BBC Four Classic British Dramas Collection Box Set Sixteen DVDs
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Winston Graham
Poldark – The Complete Series. Seven Discs
Synopsis: Poldark is a series of Historical novels by Winston Graham, published from 1945 to 1953 and continued from 1973 to 2002. The first novel, Ross Poldark, was named for the protagonist of the series. The novel series was adapted for television by the BBC in 1975 and again in 2015.
Historical setting
The series comprises 12 novels: the first seven are set in the 18th century, concluding in Christmas 1799; the remaining five are concerned with the early years of the 19th century and the lives of the descendants of the previous novels' main characters. Graham wrote the first four Poldark books during the 1940s and 1950s. Following a long hiatus, he decided to resume the series and published The Black Moon in 1973.
Ross Poldark is the eponymous protagonist of the series. He is a British Army officer who returns to his home in Cornwall from the American War of independence only to find that Elizabeth Chynoweth, having told him she believed him dead, is about to marry his cousin Francis Poldark. Ross attempts to restore his own fortunes by reopening one of the family's derelict copper mines.
Gradually reconciled to the loss of Elizabeth's love, four years later Ross marries Demelza Carne, an urchin he has taken in as a servant. Although he did not marry her for love he falls in love with her six weeks afterwards. Despite this it is for some time that Ross has unresolved feelings for Elizabeth. A night with Elizabeth after she has become a widow causes Ross to eventually declare that Demelza was not second-best and his real love is for her and not Elizabeth.
Over 20 years, Ross and Demelza have five children: Julia, Jeremy, Clowance, Isabella-Rose (called Bella), and Henry (called Harry).
In his autobiography, Graham states that Ross's character was, in part, based upon a fighter pilot he met on a train during World War II.
Original 1975 Version:
Poldark is the original version of the BBC television series adaptation of the novels of the same title written by Winston Grahan. The adaptation was first transmitted in the UK between 1975 and 1977. The production covered all seven novels (of the eventual twelve) that Graham had written up to this time.
Outline
The romantic saga follows Ross Poldark (Robin Ellis)) as he loses his fiancée, the well-bred beauty, Elizabeth (Jill Townsend), to his cousin Francis (Clive Francis)). Ross ends up marrying his servant, Demelza Carne (Angharad Rees)), but his passion for Elizabeth simmers on for years.
Set in late 18th century Cornwall, the plot follows Ross Poldark's attempts to make his derelict copper mines a success. Life is hard, smuggling is rife and Ross Poldark finds himself taking the side of the underclass against the ruthless behaviour of his enemies, the greedy Warleggan clan including George Warleggan Ralph Bates).
Although the emphasis is primarily on Ross and Demelza, there are many other characters with their own stories. In the first series we encounter Dr Dwight Enys (played by Richard Morani in the first series, Michael Cadman in the second series), a forward-thinking young man who prefers to serve poor local communities rather than the rich. Enys has a brief affair with a married actress, Keren Daniel (Sheila White), which results in her murder by her husband. By the end of the first series, Dwight has become involved with heiress Caroline Penvenen (Judy Geeson). In the second series, they marry following Ross's rescue of Dwight from a French prison.
In the second series we get to see much of Geoffrey Charles Poldark (Stefan Gates), the son of Elizabeth and Francis Poldark. Francis drowns in a subterranean lake while investigating a putative new lode of copper in a mine in which he is invested with Ross. Elizabeth eventually marries Ross's great enemy George Warleggan. Geoffrey Charles resembles his father, and at times comes into conflict with his new stepfather George Warleggan, though Warleggan shows him certain kindnesses and pays for his education. Geoffrey Charles begins a friendship with Demelza's brother Drake Carne (Kevin McNally) whom he and his governess, Elizabeth's cousin Morwenna (Jane Wymark), meet in the woods on the Warleggan estate. Geoffrey Charles plays an instrumental role in the development of Drake and Morwenna's romance.
Drake is Ross Poldark's brother-in-law and has a working-class background: therefore George considers him an unsuitable marriage partner for Morwenna. George marries Morwenna off to Reverend Osborne Whitworth (Christopher Biggins), whom she despises. Pining for Morwenna, Drake puts his energies into building his blacksmith business and helping his brother Sam (David Delve), a devout Methodist.
Morwenna and Osborne have a son, John Conan, whom Morwenna cannot bring herself to love. Eventually Morwenna tells Osborne she will kill his son if he forces his attentions on her one more time. Osborne has an affair with Morwenna's younger sister Rowella (Julie Dawn Cole). Rowella's husband Arthur Solway (Stephen Reynolds) discovers his wife's adultery and attacks Osborne, who is dragged to death by his frightened horse. Despite being traumatized by her marriage to Osborne, Morwenna eventually marries Drake.
Sam becomes enamoured of Emma Tregirls (Trudie Styler), who refuses to marry him because she knows that his Methodist congregation will never approve of her. She loves Sam, but knows that her lack of religion and her bad reputation will eventually cause conflict between him and his faith.
