The Mike Leigh Film Collection (11 Discs)

Mike Leigh is one of Britain's most respected film directors, with a career spanning nearly 40 years. This box set features 10 great films from the British director, including a bonus DVD which features specially commissioned footage of Mike Leigh in conversation with twelve of his actors, the 2002 broadcast South Bank Show on Leigh, and his controversial 1991 London Film Festival trailer.

Vera Drake (2004): Vera Drake spends her days doting on her family and caring for her sick neighbour and elderly mother. However, she also secretly visits women and helps them induce miscarriages for unwanted pregnancies. While the practice itself was illegal in 1950s England, Vera sees herself as simply helping women in need, and always does so with a smile and kind words of encouragement. When the authorities finally find her out, Vera's world and family life rapidly unravel.

All Or Nothing (2002): In a crowded South London apartment building, Penny, a working mom, struggles to keep her dejected daughter, her lazy son and her disillusioned partner on the right path. But when tragedy befalls her loved ones, she finds that support comes from the most unexpected places...and brings the most surprising results.

Topsy Turvy (1999): The egos. The battles. The words. The music. The women. The scandals. This is the delightfully entertaining story about the musical team of Gilbert and Sullivan and the making of one of their most famous collaborations, The Mikado.

Career Girls (1997): Former college flatmates Annie and Hannah decide to meet up in London for the weekend. Naturally both girls have changed since their student days of some 10 years earlier. As they talk, go flat-hunting, get drunk and bump into numerous people from their past, the girls start to reminisce upon their earlier friendship.

Secrets And Lies (1996): After her adoptive parents die, a young black woman seeks out her natural birth mother only to discover her mother is white. Equally shocked to learn the daughter she gave up for adoption is black, Cynthia insists it's a mistake. But she soon realizes it's true and when she springs her newfound daughter on the rest of the family, the resulting chaos leads to a series of Secrets and Lies being revealed at last.

Naked (1993): David Thewlis stars as Johnny, a charming, eloquent and relentlessly vicious drifter in London. Rejecting all those who would care for him, the volcanic Johnny hurls himslef into a nocturnal odyssey through the city, colliding with a succession of the desperate and the dispossessed.

Life Is Sweet (1990): The remarkable story of an unremarkable British family told in the classic tragi-comedy style that is uniquely Mike Leigh's.

High Hopes (1988): Old-school socialist Cyril gets exasperated with his Tory-voting mum, her yuppie neighbours and his nouveau-riche sister.

Meantime (1984): Meantime centres on the Pollacks - Mavis, Frank and their sons Mark and Colin - and their experience of unemployment, poverty and life in early 1980s London. When Colin comes under the influence of skinhead Coxy and when Mavis's better off sister Barbara offers Colin work, family tensions erupt into conflict.

Bleak Moments (1971): A brilliantly conceived gallery of suburban types, this drama delves into the lives of a sherry drinker, her handicapped sister and a tongue-tied school teacher.