Drama > Langton, Simon Drama

Advantages: Perfect adaptation of Jane Austen's most popular book
Disadvantages: None

This BBC version of Pride and Prejudice from 1995 is widely held to be the best Jane Austen adaptation of all time. Most Jane Austen adaptations are done in movie form and take many liberties with the text (eg the 2005 Keira Knightly movie seemed to replace light sparkling Austen with dark moody Bronte). The 1995 BBC adaptation however was a done as a six-part series and this gave them the space to explore the book in all it's complexity. I'm not ...
...special on the Making of Pride and Prejudice, which takes you behind the scenes as the director and producer explain how they chose the locations and cast the characters. I was disappointed that they didn't include more specials for this aniversary set - it would have been lovely to see interviews with the cast and to have more Austenography and information on the period the book was set in. You can buy this new from Amazon.co.uk for as little as ... Read review

Advantages: Made during the peak years of British tv. Good idea, the glossary!
Disadvantages: Measured pace may turn off some restless viewers.

...spy agency, the KGB. It's Smiley's self-imposed mission to uncover these links and their significance to his friend's murder. Just like the finest of British television during their peak years (the Seventies to the Nineties), 'Smiley's People' boasts excellent performances by a cast headed by the redoubtable Sir Alec Guinness. Mr Guinness, whose mere reaction shots threaten to dominate any scene, is in his usual fine form. He lives and breathes ...
...bored. We follow developments from Smiley's point of view, except that our imposed ignorance forces us to lag some steps behind him. A thread of tension runs through the tale, with mildly sardonic humour sprinkled hither and yon. The tension occasionally grows taut, offering only fleeting moments of relief from the persistent feeling of unease. Things culminate in a suspenseful finale that is profoundly moving for its humanness. In the world of which ... Read review

Advantages: One off those old classic's
Disadvantages: Not really for those young adult's.

I went visiting my Dad the other day he can't move to great so he tend's to sit in his chair watching alot of film's on DVD'S because it's alot easier for him to use well so he say's I just think he's being an old git so he can keep up with the gagets in life so we bought him a DVD player for his christmas and he phones regular as clock work for what DVD he want's this week. But this week I bet him to it. We were shopping in HMV for CD'S for my son ...
...chair. As I passed him the DVD his face just light up.(my dad is a victor meldrew)and then he gave me his face"don't just stand there, put it on"I knew he doesn't mean it as he wink's at my son and smiles when am not looking. Then came the moment I had to sit the whole 100 minutes watching this film, that was to surprise me as I didn't think it would be my cup of tea at all.... My review of The Whistle Blower. The film Cast Overview. Michael Caine....Frank ... Read review

Advantages: Excellent entertainment
Disadvantages: Some of the productions are better than others

Jane Austen needs little or no introduction to both modern readers and viewers. She was one of the pioneers of the modern novel and her work continues to be read widely - not just for its historic value but for its entertainment too! Whilst some consider it to be "women's literature" this is simply because her heroines are young women. Frankly it is a gender-inspired argument as ridiculous as to say that Shakespeare is for men. Her novels are carefully ...
...potential suitor for Emma and Jane Fairfax (Ania Marson) is thought by some to be a peer, or rival, for Emma herself in her role as uncrowned Queen of Highbury. However, it's a a game of two halves and it ain't over until it's over! Although Emma is a meddler and a teeny-weeny bit snobbish she is really well-meaning and her mortification as things go awry is thus tempered with other, happier, developments. Doran Godwin is perfect as the engaging ... Read review

Advantages: An inexpensive period drama
Disadvantages: Lacking realism

...150-minute film was written by Catherine Cookson and produced by Tyne Tees Television and published by Corgi books (1994), licensed & distributed by Granada Ventures (www.granadaventures.tv). Screenplay by Alan Seymour, music by Barrington Pheloung, producer Ray Marshall, Director Simon Langton. CAST: Lloyd Owen - Charlie MacFell. Catherine Zeta Jones - Victoria Chapman. Tom Bell - Edward MacFell. Marie Miles - Nellie Chapman. THE STORY This ...
...with 2 sisters, then goes to fight in WW1. The film starts in 1913, Charlie returns from University to Northumberland and the prosperous farm owned by his father Edward a man with a sadistic bent. He routinely humiliates family and farm workers alike. Edward becomes the victim of a murder made to look like an accident. Charlie is witness (and so is another - Ginger Slater) to it and blackmail follows. He also marries the beautiful but adulterous ... Read review