• Home
• >DVD

Browse:

BBC America Shop
Email Newsletter

BBC Canada Shop
Email Newsletter

Sign-up to receive emails about new products, upcoming releases and special offers!

Your e-mail Address: Re-type e-mail Address:

(you can always unsubscribe to this newsletter if you choose not to receive it later.)

If you'd like, you can complete the full registration which will allow you to rate products and leave reviews on this site. You can also request a catalog from this form.

No thanks, just put me on the newsletter list.

Okay, take me to the complete registration form

Sign Up nevermind

DVDs in the Works

DVDs in the Works is a sneak peek at highlights in BBC Video's future schedule as well as relevant entertainment news. However, as the Scottish poet once said, "the best laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft a-gley." That's our (and Robbie Burns') way of saying that the titles discussed here may or may not eventually see the light of day, due to circumstances beyond our control.

Last Updated: Friday March 19, 2010

The First Tudor King

Shakespeare leaves the Henry VII story when Henry Tudor (as Earl of Richmond) has slain Richard III in the Battle of Bosworth Field and ended the Wars of the Roses. Usually played by a hunky young actor in shining armor, he promises to marry Elizabeth of York and we expect that they will live happily ever after, bringing peace to England’s green and pleasant land. When we next see him (if at all) he is a fading father doddering through the early scenes of a Henry VIII biopic.

Leave it to the BBC to realize that a grievous gap had occurred. After presenting The Six Wives of Henry VIII in 1970 and Elizabeth R in 1971, they embarked on The Shadow of the Tower in 1972, thirteen episodes shot in color. It is the first and thus far only dramatic biography of Henry VII, and we were astonished when we discovered its existence last year. Even more astonishing, when we started digging around, was that the pilot for this series was done three years prior, before either Six Wives or Elizabeth R. Was it simply quixotic to give the big-budget miniseries treatment to the Tudors’ darkest horse? Unlike Six Wives and Elizabeth R, the name of Henry VII doesn’t even make it onto the marquee. No doubt BBC’s bosses deliberately obscured the subject matter with the title “Shadow of the Tower.” On the other hand, it helps to view the reign of Henry VII already aware of future history. Certainly the paranoia of his tenuous hold on the throne was visited on his descendants. The Shadow of the Tower is due out later this year, and for completists, we’ll have all three miniseries available in a gift set (an 118-year value!).

And for those of you who are willing to go along with Shakespeare’s slant on history, let us remind you that we released An Age of Kings last year, giving you a more or less complete history of the English monarchy from Richard II to Richard III. Add this onto your order and you have two solid centuries of English monarchs behaving badly.

Posted: Friday March 19, 2010

Grebes, Oregon ©Barrie Britton

Life, the Universe and… Oprah

Last fall we gave you a short teaser of what Life holds in store. Now the series premiere on the Discovery channel is less than ten days away, and word-of-mouth and early reviews confirm that Life is emerging as a worthy next chapter for Planet Earth. Using technology developed in the few short years since Planet Earth was filmed, Life brings us even closer to nature's most elusive creatures, and captures over 50 astonishing behaviors on film for the first time. Advances in high-speed cameras allow us to see how flying fish propel themselves from the ocean surface, or how mating grebes (see photo) dance on the surface of a lake. No one was a more enthusiastic champion of Planet Earth than Oprah Winfrey, who said, in a recent article, that she'd been approached about narrating Planet Earth but couldn't find the time. This time she found it (the time) and narrated all eleven episodes of Life for The Discovery Channel. Some of you may remember that with Planet Earth, BBC Video only released the David Attenborough version. (If you loved Sigourney Weaver you had to go to Discovery's online shop). In our nod to consumer choice (and the American consumer's love affair with Ms. Winfrey), we're making both the Discovery version and the BBC broadcast version (narrated by Sir David) available in both DVD and Blu-ray disc on June 1st.

Posted: Friday March 12, 2010

The Drama buzz from BBC Showcase

We've just returned from BBC Showcase, an annual event in which TV buyers from all over the world congregate on the wintry seafront of Brighton, England to see what the BBC has in store for the year. The rain tends to sweep horizontally across the promenade, which makes ideal weather for catching up on BBC programs. Kicking off with an "Out of this World" banquet devoted to an unprecedented array of sci-fi and fantasy offerings, we were thrilled to get a glimpse of the next Doctor (Matt Smith) and companion Amy (Karen Gillan) before they dashed back to Cardiff, Wales, to resume filming this spring's season of Doctor Who. The series executive producer Steven Moffatt was also there, and he remained in town the next day to promote Sherlock, a series that updates the Conan Doyle stories to the 21st century. He and co-creator Mark Gatiss (The League of Gentlemen) developed the idea on a long train ride between London and Cardiff. Sherlock will star Benedict Cumberbatch (Atonement) as Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman (The Office) as Doctor Watson. Both actors were on hand for an impromptu interview at the second banquet night. Other promising dramas are a light-hearted adaptation of H.G. Wells' The First Men in the Moon from Mark Gatiss and The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister, based on the real life diaries of a 19th century lesbian. All of these are firmly on our watch list for potential DVD release.

Posted: Friday March 5, 2010

Aurelio Zen – The BBC's Next Hot Detective

We've known for some time (but negotiations being but they were had to keep it under our hat) that Rufus Sewell (shown here as a rather fetching Charles II in The Last King) will bring to life the passionate Roman detective Aurelio Zen. The late Michael Dibdin's eleven mysteries are loved as much for their insights into Roman life as for their intricate puzzles. The new series of three 90-minute films will be much in the tradition of Wallander - faithful adaptations shot on location with a compelling star and fantastic cinematography. Could this be the dawning of a new golden age of BBC detectives?

Posted: Friday February 26, 2010

Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7