensic drama follows the dedicated pathologist Dr Ian McCallum and his team, as they race against time to solve the murders of London's East End. For the dedicated St Patrick's team to get to the truth, and provide justice for the victims, they must uncover the secrets of the deceased. McCallum is a man driven by a passion for the truth, but his love life is spiralling out of control, and very often he finds himself too close for comfort to the victims of the crime scene. This series compilation contains 9 dramatic episodes filled with suspense and dark twists.

When the murder of a twelve year old girl rocks a local community, authorities are keen to solve the case. In fact they are so keen, that some members take matters a little too far...

Holby Blue is a snapshot of policing post 9/11. With the ‘war on terror’ affecting home soil, the challenges facing the police officers and CID unit of Holby South are very different to those of the traditional ‘bobby on the beat’. The intrepid team of officers strive to cut through the red tape and do the job they love; pushing personal differences to the side not only to defeat drug dealers and gang members but to overcome the terrorist threat that casts a shadow over their patch. The team at Holby Blue prove that modern day policing isn’t just about robberies and ASBOs.

This two-DVD set presents seven episodes of the Lock Stock...... TV series, based on Guy Ritchie's gangster comedy. The collection also features a behind-the-scenes documentary and a video by Ocean Colour Scene. Episodes include: the pilot "Lock, Stock...& Four Stolen Hooves," "Lock, Stock...& 200 Smoking Kalashnikovs," "Lock, Stock...& A Fistful of Jack & Jills," "Lock, Stock...& Spaghetti Sauce," "Lock, Stock...& Two Sips," "Lock, Stock...& One Big Bullock," and "Lock, Stock...& A Good Slopping Out."

Shameless writer Paul Abbott’s acclaimed BBC drama follows the connection between the death of a politician’s research assistant and the death of a drug dealer. Stephen Collins (David Morrissey, Basic Instinct 2) is an ambitious, high-flying British politician. Cal McAffrey (John Simm, Life On Mars ) is Collins’ former campaign manager who is now an investigative journalist. One day, Collins’ research assistant mysteriously falls to her death on London Underground. A revelation about Collins’ relationship with his assistant soon hits the headlines. A young suspected drug dealer is murdered. The two apparently unconnected deaths lead to a web of intrigue. Friendships are tested and lives are put on the line as it unfolds. The drama is a taut six-part conspiracy thriller looking at the relationship between politics, big business and the press. Also stars Bill Nighy (Love Actually) and Kelly MacDonald (Trainspotting).

A Perfect Spy traces the rise and fall of Magnus Pym and his career through intelligence. From chance meetings with people will be important to him in the future to a life in Czechoslovakia, Washington and finally on the run in England Pym weaves his way through the complicated world of espionage. Where no-one is safe from betrayal, not even his father.

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy stars Alec Guinness as George Smiley, John Le Carr?'s familiar, ageing British Intelligence agent, called out of retirement to discover the identity of the high-ranking Russian mole who has burrowed deep into "The Circus"--codename for the British secret service. This slow-burning, complicated and ultimately rewarding BBC adaptation, dramatised by Arthur Hopcroft and directed by John Irvin, perfectly captures Le Carr?'s own insight into the shady underworld of spies and the political climate during the Cold War.
Le Carr?'s style is the antithesis of his contemporary Ian Fleming's--far from the glamorous lifestyle of Bond, with his fast cars and faster women, these agents ride around in Skodas, and Beryl Reid is the closest thing to a femme fatale, save for Smiley's elusive wife, Anne. An extraordinary cast (including Ian Bannen, Hywel Bennett and Ian Richardson), gritty realism and close attention to detail make Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy an outstanding piece of television drama

George Smiley is once again called out of innocent retirement to trace an enemy infiltrator in the department where he was once the prize employee, the shy and retiring master of espionage moves forwards to investigate and finds himself going back over some very old ground…

This is the story of Blunt, Burgess, Philby and Maclean, the most notorious double agents in British history. In 1934 at Cambridge University, they establish a spy ring fuelled by youthful idealism, passionately committed to social justice and to fighting fascism. The four become embroiled in obtaining and passing on vital information, betraying their country to fight the evils of fascism. Enigma secrets and atomic details are given to Russian contacts as the careers of the four take them from Guernica to Vienna, New York and Washington - and a final, desperate flight to Moscow. During almost 20 years of counter-intelligence, despite their personal journeys, the four are bound by their beliefs and their secrets. This is a thriller spy story that begins with a profound closeness based on a passion for a cause, and then moves on to shared sacrifices, stress, strain, and eventually breakdown and betrayal.

