News

With the notable exception of the beloved Carrie Fisher, many of the iconic lead actors in the "Star Wars" saga are still with us. Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, and Natalie Portman are all going strong, and so are the stars of the space opera's most recent episodes. Some of the actors from the original film who were already veterans at the time, like Alec Guinness and Peter Cushing, died some years ago, but both enjoyed long lives beyond the average age.

Sadly, this cannot be said of numerous other actors involved in the big screen franchise and its recent TV spin-offs. Performers have died in their 70s, 60s, and 50s, many of them leaving us wishing we could have seen more years of great performances from them. Whether they had spotlight roles or were hidden behind alien masks, here are the "Star Wars" actors we lost too soon.

Rereleased as a curtain-raiser for a sequel, Jenny Agutter, Bernard Cribbins and co continue to exert their grip over the national imagination

There can’t be many classic British family movies which feature Russian anti-tsarist writers exiled in Yorkshire. The Railway Children from 1970 is now re-released, as a curtain-raiser to a forthcoming sequel, The Railway Children Return, which will be set 40 years on and features Jenny Agutter playing a grownup version of her original character.

The original is robustly and adroitly directed by Lionel Jeffries, who also adapted the Edith Nesbit novel and it continues to exert its grip on our collective teatime imagination, due to its unworldly sweetness and gentleness and its forthright sense of decency – especially, maybe, that final scene where the children’s wrongly imprisoned father emerges from the steam on the railway platform, a moment as dramatic and mysterious as Omar Sharif galloping through the heat-haze in Lawrence of Arabia,...

Gem Wheeler Jan 10, 2017

To mark 30 years of Inspector Morse on television, here are 10 of his most complex, macabre and memorable cases...

Warning: contains spoilers.

See related Legion: Marvel shares cryptic logo for X-Men series What can Fox learn from the previous X-Men TV series? 50 upcoming comic book TV shows, and when to expect them New TV 2016: 28 Us shows for this autumn

Beer, Wagner, a red Jaguar, and Barrington Pheloung’s haunting theme. Those images conjure up one of the most memorable characters in British television. Inspector Morse’s final episode aired in the UK over fifteen years ago, yet the impression left by the hugely popular drama remains indelible. Its popular spinoff, Lewis, finished only two years ago after nine successful series, while a prequel, Endeavour, has just started to air its fourth run. The appeal of Morse and his Oxford is clearly as strong as ever.

Inspector Morse...

Feature Cameron K McEwan 5 Apr 2013 - 07:00

Cameron selects ten tremendous Doctor Who series openers, from Rose to Ribos, and Tomb to Terror...

Over the years, Doctor Who has suffered from what is commonly known as "Sos" or "Season Opener Syndrome". There's been some stinkers like Destiny of the Daleks, Attack of the Cybermen and Arc of Infinity and some mundane instalments such as New Earth, Robot and The Dominators. But there are some genuinely good ones out there too - some damn good ones. So here's ten of the best season openers over the last forty-nine and a bit years of Doctor Who. 

10. Partners In Crime (2008) 

Despite the levity of the episode, and we're talking about the Adipose here, this Russell T. Davies beauty managed a couple of mean feats. Firstly, he re-introduced us all to the mighty Donna Noble again (The Doctor and Donna's meeting through the windows...

James May's 20th Century

Kieran Kinsella

Fans of BBC America’s Top Gear will enjoy Athena’s July 17th release of James May’s 20th Century. The 300 minute DVD box set includes all six episodes of the popular TV host’s show about the most memorable inventions of the last century. Unlike his Top Gear co-hosts, May is a universally liked fellow who can talk about powerful engines, fast cars and aerodynamics without offending anyone or causing viewers to fall asleep.

In this set of episodes, May gets to test drive everything from a lunar buggy to fighter planes. He looks a little like a washed up hippie but he has a childlike enthusiasm for the subject. His energy and exuberance make the show hard to resist. The really great thing about this gadget-centric show is that May recounts the technological developments of the last century in a way that...

Foyle's War

By Kieran Kinsella

Earlier this year Acorn Media bought the rights to the British detective series Foyle’s War. The cast and crew are currently working on a new series of the war time drama but in the interim Acorn Media have put together a new DVD box set of the Best of Foyle’s War.

The show centers around Detective Chief Inspector Foyle who is doing his best ignore the ravages of war and focus on solving grizzly crimes. Michael Kitchen plays the lead role and he is in the mold of classic British actors and he is well suited to playing the stiff upper lipped Dci Foyle. Kitchen apparently selected the six stories that are featured in the six disc set. The cast involvement in the DVD doesn’t end there. Kitchen’s cast mates Honeysuckle Weeks and Anthony Howell both sat down with Acorn for...

Throw away your buckets and spades people, it’s Key To Time time!

In the days when an arc would probably refer to a floating cryogenic repository, Doctor Who committed itself to a lengthy 26-episode run of intertwined stories. The Key To Time ties Season 16 together very simply with the concept of a quest. Basically, the Doctor has to hunt through time and space for six separate parts of a key (not an actual key you understand, it’s a floating plastic cube) that when linked, will put the universe in balance and end the threat of eternal chaos.

As tasks go, this is something pretty daunting – this isn’t your archetypal Apprentice task in which SirLordWhateverHisBleedinTitleIsAlanSugar sends a horde of sweaty wannabes to hawk for business at a local art gallery. No, this is huge. For such an important mission, the Doctor gets an oddly low-key briefing by the awesome White Guardian.

This Monday, 3rd May sees to the release of the 40th anniversary edition of The Railway Children on DVD and Blu Ray. Optimum Releasing were kind enough to send me a review copy where I got to see the movie for the first time in about 20 years. Find out what I thought of the movie and it’s conversion to blu ray below.

When I was trying to work out what word describes The Railway Children, the only one that I could think of was ‘quintessential’ and I’m not sure I’ve ever used that word before in my life! This Monday, 3rd May sees the release of Lionel Jeffries classic (based on the book by E. Nesbit) 1970 movie about 3 children (Jenny Agutter, Sally Thomsett, Gary Warren) who’s lives are changed when they are forced to move from London to Yorkshire with their mother (Dinah Sheridan) after their...

Return of the lovable family film. By Peter Bradshaw

Only the hard-hearted could deny the lovability and charm of Lionel Jeffries's tremendous 1970 version of E Nesbit's children's classic The Railway Children, now on re-release. Jenny Agutter, Sally Thomsett and Gary F Warren play the Waterbury children who, when their beloved papa is wrongfully imprisoned for espionage, must take up residence in a little country cottage in Yorkshire, where there will be buns for tea as and when their authoress mother (Dinah Sheridan) sells a story. The depictions of being "poor" are quaint, given their apparent comfort and ability to mobilise assistance from the wealthy and well-connected. No matter. It all slips down very nicely; Bernard Cribbins is terrific as railwayman Perks, and Jeffries' final scene – in which Iain Cuthbertson, playing the father, materialises on the station platform wreathed in steam – is justly celebrated.

Rating: 4/5

FamilyPeter Bradshaw

guardian.co.uk...

Kasterborous is sad to report the passing of Scots actor Iain Cuthbertson, who sadly died on September 4th 2009, aged 79. Cuthbertson was popular with Doctor Who fans as the galactic conman Garron in 1978's The Ribos Operation which featured an audacious attempt to sell a planet to a psychotic deposed prince the Graff Vynda-k. Garron's ruse was based around a single piece of Jethrik, a rare element with vast energy properties which was in fact the first segment of the Key to Time. Written by...