lyn's - Rented List

Show moreShow less

This is the acclaimed three part series telling the fascinating story of Napoleon. With access to a unique archive of Napoleon's personal letters, many of which have never been published before.

Historian Andrew Roberts journeys through the history and geography of Europe to bring this story vividly to life as he traces the footsteps of the legendary leader himself. The series sheds new light on Napoleon as an extraordinarily gifted military commander, a mesmeric leader whose private life was, contrary to popular belief, littered with disappointments and betrayals.

Episode One
From lowly Corsican Army officer to first consul of France it charts the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte to leader of the French nation in the late 1790s. It tells of Napoleon's military triumphs in Italy, Egypt and against anti-revolutionaries on the streets of Paris, his marriage to Josephine Beauharnais and leadership of the military coup of 1799 that swept him into power.
Episode Two
In 1805, when Napoleon was crowned King of Italy, he was at the height of his power. The previous year he had been crowned Emperor of the French. The episode also features the Battle of Austerlitz, one of the greatest military encounters of the 19th century.
Episode Three
The monarchies of Europe, the anti-Napoleonic powers of the world were out to destroy him. Napoleon had trusted the Tsar of Russia - but the Tsar reneged on their deal. He sought revenge by invading Russia in 1812 - but the campaign was a total disaster. Ever since the revolution had taken place in France in 1789, the monarchist nations of the world were out to destroy Napoleon and at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, they were granted their ultimate opportunity. This definitive battle (which is covered in detail) sealed Napoleons fate.

Show moreShow less

Based on the novel by Labour MP Chris Mullin, and adapted for the screen by Alan Plater (Fortunes of War), 'A Very British Coup' imagines what might have happened if a Left-Wing Labour MP had become Prime Minister of the UK at the end of the 1980s.

Radical Leftist Harry Perkins (Ray McAnally), an unassuming working class politician from Sheffield, stands for open and honest government. Despite a landslide victory for Labour, Perkins is fighting for his seat from day one as the right-wing establishment and its American allies scheme to plot his downfall. Adultery, blackmail and conspiracies abound, Perkins remains committed to his socialist agenda. But when politics gets dirty, can he play the game and win?

Show moreShow less

"Brimstone" is a suspenseful tale of retribution set at the end of the 19th century in the American West. Dakota Fanning plays a mute young woman Liz whose life changes dramatically when a vengeful and mysterious preacher (Guy Pearce) comes to town with sinister motives.

Forced to go on the run and pursued across unforgiving terrain, where danger lurks around every corner, Liz soon learns that she'll need to engage in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse in order to turn the tables on her ruthless nemesis and come out alive.

Show moreShow less

In an America generations removed from the greatest civil rights struggles of the 1960s, the young mayor of a mid-sized American city is faced with a federal court order that says he must build a small number of low-income housing units in the white neighborhoods of his town.

His attempt to do so tears the entire city apart, paralyzes the municipal government and, ultimately, destroys the mayor and his political future. From creator David Simon (HBO's Treme and The Wire) and director Paul Haggis (Crash), and based on the nonfiction book of the same name by Lisa Belkin, the six-part HBO Miniseries presentation 'Show Me a Hero' explores notions of home, race and community through the lives of elected officials, bureaucrats, activists and ordinary citizens in Yonkers, NY.

Show moreShow less

Krzysztof Kieslowski's "Dekalog" is one of the greatest achievements of the late twentieth century - as much an intricate work of moral philosophy as it is a collection of psychologically riveting narratives.

Each standalone stop/ revolves around the consequences arising from a breach of one of the Ten Commandments, but this is no finger-wagging religious tract: Kieslowski was one of film history's keenest observers of human nature, and his troubled, vainglorious, self-deceiving, deeply flawed characters (many played by some of Poland's finest character actors) are all too universally recognisable. "Dekalog" is merely the highlight of a box set that compiles virtually all of Kieslowski's television work, starting with his first professional short fiction film and continuing with four feature-length pieces that are in every way as probing and incisive as his better-known cinema films.

Show moreShow less

"Spiral" is back for another intriguing, gripping and critically acclaimed series about the imperfect people upholding law and order in Paris.

Laure Berthaud (Caroline Proust) returns early from maternity leave to help the team put a name to an anonymous murder victim identifiable only by use of his dismembered torso. Meanwhile, a high-profile trial involving a boy accused of murdering his own father tempts a jaded Joséphine (Audrey Fleurot). Magistrate Roban (Philippe Duclos) grows distracted and makes uncharacteristic mistakes.

Show moreShow less

The Scottish town of Broughty Ferry doesn't know what's hit it. The sudden death of the sitting MP has resulted in a by-election that could change the political map of the UK.

