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Stars: Jill Haworth, Bryant Haliday, Dennis Price, George Coulouris, Anna Palk, William Lucas, Anthony Valentine, Jack Watson, Derek Fowlds, Derek Fowlds, Gary Hamilton, Candace Glendenning, Dennis Price, Robin Askwith, Seretta Wilson | Written by Jim O’Connolly, George Baxt | Directed by Jim O’Connolly

Set in deserted lighthouse on fog-shrouded Snape Island, the terror of the Tower of Evil begins when a nude, crazed woman slaughters a sailor who visits the island. When she is taken back to civilization, she is found to possess an ancient relic; and so the authorities mount an expedition to solve a mysterious series of psycho-sexual murders…

I distinctly remember the very first time I saw Tower of Evil, it was on British TV – around the same time as the classic BBC 2 Horror double bills, so around 1993-95 – and, as someone who equated British horror with the likes of Amicus and Hammer, seeing the gloriously...

Filmmaker and green transport guru Chris Paine.s second feature-length documentary, Revenge Of The Electric Car is a follow-up to his first, Who Killed The Electric Car? from five years ago. The first was a look at the Ev-1, a battery-powered car that General Motors designed, built, and test-marketed. After conspiring with the big oil companies, Gm reclaimed the entire fleet and had the cars destroyed. Paine presented this as one of America.s most outrageous conspiracy theories, right up there with the fake moon landing and the Grassy Knoll, a case of environmental innovation squelched by greedy oil profits. Paine peppered the film with testimonials from celebrity owners such as Ed Begley Jr, Mel Gibson, and Tom Hanks because either acting in movies makes them experts in technology or because they can afford the pensive cars. Paine actually staged a funeral for the Ev-1 but, since his was an agenda-driven doc,...

The Celebrity line-up has been announced for this month's Winter Memorabilia Show at the NEC, near Birmingham.

Movie stars, TV personalities and sporting legends will be meeting fans and giving autographs at the UK convention.

Game of Thrones actors Finn Jones, Roxanne McKee, James Cosmo (above), Miltos Yerolemou (below) and Spencer Wilding will be among those in attendance - and they're bringing the hit fantasy series' iconic Iron Throne along with them.

James Cosmo (Braveheart, Highlander) plays Jeor Mormont, the 997th Lord Commander of the Night's Watch and the estranged father of Ser Jorah, while Roxanne McKee (Hollyoaks) plays Doreah, a handmaid and companion of Daenerys Targaryen who schools the young princess in the art of love.

Attending Memorabilia on November 19 only, Finn Jones plays the handsome Ser Loras Tyrell, a champion jouster known as the Knight of Flowers.

Miltos Yerolemou plays Syrio Forel, former First Sword of the Sealord of Braavos,...

From sci-fi to soaps, cult TV to classic comedy, Memorabilia Birmingham is a Mecca for collectors, film buffs and sci-fi fans – and HeyUGuys has five pairs of Saturday early entry e-tickets to give away for the 19-20 November show at NEC Birmingham.

This year’s Memorabilia guest list includes Kai Owen (Torchwood); Sir Derek Jacobi (The King’s Speech, I Claudius); Colin Baker (Doctor Who); Arthur Darvill (Doctor Who); Bruce Boxleitner (Tron, Babylon 5); John Challis (Only Fools And Horses); Doctor Who companions Katy Manning, Sophie Aldred, Deborah Watling, Sarah Sutton and Louise Jameson and five of the cast of HBO fantasy hit Game of Thrones.

Other stars meeting fans and signing autographs at the show include Marshall Lancaster (Ashes To Ashes, Life On Mars); Anthony Valentine (Coronation Street); Ian Ogilvy (Return Of The Saint); Alexandra Bastedo (The Champions); Barry Howard (Hi-De-Hi!); Susan Jameson (New Tricks, Coronation Street); Peter Egan...

With the next Sherlock Holmes movie on the horizon, David looks at a few other literary heroes that deserve a fresh chance on the big screen…

Classic suspense heroes are getting a lot of Hollywood attention at the moment. Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows will be released in December, and Robert Downey Jr wants to similarly reinvent Perry Mason, while Miss Marple will apparently turn into Jennifer Garner.

Meanwhile, The Saint, as played by James Purefoy, will return to the small-screen in a TV movie called The Saint In New Orleans. With this in mind, here are a few other classic characters that could be similarly adapted.

Sexton Blake

Originally a Holmes pretender, this character evolved into a hybrid of Holmes, James Bond and Indiana Jones, going on to become the most documented fictional character in the history of the English language, with over two thousand stories and novels published.

