Peter Medak’s debut feature Negatives on BFI Flipside Blu-ray in March
The 53rd release in the legendary BFI Flipside strand which revives forgotten gems is the debut film from director Peter Medak. Medak has enjoyed a fascinating career spanning over 50 years, from Brit-gangster hit The Krays (1990) to episodes of modern TV classics such as The Wire and Breaking Bad. His provocative 1968 debut, Negatives, stars Glenda Jackson, Diane Cilento and Peter McEnery. A dreamlike, acutely cinematic character study, it explores the dark heart of unconventional relationships in the free love era. This will be the first time Negatives has been available on any format in the UK. Extras include an audio commentary and audio interviews with the director.
Living above a dusty old antiques shop, deeply enmeshed in archaic Edwardiana and wrapped up in moth-eaten old clothes, two passionate but embittered lovers play out their lives in performative acts of sexual fantasy. Theo (Peter McEnery, Entertaining Mr Sloane) takes on the role of notorious killer Dr Crippen, while his partner Vivien (Glenda Jackson, Women in Love) disguises herself as both the wife and the lover of the meek but murderous physician. Underlying tensions between the pair escalate when an uninhibited German photographer, Reingard (Diane Cilento, The Wicker Man), moves in with them – bringing bizarre fantasies of her own.
Negatives will be released on UK Blu-ray by The BFI as part of its Flipside strand on 16 March 2026 at the RRP of £19.99.
BLU-RAY FEATURES:
- Newly remastered from the original camera negative by Severin Films and presented in High Definition
- Audio commentary by Tim Lucas
- Audio interviews with Peter Medak (2024, 89 mins): two interviews with director Peter Medak, the first by the late author and film historian Lee Gambin, and the second with Severin’s David Gregory which was conducted at the director’s home
- False Positive (2025, 11 mins): a newly recorded interview with actor Peter McEnery
- Editing Negatives (2026, 31 mins): an interview with Barrie Vince, the award-winning editor of Negatives, Smashing Time and Deep End
- Positives From Negativeland: Scrapbook From a Grand Debut (2025, 16 mins): Peter Medak takes us through his production material for Negatives, as well as A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, recalling his memories of each experience
- The Doctor Will See You Now (2025, 24 mins): an interview with Dr Clare Smith, the historic collection curator at the Metropolitan Police Museum, who discusses the life and crime of Dr Hawley Harvey Crippen
- Image gallery
- FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated booklet featuring new essays by Dr Josephine Botting and William Fowler; notes on the special features and credits