At the turn of the 20th century, one remarkable man single-handedly tried to alter the course of history. Cold, ruthless, enigmatic, this Russian-born British agent radically transformed modern espionage techniques and set the mold for a new kind of secret agent-the super spy. REILLY: ACE OF SPIES is the thrilling, suspenseful dramatization of the real-life adventures of Agent ST-1, aka Sidney Reilly, the inspiration behind Ian Fleming's James Bond. Shot in glorious period detail, one heart-pulsing mission after another captures the arc of Reilly's brilliant career. From stealing top-secret Russian oil information to a near overthrow of the Bolshevik Revolution to his final capture by Stalin's forces in 1918, Reilly's exploits are at times so daring and reckless it's hard to believe it's history and not fiction. Starring Sam Neill (Jurassic Park, The Hunt for Red October), REILLY: ACE OF SPIES includes all 12 original episodes on DVD for the first time, and features a bonus documentary examining the final, mysterious days of this legendary figure.

Police drama set in the sleazy world of the Metropolitan Police Vice Squad. Features the investigations into London's prostitution, pornography and drugs scene led by the veteran Inspector Chappel and his team. Includes all five series this popular and critically acclaimed drama. Starring Ken Stott

Haunting, beautiful, funny and cruel, this superb adaptation of Iain Banks? novel tells the darkly comic tale of a troubled young man striving to unearth the secrets of his family?s past.......

Seven years ago Rory McHoan set out to visit his brother Kenneth. He never got there. And despite an exhaustive police investigation, it was as if he had vanished from the face of the earth.

Inspired by his grandmother, Rory's nephew Prentice takes on the task of uncovering the truth about his missing uncle's disappearance. Armed with only the notes to his uncle's unfinished manuscript, ?The Crow Road?, Prentice sets out on a path of elusive clues in the hope of finding his eccentric relation. He soon finds there are discoveries to be made about himself before he can exhume the dark secrets that lie buried in the history of his family.

Its perilous streets were overrun by armed gangs, corrupt night watchmen and thief takers.
However, two magistrates felt it their duty to enforce the law and to build the institutions that now protect the innocent.
Brothers Henry (Ian McDiarmid) and John Fielding (Iain Glen) investigated the lives and crimes of prostitutes, pimps, gamblers and villains in Covent Garden, the centre of London's vice trade. They and their infamous 'Bow Street Runners' would change the face of the law for good.

Political drama doesn't get more near the knuckle than Michael Dobbs' House of Cards trilogy, adapted for the screen by Andrew Davies and originally broadcast in the post-Thatcher years of the early 1990s. A splendid dissection of naked ambition, greed and rampant hypocrisy in the corridors of power, the original four-part series House of Cards documents in thrilling detail the rise of Tory Chief Whip Francis Urquhart (magnificent Ian Richardson), a man who likes to "put the stick about a bit" and has unwavering contempt for those with "no background, no bottom". With the downfall of Margaret Thatcher, a bitter internecine power struggle ensues within the Conservative Party. Urquhart schemes more devilishly than Iago to depose Thatcher's colourless John Major-style successor. And even Machiavelli would baulk at Urquhart's methods: any and every act--including murder--are legitimate as the end very much justifies the means. Idealistic journalist Matti Storin (Susannah Harker) becomes embroiled in Urquhart's nefarious plans (and ends up in his bed) as she attempts to question him about what's really going on: "You might think so, I couldn't possibly comment," is Urquhart's mantra of hypocrisy.

