Two Agatha Christie stories have become a pair of British miniseries in Partners in Crime, now on Blu-ray and DVD.
Agatha Christies Partners in Crime (Acorn, 2015, two discs, six episodes, featurettes, photo gallery). Two Christie stories featuring her married undercover spies Tommy and Tuppence Beresford were adapted as three-episode comic thrillers. The intention was to inaugurate an ongoing series, but it has not been renewed for further adventures.
Still, David Walliams isnt bad as clumsy, luckless Tommy, and Jessica Raine is great as feisty, headstrong Tuppence, and they make a pretty good team. The two mysteries are overlong at three hours each, but they remain engaging throughout.
The Secret Adversary tells how the couple becomes involved in the spying game as they attempt to foil a Russian assassination attempt on a visiting American official, while N or M? finds them at a seaside resort where someone has stolen plans for an atomic bomb. (Unlike Christies stories, which begin between the World Wars, this series is set against the Cold War of the 1950s.)
Ray Donovan: Season Three (Showtime, 2015, four discs, 12 episodes, episodes of Billions and The Affair). Liev Schreiber stars in this rough crime drama as a fixer for the rich and famous. This season finds him involved in a Hollywood father-daughter struggle with guest stars Ian McShane and Katie Holmes. Jon Voight co-stars. (Beware the usual Showtime exploitative R-level content.)
Shameless: The Complete Fifth Season (Showtime, 2015, two-disc Blu-ray/three-disc DVD, 12 episodes, deleted scenes, audio commentary, featurettes). Raunchy R-level content also marks this very dark Showtime comedy series that has stars William H. Macy and Emmy Rossum as father and daughter heading the irreverent Gallagher family, sweltering through another Chicago summer. Dermot Mulroney guests.
True Detective: The Complete Second Season (HBO, 2015, three discs, eight episodes, audio commentaries, featurettes). More troubled police detectives, along with crooks and mobsters, populate this downbeat second season with an all-new cast led by Colin Farrell, Rachel McAdams and Vince Vaughn. (The usual HBO R-level excesses abound.)
Broad City: Season 2 (Comedy Central/Paramount, 2015, two discs, 10 episodes, deleted scenes, featurettes, outtakes). Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson star in this raunchy comedy as 20-something slackers in New York looking for love in all the wrong places.
Ancient Aliens: Season 8 (History/Lionsgate, 2015, two discs, 10 episodes). This documentary series explores unexplainable phenomena, ranging this season from aliens in Old Testament times to crop circles to creatures of the deep.
American Experience: American Comandante (PBS, 2015). This hourlong documentary is about William Alexander Morgan, an American citizen who fought in the Cuban Revolution to pave the way for Fidel Castros leadership, but later, after opposing Castros socialist leanings, he was executed at age 32.
My Brothers Bomber (PBS, 2015, three episodes). This documentary miniseries looks into the 1988 Lockerbie, Scotland, airline terrorist bombing that took 270 lives, including 11 people on the ground. Filmmaker Ken Dornstein, whose brother was one of the victims, makes it his mission to try and find those responsible for the nearly 30-year-old disaster.
NOVA: Inside Einsteins Mind (PBS, 2015). This hourlong NOVA episode celebrates the 100th anniversary of Einsteins General Relativity theory, which altered the understanding of natures laws and the history of the cosmos.
NOVA: Cyberwar Threat (PBS, 2015). This NOVA episode assesses global cyberwar and how the National Security Agencys dominance in the field has made the U.S. infrastructure vulnerable to retaliation.
Blood Lions (PBS, 2015). This feature-length documentary focuses on the process of breeding lions in South Africa for international hunters to shoot at close range and claim trophies for their walls.
Unity: The Latin Tribute to Michael Jackson (PBS, 2015). This hourlong music concert features Jean Rodriguez, Judith Hill, Sheila E., Tony Succar, Jon Secada and others performing songs by Jackson, including Billie Jean, Thriller, Smooth Criminal, Black or White and many more.
A Chefs Life: Season 3 (PBS, 2015, two discs, 13 episodes). Vivian Howard is back with a bevy of Southern ingredients peaches, figs, honey, rutabaga as she explores West African roots with mentor Chef Scott Barton, judges Southern side dishes, and attends the largest barbecue festival in North Carolina.
Craft in America: Music (PBS, 2015). This Peabody Award-winning documentary takes on fine handmade instruments and the world-renowned artists who play them, from ukuleles in Hawaii to trumpets in Portland, Oregon, to bluegrass banjos in the Blue Ridge Mountains and more.
Wild Kratts: Australian Adventures (PBS Kids, 2011, three episodes). This animated educational series for children is about ecology, with these episodes focusing on the Australian Outback.
Daniel Tigers Neighborhood: Would You Be Mine? (PBS, 2012-15, eight episodes). This animated spinoff from Mister Rogers Neighborhood is aimed at preschoolers with these episodes emphasizing love.
WordWorld: Be My Valentine (PBS Kids, 2007-09, five episodes). This animated show, also aimed at preschoolers, teaches reading with animals shaped like words.