DVD Playhouse—May 2010

By

Allen Gardner

Avatar (20th Century Fox) James Cameron beat his own title as box office champ, set with Titanic over a decade ago, with this eye-popping sci-fi epic about a paraplegic Marine name Sully (Sam Worthington), who takes the form of an “avatar,” or virtual being, to go undercover on the planet Pandora, attempting to infiltrate the native Na’vi to gather intelligence that will aid a joint corporate and military operation to rape the planet of its natural resources, destroying its indigenous population in the process. When Sully suddenly “goes native,” he locks horns with the company CEO (Giovanni Ribisi) and his gung-ho commanding officer (Stephen Lang, in a wonderful, scenery-chewing turn from a long-underrated actor). Thought of by many scholars and film buffs as a “game-changer” as much as the first Star Wars film was—and they may be right. While Cameron’s politically-correct...

Peter Barlow will be left devastated when his young son Simon runs away. Chris Gasgoyne - who portrays the battling alcoholic in 'Coronation Street' - has revealed how his alter-ego ''panics'' when he's told the youngster has gone missing. He said: ''Peter's devastated. It's every parent's worst nightmare. He fears he'll never see Simon again...'' The drama begins when Simon (Alex Bain) is taken on a trip to Blackpool by his grandparents George (Anthony Valentine) and Eve (Sabina Franklyn) - who are desperate to take the youngster away for a few days to escape the drama surrounding his father's drink problem. But when Simon hears ..

Sherlock Holmes purists who were not enamored with Robert Downey Jr.'s recent take on the Great Detective may want to thank A&E for cashing in on Hollywood's Christmas blockbuster. In The Sherlock Holmes Collection on DVD the American cable and satellite network has resurrected a bygone Holmes in the form of Peter Cushing. The great British actor, who played Van Helsing in Hammer's horror films in the 1970s and Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars Episode IV, played Holmes in a 1960s BBC television series. Not much of that show survives but what does is a welcome addition to the detective's DVD canon.

Want to know more? The BBC aired the Cushing series in 1968 under the title Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. The show was a continuation of sorts of another series of adaptations the network had aired three years earlier. That starred Douglas Wilmer as...

Coronation Street's forthcoming child disappearance plot "bears absolutely no resemblance" to the Madeleine McCann tragedy three years ago, a show source has confirmed to Digital Spy. Earlier today, it emerged that Peter Barlow's (Chris Gascoyne) 6-year-old son Simon, played by Alex Bain, will go missing in Blackpool later this year, sparking fears that he has been snatched. The incident will occur when Simon's grandfather George (Anthony Valentine) takes him on holiday to the seaside resort after becoming convinced that his alcoholic father Peter is an unfit parent. However, while taking a stroll on Blackpool promenade, George and his wife Eve (Sabina Franklyn) take their eyes off Simon for a short amount of time and soon discover that he has vanished. Police are then called to investigate the matter. A tabloid newspaper today compared (more)...

Coronation Street's forthcoming child disappearance plot "bears absolutely no resemblance" to the Madeleine McCann tragedy three years ago, a show source has confirmed to Digital Spy. Earlier today, it emerged that Peter Barlow's (Chris Gascoyne) 6-year-old son Simon, played by Alex Bain, will go missing in Blackpool later this year, sparking fears that he has been snatched. The incident will occur when Simon's grandfather George (Anthony Valentine) takes him on holiday to the seaside resort after becoming convinced that his alcoholic father Peter is an unfit parent. However, while taking a stroll on Blackpool promenade, George and his wife Eve (Sabina Franklyn) take their eyes off Simon for a short amount of time and soon discover that he has vanished. Police are then called to investigate the matter. A tabloid newspaper today compared (more)...

Coronation Street star Chris Gascoyne has joked that his screen son Alex Bain acts like an "old man" on the soap's set. The actor, who plays Peter Barlow on the ITV1 show, revealed that the 8-year-old regularly supports Weatherfield newcomer Anthony Valentine (George Richards) and Street veteran Bill Roache (Ken) during filming. "After each scene, he gives Anthony Valentine and Bill Roache a kiss and a cuddle and tells them well done," Gascoyne is quoted by Bang Showbiz as saying. "Alex really is like a little old man himself sometimes!" The (more)...

Former Raffles star Anthony Valentine is to play a new love interest for Blanche Hunt in Coronation Street, it has emerged. According to The Sun, the 70-year-old actor has signed up to appear as George Richards, the father of Peter Barlow's late wife Lucy, on the ITV1 soap. It is believed that George quickly alienates Peter's dad Ken (William Roache) after making his Weatherfield debut, but receives a warmer welcome from busybody Blanche (Maggie Jones). Blanche (more)...