Jack James

Silk is a British television drama series produced by the BBC and first shown in 2011. Written by Peter Moffat, the series follows a set of barristers, and what they do to attain the rank of Queen's Counsel, known as 'taking silk'. Passionate defence barrister Martha Costello faces challenging cases and surprising clients, which test her faith in the criminal justice system. Gifted colleague Clive Reader is called to the bar with her. They work hard with pupils, Nick Slade and Niamh Cranitch, but ultimately only one can eventually be taken on as a member of chambers.

A lovable Vietnamese manicurist, Dong Hung, desperately needs to fly to Vietnam within 24 hours to donate his kidney for a transplant to save his sick twin brother. But Dong Hung just can't stay out of trouble at the airport. His naivete and poor English, along with airport security and an unsympathetic airline leads to hilarious chaos. As things spiral out of control, Dong Hung misses his first flight and is bumped cruelly from the second. A beautiful stewardess, Jesta, tries to help and is pulled into Dong Hung's comical orbit. An unlikely romance develops and a hero emerges.

The film director, Carol Reed, is the subject of this documentary short. The illegitimate son of the famous stage actor, 'Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree' , Reed was brilliant with actors, especially child actors, making him the perfect person to bring Oliver! to the screen. Reed is best known for three films he made in the late 1940s, and the documentary offers generous clips from Odd Man Out, The Fallen Idol, and the most famous of all, The Third Man. The film director, John Boorman, the assistant director, Guy Hamilton, the actors, Ron Moody and Bryan Forbes and the cinematographer, Oswald Morris, are among the interviewees.