Wednesday, August 29, 2012

BBC Home Entertainment Announces Fall Highlights


SEPTEMBER:

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            ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS: 20TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIALS
Street Date: September 11, 2012
Suggested Retail Price: DVD $24.98 ($30.98 in Canada)
Length:  approx. 90 minutes + bonus features & UV copy/ single disc

They’re back, darlings. International comedy sensations Jennifer Saunders (French & Saunders) and Joanna Lumley (The Corpse Bride) return to their celebrated roles as Edina Monsoon and Patsy Stone in three all-new specials, written by Jennifer Saunders. Twenty years since we first met them, the ladies are a tiny bit older, none the wiser, but definitely still Absolutely Fabulous. The original fashionistas, PR rep Eddy (Saunders) and best friend/enabler Patsy (Lumley), were often found at the bottom of a champagne bottle – and not much has changed. In the first of the new specials, there’s a homecoming for one of the ladies who has been “away” for quite some time. She returns with her new, slightly scary best friend in tow, with wide reaching ramifications- including forcing a certain person to own up to her real age… if she can still remember what it is. In the second special, Eddy sets her sights on changing the career of a very big fish indeed; and in the final special, Eddy and Patsy play their own very special part in the London 2012 Olympics. The Absolutely Fabulous specials premiered on BBC AMERICA and Logo. Bonus Features include: The charity sketch “Ab Fab Does Sport Relief” as well as the “Behind The Scenes at Sport Relief” featurette.

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WALLANDER 3
Street Date: September 25, 2012
Suggested Retail Price: DVD $34.98 ($43.98 in Canada)
Length: Approx. 270 mins. / 2-disc set

Don’t miss the third installment of the the Emmy® and Golden Globe®-nominated detective drama series Wallander starring Kenneth Branagh (HamletMy Week With Marilyn). The gripping new mysteries have twists that will keep you at the edge of your seat till the very end.  In “An Event in Autumn,” Kurt Wallander finds the remains of a young woman buried a little too close to home – in the back of his garden. When another woman's body washes up on the shore, Wallander must investigate the connection in order to solve this sorted run of events. The next thrilling chapter, “The Dogs of Riga,” the corpses of two Latvian men, covered in mafia tattoos, are discovered in Ystad harbor. When Wallander travels to Riga in search of the killers, he becomes entangled in a web of corruption to which he may never recover. In the last instalment “Before the Frost,” a childhood friend of Wallander’s daughter Linda goes missing. Wallander and Linda worry for her safety when they find links between her and a murderer.

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STORYTIME WITH SPOT
Street Date: September 4, 2012
Suggested Retail Price: DVD $9.97 ($12.46 in Canada)
Length: Approx. 30 mins + bonus content / single disc

Spot, the star of Eric Hill’s beloved children’s books, is back on DVD with a whole new set of adventures. In the title episode, it is story time and Sally has promised to read a book to Spot. But with so many books to choose from, how can Spot ever decide? Wouldn’t it be more fun to play hide and seek among the books?  Playing with books certainly is fun, but having them read is even better.  Enjoy Storytime with Spot and five stories plus two bonus stories in this wonderful new Spot collection. With the voice of Ryan O’Donahue (Toy Story,The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride) as Spot in the main programs and Hayley Joel Osment (The Sixth Sense) in the bonus episodes “Spot’s Hobby Horse” and “Spot Cleans Up.”

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LAST OF THE SUMMER WINE: VINTAGE 1993
Street Date: September 18, 2012
Suggested Retail Price: DVD $34.98 ($43.98 in Canada)
Length: Approx. 289 mins / 2-disc set

The world’s longest running sitcom is back for another season of hilarious adventures… and a few misadventures. Hoping to keep his comrades as young and spritely as ever, Foggy sets up a training course to get Compo and Clegg in shape, but, as usual, safety isn’t his first concern. And when a gift arrives from Auntie Wainwright – a grill – the trio puts throws a barbecue that would put the savviest outdoor chef to shame. We can’t forget Foggy, ever the inspired inventor, comes up with the idea to create bicycle safety underwear and, later in the season, a three man windsurfing sailboard. Finally, in the Christmas special, the trio plan to host a visitor from outer space… or maybe just a neighboring town.

OCTOBER:

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COPPER: SEASON ONE
Street Date: October 30, 2012
Suggested Retail Price: DVD $49.98
                                        Blu-ray $59.98
Length: Approx. 450 minutes + bonus features & UV copy / 3-disc set (DVD) and 2 disc set (BD)
Bring home the highest rated series premiere BBC AMERICA drama COPPER starring Tom Weston-Jones (MI-5), Franka Potente (The Bourne Identy), Ato Essandoh (Blue Bloods, White Collar), Kyle Schmid (Being Human)and Anastasia Griffith (Once Upon A Time). From the brilliant minds of Academy Award®-winner Barry Levinson, Emmy®-winner Tom Fontana and Academy Award®-nominee Will Rokos, this gripping drama,  filled with intrigue, corruption, mystery and murder follows Detective Kevin Corcoran (Weston-Jones) – a rugged Irish immigrant cop – as he seeks justice for the powerless in the notorious immigrant neighbourhood of Five Points. Bonded by battle to two Civil War compatriots – the wayward son of a wealthy industrialist and an African-American physician who secretly assists the forensic investigations – Corcoran is thrust into the contrasting worlds of elegant and corrupt Fifth Avenue, and the emerging African- American community in Northern Manhattan. The three men share a secret from the battlefield that inextricably links their lives forever.Bonus features include: audio commentary on select episodes with Tom Weston-Jones, Franka Polente, Ato Essandoh, Kyle Schmid, and Anastasia Griffith, “Making of” Documentary, Deleted Scenes, and Character Video Profiles and Featurettes.

