We are thrilled to announce that Matthew Bourne's Nutcracker! and Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty have arrived - just in time for Christmas. Both spectacular films are now available to download or stream from our Film Shop - more
John Wyver writes: My fascination with the ballet stars who appeared on early television continues. This time, I am featuring a performance just before the war by the famed Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo star Irina Baronova. Late evening more
John Wyver writes: The late-night 30-line broadcast on Tuesday 4 July 1933 featured alongside comedian Sydney Arnold and Olive Groves with songs from John Gay's The Beggar's Opera, the Russo-Finnish dancer Cleo Nordi. Trained in St Petersburg, she had more
John Wyver writes: The afternoon and evening of Monday 28 June 1937 saw one of pre-war television's most innovative performance programmes. Artists who worked regularly in the Alexandra Palace studios often found the resources of time and space frustrating, but more
John Wyver writes: As the 30-line service under producer Eustace Robb moved towards its final broadcasts in early September 1935, the offerings became increasingly eclectic and distinctive. On the evening of Wednesday 12 June 1935, a 55-minute transmission was billed more
John Wyver writes: Television's main event on the evening of 5 June 1938 was a presentation of two modern dance works by the company Ballets Jooss. Founded in 1933 by choreographer Kurt Jooss, the group had fled Nazi more
John Wyver writes: The line-up for the BBC's 30-line transmission starting at 23.03 on Friday 19 May 1933 featured Russian singer Dimitri Vetter together with Lilian Lloyd-Taylor 'with songs and costumes of the seventeenth century'. But the most interesting featured more
John Wyver writes: Yet more dance from Alexandra Palace, this time on the evening of Thursday 4 May 1939. Which only speaks to how rich and varied was early television's presentation of the artform. Alongside actors Janine Darcey and Jim more
John Wyver writes: On Monday 19 April 1937 Alexandra Palace hosted a troupe billed as the Margaret Morris Dancers, who performed in both the afternoon and evening. Their first 13-minute slot featured seven short works, performed to Beethoven and Chopin more
22 February 1933 John Wyver writes: As I am on holiday this week, I am presenting again some of my favourite OTD posts, exactly as they first appeared... Today's post is a melancholy little tale of a short, vibrant life in which more