The Stephen Poliakoff BBC Collection: Caught On A Train / Perfect Strangers / Shooting The Past [DVD]

"The Lost Prince" - Drama telling the little-known story of Prince John, the youngest child of George V and Queen Mary, whose short life spanned one of the more momentous periods in history. Set against the backdrop of unprecedented upheaval in Britain, The Lost Prince tells the very human story of a unique family and an extraordinary boy. Prince John was diagnosed as an epileptic and suffered from autism-like learning difficulties making him unable to participate in public life and as a result he became increasingly isolated from his family.

"Perfect Strangers" - A darkly comic tale of a young man who comes face to face with his huge family - a variety of eccentrics, all of whom are hiding secrets from their pasts. At a family reunion Raymond is presented with a copy of the family tree and is absolutely amazed by the complexity of his family ties.

"Caught on a Train" - Oscar-winning actress Dame Peggy Ashcroft stars as an elderly Austrian woman travelling across Europe by train, who, over the course of one overnight journey, has an unsettling influence on a young Englishman.

"Shooting the Past" - Winner of the Prix Italia, an extraordinary story about a country house on the outskirts of London which houses a unique photographic collection of the last century. Christopher Anderson is a representative of a U.S. corporation who plan on turning the property into a business school. But the staff who have cared for the photographs are determined that the collection should not be broken up and do everything in their power to keep the collection intact.

"Friends and Crocodiles" - Paul Reynolds is a Gatsby-like figure: owner of a magnificent house, a host to great parties, and a collector of interesting people. He persuades Lizzie Thomas, a secretary in a local estate agent's, to come and work for him as his assistant, to bring a little order to the chaos. He inspires her with his enthusiasm and imagination, and frustrates her with his apparent carelessness and destructiveness, which culminates her calling the police as a great party is turned over by local troublemakers, seemingly with Paul's tacit approval. But their paths are destined to cross again and again as Lizzie, with help from some of those she met at Paul's house, rises through the changing landscape of corporate Britain. This is a story of a meaningful and powerful relationship that isn't a love story; it's about those rare people who profoundly influence and shape our lives.

"Gideon's Daughter" - Gideon Warner is a hugely successful public relations consultant to the wealthy, to politicians, to businessmen and rising starlets. Their hair, their clothes, where they go and with who - Gideon advises them on everything. With all his skills, he is the perfect man to package the Millennium celebrations and sell them to the rest of the world. But, disillusioned with the world in which he works and increasingly concerned over the growing distance between him and his daughter, Gideon takes less and less notice of his business, just as clients seem to want him more and more. He clings to his slowly fourishing relationship with Stella - a mother grieving for her dead son - as his world spins further out of control. Only together can they make it stop...

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