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BBC America has come on board to co-produce the new British mini-series The Spies of Warsaw starring Doctor Who‘s David Tennant and Janet Montgomery (Black Swan), which was announced by the BBC last week as commissioned for pubcaster’s BBC Four channel. Adapted by Emmy-winning writers Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais from Alan Furst’s novel, Spies Of Warsaw is set in Poland, Paris, London and Berlin in the years leading up to the Second World War. Production begins next month in Poland. In the Us, the mini-series will air as part of BBC America’s Dramaville programming block. BBC America joins existing co-producers Fresh Pictures, Apple Film for TV Poland in association with Arte France and BBC Worldwide. The cast of the mini also includes Anton Lesser, Burn Gorman, Richard Lintern, Dan Fredenburgh, Ludger Pistor, Ann Eleonora Jørgensen and Jan Pohl.

★★☆☆☆ Sallie Aprahamian's Broken Lines (2008) - starring Paul Bettany and Olivia Williams - was screened earlier this year as part of the London Jewish Film Festival and is now available to own on DVD and Blu-ray. Set it multi-cultural North London, the plot revolves around two sets of couples each coming to terms with personal tragedies including Jake (Dan Fredenburgh), a developer who has recently lost his father and by chance develops a relationship with local waitress, B (Doraly Rosa).

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Fancy some eye-candy this Friday? Well here's a nice bit of high-class photography from Rankin, the legendary shooter who has previously turned his camera on everyone from Kate Moss to the Queen. This is the stars of Broken Lines, out on DVD next Monday, looking all glam.The film sees Dan Fredenburgh (that's him in the middle) play a young Jewish man in London who's newly engaged to Olivia Williams' Zoe (that's her on the right). But he begins an affair with Doraly Rosa's waitress B (on the left), who's herself involved with a stroke-afflicted ex-boxer, Chester (Paul Bettany, not pictured).Fedenberg and Rosa co-wrote the film, which was directed by Sallie Aprahamian.

Melancholia (15)

(Lars Von Trier, 2010, Den/Swe/Fra/Ger) Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kiefer Sutherland, Alexander Skarsgård. 136 mins

Never have crippling depression and the end of the world looked so appealing. Personal and planetary orbits are fatalistically set on collision course in Von Trier's latest, as two sisters struggle with life, the universe and each other, but despite the grimness, its strange beauty stays with you.

The Debt (15)

(John Madden, 2010, Us) Helen Mirren, Jessica Chastain, Sam Worthington. 113 mins

A trio of Israeli agents try to abduct a former Nazi, then deal with the fallout decades later in this structurally (over)ambitious spy epic.

Red State (18)

(Kevin Smith, 2011, Us) Michael Parks, Melissa Leo, John Goodman. 88 mins

Smith takes aim at Christian fundamentalism in this cultish horror, which doesn't have the firepower it needs.

The Green Wave (Nc)

(Ali Samadi Ahadi, 2010, Ger) 80 mins

Documentary on Iran's 2009 democratic uprising, mixing reportage, animation and tweets and blogs.

★★★☆☆ Broken Lines (2008) director Sallie Aprahamian has prior directorial credits for the BAFTA-nominated Teachers, This Life and The Sins, and was also hand-picked by writers/lead actors Dan Fredenburgh and Doraly Rosa to take the reins. It proves a wise decision, as her intimate knowledge of North London seen through French Dop Jean-Louis Bompoint’s camera helps to distract from the imperfect script.

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