Created by comedian Paul Kaye, the obnoxious American punk Dennis Pennis was the scourge of celebrities in the mid-1990s. After hijacking press conferences & insulting actors at premiers with his spoof interviews & offensive questions, Pennis eventually found himself too famous to successfully approach the celebrities he was trying to abuse & was 'killed off' by Kaye in 1997. This complete set brings together the three previous Dennis Pennis collections: ' Very Important Pennis'; ' Anyone for Pennis?' & 'RIP
- Too Rude to Live.'
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Three television plays by the controversial & award-winning writer, made for ITV in 1980 & available for the first time since the original broadcast. In ' Blade on the Feather', a reclusive writer who lives on a secluded estate is visited by a young man who claims to be an admirer of his work. As the two men get to know each other, it becomes clear that the purpose of the young man's visit is to uncover a dark secret in the writer's past. In ' Rain on the Roof', a dysfunctional couple are being slowly torn apart by adultery & jealousy. When Janet (Cheryl Campbell) starts flirting with the simple-minded Billy (Ewan Stewart) while giving him a reading lesson, as a form of revenge against her philandering husb&, Billy begins to take out his own resentments & frustrations against John (Malcolm Stoddard). Finally, in ' Cream in My Coffee', an elderly couple explore the memories of their relationship after they visit the hotel where they first met. ...

Three television plays by the controversial & award-winning writer Dennis Potter. In ' Shaggy Dog' (1968), no-nonsense businessman Wilkie (John Neville) is interviewed for a position with a top-of-the-line hotel chain corporation. During the interview, Wilkie attempts to complete a shaggy-dog story. However, his frustrations lead to a total breakdown, & he suddenly snaps & pulls a gun on the interviewers. In ' Moonlight on the Highway' (1969), a troubled young man, David Peters (Ian Holm), rejects the rock music of the day & immerses himself in the tunes of 30s crooner Al Bowlly, who was killed during the London blitz. He collects Bowlly memorabilia, publishes the Bowlly fan-club newsletter, & finds pleasure in lip-synching Bowlly records
- but his obsession with Bowlly masks certain darker events in his past. In the semi-autobiographical ' Lay Down Your Arms' (1970), set at the time of the 1956 Suez Crisis & the Russian invasion of Hungary, Private Bob Hawk (Nikolas Simmonds) reports to the London Intelligence Office, where the strength of Soviet troops is under scrutiny.
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Eight complete BBC miniseries from the pen of controversial & celebrated playwright Dennis Potter. In ' The Singing Detective' (1986), Michael Gambon stars as an unsuccessful writer who, whilst lying in a hospital bed suffering from a very bad case of psoriasis, escapes from his misery by 'dreaming' about one of his own pulp thrillers along with some of his childhood memories. With a mixture of fantasy, reality & hit songs from the 1940s, this is widely regarded as Potter's most significant work. In ' Pennies From Heaven' (1978), Bob Hoskins stars as Arthur Parker, a song-sheet salesman frustrated by his work & his marriage. Desperate for romance & understanding, Arthur falls for an innocent young schoolteacher called Eileen (Cheryl Campbell), with harrowing results. ' Casanova' (1971) is Potter's version of the famous story of the 18th-century Italian adventurer & libertine Giovanni Jacopo Casanova (played by Frank Finlay). As Casanova is imprisoned in Venice in 1755, he casts his mind back to his many colourful affairs & adventures. In the harrowing ' Brimstone & Treacle' (1976), which was not screened until 1987
- 11 years after it was first made
- because of its controversial subject matter, an evil conman (Michael Kitchen) enveigles his way into the house of a respectable family by claiming that he knew their catatonic daughter before her accident. He actually lusts after the daughter, but his obsession proves to be his undoing. ' Stand Up Nigel Barton' & its sequel ' Vote Vote Vote For Nigel Barton' (1965) are Potter's satirical television plays about working class, Oxford-educated journalist Nigel Barton (Keith Barron), desperate for success & willing to use any means to get it. In ' Stand Up Nigel Barton', Barton leaves his mining community on a scholarship to Oxford, & has to deal with the snobbery of the university because of his background, & the prejudices of his friends & family when he returns home. In ' Vote Vote Vote For Nigel Barton', a successful career at Oxford has led to an even more successful career as a political journalist. Campaigning on behalf of the Labour Party, Barton soon begins to lose his political idealism & causes a scandal when he starts airing his true thoughts about the nature of politics in this country. ' Blue Remembered Hills' (1979) is set in 1943. A group of schoolchildren spend the day playing in the fields & woods of the Forest of Dean, but before long this idyllic world is shattered by an unexpected tragedy. Using adult actors to play the child parts, Potter throws the conventions of the dramatic depiction of childhood into stark relief. Finally, ' The Mayor of Casterbridge' (1978) is Potter's adaptation of the classic novel by Thomas Hardy. Eighteen years after drunkenly selling his wife & daughter to a sailor, Michael Henchard (Alan Bates) is set to become mayor of Casterbridge. When his wife & her daughter return, they set a disastrous chain of events in motion, & demonstrate that one wrong decision can completely destroy a life.

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Documentary looking at the life & times of the late Beach Boy. The wildest of the Wilson brothers, drummer Dennis was the only member of the group who actually surfed. As well as being the band's sticksman in their early recordings & live performances, he also wrote some fine songs & had a remarkably soulful voice. This programme tells his story through interviews with friends, family & fellow band members, &

Includes:: previously unseen footage of The Beach Boys from 1974.

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The term 'denomination' is now widely used to describe a Christian community or church. But what is a 'denomination'? In this collection of essays, representatives of all major Christian traditions give an answer to this question. What does the term mean in their own tradition? & does that tradition understand itself to be a 'denomination'? ...