“THE WINDERMERE CHILDREN” AND “MASTERPIECE: BEECHAM HOUSE,” AS WELL AS PROGRAMS FROM NATURE
COMING TO DVD THIS JUNE
Arlington, VA – June 4, 2020 – This June, PBS Distribution will be releasing a PBS Masterpiece title, two Nature titles, and a Nova title, among many other programs on DVD. Viewers will explore strange wildernesses with Steve Backshall, Cuba’s animal paradise and their drive for advancements in cancer research, as well as Queen Elizabeth’s childhood during World War II and the Masterpiece title “Beecham House.”
Expedition with Steve Backshall, Season 2
NATURE:Cuba’s Wild Revolution
NATURE: Remarkable Rabbits
The Windermere Children (Drama and Documentary)
NOVA: Cuba’s Cancer Hope
The Queen at War
MASTERPIECE:
Beecham House
NOVA: The Truth About Fat
Expedition with Steve Backshall, Season 1
In this new series, adventurer and naturalist Steve Backshall ventures into undiscovered territory, endures extreme physical challenges, encounters extraordinary wildlife, and teams up with remarkable people along the way. From free-diving in underground river systems descending deep into the caves of the Maya underworld to kayaking Himalayan whitewater and scaling unclimbed Arctic peaks, these expeditions push Backshall and his expert crew to the limit.
Street Date: June 2, 2020
Run Time: 600 min. on 3 discs
SRP: $49.99
Format: DVD, Digital
Genre: Travel: Expedition
Some of the locations he explores include Oman’s Dhofar Mountains where he is the first to ascend the desert rock face, a Bornean cave system that has only recently been spotted from a dark shadow on a satellite image, and Greenland where he will attempt to summit an unclimbed mountain in the country’s remotest peaks. Backshall and his crew explore many other exciting and untouched locations along the way.
NATURE: Cuba’s Wild Revolution
As the largest island in the crystal-clear waters of the Caribbean, Cuba is teeming with exotic biodiversity and host to spectacular wildlife found nowhere else on the planet. Jumping crocodiles of the Zapata swamp, the world’s tiniest hummingbird, thousands of migrating crabs, giant bat-eating boas that lie in wait for easy prey, coral reefs pulsating with life, and five-foot-long Cuban rock iguanas all call this island home.
Street Date: June 9, 2020
Run Time: 60 min. on 1 disc
SRP: $24.99
Format: DVD, Digital
Genre: Nature, World
Decades of a socialist, conservation-minded government, American embargoes, and minimal development have left the island virtually unchanged for 50 years. As international relations ease, what will become of the spectacularly biodiverse wildlife sanctuary in this Caribbean paradise?
NATURE: Remarkable Rabbits
There are more than 100 domestic and wild kinds of rabbits, from swamp rabbits and Flemish giants to snowshoe hares. Yet, these prolific creatures are often overlooked and rarely get the respect they deserve – due, in part, to their adorable appearance and storybook depictions. Learn how hares are more than just a rabbit with long ears and legs, how rabbits have managed to survive in ever-changing landscapes – in downtown Chicago or Canada’s frozen boreal forest – and how they turn the table on their predators.
Street Date: June 9, 2020
Run Time: 60 min. on 1 disc
SRP: $24.99
Format: DVD, Digital
Genre: Science & Nature: Animals
Despite their remarkable ability to reproduce, many wild rabbits are in danger of being eradicated. Viewers join scientists in the field as they work tirelessly to save rabbit species from the brink of extinction and reveal ground-breaking new discoveries. Explore how surprising and remarkable rabbits and hares can be as they face incredible challenges in the wild from issues like habitat loss and climate change. Meet the many species of remarkable rabbits and the scientists working to save them from extinction.
The Windermere Children
(Drama and Documentary)
An extraordinary, untold true story of hope, this DVD set with the PBS documentary and drama special based on these events, brings viewers on a moving and ultimately redemptive story that follows child survivors of the Nazi Holocaust and the remarkable team who were responsible for helping them rebuild their lives as they forged friendships that will become their lifeline to a better future. In August, 1945, a coachload of children arrive at the Calgarth Estate by Lake Windermere.
