Ripping Yarns - The Complete Series (15)

Following the phenomenal success of "Monty Python's Flying Circus", Michael Palin and Terry Jones created the BAFTA-winning Ripping Yarns - The Complete Series (15). A parody of Boy's Own-style adventure annuals, "Ripping Yarns" sees Palin take the lead role in nine fantastic adventures - from stirring tales of sporting endeavour, intrepid exploration and wartime heroism to skullduggery, supernatural mystery and murder! It's available to own as a 2-disc set on 5th March 2012, RRP £19.99.

An illustrious supporting cast includes Ian Ogilvy, John Le Mesurier, Iain Cuthbertson, Denholm Elliott, Joan Sanderson and Don Henderson, with Terry Jones starring in one episode and fellow former Python John Cleese also making a cameo appearance. "Ripping Yarns" was produced and directed by the multi award-winning team of Terry Hughes (The Two Ronnies), Jim Franklin (The Goodies) and Alan J.W. Bell (The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy).

Special Features:
· Commentaries on all episodes by Michael Palin and Terry Jones
· Deleted scene from Murder at Moorstones Manor
· Audience laughter-free tracks on all episodes bar Tomkinson's Schooldays and Murder at Moorstones Manor
· Comic Roots - Michael Palin returns to his home-town of Sheffield
· "Secrets" - a BBC play from 1973
· Stills Gallery
· Michael Palin's Original Scripts PDF.

Originally broadcast on the BBC between 1976 and 1979, this set is a must-have item for all fans of great British comedy.

Ripping Yarns - The Complete Series (15) is available from Network DVD
Release Date: 5th March 2012
RRP: £19.99
Discs: 2
Running Time: 225 mins (approx.)
Screen Ratio: 1.33:1 Colour
Catalogue Number: 7953361

Disc One

TOMPKINSON'S SCHOOLDAYS. Set in the frontier days of British education, when upper lips were stiff with cold and corporal punishment was an A-Level. A savage, searing indictment of something or other.
Produced and Directed by Terry Hughes. Original BBC Transmission 7 January 1976

THE TESTING OF ERIC OLTHWAITE. A boy becomes a man in the harsh world of the Depression. The rough, tough story of folk who couldn't afford to go on the Jarrow March.
Produced and Directed by Jim Franklin. Original BBC Transmission 27 September 1977

ESCAPE FROM STALAG LUFT 112B. A tale of courage and valour behind the lines in the Kaiser's Germany. An inspiring story of camp life and a British officer who wouldn't lie down.
Produced and Directed by Jim Franklin. Original BBC Transmission 4 October 1977

MURDER AT MOORSTONES MANOR. Hugo and Dora drive down to see Mumsie and Dadsie-pie for a long weekend in the country. But it turns out to be longer than they thought.
Produced and Directed by Terry Hughes. Original BBC Transmission 11 October 1977

ACROSS THE ANDES BY FROG. The stirring story of one man and six frogs who tried to defy the world in the greatest gamble of all.
Produced and Directed by Terry Hughes. Original BBC Transmission 18 October 1977

THE CURSE OF THE CLAW. The terrifying account of a man who dabbled in the dark mysteries of the Orient, and lived to tell the tale. Or did he...?
Produced and Directed by Jim Franklin. Original BBC Transmission 25 October 1977

Disc Two

WHINFREY'S LAST CASE. Dashing, debonnaire Gerald Whinfrey saves his country twice a week. But in 1913 a German plot to start the First World War without telling anybody coincides with his holiday. Where do Whinfrey's priorities lie? Has he got any? A knockabout tale of international intrigue.
Executive Producer Sydney Lotterby. Produced and Directed by Alan J.W. Bell. Original BBC Transmission 10 October 1979

GOLDEN GORDON. A torrid tale of football fanaticism in the 1930s. Super-fan Gordon Ottershaw supports a team which hasn't won a match for six years. But worse is to come, and Gordon and his bicycle clips are reunited in a last desperate bid for glory and Bovril. Executive Producer Sydney Lotterby. Produced and Directed by Alan J.W. Bell
Original BBC Transmission 17 October 1979

ROGER OF THE RAJ. Roger Bartlesham comes of age in a world of eighteen-course breakfasts and twelve servants per leg. But when the Great War breaks out Roger finds himself in a world of changing values and is forced by circumstances to the most despicable act known to the British Army. Produced and Directed by Jim Franklin.
Original BBC Transmission 24 October 1979