Catherine Cookson Mega Collection

Catherine Cookson was, according to her Wiki biography, the UK's "most widely read novelist".

Her first novel was published in 1950 and she died in 1998 at nearly 92. Many of her books were adapted for television, especially in the 1990's by ITV.

Catherine Cookson http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_Cookson

The Mallens http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mallens

The Fifteen Streets http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097352/
The Black Candle http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101462/

The Black Velvet Gown http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106422/

The Man Who Cried http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106060/

The Cinder Path http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108726/

The Dwelling Place http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0211801/

The Glass Virgin http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111913/

The Tide Of Life http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0126762/

The Gambling Man http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0227903/

The Girl http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0126321/

The Moth http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118405/

The Rag Nymph http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118443/

The Wingless Bird http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0141988/

The Round Tower http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0154085/

Colour Blind http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0180346/

The Secret http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0253663/

Tilly Trotter http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0184164/

A Dinner Of Herbs http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0269157/

In Loving Memory update

All but the last 7 episodes are now digital quality.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Loving_Memory_%28TV_series%29

Jane Eyre.....more Jane

3 BBC adaptations of the 1847 classic Charlotte Brontë novel.

Jane Eyre 1973

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Eyre_%281973_TV_serial%29

Jane Eyre 1983
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Eyre_%281983_TV_serial%29

Jane Eyre 2006

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Eyre_%282006_TV_serial%29

A Passionate Woman + Five Daughters + Lizzie & Sarah

A Passionate Woman....description from a BBC release:
Kay Mellor’s play, A Passionate Woman, on BBC One, starring Billie Piper and Sue Johnston, has been adapted into two stories. The first focuses on a mother’s affair in the Fifties and the second is set in the Eighties and looks at the consequences of that affair 30 years on.
A Passionate Woman is a very personal look at the changing role of women over the last 50 years.
Set in Leeds in the Fifties Cold War period, Billie Piper stars as Betty, a young wife and mother who reluctantly falls passionately and hopelessly in love with her charismatic Polish neighbour, Alex Crazenovski, played by Theo James.
But little does Betty know that some 30 years later, in Eighties Britain, her affair will implode on her beloved son Mark’s wedding day.

Five Daughters....a review in Scotland's Sunday Herald:
http://www.heraldscotland.com/arts-ents/film-tv-features/five-daughters-bbc-one-sunday-tuesday-1.1023215

Lizzie And Sarah.....from a BBC release:
Lizzie and Sarah are two fiftysomething suburban housewives, perpetually mistreated and ignored by unloving, selfish husbands. The highlight of their otherwise dull lives is their role in an amateur dramatic society. In the aftermath of a tragic accident which causes the death of a popular local teenager, emotions run high, and following a dismal birthday lunch for Sarah, the two friends embark on a spur-of-the-moment shopping trip. As the day unfolds, they find a way to wreak their revenge.

Jane Austen mega-set

Okay drama queens.....and kings. Here's All Jane - All The Time. Pretty much all the Jane Austen adaptations of the past 40 years all on 7 little discs.

Sense And Sensibility 1971
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0254768/
Sense And Sensibility 1981
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sense_and_Sensibility_%281981_TV_serial%29
Sense And Sensibility 2008
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sense_and_Sensibility_%282008_TV_serial%29

Pride And Prejudice 1980
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pride_and_Prejudice_%281980_TV_serial%29
Pride And Prejudice 1995
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pride_and_Prejudice_%281995_TV_serial%29

Mansfield Park 1983
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mansfield_Park_%281983_TV_serial%29
Mansfield Park 2007

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mansfield_Park_%282007_TV_drama%29

Emma 1972

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_%281972_TV_serial%29
Emma 1996

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_%281996_TV_drama%29

Emma 2009

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_%282009_TV_serial%29

Northanger Abbey 1986

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northanger_Abbey_%281986_film%29

Northanger Abbey 2007

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northanger_Abbey_%282007_TV_drama%29

Persuasion 1971...this was originally presented in 5 episodes. Here the episodes have been combined into 2 parts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persuasion_%281971_series%29

Persuasion 1995

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persuasion_%281995_film%29

Persuasion 2007

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persuasion_%282007_TV_drama%29

Grow Your Own Drugs

Grow Your Own Drugs with ethnobotanist James Wong. No, it's not a program for dope heads. More for the gardening crowd and people with an interest in healthy lifestyles and organic food and cooking. People have been on the planet for thousands of years but it was just over 100 years ago that the Rockefeller's started the pharmaceutical mafia. This interesting program explores some of the ways people coped prior to that using what was growing around them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grow_Your_Own_Drugs

Curry & Chips + Chalk & Cheese

At last the 1969 show! Except for 3 rough video tapes that have been circulating around the video underground for a few years now, Curry & Chips hasn't been seen in over 40 years. The controversial sitcom featured some of the biggest names in comedy such as Dick Emery, Spike Milligan, Norman Rossington, with singer Kenny Lynch, Sam Kydd, and a young Geoffrey Hughes (Onslow on Keeping Up Appearances). However, the powers that be deemed it racist and that was the end of that. I think there must have been more to the story than that and something else going on behind the scenes. Personally, I'm looking forward to watching it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curry_and_Chips#References
Chalk And Cheese is not new to my collection, but I thought I'd pair it up with Curry & Chips just because the two titles sound good together. Chalk And Cheese was a late 70's sitcom starring Michael Crawford and followed his role in one of the most popular sitcoms of that era, Some Mothers Do 'ave 'em. http://www.phill.co.uk/comedy/cheese/index.html