Street Date: June 9, 2020
Run Time: 150 min. on 2 discs
SRP: $34.99
Format: DVD, Digital
Genre: Drama/Documentary
They are child survivors of the Nazi Holocaust that devastated Europe’s Jewish population. Carrying only the clothes they wear and a few meager possessions, they bear the emotional and physical scars of all they have suffered. Charged with looking after them is Oscar Friedmann, a German-born child psychologist. He and his team of volunteer counsellors have just 4 months to help the children reclaim their lives. By the lake, the children eat, learn English, play football, and ride bikes. They yearn for news of their loved ones, but without their families, they find kinship in each other and form bonds that give them hope for the future. Some locals taunt them, but they are embraced by others. In this environment, they begin to heal. This is the stark, moving, and ultimately redemptive story of the bonds the children make with one another. In the absence of relatives, they find family in each other.
NOVA: Cuba’s Cancer Hope
In Cuba, as in the United States, lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths. Decades of economic and political isolation have starved the country of medical resources, leading Cuba’s biomedical researchers to get creative and invent their own immunotherapies. Among them are very promising lung cancer vaccines that can help jumpstart the body’s immune response to cancer. Some U.S. patients are even defying their country’s trade embargo to travel to Cuba for treatment.
Street Date: June 16, 2020
Run Time: 60 min. on 1 disc
SRP: $24.99
Format: DVD, Digital
Genre: Documentary
This program explores the fascinating history of Cuban biomedical research and follows the journey of two cancer patients, one from the island and one from the U.S., receiving the new vaccines. As they prove effective in some patients, Cuban scientists are teaming up with a leading U.S. cancer institute to develop an even more effective treatment by combining the best of both countries’ research and medical technologies.
The Queen at War
Narrated by Phyllis Logan (Downton Abbey), viewers take a look at Britain’s longest reigning monarch in history. Seventy-five years after the end of the war in Europe, “The Queen at War” offers a fascinating look at how Princess Elizabeth, just 13 years old when World War II broke out, was set on her life’s path to become a legendary monarch. Together with sister Margaret, the young princesses became symbols of hope for a nation wracked by a horrific war, the terrors of the Blitz, and the relocation of over a million children.
Street Date: June 16, 2020
Run Time: 54 min. on 1 disc
SRP: $24.99
Format: DVD, Digital
Genre: Biography
By 1945, Elizabeth had been transformed from a shy girl into a confident young woman and proved her mettle as a driver and mechanic in the women’s branch of the army. She was also already in love with the handsome naval officer she would one day marry. Told through the reminiscences of friends, including Lady Glenconner, royal biographers Christopher Warwick, Robert Lacey, Jane Dismore and Hugh Vickers, among others, the documentary features rare footage of the Queen’s war years culled from private and public collections.
MASTERPIECE: Beecham House
From award-winning filmmaker Gurinder Chadha (Bend It Like Beckham, Blinded by the Light), Beecham House takes place in 19th century India at the start of the British Empire. The six-part drama explores the life of the mysterious John Beecham, a former East India Company employee who buys an imposing mansion in Delhi. Starring Tom Bateman (Vanity Fair, Jekyll and Hyde) as John, Lesley Nicol (Downton Abbey) as his mother Henrietta Beecham, and Leo Suter (Sanditon) as his brother Daniel, “Beecham House” follows the twists and turns, and complex relationships of John and those that surrounded and live in the mansion with him.
Street Date: June 30, 2020
Run Time: 310 min. on 2 discs
SRP: $39.99
Format: DVD, Digital
Genre: Drama
The ensemble cast includes Gregory Fitoussi (Mr. Selfridge, Spiral), Adil Ray (Citizen Khan, Ackley Bridge), Pallavi Sharda (Lion), Dakota Blue Richards (Endeavour), Bessie Carter (Howards End), Viveik Kalra (Blinded by the Light), and Marc Warren (Safe, Hustle).
NOVA: The Truth About Fat
For generations, fat has been the enemy, and overweight individuals have been stigmatized and shamed. We’ve demonized it as a cumbersome health risk and cast overweight individuals as too gluttonous or lazy to make healthy choices, but scientists are coming to understand that fat is not so simple. In fact, it’s a fascinating and dynamic organ – one that has more to do with biological processes than personal choices. Now, NOVA asks and answers the questions that surround fat. Do we control our fat or does it control us?
Street Date: June 30, 2020
Run Time: 60 min. on 1 disc
SRP: $24.99
Format: DVD, Digital
Genre: Documentary
Why don’t sumo wrestlers suffer from the health problems that other obese people do? Why has evolution hardwired us to hang onto fat even when it’s unhealthy? What would happen if you had no fat at all? Through real-life stories of hunter-gatherers, supermodels, and a Biggest Loser contestant, this program explores the complex functions of fat and the role it plays in controlling hunger, hormones, and even reproduction.
