CLASSIC '90s COMEDY BOXSETS RETURN TO BBC iPLAYER
Viewers with fond memories of comedy dramas of the 1990s will be pleased to hear that a number of the BBC’s best loved shows from that era have been added to iPlayer, and will be broadcast on BBC Four at 10pm on Wednesdays over the coming weeks.
The selection includes Line of Duty creator Jed Mercurio’s first ever TV show, 1994 medical drama Cardiac Arrest, written under a pseudonym at a time when he was still working as a junior doctor. An exclusive introduction to the series from Mercurio will come to iPlayer after the series begins on BBC Four next week.
Many of the boxsets feature well-known stars in early TV roles. 1995 police comedy drama Hamish MacBeth, set on Scotland’s west coast, features Robert Carlyle in the title role before his star-making appearances in Trainspotting and The Full Monty. Cardiac Arrest features Helen Baxendale, before she became a star in Cold Feet and US sitcom Friends.
Also being added today are 2000’s Scottish highlands-set family drama Monarch of the Glen, and 1989 Mancunian factory floor comedy drama Making Out, from 1989. Warriors, a limited drama documentary mini-series from 1999 about British army peacekeepers during the Bosnian war, will follow at a later date.
The series features a stellar cast making early TV appearances, including Matthew MacFayden, Damian Lewis and Ioan Gruffudd.
Further exclusive introductions will come to iPlayer in the future, including Damian Lewis and Matthew Macfayden reuniting with director Peter Kosminsky to remember Warriors, and Margi Clarke sharing her memories of life on the factory floor of Manchester’s New Lyne Electronics in Making Out.
Dan McGolpin, Director of BBC iPlayer and Channels, says: “It’s a thrill to bring all of these fantastic drama series back for a new generation; for those of us who remember the first time around we can indulge and enjoy them all over again. The breadth of our offer keeps increas ing, BBC iPlayer truly has something for everyone.”
The new boxsets join a number of classic shows that have returned to iPlayer recently, including the 1980 series Oppenheimer, starring Sam Waterston in the title role, and the highly regarded 1976 classic I, Claudius, featuring an extraordinary cast, including Derek Jacobi, Brian Blessed, Sian Phillips, John Hurt, and Patrick Stewart, among many others.
Added today are: Cardiac Arrest; Hamish Macbeth; Monarch of the Glen; Making Out; Warriors.
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