Theakston, Graham

The Cadfael Collection

Never tell Brother Cadfael, the medieval mystery-solving monk, your theory of how a crime "must" have been committed. "We must always be wary of 'must,'" he states. "Nothing is certain." And so attest these divine mysteries based on the books by Ellis Peters and originally broadcast in the U.S. on the PBS series Mystery! Each of the 13 feature-length episodes in The Cadfael Collection is self-contained but plays against the backdrop of England's civil war between forces loyal to King Stephen and those to Empress Maud. Derek Jacobi (I, Claudius, Gladiator) stars as Cadfael, who at one point is aptly described as "an odd kind of monk." The former "soldier, sailor, sinner, and Crusader" has his faith tested by crimes of royal intrigue and baffling murders that seem to plague the neutral ground of 12th-century Shrewsbury. "The Virgin in the Ice" is a good introduction for Cadfael initiates. This story of "violence and cruelty" involves the near-fatal beating of a young monk, the murder of a nun, and the disappearance of two children. Local undersheriff Hugh Beringar (played over the course of the series by Sean Pertwee, Eoin McCarthy, and Anthony Green) relies on Cadfael when murder subverts his efforts to keep the peace. A tense standoff between these two friends heightens the climax of "St. Peter's Fair." Americans have never seen a sleuth such as Cadfael, a fascinating character who is at once a man of God, of science, and even of action. You'll find few Benedictine monks so skilled at using a quarterstaff. --Donald Liebenson

In this unique mystery series based on the bestselling books by Ellis Peters, Sir Derek Jacobi (I, Claudius) stars as Brother Cadfael, a compassionate seeker of truth and justice in chaotic world medieval England.

DVD special features include exclusive audio comments by Derek Jacobi, Derek Jacobi essay, Ellis Peters materials, production scrapbooks, cast filmographies, and captions/subtitles for the hearing impaired.

• Collection Includes
• 
  One Corpse Too Many
• 
  The Sanctuary Sparrow
• 
  The Leper of St. Giles
• 
  Monk's Hood
• 
  The Virgin in the Ice
• 
  The Devil's Novice
  
• 
  St. Peter's Fair
• 
  A Morbid Taste for Bones
• 
  The Raven in the Foregate
• 
  The Rose Rent
• 
  The Pilgrim of Hate
• 
  The Potter's Field
• 
  The Holy Thief

A Touch of Frost - Season 1

"18 million viewers tuned into the super-length detective series." - The Times

A Touch of Frost is one of Britain's most successful detective series and stars award-winning actor David Jason as Detective Inspector Jack Frost, a policeman with a knack for attracting trouble. Set in the dreary town of Denton, Frost approaches each case with his characteristic dry wit and a sense of moral justice. A Touch of Frost Season One includes:

In "Care and Protection," Frost investigates a missing child case, as his terminally ill wife languishes in bed. A chance digging turns up a 30 year-old skeleton chained to a strongbox. A former bank employee with links to the strongbox is murdered and Frost must find his killer.

In "Not with Kindness," Frost grieves for his recently deceased wife, whose visiting sister from the States makes his life unbearable. Frost searches for a missing teenager and a victim of threatening phone calls wakes in the night to find her home engulfed in flames.

In "Conclusions," an elderly man is killed in a hit-and-run that involves a prominent local official's son. A casino is robbed of the night's takings. An armed and dangerous fugitive takes a pair of hostages.

Episodes: Care and Protection Not with Kindness Conclusions

The Politician's Wife

Flora (Juliet Stevenson in a tour de force performance) is the politician's wife. The politician, in this smart, unconventional thriller, is Tory MP Duncan Matlock (Troy's Trevor Eve). The setting is 1990s Britain. When they met, Duncan was a nobody, while Flora was from money. She married for love... and thought he did, too. Over the years, he became a powerful leader and she was always by his side. Then she--along with the rest of the nation--finds out he's been cheating. The woman (Minnie Driver) is an escort girl. Flora is devastated, but decides to put up a brave front. Secretly, however, she embarks on an ingenious plan to regain everything she's lost: pride, dignity, identity. There are no guns or knives in this award-winning miniseries (just a little nudity and profanity). Featuring a first-rate cast, including the late Ian Bannen (Waking Ned Devine) as the lynchpin in Flora's plan. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

When the tabloids scream the news that Minister of the Family Duncan Matlock has been caught in an affair with an "escort" girl, no one is more stunned than Flora, his wife. As her husband and the Tory establishment behind him expect, Flora maintains her loyal façade. But behind her public smiles, she seethes with mounting fury. Employing strange sexual games and covert political tactics, she plots to exact the ultimate revenge against her husband and the system that created him.

This powerful, award-winning PBS drama stars Juliet Stevenson (Truly, Madly, Deeply; Bend It Like Beckham), Trevor Eve (In the Name of the Father), and Minnie Driver (Good Will Hunting, Grosse Pointe Blank).

