The BEST episodes directed by Rachel Jardine
#1 - Home Counties Horror
A History of Horror with Mark Gatiss - Season 1 - Episode 2
Mark uncovers stories behind the films of his favourite period - the 1950s and 60s - which fired his lifelong enthusiasm for horror. These mainly British pictures were dominated by the legendary Hammer Films, who rewrote the horror rulebook with a revolutionary infusion of sex and full-colour gore - all shot in the English Home Counties. Mark meets key Hammer figures to find out why their Frankenstein and Dracula films conquered the world, making international stars of Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. He looks at the new boom of horror that followed in Hammer's wake, including the ravishing Italian movie Black Sunday, and talks to the influential American producer Roger Corman about his disturbing and dreamlike Edgar Allan Poe films. He also explores the intriguing cycle of British 'folk horror' films, such as The Wicker Man and Mark's personal favourite, Blood on Satan's Claw. Mark also speaks to leading horror ladies Barbara Steele and Barbara Shelley about their most famous roles, makes a pilgrimage to Whitstable, home of Peter Cushing, and finds out why Dracula's bedroom activities got the British censor steamed up.
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#2 - Watching The Russians
BBC Documentaries - Season 2007 - Episode 94
Stella Rimington (former MI5 Director General) on the UK's relationship with Russia over the last 150 years
#3 - The Mysterious Mr Webster
BBC Documentaries - Season 2014 - Episode 122
The son of a coach-maker with a highly developed sense of the macabre, Jacobean dramatist John Webster's life was shadowy and his plays darkly imagined. His masterpiece The Duchess of Malfi is a gothic tale of forbidden love, intrigue, betrayal and murder, and was the most frequently performed play of the period not written by Shakespeare. In this documentary, Professor James Shapiro goes in search of the mysterious man behind the play, piecing together the fragments of Webster's life and exploring how he came to write The Duchess of Malfi just at the moment when the Jacobeans were inventing modern indoor theatre. Featuring contributions by Gemma Arterton, who plays the title role in The Globe's candlelit production, which can be seen on BBC Four on Sunday