Country Matters (1972)

Adapted from tales by A.E Coppard and H.E. Bates – two of the great masters of the short story – Country Matters unarguably remains a high point for television drama, winning the award for Best Drama at the 1973 BAFTAs. An anthology series of plays about English country life and rural romance at the turn of the twentieth century, it presents unsentimental stories of human relationships and raw emotions – heartfelt passions, crippling frustrations, unspoken love and destructive jealousy all feature unsparingly in one of the 1970s' most memorable drama series. Available on DVD for the first time, Country Matters includes memorable performances from Ian McKellen, Rosalind Ayres, Peter Firth, Penelope Wilton, Pauline Collins, Gareth Thomas, Bryan Marshall, Barbara Ewing, Prunella Scales, Zena Walker, Michael Kitchen and Jeremy Brett, among others.