The Stephen Poliakoff Collection (2006)Caught On A Train / Perfect Strangers / Shooting The Past /The Lost Prince/Friends And Crocodiles/Gideons Daughter (DVD)

This fantastic box set contains all six of Stephen Poliakoff's screenplays. The Lost Prince: 'The Lost Prince' is the story of Prince Johnnie, the younger son of Queen Mary and King George V who was hidden away to spare an uncomprehending family and public from his severe epileptic fits and autism. From writer/director Stephen Poliakoff, this is a moving drama set against the looming First World War, featuring stunning costumes, idyllic sets, and the beguilling atmosphere of immensely significant world events, seen simply through a child's eye. Perfect Strangers: When Daniel attends an extraordinary family reunion with his parents, he discovers a world he hardly knew existed. Before long Daniel finds that his skills as a surveyor can be used in surprising ways. However, when Daniel adopts the role of go-between for his glamorous Aunt Alice and dazzling cousins Rebecca and Charles, his honourable intentions have the potential to go disastrously wrong. Friends And Crocodiles: Paul Reynolds is a Gatsby-like figure: owner of a magnificent house, a host of great parties, and a collector of interesting people. He persuades Lizzie Thomas, a secretary in a local estate agent, to come and work for him as his assistant, to bring some order to his chaos. He inspires her with his enthusiasm and imagination, and frustrates her with his apparent carelessness and destructiveness, which culminates in her calling the police as a great party is turned over by local troublemakers, seemingly with Paul's tacit approval. But their paths are destined to cross again and again as Lizzie, with the help of some of those she met at Paul's house, rises through the changing landscape of corporate Britain. This is a story of a meaningful and powerful relationship that isn't a love story
it's about those rare people who profoundly influence and shape our lives. Gideon's Daughter: Gideon Warner is a hugely successful public relations consultant to the wealthy, to politicians, to businessmen and rising starlets. Their hair, their clothes, where they go and with who - Gideon advises them on everything. With all his skills, he is the perfect man to package the Millennium celebrations and sell them to the rest of the world. But disillusioned with the world in which he works and increasingly concerned over the growing distance between him and his daughter, Gideon takes less and less notice of his business, just as clients seem to want him more and more. He clings to his slowly flourishing relationship with Stella - a mother grieving for her dead son - as his world spins further out of control. Only together can they make it stop... Caught On A Train: In Stephen Poliakoff's Caught On A Train, a young English man called Peter (Michael Kitchen) boards the Ostend-Vienna express on his way to an important business meeting in Europe. His journey is immediately complicated by the arrival of two women to his train compartment. One is an independent, beautiful American girl called Lorraine (Wendy Raebeck), whom Peter is instantly attracted to. The other is Frau Messner (Dame Peggy Ashcroft), an extremely difficult and demanding older European woman. Between the two of them, different aspects of Peter's patience are tried throughout the journey with unsettling effects... Shooting The Past: One of the most highly acclaimed dramas in recent years following the battle to save an historic photo library after being taken over by a large American company. The librarians feel that the key to saving the library may lie in the pictures it contains. Through painstaking research a hidden story develops....

Cast interviews
Photo gallery
Stephen Poliakoff interview