Jon Rollason

Part of BFI collection "They Stand Ready."

The Countess lives in her East European palace, oblivious to the new regime that has moved in. After the war Volubin, a Marxist writer, is instructed to obtain from her the keys to her wine-cellar, which are needed for a celebration dinner. First shown in 1970, this play charts the transition of dictatorial power in the 20th century.

Seminal piece of documentary filmmaking by New Wave director Karel Reisz following the daily activities of members of the Lambeth Youth club in late-1950s London.

The TARDIS narrowly avoids becoming engulfed in a cobwebby substance in space. It arrives in the London Underground railway system, the tunnels of which are being overrun by the web and by the Great Intelligence's robot Yeti. The time travellers learn this crisis was precipitated when Professor Travers, whom they first met in the Himalayas some thirty years earlier, accidentally caused one of the Yeti to be reactivated, opening the way for the Intelligence to invade again.

The Avengers is a British television series created in the 1960s. It initially focused on Dr. David Keel and his assistant John Steed. Hendry left after the first series and Steed became the main character, partnered with a succession of assistants. His most famous assistants were intelligent, stylish and assertive women: Cathy Gale, Emma Peel and Tara King. Later episodes increasingly incorporated elements of science fiction and fantasy, parody and British eccentricity.

Thirteen Against Fate is a series of thirteen hour-long episodes based on the novels of Georges Simenon. Noted for the sound psychology of his characters, Simenon's stories deal with many nationalities and are set in numerous European cities and villages. There are sequences filmed in these locations integrated into the episodes. In each of the novels chosen for this series, Fate plays a leading role in the development of the story and the characters.