Bob Servant (Brian Cox) has been waiting his whole life for this level of attention and he's willing to do anything to keep it. Bob sells himself as a man of the people but doesn't really like people. He also has absolutely no understanding of the political process and uses the by-election campaign as a heaven sent opportunity for self-promotion. While the bewildered Broughty Ferry locals watch on, Bob and his long-suffering best pal and campaign manager Frank (Jonathan Watson), attempt to pull off the greatest political shock of all.

Show moreShow less

Germany, 1958. In those years, "Auschwitz" was a word that some people had never heard of, and others wanted to forget as quickly as possible.

Against the will of his immediate superior, young prosecutor Johann Radmann (Alexander Fehling) begins to examine the case of a teacher who has recently been identified as a former Auschwitz guard. Radmann soon lands in a web of repression and denial, but also of idealization. He devotes himself with utmost commitment to his new task and is resolved to find out what really happened. He oversteps boundaries, falls out with friends, colleagues and allies, and is sucked deeper and deeper into a labyrinth of lies and guilt in his search for the truth. But what he ultimately brings to light will change the country forever.

Show moreShow less

Partition is an epic love story of two people caught in the middle of the tumultuous events that divided India and Pakistan in 1949. Determined to leave the ravages of war behind, Gian Singh (Jimi Mistry) resigns from the British Indian Army to a lead quiet life.

His world is soon thrown into turmoil, when he suddenly finds himself responsible for the life of a girl, who has been traumatized by the events that separated her from her family. Despite the social taboos, Gian finds himself falling in love with the vulnerable Naseem (Kristin Kreuk) regardless of their opposing faiths. With its rich tapestry of stories and characters based on real people and events, Partition is a moving and timeless tale of innocent people struggling to find happiness in treacherous times.

Show moreShow less

From creator Graham Yost, each episode of the edge-of-your-seat final season propels U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) and criminal mastermind Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins) ever closer to their ultimate confrontation.

While Raylan is torn by just how far he will go to bring Boyd down - including using Boyd's fiancee Ava (Joelle Carter) as his secret informant - both Raylan and Boyd must now contend with the new incendiary force in town (Sam Elliott), a drug lord intent on building his own pot empire in Harlan. Based on the short story "Fire in the Hole" by Elmore Leonard, the Peabody Award-winning drama now takes its place in the pantheon of acclaimed drama series.

Show moreShow less

This season, Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) confronts the Crowes, a deadly, lawless family from Florida intent on settling in Harlan with new criminal enterprises in mind.

Meanwhile, Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins) struggles to free his imprisoned fiancee Ava (Joelle Carter) as he partners with the Dixie Mafia's Wynn Duffy (Jere Burns). Based on the late Elmore Leonard's short story 'Fire in the Hole', 'Justified' was developed for television by Graham Yost.

Show moreShow less

A classic BBC drama series depicting the true-life cases and personal demons of Sir Edward Marshall Hall, Edwardian London's most celebrated barrister.

Presiding over trials that made news headlines and drew large crowds to the public gallery, Old Bailey defence counsel Sir Edward Marshall Hall was Britain's first legal celebrity. A champion of justice for all, Marshall Hall (Jonathan Hyde) earns a reputation as The Great Defender as he pleads the innocence of clients other lawyers refuse to represent. He champions a lowly German prostitute accused of murdering a client, dissects an ugly libel battle about homosexuality within an aristocratic family, and defends the accused in the infamous Camden Town Murder. With every case Marshall Hall seizes the high ground and boosts his standing. But when a maid is accused of killing her illegitimate baby, it brings back dark memories of the barrister's unhappy first marriage...

Show moreShow less

A probing, contemporary look at crime, the presumption of guilt and the urban prison system, 'The Night Of' centres around the police investigation of a murder on Manhattan's Upper West Side.

The prime suspect in the case - a college student, the son of immigrant parents - finds himself and his family thrown into the pit of NYC's criminal, legal, penal and judicial system after his arrest and imprisonment. Written by Steven Zaillian and Richard Price, 'The Night Of' takes an unvarnished look at both the city's multifaceted criminal justice system and the purgatory of Riker's Island. Starring John Turturro and Riz Ahmed.

Show moreShow less

Julie (Juliette Binoche) loses her composer husband and their child in a car crash and, though devastated, she tries to make a new start, away from her country house and a would-be lover. But music still surrounds her and she uncovers some unpleasant facts about her husbands life.

Slowly Julie learns to live again, as music and the gift of creativity prove to be a healing force.

Director Luchino Visconti brings all of his famed majestic style to bear on this lavish and operative portrait of Ludwig II (Helmut Berger), the nineteenth-century 'mad king' of Bavaria, whose obsession with Wagner's music inspired him to build fairytale castles and finally lose his already-fragile grip on his sanity.