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DVDs in the Works

Archive for the ‘Lifestyle’ Category

Celebrating the Diamond Jubilee

Queen Elizabeth II

Sally Norris © BBC 2012

As Queen Elizabeth II began her Diamond Jubilee tour of the UK today in Leicester, it’s perfect time to introduce two special DVDs in the works. The Diamond Queen is a 3-hour television profile that aired last month. Our British colleagues, who have witnessed a number of jubilees and television retrospectives over the years, were impressed by this series’ unprecedented access to the Queen, and to members of the Royal family, who speak quite candidly in interviews. The Diamond Queen premieres in Canada on CBC News this Saturday, March 10th, at 7pm ET/PT. Broadcast information for the US has not been announced.

The Queen’s Palaces is currently making the rounds of PBS stations, and an episode aired on British Columbia’s Knowledge last night. The series devotes episodes to Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, and The Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, and relates their fascinating history in relation to the various monarchs who hand a hand in their development. Both DVDs should be available shortly before the Jubilee celebrations, which begin Saturday, June 2nd.

If you’re already thinking of stocking provisions, Darvilles of Windsor has a special Diamond Jubilee tea blend in the works, which we will list soon. In addition to the regal Diamond Jubilee mug we brought in earlier this year, we’ve brought in a more playful mug in the inimitable Dunoon style. Also newly added to the mix is a commemorative tea towel from Ulster Weavers, a holder of the Royal Warrant.

Contest Alert: If series like Planet Earth and the upcoming Frozen Planet have instilled a desire to meet a polar bear up close and personal, The Ultimate Polar Bear Adventure contest is open to citizens of the US and Canada.

Top Gear 17, or Richard Hammond the Lionheart

Top Gear 17

Behind that tinted windshield is Richard Hammond, testing the durability of the 10-ton Marauder in conditions typical to South Africa. Meanwhile Clarkson celebrates the 50th anniversary of the legendary Jaguar E-type, with a party checklist that includes live music, classic fighter planes and a group of Royal Marines. In James May’s challenge (evocative of the minis-in-the-ice-rink sequence famously cut from The Italian Job), the latest Mini rally car pits its reputation in a downhill race with gold medal winning British Olympian Amy Williams on her skeleton sled. And that’s just Episode One of Top Gear 17. Stars in a Reasonably Priced Car include rock legend Alice Cooper, LiveAid’s Bob Geldof, Formula 1 world champion Sebastian Vettel and Rowan Atkinson (Blackadder, Mr. Bean), who is very much a racing enthusiast in private life. Special Features include extra chats and laps plus a sample episode from the American version of Top Gear. Look for Top Gear 17 to arrive on DVD and Blu-ray before Spring 2012.

Doctor Who fan alert! BBC America is looking for talking heads to appear in its next Doctor Who Special, The Best of the Christmas Specials, set to premiere on December 24th. This is an exclusive, can’t-miss chance to be featured on-air in the program alongside the musings of celebrity Whovians.

First, check out this video:

Then, grab your camera and record your wittiest, most festive answers to the any of the Christmassy questions listed below – and submit it as a response video on YouTube! Your video might just appear in the “Doctor Who: Best of the Christmas Specials” show on BBC America, or online.

  • Would you rather go sleigh riding with a Dalek or make snow angels with an Ood?
  • Would you rather ride with Santa in his sleigh or The Doctor in his TARDIS?
  • Would you rather find yourself under mistletoe with a Weeping Angel or The Silence?
  • Would you rather spend Christmas traveling with the Doctor or relaxing at home with Amy and Rory?
  • Would you rather eat fish fingers and custard or a traditional Christmas dinner?
  • Would you rather see Santa Claus come down your chimney or the Doctor land in your yard?
  • Would you rather find a Sonic Screwdriver in your stocking or a TARDIS under your Christmas tree?

The deadline is November 23rdClick here for full instructions on how to submit a video response on YouTube.

The Royal Wedding – William & Catherine on DVD!

Avid royal watchers will be setting their alarm clocks to catch some, or all five and half hours, of the BBC’s live, commercial-free coverage of the Royal Wedding on BBC America, but we know some of you are already wondering: will there be a DVD? We are happy to announce that on May 24th we are releasing The Royal Wedding – William & Catherine, the official BBC DVD of the full wedding ceremony at Westminster Abbey, plus an hour of outdoor highlights. These will certainly include Catherine’s arrival at the Abbey, the post-wedding carriage procession along Whitehall and the Mall, and William and Catherine’s appearance on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, when the Mall fills up with well-wishers as far as the eye can see. The BBC has staked out 70 camera positions along the route, and 30 cameras in the Abbey.  The DVD will also include William & Kate – A Royal Engagement, the 48-minute documentary which was broadcast last November on the BBC and NBC Dateline.

BBC Worldwide will donate all proceeds of the distribution rights (after deduction of its own acquisition and distribution costs) from TV, DVD and download-to-own sales of The Royal Wedding to The Foundation of Prince William and Prince Harry (charity registration number 1132048). This is expected to be in the region of £150,000.

While we’re in a royal mood, may we recommend a look at our boutique of all things royal? Among the of the latest arrivals are British Royal Weddings of the 20th Century, which offers three hours of comprehensive background to this week’s event, and the Royal Wedding commemorative mug.

Matt Smith in 1930s Berlin

Christopher and his Kind

Choosing a period piece like Christopher and His Kind for his first high-profile role after Doctor Who may sound like a busman’s holiday for Matt Smith. Indeed, he acknowledges a parallel between the Time Lord and Isherwood (the Christopher of the title).  Isherwood is best known for Berlin Stories, which inspired the hit play I Am a Camera, which in turn spawned the megahit musical Cabaret. “He left 1930s England and arrived in Berlin, a place that in comparison was an alien planet,” Matt Smith said in the cover-story in next week’s Radio Times. In Christopher and His Kind, written in 1976 (over 30 years after Berlin Stories), Isherwood was able to present pre-war Berlin with greater historical perspective and to portray much more frankly its unprecedented gay scene. Our appetite wetted by A Single Man (also based on an Isherwood novel), we’ve been looking forward to this film since it was announced.

Joining Matt are Pip Carter as poet W.H. Auden and Imogen Poots as Jean Moss, the inspiration for Sally Bowles. We haven’t seen much of their work, but both are in current films, as Placidus in The Eagle and as Blanche Ingram in Jane Eyre, respectively. Rounding out the cast are Lindsay Duncan (Shooting the Past, The Waters of Mars) as Christopher’s mother, and Toby Jones (the Dream Lord in Doctor Who Series 5, The Old Curiosity Shop) as journalist Gerald Hamilton. While we usually have to wait months between a UK broadcast and a North American DVD release, we’re happy to announce that Christopher and His Kind will be available later this spring.