DVD SPECIAL FEATURES INCLUDE background essay by writer Paula Milne and cast filmographies.
"Splendidly wicked" —The New York Times
"Smashing!" —TV Guide
"A true PBS `Masterpiece'. . . a brilliant, incisive political potboiler"—Los Angeles Times

Masterpiece Theatre: Mill on the Floss

Emily Watson is luminous and heartbreaking as the brilliant, stifled Maggie in the 1997 TV production of The Mill on the Floss. All her life, young Maggie has heard "You're far too clever for a woman," with her deep intellectual curiosity and thirst for knowledge. But in 19th century England, the options for clever women were few--and many believe this story, by George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans), was a thinly disguised autobiography of Eliot/Evans herself. "I want there to be great things, beautiful things, in my life," Maggie wails to her cousin Lucy. "It's a sin, isn't it?" Later she finds a mantra she repeats often: "It we deserve nothing, if we yearn for nothing, then we can't be disappointed." In fact, Maggie (played unsentimentally as a young child by the captivating Lucy Borton) does yearn for education, stimulation, and witty interaction, which she must settle for finding, largely, in her home at the mill on the Floss River. As her family endures financial hardship, Maggie finds herself torn by love--for her struggling father; her headstrong brother, Tom; her childhood friend, Philip; and Lucy's fiancé.

It's her relationship with Philip that is the strongest metaphor for Maggie's life and choices. Played with depth and grace by The Tudors' James Frain, Philip is disabled with a hunchback, yet his intellect fires on every cylinder, and from their first meeting, Philip and Maggie form a deep bond. Philip's physical disability mirrors Maggie's own--of simply having been born in the body of a woman; each is limited by nothing but others' perceptions. Watson's Maggie, trembling with rage, realizes this and struggles daily, hourly, to make peace with the limitations imposed upon her. The film was shot in the sumptuous English countryside, and the beautiful expanses seem unchanged from Eliot's day. And Watson, fairly glowing with inner radiance, shines against even the loveliest backdrop. --A.T. Hurley

Brother Cadfael, Set 1 (One Corpse Too Many / The Sanctuary Sparrow / The Leper of St. Giles / Monk's Hood)

Sherlock - Case of Evil

Brother Cadfael, Set 4 (The Pilgrim of Hate / The Potter's Field / The Holy Thief)

The Pilgrim of Hate
Brother Cadfael, the Sherlock Holmes of the medieval world, discovers a corpse among the parade of the infirm and diseased taking refuge in the abbey on "Cripples Day." Thieves and con men ply their trades among the pilgrims so there is no shortage of suspects, but a few personalities leap from the crowd, namely a bitter young man accompanied by his pickpocket sister and a dying pilgrim making the trek barefoot while his pious brother pushes him along. The struggle between faith and dogma that rings through all of the Cadfael mysteries takes center stage in this story. The piety of the more judgmental Brothers of the Order comes across as hypocritical in their dealings with the unwashed peasants (who are, much to the monks' dismay, detained within the abbey walls during the investigation), but even their intolerance pales next to Cadfael's terrible discovery in the murder.

The Potter's Field
The brothers of the Shrewsbury monastery are doing some innocent backyard plowing when they turn up a murder victim's corpse--perhaps that of the former wife of their own Brother Ruald. Shrewsbury boils with rumors and accusations as a civil war devastates the countryside. The Potter's Field is a terrific mystery, filled with compelling human drama as well as a knotty riddle with a shocking solution. The production has an authentic feel, showing both the practicalities and the squalor of medieval life, and the direction artfully enhances the story. The acting is excellent across the board, with Jacobi's surehanded embodiment of Cadfael leading the way. This is an excellent, satisfying mystery.

The Holy Thief
Suspicion falls on the holy, the holier-than-thou, and the unholy when the sacred relics of Saint Winifred are stolen from the abbey and the pious prior of a fallen monastery and a greedy land baron both lay claim to them. Kidnapping, the jewel robbery, and murder only complicate the efforts of Brother Cadfael to separate holy miracle from worldly conspiracy. Derek Jacobi fills Brother Cadfael with a warmth to match his logic and a passion for justice that stands in contrast to the often fatal superstition of his world (trial by water as binding law). This episode is one of the darkest and most interesting entries in the series. --Sean Axmaker

Cadfael - The Sanctuary Sparrow

Twelfth-century Shrewsbury comes to life in Ellis Peters' Cadfael stories, a PBS Mystery! favorite starring Sir Derek Jacobi (I, Claudius; Gladiator). When Shrewsbury's goldsmith is robbed and left for dead, drunken locals decide the guilty party must be Liliwin, an itinerant juggler who was performing at the wedding feast of the goldsmith's son. The mob pursues the young man through the streets to the abbey where he frantically seeks the sanctuary of the altar. Cadfael believes Liliwin is innocent, but his search for the truth leads to the discovery of an even deadlier sin. DVD special features include exclusive audio comments by Derek Jacobi, Ellis Peters biography and booklist, English subtitles, filmographies and scene index.

Money Kings

Cadfael - Monk's Hood

Wonderfully preposterous as whodunits go, Cadfael proves that sleuthing for clues in 12th-century England can be hazardous to a "mere" monk's health. In this 1994 episode, Brother Cadfael (Derek Jacobi) becomes entangled in a murder investigation. A wealthy landowner disinherits his stepson (played by then-unknown Jonny Lee Miller) and wills his estate to Shrewsbury Abbey, home of Cadfael's clerical order. But the brutal old fellow is soon poisoned, and Cadfael is alone in doubting the boy's culpability.

The case becomes more urgent after the incorrigible monk discovers the suspect's mother is a sweetheart he left behind after joining the Crusades 40 years earlier. Complicating matters is growing corruption at the abbey following news of the deceased man's benevolence. As usual, Cadfael's fearlessness at pursuing truth in the face of powerful interests, along with Jacobi's knowing performance, is the most compelling element of this medieval thriller. --Tom Keogh