MURDER INVESTIGATION TEAM is the gripping crime drama series that focuses on the UKs case cracking Metropolitan Police – Elite Special Crimes Unit. Viewers witness the investigation through the eyes of those closest to the action, namely the two women officers DI Vivien Friend (Samantha Spiro, Tomorrow La Scala, The Bill) and DC Rosie McManus (Lindsey Coulson, Eastenders) who head up the otherwise all male Murder Investigation Team. Each gritty, hard-hitting episode begins with the discovery of a body and follows the investigation as it unfolds, with every shred of evidence explored and no stone left unturned as the team put murder under the microscope.

The stories in Murder In Mind journey through a kaleidoscope of human emotions: anger, hatred, bitterness, remorse, guilt, horror. In this psychological study of humanity on the edge of an abyss, some of the series' murderers get away with it, some of them don't. Amongst the subject matter is euthanasia, accidental murder, contract killing, revenge and even a sleepwalker who knows she's done something but not what or to whom. Some of Britain's best stage and screen actors grace this nine-disc set - Timothy West, David Suchet, Kevin Whately, John Thomson, Denise Van Outen, Rob Brydon, Pauline Quirke, Annette Crosbie, Tara Fitzgerald and Neil Morrissey all make appearances.
This release includes the pilot episode and Series 1-3.

Wonderful detective series from the seventies set in Amsterdam in an era when TV detectives really knew what they were doing. Listening to the theme music again sent shivers down my spine! A must-have for any fan of the genre.

From the golden age of the miniseries comes Shogun, the 10-hour, Golden Globe-winning saga based on James Clavell's bestselling epic novel. In his award-winning performance, Richard Chamberlain stars as John Blackthorne, the 17th-century English navigator on a Dutch trading ship. A storm runs the ship aground off the coast of Japan, a "torn and cruelly divided country" locked in a power struggle between Toranaga (the venerable Toshiro Mifune) and Ishido, two warlords who would be Shogun. Blackthorne gets over his initial culture shock ("I piss on you and your country", he defiantly proclaims to his samurai captors, which to his humiliation turns out to be an unfortunate choice of words) to become a trusted ally of Toranaga and the lover of the beautiful interpreter Lady Mariko (Yoko Shimada). Their forbidden, ill-fated romance--and Blackthorne's total assimilation into Japanese culture--is set against political intrigue as Toranaga prepares for the inevitable showdown with Ishido, and Blackthorne's growing influence threatens the local Jesuits who had built up a lucrative trade monopoly. Shogun was a production blessed with good karma, and it remains an awesome achievement from a bygone era when the miniseries was king.

Product Description
Based on the James Clavell s best-selling novel Tai Pan is an unforgettable adventure during the early China trade when epic adventures carved dynasties out of barren rock and the opium trade pitted father against son and friends against one another. For trader Dirk Struan the silver and opium exchange is almost impossible to resist but everything comes to an action-packed head when he is forced to choose between the ones he loves and profit beyond his imagination.

Noble House is an eight-hour Classic TV Miniseries produced and broadcast in 1988 by NBC. Based on the fantastic and richly detailed novel of the same name by James Clavell, it features a large cast headlined by Pierce Brosnan, who portrays business tycoon Ian Dunross. This was NBC's second Classic TV Miniseries adaptation of a Clavell novel, the first was 1980s Shogun. Both take place in the same fictional universe, Noble House even featuring connections to Shogun and yet another Clavell novel, Tai-Pan. For this miniseries, the timeframe of the original novel was changed from the early 1960s to the 1980s. Other actors include Denholm Elliott, Deborah Raffin, Tia Carrere, John Houseman, Julia Nickson-Soul, and John Rhys-Davies (who also appeared in Shogun.) Noble House centers around big-business piracy in Hong Kong. The miniseries opens with Brosnan driving through the rain to meet Denholm Elliott, who plays the outgoing "tai-pan" in Hong Kong's oldest and leading trading firm: Struan & Company. "Tai-pan," a Cantonese expression, means "supreme leader," and at Struan & Company the title has been passed down at least 150 years Dunross' arch rival and enemy, Quillan Gornt (Rhys-Davles), is tai-pan of the second leading trading company. Not only does Gornt wants to destroy Dunross and take over Noble House, the two men have racing horses that compete against each other as well. Meanwhile, two American tycoons (Raffin and Ben Masters) have come to Hong Kong to make a financial deal with Dunross. But in Clavell's Hong Kong there is no such thing as a single deal. Double-dealing and triple-crossing are more the style of the international wheeler-dealers here.