Agatha Christies Partners in Crime (Acorn, 2015, two discs, six episodes, featurettes, photo gallery). Two Christie stories featuring her married undercover spies Tommy and Tuppence Beresford were adapted as three-episode comic thrillers. The intention was to inaugurate an ongoing series, but it has not been renewed for further adventures.
Still, David Walliams isnt bad as clumsy, luckless Tommy, and Jessica Raine is great as feisty, headstrong Tuppence, and they make a pretty good team. The two mysteries are overlong at three hours each, but they remain engaging throughout.
The Secret Adversary tells how the couple becomes involved in the spying game as they attempt to foil a Russian assassination attempt on a visiting American official, while N or M? finds them at a seaside resort where someone has stolen plans for an atomic bomb. (Unlike Christies stories, which begin between the World Wars, this series is set against the Cold War of the 1950s.)
Ray Donovan: Season Three (Showtime, 2015, four discs, 12 episodes, episodes of Billions and The Affair). Liev Schreiber stars in this rough crime drama as a fixer for the rich and famous. This season finds him involved in a Hollywood father-daughter struggle with guest stars Ian McShane and Katie Holmes. Jon Voight co-stars. (Beware the usual Showtime exploitative R-level content.)
Shameless: The Complete Fifth Season (Showtime, 2015, two-disc Blu-ray/three-disc DVD, 12 episodes, deleted scenes, audio commentary, featurettes). Raunchy R-level content also marks this very dark Showtime comedy series that has stars William H. Macy and Emmy Rossum as father and daughter heading the irreverent Gallagher family, sweltering through another Chicago summer. Dermot Mulroney guests.
True Detective: The Complete Second Season (HBO, 2015, three discs, eight episodes, audio commentaries, featurettes). More troubled police detectives, along with crooks and mobsters, populate this downbeat second season with an all-new cast led by Colin Farrell, Rachel McAdams and Vince Vaughn. (The usual HBO R-level excesses abound.)
Broad City: Season 2 (Comedy Central/Paramount, 2015, two discs, 10 episodes, deleted scenes, featurettes, outtakes). Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson star in this raunchy comedy as 20-something slackers in New York looking for love in all the wrong places.
Ancient Aliens: Season 8 (History/Lionsgate, 2015, two discs, 10 episodes). This documentary series explores unexplainable phenomena, ranging this season from aliens in Old Testament times to crop circles to creatures of the deep.
American Experience: American Comandante (PBS, 2015). This hourlong documentary is about William Alexander Morgan, an American citizen who fought in the Cuban Revolution to pave the way for Fidel Castros leadership, but later, after opposing Castros socialist leanings, he was executed at age 32.
My Brothers Bomber (PBS, 2015, three episodes). This documentary miniseries looks into the 1988 Lockerbie, Scotland, airline terrorist bombing that took 270 lives, including 11 people on the ground. Filmmaker Ken Dornstein, whose brother was one of the victims, makes it his mission to try and find those responsible for the nearly 30-year-old disaster.
NOVA: Inside Einsteins Mind (PBS, 2015). This hourlong NOVA episode celebrates the 100th anniversary of Einsteins General Relativity theory, which altered the understanding of natures laws and the history of the cosmos.
NOVA: Cyberwar Threat (PBS, 2015). This NOVA episode assesses global cyberwar and how the National Security Agencys dominance in the field has made the U.S. infrastructure vulnerable to retaliation.
Blood Lions (PBS, 2015). This feature-length documentary focuses on the process of breeding lions in South Africa for international hunters to shoot at close range and claim trophies for their walls.
Unity: The Latin Tribute to Michael Jackson (PBS, 2015). This hourlong music concert features Jean Rodriguez, Judith Hill, Sheila E., Tony Succar, Jon Secada and others performing songs by Jackson, including Billie Jean, Thriller, Smooth Criminal, Black or White and many more.
A Chefs Life: Season 3 (PBS, 2015, two discs, 13 episodes). Vivian Howard is back with a bevy of Southern ingredients peaches, figs, honey, rutabaga as she explores West African roots with mentor Chef Scott Barton, judges Southern side dishes, and attends the largest barbecue festival in North Carolina.
Craft in America: Music (PBS, 2015). This Peabody Award-winning documentary takes on fine handmade instruments and the world-renowned artists who play them, from ukuleles in Hawaii to trumpets in Portland, Oregon, to bluegrass banjos in the Blue Ridge Mountains and more.
Wild Kratts: Australian Adventures (PBS Kids, 2011, three episodes). This animated educational series for children is about ecology, with these episodes focusing on the Australian Outback.
Daniel Tigers Neighborhood: Would You Be Mine? (PBS, 2012-15, eight episodes). This animated spinoff from Mister Rogers Neighborhood is aimed at preschoolers with these episodes emphasizing love.
WordWorld: Be My Valentine (PBS Kids, 2007-09, five episodes). This animated show, also aimed at preschoolers, teaches reading with animals shaped like words.
