James Bridges (Urban Cowboy, Bright Lights, Big City) directed this 1979 film that became a worldwide sensation when, just weeks after its release, the Three Mile Island nuclear accident occurred. Jane Fonda (Klute, Julia) plays a television news reporter who is not taken very seriously until a routine story at the local nuclear power plant leads her to what may be a cover-up of epic proportions. She and her cameraman, played by Michael Douglas (Wall Street, American President), hook up with a whistleblower at the plant, played by Jack Lemmon (Save the Tiger, Missing). Together they try to uncover the dangers lurking beneath the nuclear reactor and avoid being silenced by the business interests behind the plant. Though topical, The China Syndrome (produced by Douglas) works on its own as a socially conscious thriller that entertains even as it spurs its audience to think. --Robert Lane

This Alan Seymour dramatisation of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was originally broadcast as a BBC series in 1988. Whether you take CS Lewis' unsubtle Christian symbolism on board or not, the fact remains that the cycle of Narnia novels, of which this was the first, are among the best children's fantasy stories of all time. For anyone who spent their formative years on Mars, the story concerns four children who find their way into a magical land benevolently ruled by the mystical lion, Aslan (voiced by Ronald Pickup, no less). Aslan has been deposed by the evil White Witch (played wonderfully by a screechingly camp Barbara Kellerman) who has cast all of Narnia into perpetual winter and whose eventual defeat entails a fearful sacrifice. While the special effects are firmly of the Doctor Who school, Lewis' writing is expertly transferred to the small screen and there are robust but credible performances from the four highly plausible young thesps cast in the leading roles. It's perfect for cosy family (early) evening viewing, and something that young viewers will return to again and again. --Roger Thomas