Fourteen adventures for Conan Doyle's famous detective Sherlock Holmes. Includes: 'Hound Of The Baskervilles', 'Sherlock Holmes Faces Death', 'The Secret Weapon', 'Sherlock Holmes In Washington', 'Spider Woman', 'The Voice Of Terror', 'The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes', 'The Pearl Of Death', 'The Scarlet Claw', 'The Woman In Green', 'Pursuit To Algiers', 'The House Of Fear', 'Dressed To Kill' and 'Terror By Night'.

Includes the complete series of the BBC television drama following John Kline as he takes on the Birmingham underworld.

A truly epic saga of dynastic conflict at the heart of Imperial Rome, I Claudius was the landmark BBC drama series of the 1970s. Originally transmitted as 13 50-minute episodes, the series dramatises the human face of ancient Rome as interpreted by Robert Graves in his two enormously complex novels, I, Claudius and Claudius The God. Derek Jacobi gives one of the greatest television performances ever as Claudius, the appalled chronicler of the decadence, corruption, intrigue and carnage which comes with the absolute power of his ruling family. Augustus (Brian Blessed) is Emperor and Livia (Sian Phillips) his scheming, ambitious wife, Claudius's aunt. By virtue of his stammer and uncontrollable twitches, Claudius passes for a fool, thus escaping the poisonous machinations of Livia, all the while recording the comings and goings of the Imperial household.

Between heroic spells as the Saint and James Bond, Roger Moore was teamed with Tony Curtis in The Persuaders, a derivative but fun series about a couple of millionaire dilettante adventurers who swan around the world competing for the attention of beautiful women and getting involved in perplexing mysteries. Moore is Lord Brett Sinclair, an upper crust Brit of impeccable breeding, while Curtis is Danny Wilde, an up-from-the-streets self-made man whose trademark is a pair of brown gloves. The allegedly tasteful Brett and the crasser Danny both model a succession of garish early 70s fashions while their pursuits of duplicitous crumpet usually wind up with the women getting away and the heroes stuck with each other. Given all that, this may well be the most blatantly homoerotic of all the buddy television pairings (see the eponymous stars of Starsky and Hutch, Regan and Carter in The Sweeney, Bodie and Doyle of The Professionals) that ran ove! r the screen in the 70s, in which the male leads sublimated their feelings for each other by pulling out their guns and shooting at baddies.

The Cold War was hot. Spy movies were hotter. And the 60's were reinventing cool. September 22, 1964 marked the debut of the show that combined these elements into one of the most fondly remembered TV series ever: The Man From U.N.C.L.E. with weapons in hand (and tongues in cheek), agents Napolean Solo (Robert Vaughn) and Illya Kuryakin (David McCallum) carry out the bidding of U.N.C.L.E. chief Alexander Waverly (Leo G. Carroll). Presented for the first time on DVD - with kind permission from the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement - 5 feature length U.N.C.L.E. films.

Michael Gambon plays the Belgian, pipe-smoking Chief Inspector Maigret, one of T.V.'s classic fictional sleuths from the pen of Georges Simenon. Intuitive, intelligent and with a genius for human nature, Maigret is like no other detective - never failing to pierce straight to the heart of the crime he is investigating. This set contains all twelve episodes of the popular Granada Television series - complete and uncut.

