95th Rifles: 1812 to the Pyrenees

Dealing heavily with perceptions of time, Aeon documents the urban cityscape as Wellington transforms through a zen-influenced eternal cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth within a 24-hour period.

During the Napoleonic Wars, when the French have occupied Spain, some Spanish guerrilla soldiers are going to move a big cannon across Spain in order to help the British defeat the French. A British officer is there to accompany the Spanish and along the way, he falls in love with the leader's girl.

Passionate romance, brutal treachery, and selfless nobility are set against the background of Napoleon’s 1810 invasion of Portugal.

The turbulent story of the Lagun bookstore — located in San Sebastián, in the Basque Country, Spain — is a powerful tale of courage, resistance and struggle; first against the Franco dictatorship, then against the terrorist gang ETA and its numerous and sinister acolytes.

Donostia-San Sebastián, Basque Country, Spain, November 26th, 1985, at night. Mikel Zabalza, a young bus driver, is arrested along with other people by the Guardia Civil as part of an operation against the ruthless terrorist gang ETA. When the other detainees are released, they denounce that they have been brutally tortured in the Intxaurrondo facilities. Besides, Mikel is not among them: Mikel has disappeared.

Due to the hostile terrain of the Iberian Peninsula Siege Warfare took on an importance here more than anywhere during the Napoleonic Wars. For the French in particular fortresses and fortified towns were the only places they could guarantee the safety of their logistics from the Spanish and Portuguese guerillas. If Wellington was going to liberate Portugal and Spain he would have to overcome these fortified locations. This film looks at the British and French experience during this period and uses the the great sieges of Ciudad Rodtigo and Badajoz to illustrate how both defence and attacks were carried out . The BHTV team use footage from Spain, re enactments, maps and models to bring this much neglected aspect of the Peninsula war to life.

During the Napoleonic Wars the British Army realised that it needed skirmishers, as a result it raised 2 Rifle Regiments both armed with the icon Baker Rifle. This programme explains how the Riflemen of the 95th Rifles were dressed and equipped. It is an ideal accompaniment to our Series on the 95th Rifles.

95th Rifles 1809 to Salamanca is the second DVD in 95th Rifles trilogy of films and part of The Peninsular Collection from BHTV . The DVD explores the history of the 95th Rifles, who were masters of the battlefield and particularly skilled in skirmishing. Held in high esteem by the French and Allies alike, they played a momentous role in the outcome of the Peninsular War. Following the events set out in the Salamanca DVD, this film serves as a prequel to explain the years leading up to the Battle of Salamanca, starting with the aftermath of Sir John Moore’s retreat to La Corunna in the winter of 1808/1809.

This final part takes us through the dramatic events when Wellington’s Anglo-Dutch Army aided by Blucher’s Prussians defeat Napoleon. The French army was outfought and Napoleon was out-generaled by Wellington. At Wavre Grouchy beat the Prussian rearguard before retreating to France. Meanwhile, the Anglo-Dutch army counted the bloody cost of the previous days fighting while Wellington wrote his controversial Waterloo Dispatch and the vengeful Prussians pursued the French towards Paris, leading to Napoleon's abdication and the occupation of the city by the Allies.

Following on from Hougoumont and D'Erlon's Attack, Part III starts just as the great battle reaches its crisis point. Marshal Ney launched thousands of France's finest heavy cavalry against Wellington's thinning lines who had already taken a terrible battering on the Mont St Jean Ridge. Wave after wave of armoured horsemen broke against the steady squares of British, Dutch/Belgian and German troops. The crisis, however, took a further turn for the worse as the key bastion in Wellington's centre, the fortified farm of La Haie Sainte, fell to the French onslaught. The way to Brussels was now open and Wellington muttered, 'Give me Blucher or give me night'. With the situation looking bleaker by the second for Wellington and his troops, Napoleon fatefully hesitated to complete the coup de grace as the Prussians had closed in on his right flank at the Village of Plancenoit. Would the Young Guard be able to hold Blucher's men? There was all still to play for.

Private Diary documents photographer Pedro Usabiaga working with a variety of amateur models. The audience sees how the relationships between the photographer and the subjects changes during their time together, as well as how the individual photographs begin to take shape. Pedro Usabiaga is a well-established Basque photographer whose chief concerns are figurative photography and whose passion in photographing the Spanish male. In this hour long conversation with the artist we are given entry into that process of selecting models (none of the models he uses for this book to be titled 'Private Diary' are professional, but instead are randomly chosen as Usabiaga observes athletes in action) and then allowed to follow Usabiaga and his crew as they photograph these men in natural settings and natural light.