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Running Scared (1986)
A fantastic 6 part mini series set in East London
Firstly I cannot believe that this mini series has not received any user reviews until now!
This show was made in 1985 and broadcast on BBC1 in the UK on the "Children's BBC". Although it was shown as a children's drama/thriller it was certainly not for younger children.
I am lucky enough to have all six 25 minute parts of this great show transferred from my original VHS recordings into MP4 video.
The show was filmed in Newham, East London, and around the Royal Victoria Docklands in East London, and revolves around a London gangster 'Charlie Elkin' played by the great 'Chris Ellison (D. I Burnside from ITV's "The Bill" 1984 - 2000) who pulls a 'job' and leaves vital evidence behind in the back of a London taxi cab whilst making his getaway. This evidence is in the form of half a pair of prescription glasses (Bins in Cockney slang) that if found by the police would be evidence enough to convict Charlie.
The cab driver hid the evidence, and was going to tell his granddaughter 'Paula' where he hid them, but died before he had the chance to tell her where they were.
Charlie and his crooks find out who the cab drivers family are and target 14 year old Paula, as they believe she knows the whereabouts of the evidence.
Without giving to much away, if you can find this show I highly recommend you watch it (I'm nearly 50 years of age now, and can still enjoy this show as much as any show intended for an adult audience! Also having been born and bred in South East London myself, and knowing the East End very well, it's always great to see how London looked back in the mid 1980's as I was growing up there.
Highly recommended viewing!
Bangkok Hilton (1989)
An absolute masterpiece from start to finish!
This mini-series was made back in 1989, and I first saw this on the BBC in the UK back in the last two weeks of April and the first week of May of 1990. That was it's first airing on UK television. It was split into 3 parts all running at around 90 minutes.
It was shown again in 1993 split into 2 parts, and to the best of my knowledge, that was the last time it was ever shown on UK television.
In 2000 it received a DVD release which I purchased straight away. That release came on 2 discs, and each had 3 parts at 45 minutes.
The interesting thing I remember is that when Richard Carlisle goes to see the court and Major Sara in Thailand regarding getting Katrina's sentence changed from Section 65 to Section 66, on the original BBC airing there were English subtitles allowing the viewer to understand what Major Sara and the man from the court were saying. On the DVD release from 2000 and the later 2005 release, these subtitles were left out.
Either way, an absolute masterpiece, and one of my all time favourite mini-series ever!
If you have not seen this, I would highly recommend it!
If only someone would give it a full restoration in 1080p widescreen on Blu-ray. It would be well worth buying!
Soldier's Girl (2003)
The most powerful true story I have ever seen
Well I don't know where to start with this. This film was so moving, shocking, powerful, and sad. It made a HUGE impact on me! As someone who lives in the U.K, I only remember hearing brief news reports about the murder of Private Barry Winchell in 1999. It was 2005 when I learned that a film about this had been made.
I have no idea why this film never had a U.K release on DVD, or why it has never been shown on British television. It really deserves to be released over here! I already had a copy of "Boys Don't Cry" which I found to be a great film, but "Soldier's Girl" was far more powerful indeed! I recently purchased a Region 1 (NTSC) version of the film, and I'm so glad to now own a copy of this little known gem.
There may be a few inconsistencies with actual events (for example Calpernia didn't live in a trailer park), but in general, the film stuck to the truth and handled the subject matter in a brilliant and sensitive manner.
SOLDIER'S GIRL was a made-for-cable (Showtime) U.S film that tells the true story of the relationship between Private Barry Winchell, and a Transgendered nightclub performer "Calpernia Addams". Winchell was a young 22 year old soldier, who was serving at Fort Campbell. There he shares a dorm with Justin Fisher A loose cannon with several issues in his life.
Fisher one night takes Winchell (and some other fellow soldiers) to a nightclub called "Visions" where Transsexuals perform. He tells Winchell that bringing him there was "a test of character", but whilst Fisher knocks back the beers, he gets in a argument with Winchell, leading to one of the performers (Calpernia) breaking up this disagreement and taking Winchell back stage to clean some beer from his shirt.
Winchell is interested in Calpernia, and after talking to her, asks for her phone number. She gives him it, as she seems genuinely fond of him. Winchell doesn't tell his fellow soldiers what he and Calpernia talked about- or that he has her number.
3-4 days later Winchell telephones Calpernia (who seems a bit surprised that he actually phoned her back), and she invites him to a BBQ at her home later in the week. The two meet up, get along very well. And before long they share their first kiss. Winchell is a straight man, and doesn't see himself as "Gay" since Calpernia is in herself "A Woman" even though she hasn't had full surgery yet. But as their relationship progresses, and news starts to spread around the barracks about Winchell's behaviour (mostly from Fisher), people start to accuse him of being Gay.
Later in the film we see a new soldier joining. He is 17 year old Calvin Glover. Fisher takes no time in winding up Glover by accusing Winchell of being "A Faggot", and telling Glover that someone needs to sort Winchell out.
After getting the young and unstable Glover drunk during the July 4th celebrations, Fisher gives Glover a "Luisville Slugger" a vintage baseball bat, and tells Glover to sort Winchell out whilst he lies in bed asleep.
I found this to be almost unbearable to look at as Glover beats Winchell over the head several times with the bat. (This was so graphic that you could actually see bits of brain matter all over the wall!) Glover returns to Fishers room covered in Winchell's blood, and at this point Fisher is shocked as to the extent that Glover went to. Winchell was close to death, but still alive after this brutal beating, but no ambulance arrived to take him to hospital for an hour due to the 911 system's being supposedly "down".
When Winchell eventually made it to hospital his injuries were so bad, that his parents asked the doctors to switch off his life support machine.
Glover was sentenced to a lengthy sentence, and Fisher was given a shorter sentence (Fisher has recently been released on parole).
Calpernia Addams had the final stage of her sex reassignment surgery, and is now working in hospital administration in LA.
I would highly recommend this film, as it shows just how cruel we human beings can be, and that everyone deserves love, no matter who they fall in love with.
SOLDIERS'S GIRL, is a truly brilliant film that will have you glued to the television screen for the whole 112 minutes, and will in no doubt leave you shocked and saddened by the end of it.
I feel total hatred towards Glover and Fisher for what they did to an innocent man who did no more that fall in love with someone who's life wasn't called "normal" Who are we to say what's normal or not! A fantastic film that will stay in my mind for a VERY long time.
10/10