Introduced in "A Magnum for Schneider", the hour-long 1967 Armchair Theatre episode of Callan written by James Mitchell about a disillusioned British secret agent of the same name (starring Edward Woodward), went on to offer four popular (if downbeat) series, a spin-off movie remaking the original story and a some-years-later wrap-up play "Wet Job". Remembered for its very distinctive opening titles, with a swinging broken-light bulb and a memorable theme tune, the series adopted a Deighton-LeCarré approach to the grim, treacherous, grubby business of Cold War espionage and made a TV star of the intense Woodward as the sweaty, sometimes conscience-stricken, sometimes robotic Callan. Even in the 21st century this still seems as strong, its complex stories and impressive performances outweighing a low-budget mix of video and film in the production that makes it seem less "professional" than other shows of the time.

The Kavanagh Q.C. - The Complete Collection - Series 1-5 box set contains all 27 episodes of the much-loved courtroom drama starring John Thaw. In the series, Thaw plays an esteemed Barrister named James Kavanagh, whose utter dedication to his demanding career has left his private life in tatters. Kavanagh is one of Britain's top legal minds and he routinely elects to tackle the most difficult cases--involving rape, pornography and vigilantes--for little reward; he also has a tendency to sympathise with the underdog. Despite this, Kavanagh's most testing conflicts are often played out in the family home.

Three prisoners, Jack Rose, Tom Willis and Nick McGrade, embark on an heroic plan to escape from a World War Two POW camp. As Rose And Willis are recaptured by the Germans, McGrade manages to traverse their clutches and travels to London to inform Rose's girlfriend of his capture. So begins a complex love story...

During the swinging sixties in London, there was only one crime boss in Soho that mattered: the indomitable Harry Starks. With a reputation for savagery and generosity in equal measure, Starks ruled central London with a coercive fist and his favourite implement of torture: the red-hot poker. Based on Jake Arnott's best-selling novel, which combines fact with fiction, this is a retrospective tale of criminality in the 1960s through to the 1980s; told from the view of four characters as they encounter the menacing Starks. From the penniless Lord with a predilection for young boys to a fading film actress desperate to make ends meet, from an out-of-touch minor crook to a disillusioned criminologist - Starks leaves his indelible mark on them all. But Starks is no regular gangster - he's an intelligent, complex Judy Garland-loving man who yearns for something more than the rough and tumble of criminal life.

Contains all ten episodes from the first series of Lovejoy:
This is a must have for any fan of the very succesful TV series, featuring Ian McShane as the loveable "rogue" and Antique "Divvy". Rural East Anglia is brought to life in this first season which dates back to 1985

The Forsyte Saga, in telling the remarkable story of a nouveau riche English family, introduced the world to a new kind of TV. Millions of people devoted the next half year of their lives to following the frank treatment of all the sins, foibles and peccadillos of the Forsytes and their circle. The passing decades can never the erase the memory of their extraordinary evenings with the Forsytes: Kenneth More as Jo, the philosophical outsider; Eric Porter as Soames, the grasping man of property; Nyree Dawn Porter as Irene, "born to be loved and to love" and in later episodes, Susan Hampshire in an Emmy-winning performance as Fleur, Soame's 'restless' daughter. With 150 characters, 2000 separate costumes and over 100 sets, this sprawling yet intimate saga continues to move, provoke and entrance viewers today.

Clasic world war II drama. Alfred Lynch Peter Barkworth, Cyd Hayman, Robert Hardy starin one of the best remembered and most gripping ITV action dramas of the 1070's. Set in occupied France during WWII. All 13 episodes from the first series on 4 DVDs.

Brother Cadfael, the medieval mystery-solving monk, is a fascinating detective, at once a man of God, of science, and even of action. Derek Jacobi stars as the former "soldier, sailor, sinner, and Crusader" who has his faith tested by crimes of royal intrigue and baffling murders that seem to plague 12th-century Shrewsbury. You'll find few Benedictine monks so skilled at using a quarterstaff, but beware never to tell him your theory of how a crime "must" have been committed. "We must always be wary of 'must'," he states. "Nothing is certain." And so attest these divine mysteries based on the books by Ellis Peters. Each feature-length episode is self-contained but plays against the backdrop of England's civil war between forces loyal to King Stephen and those to Empress Maud. Eoin McCarthy costars as local Under-Sheriff Hugh Beringar, who relies on Cadfael when murder subverts his efforts to keep the peace.