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THE ICE HOUSE
Street Date: October 16, 2012
Suggested Retail Price: DVD $19.97 ($24.98 in Canada)
Length: Approx. 180 minutes + bonus feature / single disc

When an unidentifiable corpse is discovered on the grounds of Streech Grange, the detectives played by Corin Redgrave (Four Weddings and a Funeral) and Daniel Craig (Skyfall, The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo) have to decide whether it’s the start of a new case - or the solution to a missing person case which started ten years ago when David Maybury disappeared without a trace. Based on the award-winning novel by Minette Walters, The Ice House is a crime drama with fascinating characters and a plot filled with twists and turns, yet asks a very simple question: is vengeance ever justified? Bonus features include: Minette Walters On Writing A Novel featurette.

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UPSTAIRS DOWNSTAIRS: SEASON TWO
Street Date: October 23, 2012
Suggested Retail Price: DVD $34.98 ($43.98 in Canada)
Length: Approx. 380 minutes + bonus features / 2-disc set

One of the most beloved television series of all time returns for a second season in this exquisite new production starring Keeley Hawes (MI-5Life on Mars), Ed Stoppard (Brideshead Revisited), Claire Foy (Little Dorrit), and Alex Kingston (Doctor Who, ER). It is now 1938, and 165 Eaton Place has become a well established and thriving household in the heart of London; Lady Agnes and Sir Hallam’s family is complete with the addition of two small children, yet below the surface of a well-run household, both upstairs and downstairs are harboring life-changing secrets. London faces tumultuous times with the threat of the World War II looming and later impacting everyday life, and while romance, heartbreak and revelations engulf the household, its inhabitants discover that the real threat to 165 Eaton Place is much closer to home. Bonus features include: cast and crew interviews.

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KINGDOM: SEASON ONE
Street Date: October 2, 2012
Suggested Retail Price: $34.98 ($43.98 in Canada)
Length: Approx. 275 mins. + bonus features / 2-disc set

Stephen Fry (Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows) stars as Peter Kingdom, a country solicitor whose compassion and humility has won him huge respect in the picture-perfect town of Market Shipborough. But the popular lawyer is recovering from a recent tragedy - his brother, and business partner, Simon, disappeared at sea and is presumed dead. Simon’s body has never been found, leaving Peter searching for clues to the mystery surrounding his brother's disappearance. Hermione Norris (Outcasts) stars as Peter's troubled and lustful younger sister Beatrice, who wreaks havoc when she comes to live with him after being released from a rehabilitation clinic. Bonus features include a behind the scenes documentary.

US Last of summer win#48AF2 lowres
LAST OF THE SUMMER WINE: VINTAGE 1995 RESERVE
Street Date: October 16, 2012
Suggested Retail Price: $34.98 ($43.98 in Canada)
Length: Approx. 298 mins. / 2-disc set

The world’s longest running sitcom is back for another season of hilarious adventures…and once again, a few misadventures. In the Christmas Special, the trio organizes a piano recital for their friend Billy, but when he takes the stage, Billy faints from fright. Luckily, Compo has an idea up his sleeve. After seeing a pothole that reminds him of trenches, Foggy relives his World War II memories. When the trio inherits a van, they’re surprised to find it also comes with someone’s wife in the back. Foggy picks up hypnotherapy, but ends up hypnotizing himself in the process. Later, he believes he is a distant member of an old aristocratic family. Finally, when Compo uses his bed as a trampoline, he ends up caught in a bed spring, but will Compo and Clegg find a way to free him?

NOVEMBER:

Call the Midwife SD-BD 3D lowres
Street Date: November 6, 2012
Suggested Retail Price: DVD $34.98 ($43.98 in Canada)
                                        Blu-ray $39.98 ($49.98 in Canada)
Length: Approx. 355 minutes / 2-disc set

Based on the best-selling memoirs of Jennifer Worth, the critically acclaimed BAFTA nominated drama Call the Midwife is a moving, intimate, funny and, above all, true-to-life look at the colorful stories of midwifery and families in East London in the 1950s. When Jenny Lee first arrives in Poplar, East London, she knows nothing about hardship, poverty or indeed, life itself. Attached to an order of nursing nuns at Nonnatus House, Jenny is part of a team of midwives who visit expectant mothers, providing the poorest women with the best possible care. Here the streets teem with children and with only a single eight-bed maternity ward to serve the whole district, most deliveries take place at home. The series follows Jenny as she travels through the streets to meet her patients - including Conchita, who is on her 25th pregnancy, and Mary, a prostitute and pregnant at just 15 years old. Starring Jessica Raine (The Woman in Black) and narrated by Oscar®-winner Vanessa Redgrave (AtonementGirl, Interrupted) as the mature Jenny, Call the Midwife provides a fascinating look at personalized health care and the courage of mothers under any conditions.

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