Ian McShane Movies

Ian McShane, Donald Sutherland, and Rufus Sewell headline this eight-part miniseries adapted from the best-selling novel by author Ken Follett. As England moves out of the Dark Ages, the tensions between ambitious mason Tom Builder (Sewell), Bishop Waleran Bigod (McShane), and the heirs of King Stephen (Toony Curran), King Henry (Clive Wood), and Queen Maud (Alison Pill) come to a head when Builder's plan to construct an opulent cathedral threaten to trudge up some damning secrets that the royal families would rather remain buried. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

(Rolling Stone) "The Best Drama on Television" is back with the third season on DVD! Timed to coincide with Father's Day, HBO will release Deadwood: The Complete Third Season DVD on June 12, 2007. Watch as the lawless era of Deadwood comes to an end. This DVD is loaded with bonus features including two featurettes, audio commentaries and more.

Forget Gunsmoke and Bonanza. The HBO series Deadwood was as close to the "real thing" as any Western fan was ever going to see on television -- and in its pursuit of reality, the series was not afraid of smashing icons or skewering sacred cows. Could anything less be expected of executive producer David Milch (NYPD Blue)? The series began its story in 1876, two weeks after Custer's demise at the Little Big Horn, and in the midst of "gold fever" brought about by a major ore strike in the Black Hills of Dakota Territory. Into the wide-open and illegal settlement of Deadwood rode a terrifying variety of hard-bitten men and hard-living women. Keith Carradine headed the cast (at least in the early episodes) as gunfighter and Indian scout Wild Bill Hickok -- not the clean-cut hero of movie and TV fame, but an embittered, disillusioned, cold-hearted killer who trusted no one, least of all himself. Traveling to Deadwood with old friend Charlie Utter (Dayton Callie) and devoted, foul-mouthed sidekick Calamity Jane (Robin Weigert), Hickok quickly met and befriended former lawman Seth Bullock (Timothy Olyphant), the archetypal man with a past who held out hope (but not much) that Deadwood would permit him a new start in life. The destinies of both Hickok and Bullock were gradually intertwined with that of self-styled town boss Al Swearengen (Ian McShane), the manipulative, cheerfully decadent owner of Deadwood's biggest "saloon," the Gem. Several major and minor characters passed through Deadwood, some for a long time, some only as long as it took to be shot down in the street. One of the more fascinating peripheral characters was gimlet-eyed cardsharp Eddie Sawyer, well played by real-life magician and master card manipulator Ricky Jay. Festooned with sex, sadism, sudden death, rampant profanity, and mud, mud, mud, Deadwood was not your father's "cowboy" show. The series drew huge ratings and enthusiastic critical plaudits from the moment it made its first appearance on March 21, 2004 -- and within a few weeks of this debut, all audience expectations were dashed to bits when one of the series' "stars" paid homage to historical accuracy by being abruptly killed off. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The weekly Babylon 5 series still had three episodes to go when TNT presented the two-hour "spinoff" movie Babylon 5: The River of Souls. Departing a bit from the established fifth-season chronology, the film finds Garibaldi returning to B5 after an 18-month tenure as CEO of Edgars Enterprise. The purpose of Garibaldi's arrival is a conference with archeologist Dr. Robert Bryson (Ian McShane), who claims to be on the verge of discovering the secret of eternal life. Alas, the immortality-granting alien artifact discovered by Bryson actually belongs to the Soul Hunters, who will stop at nothing to retrieve the sacred relic. In a lighter but no less significant development, the owners of a virtual-reality brothel bring legal action against Zack. Martin Sheen costars as the chief Soul Hunter. Written by J. Michael Straczynski, and subsequently novelized by Yvonne Navarro, Babylon 5: River of Souls was first broadcast on November 8, 1998. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In London's crooked underground, a two-bit thief (Robin Mitchell) witnesses a killing and must flee from the goons who want to see him dead. After eluding capture, he puts all his money on the long shot that might just make him rich. ~ John Bush, Rovi

This was one of the highest-rated of the Columbo 2-hour TV movies of the 1990s. The story begins as Lt. Columbo (Peter Falk) solemnly attends his wife's funeral. Mrs. C. was poisoned, and the murderer is guest star Helen Shaver. When her husband died in prison, Shaver swore revenge on the three men responsible for his incarceration. She kills the first two men outright, but when she levels her sights at Columbo, Shaver decides to make the detective "feel her pain" through the loss of a loved one. A twist ending caps this intriguing entry. Rest in Peace, Mrs. Columbo was first presented March 31, 1990, as part of ABC's Saturday Mystery Movie anthology. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Blood Sport premiered as a 2-hour installment of the syndicated TV anthology "Mystery Wheel of Adventure." It was one of three Irish/Canadian productions based on the works of mystery writer Dick Francis. As in the other Francis mysteries, Ian McShane stars as British Jockey Club investigator David Cleveland. His assignment: to locate a missing race horse, upon which the fortunes of several people (nice and otherwise) are pinned. Kenneth Welsh costars in this made-for-TV puzzler. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi