STUDIO: BBC/Warner Brothers
RELEASE DATE: May 20, 2008
STARRING: Maggie Smith, Judi Dench & Helen Mirren
WRITTEN BY: Various
DIRECTED BY: Various
FEATURES: Various

Three of the best British actresses alive have received a new kind of notoriety in the United States over the course of the last decade or so. Judi Dench wasn't even nominated for an Oscar until 1998 (for her work in Mrs. Brown) and she was already 63 when that happened. A simply unbelievable stretch of moviemaking followed with Dame Judi earning a stunning five more nominations for Shakespeare in Love (for which she won), Chocolat, Iris, Mrs. Henderson Presents, and Notes on a Scandal. And even more American movie goers will probably recognize her as M from Casino Royale. At an age when most women were retiring, Dench earned six Oscar nods and co-starred in one of the best action films of the last decade. And her peers from the BBC, Helen Mirren and Maggie Smith went on runs nearly as remarkable. Helen Mirren may be best known for her Oscar for The Queen but her recent work in Gosford Park, Prime Suspect, and Elizabeth I has been just as award-worthy. And then there's Maggie Smith, who co-starred with Mirren in Gosford Park, for which she landed an amazing sixth Oscar nomination. Smith has always been popular stateside but she reached a new level of fame with her work as Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter movies. Quite simply, Mirren, Dench, and Smith are three of the best actresses alive. Exhibit A in that argument would be three excellent box sets now available from the BBC and Warner Brothers which display early work from these three masters. The Mirren and Dench sets have been available before but now Smith joins them with the May 20th release of her set. If you only know these incredibly talented women as M, McGonagall, and Queen Elizabeth, your education starts here.

The newest set, released this week, is Maggie Smith at the BBC, which includes 1972's The Merchant of Venice (Smith plays Portia), 1972's The Millionairess, 1988's A Bed Among the Lentils, and 1993's Suddenly Last Summer with Rob Lowe and Natasha Richardson. No offense to Smith, but this set feels a little incomplete compared to her colleagues', The Judi Dench Collection and Helen Mirren at the BBC. Each one of these Oscar winners score nine-movie sets that span several decades of work. The Dench set in particular is quite impressive featuring two versions of The Cherry Orchard (from 1962 and 1981), 1966's Talking to a Stranger, 1973's Keep an Eye on Amelie, 1981's Going Gently, 1987's Ghosts, 1987's Make and Break, 1990's Can You Hear me Thinking?, and 1991's Absolute Hell. Helen Mirren's work from the BBC includes 1974's The Changeling, 1975's The Apple Cart, 1975's Caesar and Claretta, 1975's The Philanthropist, 1975's The Little Minister, 1977's The Country Wife, 1979's Blue Remembered Hills, 1981's Mrs. Reinhardt, and 1982's Soft Targets. All of the sets come with interesting special features including a newly recorded interview on the Mirren set and some rare radio plays.

Dames Maggie Smith, Helen Mirren, and Judi Dench have all proven that age is not an impediment for actresses this talented. Check out the Oscar Winners at the BBC collections to see the early work that set the foundation for where these living legends are today.