RIPPING YARNS

This series of nine half hour shows lavishly spoofed the schoolboy annual stories from the early part of the 20th Century and were all written by Michael Palin and Terry Jones (ex-Monty Python). The Ripping Yarns themselves are only linked by their style (which is Pythonesque in many places), and the basic theme of rising from the pages of an adventure annual.

The first to be aired was the pilot - Tomkinson's Schooldays - on the 7th January 1976, and two series followed, the first in 1977 (27th Sept - 25th Oct) and the last in 1979 (10th - 24th Oct).

Tomkinson's Schooldays: Graybridge school like any other, brutal, and discipline is firm (with boys being nailed to the walls) but fair, but Tomkinson seeks to escape. Vol 1.

The Testing of Eric Olthwaite: Eric is incredibly dull and can only dream of the giddy heights of a new shovel, that is until he couples up with a hardened criminal. Vol 2.

Escape from Stalug Luft 112B: It is an officers duty to escape from a POW camp in the First World War, but the bureaucracy is incredible and is blocking his plans. Vol 1.

Murder at Moorstones Manor: The spoof whodunnit, only with a twist, there are two few murders and too many confessions!

Across the Andes By Frog: A tale of a pioneering British amphibian assault on the Andes.

The Curse of the Claw: Gothic Horror comes to Maidenhead in the form of a Burmese 'sacred claw'. Vol 2.

Winfrey's Last Case: The dashing and debonair Gerald Winfrey 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. So just where do his priorities lie? And does he have any? Vol 2.

Golden Gorden: Superfan Gordon Ottershaw supports a team that hasn't won a match for 6 years, and is trying to prevent it being disbanded. Vol 1.

Roger of the Raj: Tales from the Indian Raj, and a family who are obsessed in maintaining the morals and manners of Britain.

So far Revelation Films have released two-thirds of the series on region 0 DVDs and hopefully the final instalment will hit the shelves in the near future.