Simon Schama Collection : History Of Britain / Power of Art / Rough Crossings - 10 Disc BBC Box Set (Exclusive to Amazon.co.uk) [DVD]

This 10-disc box set is exclusive to Amazon.

About each series:

1. A History of Britain: Complete BBC Series: Schama retells British history the way it was--as bloody, convulsive, precarious, hot-blooded and several times within an inch of haring off onto an entirely different course. Schama seems almost to delight in the goriness of history.

Bringing Britain's rich history to life, Simon Schama's unique storytelling describes the triumphs and trials of the monarchy, the effects of warring religions, the expansion of the empire and the decline of Britain as a world power. The story begins around 3100 BC and concludes in 1965. The complete 15-part epic BBC series, presented on six DVDs in special edition packaging is included in this exclusive. Extras include two interviews with Simon Schama plus satellite link with Mark Wilson; three original music pieces from the programme; behind the scenes footage; one-hour BBC Four Simon Schama lecture; A History Of Britain advert/promo; photo gallery; Schama biography (text).

2. Power of Art: Join Schama as he journeys back through the ages to the time in which eight of the most famous works of art were created.

"Watching Simon Schama's Power of Art is like taking an Ivy League course in art appreciation, with the folksy but knowledgeable Schama as guide and interpreter. A collection of hour-long films on eight seminal artists and their groundbreaking works, which originally aired on British television, this set is as entertaining as it is enlightening, with Schama doing for Western art what, say, Steve Irwin did for Australian natural history. Eight artists are featured--Caravaggio, Bernini, Rembrandt, David, Turner, Van Gogh, Picasso, and Rothko--and each portrait of the artist weaves biography and historical context to help explain the true power of his works. Extras include frank and very funny commentaries by Schama and his co-producer, and lots of behind-the-scenes dish on how certain scenes were achieved. The teeming French opera scene in the "David" episode, for instance, was cast using just 20 French extras and then the rest created by CGI--'the scene works better, really, than [the film] King Kong,' Schama says with delight." --A.T. Hurley

3. Rough Crossings is the astonishing story of the struggle to freedom by thousands of African-American slaves who fled the plantations to fight behind British lines in the American War of Independence. With gripping, powerfully vivid story-telling, Simon Schama follows the escaped blacks into the fires of the war, and into freezing, inhospitable Nova Scotia where many who had served the Crown were betrayed in their promises to receive land at the war's end. Their fate became entwined with British abolitionists: inspirational figures such as Granville Sharp, the flute-playing father-figure of slave freedom, and John Clarkson, the 'Moses' of this great exodus, who accompanied the blacks on their final rough crossing to Africa, wher they hoped that freedom would finally greet them.