Ashley Sidaway

The World of Hammer is a thirteen-part British documentary series created and written by Robert and Ashley Sidaway for Channel 4. Initially broadcast from 12 August to 4 November 1994, the series is narrated by English actor and frequent Hammer collaborator Oliver Reed.

Sir John Mills narrates this entertaining compilation. "The Best of British Cinema" takes an insightful look back at some of the finest and most memorable feature films to be produced in major British studios over a period of five decades. All of the major stars are here, from Olivier to Leigh, from Sabu to Robert Donat, along with eminent directors. This series confirms the power, humor and drama of the great British films.

A teenage orphan fights against the Red Army at the end of WWII and in the aftermath is 'adopted' by a Commissar. Years later he is sent to London during the Cold war to work for the KGB, where he questions his life.

At the height of the Spanish Inquisition, high-ranking noblemen begin dropping like flies, with alarming frequency and unexplained violence. But can local 16th-century sheriff Ruy de Mendoza discern who's responsible when no one wants to cooperate? After all, before Mendoza can even identify the bodies, the crime scenes are mysteriously cleared - and the villagers pretend the murders never happened.

An Italian temptress arrives at a school in Newcastle to teach a group of Geordies about the art of romance.

In the mid-18th Century, as England and France battle over control of Canada, an epic romance between a peasant woman and a trapper unfurls

Four kids and a dog embark on the adventure of a lifetime -- the search for the end of the Rainbow. With the aid of computers and an irrepressible belief, they achieve the impossible, finding and riding the multicolored arc.

When teenagers Rachel and Grace travel inside a super-powered rainbow to China, they disturb nature's balance. Using Rachel's connection to the energy of the rainbow and with help from their new friend Xiao Cheng, they must race against time to save the Earth.

Shout! Factory TV presents Cult-tastic: Tales From The Trenches with Roger and Julie Corman. Heralded as “the Pope of Pop Cinema,” Roger and Julie Corman pull back the curtain on the Cormans' lifetime of innovative genre filmmaking in this never-before-seen docu-series. The Cormans open up about their iconic pool of collaborators such as James Cameron, Joe Dante, Penelope Spheeris, Pam Grier and more, as well as their notoriously bare-bones production philosophy that created some of film’s most memorable special FX sequences in science-fiction, fantasy and other cult favorites.

Through the 1950s and 1960s, and running alongside production of the gothic horror films, Hammer made a series of what were known as "mini-Hitchcocks" mostly scripted by Jimmy Sangster, and directed by Freddie Francis and Seth Holt. These low-budget suspense thrillers, often in black-and-white, typically had a twist at the end of the tale. [Wikipedia]

Hammer Films remain on record as the most consistently successful and influential British film company in history. And while Hammer may be best-known for their notorious series of gory Dracula movies, bloody Frankenstein adventures and chilling, satanic epics, few films had a greater impact on the '60's than the unforgettable genre known as "Hammer Glamours." The "Hammer Glamour" epics delivered their own singular vision of history -- and especially pre-history -- with liberal doses of both flesh and fantasy. With special effects as eye-popping as the actresses, these films created puberty's essential bridge between the thrill of cool monsters and the sensation of gorgeous women. If you're a student of anthropology, this is a world you may not recognize. But if you're looking for a twisted vision of the past that only Hammer can provide, you've come to the right place. The Hammer Glamour legacy lives, and indeed the world has never been the same.

A definitive collection of his very best work: The Very Best of Peter Sellers.