However, the emphasis remains with Ross and Demelza, and the series concludes with the death of Elizabeth Warleggan after the birth of her and George's daughter Ursula.
Elizabeth takes a potion to bring on labour early so Warleggan will be led to think that she habitually delivers her children a few weeks prematurely; Elizabeth had delivered Valentine, born eight months after her wedding to George, after she took a supposed accidental fall on the stairs, which, it is implied only, was intentional on her part because she felt the labour coming on. Valentine is Ross's son, conceived a month before Elizabeth and George's wedding, but George is long deceived as to Valentine's parentage.
Agatha Poldark (Eileen Way)) and Prudie Paynter (Mary Wimbush)), Ross and Demelza's housekeeper, both realize that Valentine is Ross's son, and Agatha tells George of her conclusion just before her death, which occurs under George's abuse of her in his anger over her revelation. Elizabeth dies of gangrene due to the potion. When the doctor asks her if she has taken anything to bring on the labour, she denies it because Warleggan is sitting beside her. George later reveals his knowledge of what Elizabeth has done when he says to Ross, "See what you and I have brought her to."
Directors: Christopher Barry, Paul Annett, Kenneth Ives Phillip Dudley, Robert Jenkins.
Producer: Morris Barry, Anthony Coburn, Richard Beynon, Roger Jenkins.
Starring: Robin Ellis, Angharad Rees, Jill Townsend, Ralph Bates, Paul Curran, Mary Wimbush Judy Geeson, C live Francis, Richard Morant, Sheila White, Stefan Gates, Kevin McNally, Jane Wymark, Cristopher Biggins, David Delve, Julie Dawn, Cole, Stephen Reynolds, Trudie Styler, Eileen Way.
Running Time:1459 Minutes
Rating: PG
ISBN: 9318500049636
Distributor: BBC London
Weight: 240g
I Claudius – Five Disc Set DVD
John Sullivan (1976)
I, CLAUDIUS (stylized as I·CLAVDIVS) is a 1976 BBC Television adaptation of Robert Graves' 1934 novel I. Claudius and its 1935 sequel Claudius the God. Written by Jack Pulman, it stars Derek Jacobi as Claudius with Sian Phillips, Brian Blessed, George Baker, Margaret Tyzack, John Hurt, Patricia Quinn, Ian Ogilvy, Kevin McNally, Patrick Sewart and. John Rhy-Davies. The series covers the history of the early Roman Empire, told from the perspective of the elderly Emperor Claudius who narrates the series.
Among many other productions and adaptations, Graves' Claudius novels have also been adapted for BBC Radio 4 broadcast (2010) and for the stage (1972).
Plot summary
I, Claudius follows the history of the early Roman Empire, narrated by the elderly Roman Emperor Claudius, from the year 24 BC to his death in AD 54. The series opens with Augustus, the first Emperor of Rome, attempting to find an heir, and his wife, Livia, plotting to elevate her son Tiberius to this position. An expert poisoner, Livia uses the covert assassination and betrayal of her rivals to achieve her aims, beginning with the death in 22 BC of Marcellus.
The plotting, double-crossing and murder continue for many decades, through the reign of Tiberius, the political conspiracy of his Praetoria Prefect Sejanus his and the depraved rule of the lunatic emperor Caligula, culminating in the accidental rise to power of his uncle Claudius. Claudius' enlightened reign is marred by the betrayals of his adulterous wife Messalina and his boyhood friend Herod Agrippa.
Eventually, Claudius comes to accept the inevitability of his assassination and consents to marrying his scheming niece, Agippina the Younger, clearing the way for the ascent of his mad stepson, Nero, whose disastrous reign Claudius vainly hopes will bring about the restoration of the Roman Republic.
Director: Herbert Wise
Producer: Martin Lisemore
Starring: Derick Jacobi, John Hurt, Sian Phillips, Brian Blessed, George Baker
Running Time: 726 Minutes
Rating: M
ISBN: 9315842039905
Distributor: BBC London
Weight: 190g
THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL Series One, Two Disc DVD
Baroness Emma Orczy (1865-1947) (2006)
The Scarlet Pimpernel is the first novel in a series of historical fiction by Baroness Orczy, published in 1905. It was written after her stage play of the same title (co-authored with her husband Montague Barstow) enjoyed a long run in London, having opened in Nottingham in 1903.
The novel is set during the Reign of Terror following the start of the French Revolution. The title is the nom de guerre of its hero and protagonist, a chivalrous Englishman who rescues aristocrats before they are sent to the guillotine. Sir Percy Blakeney leads a double life: apparently nothing more than a wealthy fgop, but in reality, a formidable swordsman and a quick-thinking master of disguise and escape artist.
The band of gentlemen who assist him are the only ones who know of his secret identity. He is known by his symbol, a simple flower, the scarlet pimpernel (Anagallis arvensis).).
Opening at the New Theatre in London’s West End on 5 January 1905, the play became a favourite of British audiences, eventually playing more than 2,000 performances and becoming one of the most popular shows staged in London. Published after the success of the play, the novel was an immediate success, gaining Orczy a following of readers in Britain and the rest of the world. The stage play and subsequent novel, with their hero and villain, were so popular that they inspired a revival of classic villainy at the time.[2]
Orczy's premise of a daring hero who cultivates a secret identity disguised by a meek or ineffectual manner proved enduring. Zorro, Doctor Syn, The Shadow, The Phantom, The Spider, Superman and Batman followed within a few decades, and the trope remains a popular one in serial fiction today. Read by Stan Lee as a boy, the Marvel co-creator called The Scarlet Pimpernel "the first character who could be called a superhero."
Summary
In 1792, an early stage of the French Revolution, Marguerite St. Just, a beautiful French actress, is married to wealthy English fop Sir Percy Blakeney, baronet. Before their marriage Marguerite took revenge upon the Marquis de St. Cyr, who had ordered her brother beaten for his romantic interest in the Marquis' daughter, with the unintended consequence that the Marquis and his sons were guillotined. When Percy found out, he became estranged from his wife. Marguerite, for her part, became disillusioned with Percy's shallow, dandyish lifestyle.
France, 1799, the terror of the French Revolution is at its height. As the monarchy, aristocracy and clergy have their power stripped away by the new Republicans, the bloody trek of aristocrats and ordinary people to the guillotine continues. Citizen Robespierre’s Ronan Vibert evil orders are carried out by the ruthless Chauvelin (Martin Shaw), head of the secret police. And only one man dares to defy the revolutionaries – Sir Percy Blakeney (Richard E. Grant).
THREE FEATURES – The Scarlet Pimpernel, Valentin Gautier, A King’s Ransom
Director: Herbert Wise
Producer: Martin Lisemore
Starring: Richard E. Grant, Elizabeth McGovern, Martin Shaw
Running Time: 285 Minutes
Rating: M
ISBN: 9315842039943
Distributor: BBC London
Weight: 150g
LADY CHATTERLEY Classic Tale of Passion That Knew No Boundaries
D. H. Lawrence (1885-1930) (2011)
Lady Chatterley is a 1993 BBC television serial starring Sean Bean and Joely Richardson. It is an adaptation of D. H. Lawrence's 1928 novel and Lady Chatterley’s Lover, first broadcast on BBC 1 in four 55-minute episodes between 6 and 27 June 1993. A young woman's husband returns wounded after the First World War. Facing a life with a husband now incapable of sexual activity she begins an affair with the groundskeeper. The film reflects Lawrence's focus not only on casting away sexual taboos, but also the examination of the British class system.
Lady Chatterley's Lover is the last novel by English author D. H. Lawrence, which was first published privately in 1928, in Italy, and in 1929, in France. An unexpurgated edition was not published openly in the United Kingdom until 1960, when it was the subject of a watershed obscenity trial against the publisher Pengiun Books, which won the case and quickly sold three million copies. The book was also banned for obscenity in the United States, Canada, Australia, India and Japan. The book soon became notorious for its story of the physical (and emotional) relationship between a
working-class man and an upper-class woman, its explicit descriptions of sex and its use of then-unprintable profane words. It entered the public domain in the United States in 2024.
AUTHOR: D. H. LAWRENCE - DAVID HERBERT LAWRENCE (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English novelist, short story writer, poet and essayist. Hi modernist works reflect on modernity, social alienation and industrialization, while championing sexuality, vitality and instinct. Several of his novels, Sons and Lovers, The Rainbow, Women In Love and Lady Chatterley’s Lover, were the subject of censorship trials for their radical portrayals of sexuality and use of explicit language.
Lawrence's opinions and artistic preferences earned him a controversial reputation; he endured contemporary persecution and public misrepresentation of his creative work throughout his life, much of which he spent in a voluntary exile that he described as a "savage enough pilgrimage". At the time of his death, he had been variously scorned as tasteless, avant-garde, and a pornographer who had only garnered success for erotica; however, English novelist and critic E. M. Forster, in an obituary notice, challenged this widely held view, describing him as "the greatest imaginative novelist of our generation". Later, English literary critic F. R. Leavis also championed both his artistic integrity and his moral seriousness.
In late February 1922, the Lawrences left Europe intending to migrate to the United States. They sailed in an easterly direction, however, first to Ceylon and then on to Australia. During a short residence in Darlington, Western Australia, Lawrence met local writer Mollie Skinner, with whom he coauthored the novel The Boy In The Bush, This stay was followed by a brief stop in the small coastal town of Thirroul New South Wales, during which Lawrence completed Kangaroo, a novel about local fringe politics that also explored his wartime experiences in Cornwall.
The Lawrences finally arrived in the United States in September 1922. Lawrence had several times discussed the idea of setting up a utopian community with several of his friends, having written in 1915 to Willie Hopkin, his old socialist friend from Eastwood:
Director: Ken Russell
Producer: Robert Haggic
Starring: Joely Richardson, Sean Bean, James Wilby, Shiley Anne Field, Ken Russell.
Running Time: 205 Minutes
Rating: M
ISBN: 9343970002126
Distributor: BBC London
Weight: 150g
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