The Star of David

The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars is arguably the most important album in the mind-blowing career of David Bowie. Released in 1972, it's the record that set the mercurial musician on course to becoming one of the best-known pop stars on the planet. In just over a year, Bowie's messianic Martian invaded the minds of the nation's youth with a killer combination of extraterrestrial rock 'n' roll and outrageous sexuality, all delivered in high-heeled boots, multi-coloured dresses and extravagant make-up. In Bowie's own words, Ziggy was 'a cross between Nijinsky and Woolworths', but this unlikely culture clash worked - Ziggy turned Bowie into stardust.

An all-star ensemble brings to life this Charles Dickens's classic. Sir Lawrence Olivier (Mr. Creakle) Sir Ralph Richardson (Mr. McCawber) Sir Richard Attenborough (Mr. Tungay) Dame Edith Evans (Aunt Betsy) and Ron Moody (Uriah Heep) help make this performance one of the best of its kind. We follow along with David Copperfield (Robin Phillips) as he looks back at his life. He grows from orphan child to manhood in Victorian England with a combination of good advice and abusive acts against him. Acclaimed actors and a story as important today as it was 100 years ago make this production one of the finest renditions of this book ever brought to the screen.

The Fly was released in the midst of the 50’s monster-film craze, and make no mistake, it is an attempt to capitalize on that trend. But unlike most of those films, it never seems cheesy or campy, the science never seems like complete nonsense, and none of it comes across as unintentionally funny at this late date–even allowing for the relatively primitive special effects and the occasionally lampooned late scene involving a spider web. That scene isn’t silly here. It’s gut wrenching and horrific, exactly as it should be.

Five years after the conclusion of Pitch Black, Richard B. Riddick (Vin Diesel), sporting dreadlocks and living in self-exile on a frozen planet, finds himself once again being hunted, this time for a 1.5 million dollar bounty. Tipped off to where Riddick is hiding by Abu "Imam" al-Walid (the cleric Riddick saved in the first film), a merc (mercenary) named Toombs (Nick Chinlund) arrives to collect our antihero and the bounty on his head. Riddick eludes capture, steals Toombs' ship and flies to New Mecca where he confronts the backstabbing cleric. Imam (Keith David) tells Riddick that Toombs was used to draw him out, because New Mecca is being targeted for takeover by Necromongers (a legion of armor-wearing storm troopers who will kill you if they can't convert you to their evil ways) and he is the only one who can save them. According to an Elemental named Aereon (a ghostly seer who can appear and disappear at will), Lord Marshal (Colm Feore), the Necromonger's half dead/half alive leader (who can pull the soul right out of your body) has systematically destroyed a race of people known as Furions, because it was prophesied that Lord Marshal can only be defeated by a Furion warrior… Riddick, it appears, is the last remaining Furion.

National treasure and Poirot star David Suchet starred as the formidable Lady Bracknell in Oscar Wilde’s much loved masterpiece "The Importance of Being Earnest". Directed by Adrian Noble, (Amadeus, The King’s Speech, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) Wilde’s superb satire on Victorian manners is one of the funniest plays in the English language.

The Story of Film: An Odyssey is an unprecedented cinematic event, an epic journey through the history of world cinema that is a treat for movie lovers around the globe. Guided by film historian Mark Cousins, this bold 15-part love letter to the movies begins with the invention of motion pictures at the end of the 19th century and concludes with the multi-billion dollar globalized digital industry of the 21st.

Metamorphosis seems like the ultimate evolutionary magic trick, the amazing transformation of one creature into a totally different being: one life, two bodies.

With Carbon in the news every day, you might think you know everything about her. But you’d be wrong. This spectacular and surprisingly unorthodox documentary reveals the paradoxical story of the element that builds all life, and yet may end it all. Narrated in first person by  Sarah Snook (Succession), Carbon tells of her birth in the violent core of an exploding star and of turbulent sagas through the fabric of our evolving Earth. Accompanied by celebrated scientists, unique animations and a stunning orchestral score, Carbon reminds us of our humble participation in the most extraordinary story in the universe.

Composer and musician Neil Brand presents a series on the movie musical - from Hollywood to China and the USSR, and from Snow White and Gene Kelly to Grease and La La Land.