BBC Series Releases From Network

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From Network DVD.

BBC gems available to pre-buy now

If you cast your minds back, you may remember earlier this year we announced a brand new licensing deal with the BBC. Well, the first never-before-released titles are almost ready to be rolled out and we have special pre-buy offers for a limited period.

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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.


All Passion Spent: The Complete Series [Pre-buy]

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Oscar-winning stage and screen veteran Wendy Hiller brings characteristic subtlety, grace and quiet determination to the role of a recently widowed woman who intends to relish her newfound freedom in this acclaimed three-part drama. Adapting Vita Sackville-West's classic story, All Passion Spent received four BAFTA nominations and co-stars Harry Andrews, Maurice Denham, Phyllis Calvert, Graham Crowden and Geoffrey Bayldon.

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Lady Slane sits beside the body of her husband in a bedroom of their elegant home. The handsome, distinguished Henry Holland, Prime Minister, Viceroy of India and Earl of Slane, has died at the age of 94. As her children ponder what is to be done with mother, 85-year-old Lady Slane realises that for the first time in her life, she is free to live where, and how, she chooses. And after more than half a century as a dutiful and loving wife, she revels in her new-found independence and the company of new friends... despite the wishes of her family.


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Sink or Swim: The Complete Series [Pre-buy]

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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.
 
I might be tempted by Sink Or Swim but not at £25.52; will wait for a better discount.

What I'm really wanting from this BBC deal is Shoestring series 2 and hopefully uncut too please! :)
 
I might be tempted by Sink Or Swim but not at £25.52; will wait for a better discount.

What I'm really wanting from this BBC deal is Shoestring series 2 and hopefully uncut too please! :)

Sink Or Swim is the one thay I'm most interested in too. I may have only picked up on this from series 2. If so the first series will be totally fresh to me. I remember that the third series was set locally in Newcastle. I don't think the price is too bad for 3 series. I'll certainly be getting this.

If the episodes still exist I'd love to see Misleading Cases released. It was an excellent sitcom with Alistair Sim and Roy Dotrice.

A.P. Herbert's 'Misleading Cases' - BBC1 Sitcom

Bri
 
Another one for 'Sink or swim' here. It wasn't something I was keen on when it first came out, I was in my mid teens when it first aired and it didn't stand a chance against the likes of Not The Nine O' Clock News and The Young Ones. I appreciated it more as I got older.
 
Another one for 'Sink or swim' here. It wasn't something I was keen on when it first came out, I was in my mid teens when it first aired and it didn't stand a chance against the likes of Not The Nine O' Clock News and The Young Ones. I appreciated it more as I got older.

Did you like Davison's A Very Peculiar Practice? That's another BBC series that Network released on DVD. It was rather excellent.

Bri
 
Did you like Davison's A Very Peculiar Practice? That's another BBC series that Network released on DVD. It was rather excellent.

Bri
No. I've never watched it. I've never been keen on programmes based on Doctors or Hospitals or Vets. The only programmes featuring a Doctor I've watched, the central character is a Fugitive iin one and a Timelord in the other.:D
 
No. I've never watched it. I've never been keen on programmes based on Doctors or Hospitals or Vets. The only programmes featuring a Doctor I've watched, the central character is a Fugitive iin one and a Timelord in the other.:D

I'm not a fan of the medical shows either but AVPP was an excellent comedy drama. I can heartily recommend it.

Bri
 
Sykes: The Complete Series
£58.50

This set contains all seven series – 68 episodes – of this classic BBC comedy.

SPECIAL FEATURES
[] Extensive booklet by archive television historian Andrew Pixley
[] In the Studio: behind-the-scenes footage from series one
[] Spotlight: Eric Sykes
[] Interview with Eric Sykes

Sykes: The Complete Series
 
Networks new deal with the BBC is a bit slow but I expect that's because many BBC titles are still being licenced out to the likes of Simply Media who are finally getting round to completing The Brothers although we need a complete series boxset of that one.
I think Network got a deal because Acorn dropped out.
It is best that Network have titles because they go the extra mile and more to include relevant bonus features and they are staffed and assisted by people with excellent archive knowledge unlike Simply who just go their own way.

I believe continued or even complete releases of Shoestring was one of the titles mentioned when Network announced the new deal which was quite a while ago.
But Network take their time so Shoestring could be years away yet assuming the music rights problems get sorted
 
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This one is ITV rather than BBC but it should be worth a look. I remember quite a bit of Nigrl's work for the BBC.

THE CRUNCH stars Harry Andrews as a prime minister attempting to avert a nuclear catastrophe in London; Maxwell Shaw, Anthony Bushell and Peter Bowles are among his co-stars.

LADIES' NIGHT is a chilling story of misogyny as members of a gentlemen's club turn on a woman who ridicules them; a strong cast includes Alfred Burke, Ronald Pickup and Bryan Pringle.

GENTRY stars Roger Daltrey in a blackly comic suspense drama in which a couple buy a shabby house in an up-and-coming area but find themselves drawn into the aftermath of an armed robbery.

Crunch and Other Stories (The)
 
If anyone's buying The Crunch it's cheaper £8.99 at Zoom using code SIGNUP10.
The Crunch and Other Stories [DVD]

The upcoming Shoestring release now also includes a brand-new book on the making of the series by archive television historian Andrew Pixley with contributions from original cast and crew members.
 

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