Murder In Eden + Time For Murder

2 thriller-killers on 1 disc. Murder In Eden was an Irish mini-series starring the late Tony Doyle (Ballykissangel, Amongst Women). Here's a review I found:
As the title of this British miniseries indicates, Murder in Eden had very little to do with the Old Testament. The central character was an Irish pub owner, who, in a fit of anger, killed his barman. Though convinced that he had covered up his tracks, the pub owner found himself being blackmailed by a person who may or may not have witnessed the crime. Debuting July 19, 1991 on the BBC, Murder in Eden ran for three 50-minute episodes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Time For Murder was a 6 stand-alone episodes program. I found this description:
A rare, six-course feast for British mystery connoisseurs
In original screenplays specially commissioned for this series, Fay Weldon, Antonia Fraser, Gordon Honeycombe, Frances Galleymore (the novel Widow Maker), Michael Robson (The House of Eliott), and Charles Wood (Iris, Help!) deliver six devilishly clever tales. These are no ordinary stories of mystery and suspense. Each author gives the genre his or her own peculiar twist, with results ranging from the darkly humorous to the truly macabre. You’ll visit not only conventional English drawing rooms, but also a boy’s prep school, a luxury health spa, and a snowbound hotel—all settings for murder and other surprises.
These six complete dramas also feature some of Britain’s leading actors, including Claire Bloom, Sylvia Sims, Charles Dance, Amanda Root, Trevor Howard, Judy Campbell, Patrick Allen, and Jane Asher.

No Bananas

No Bananas.....you'll find a program review on the IMDB website if you scroll down a ways: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115294/

Foyle's War - update

Foyle's War - Series 7, 3 90-minute episodes of the popular ITV detective drama.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foyle%27s_War

Life Of Riley

Life Of Riley, BBC Scotland sitcom with Caroline Quentin (Men Behaving Badly, Jonathan Creek, Life Begins, Blue Murder, Kiss Me Kate) and Neil Dudgeon (Piece Of Cake, Common As Muck, Roman's Empire)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_of_Riley_%28TV_series%29

The Persuaders!

The Persuaders! Roger Moore and Tony Curtis starred in this action/adventure/intrigue (!!!) program that was broadcast on both sides of the Atlantic....although ABC dropped it from it's schedule before it finished.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Persuaders!

Time Team

Channel 4's Time Team, one of my favorite programs, returned the other night for it's 17th series and 210th episode, so I thought I'd put a few of these up here. Eventually I'll show them all as I work my way backwards to 1993.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Team

Tales of the Unexpected update

Roald Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected updated and completed. Dahl, the author of Charlie And The Chocolate Factory and James And The Giant Peach, was also the author of many short stories and about the first 17 episodes of this program were based on his works. Dahl had an interesting life and his Wiki biography sounds like a Hollywood fantasy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_of_the_Unexpected_%28TV_series%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roald_Dahl

Hannay

Hannay was a program spun off from the 1978 film The 39 Steps which was the 3rd film adaptation of the 1915 John Buchan novel (the first one was the Alfred Hitchcock masterpiece of 1935). The time-period is 1914 so it's a little surprisng to see star Robert Powell with a very 1980's perm. We expect that stuff from Hollywood, but not in a British period work.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannay_%28TV_series%29

September Song

September Song was a Granada comedy-drama starring Russ Abbot (currently seen as Hobbo in Last of the Summer Wine) and the late Michael Williams (who starred with his wife, Judi Densch, in A Fine Romance and Love In A Cold Climate). Hal Erickson wrote this review in All Movie Guide:

Premiering with a one-hour episode in 1993, the British comedy-drama September Song settled into a weekly half-hour berth not long afterward. Russ Abbot and Michael Williams were respectively cast as the recently widowed Ted Fenwick and Ted's best friend, professional comedian Billy Balsam. Electing to join forces to get as much out of life as they could, Ted and Billy cut a wide swath through their hometown of Blackpool before embarking upon a Mediterranean cruise. The series wound to a close as Ted and Billy found themselves in Cromer. Boasting a large and ever-changing supporting cast (mostly female), September Song remained on Granada Television's manifest for 19 episodes, ending its run in 1995.

Actually, there were 20 episodes.

No Angels

No Angels, a Channel 4 comedy-drama about the lives of four nurses in Leeds.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Angels_%28TV_series%29

The Dick Emery Show

The Dick Emery Show, a BBC comedy sketch program, ran off and on for nearly 18 years (July 1963 - February 1981). Here are 2 discs packed with episodes from the 1973-1975 period.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Emery

Colonel March of Scotland Yard

Colonel March of Scotland Yard was produced for ITV in 1954 and broadcast on the Associated British Corp (ABC) channel in 1956. The role of Col. March went to Boris Karloff.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonel_March_of_Scotland_Yard

Married Single Other + The Gemma Factor

Married Single Other + The Gemma Factor
Married Single Other is an ITV comedy-drama with Ralf Little (Royle Family, Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps, Massive, Paradise Heights), Miranda Raison (Spooks), Dean Lennox Kelly (Shameless), Amanda Abbington (After You've Gone, Man Stroke Woman, The Booze Cruise, The Robinsons), Lucy Davis (The Office), and Shaun Dooley (The Street, Five Days). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Married_Single_Other
The Gemma Factor is a BBC sitcom about a young lady who wants to be famous before she turns 21. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gemma_Factor

Gary Tank Commander + Burnistoun

Gary Tank Commander + Burnistoun, both from BBC Scotland. Gary is a sitcom, Burnistoun a comedy sketch show.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Tank_Commander
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnistoun