In celebration of beloved comic actor Peter Sellers, on what would have been his 100th Birthday on 8 September, StudioCanal has announced new Vintage Classics Blu-Ray releases of two of his best comedies from his early film career in Britain. Two-Way Stretch (1960) is the witty and inventive crime caper directed by Robert Day and co-starring comedy greats Bernard Cribbins (Crooks in Cloisters) and Lionel Jeffries (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang), and Heavens Above! (1963), the sharp social satire about an honest priest whose kindness disrupts an upmarket English village, from directors John & Roy Boulting and co-starring Cecil Parker (The Ladykillers), Brock Peters (To Kill a Mockingbird), Eric Sykes (The Plank) and Irene Handl (I'm All Right Jack). Both films will be available on Blu-Ray from 4th August, or via pre-order, and include a selection of exciting new bonus content.

In Character: The Films of Peter Sellers takes place at the BFI Southbank 2-30 August https://www.bfi.org.uk/ for further details. Screening in the season are Two Way Stretch (6 & 13 August) and Heavens Above! (9 & 18 August), Only Two Can Play (15 & 25 August), The Wrong Arm of the Law (12 & 13 August) and The Smallest Show on Earth (2 & 17 August). A Peter Sellers box-set featuring many of these titles and more will be released in November, more details to follow!

A chameleon of the silver screen, Peter Sellers was one of the most versatile and unique comic actors of his generation. A master in mimicry and improvisation, he is best known for his expertly choreographed and exaggerated portrayal of the clumsy yet absurdly self-confident French Inspector Jacques Clouseau in The Pink Panther series (1963-1978). His slapstick genius was likened to that of Charlie Chaplin who he openly acknowledged as a major influence and source of inspiration. After an early start in radio, Sellers career in film catapulted in the 1950s, notably appearing alongside Sir Alec Guinness in the Ealing Studios black comedy The Ladykillers(1955), directed by  Alexander Mackendrick, and in John Boulting’s I'm All Right Jack (1959), which earned him a BAFTA Award for Best British Actor.

One of Sellers’ most celebrated comic performances came in Stanley Kubrick’s dark political satire Dr. Strangelove (1964), for which his multiple role delivery earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, alongside wide critical acclaim. In 1979 however, he proved himself to be equally capable as a dramatic actor, picking up another Academy Award nomination for his subtle portrayal of simple-minded gardener Chance in Hal Ashby’s Being There. Sellers’ reputation off screen was somewhat troubled but despite this, and numerous health struggles, he left behind a legacy as one of the most inventive performers in history and is still considered as one of the greatest comedy icons of all time.

TWO-WAY STRETCH (1960)

Blu-ray | 4 August 2025 | £15

Starring the finest comic actor of his generation Peter Sellers, Two-Way Stretch is one of the funniest comedy crime capers of 1960s British cinema. Also starring a supporting cast of comedy legends including Lionel Jeffries and Bernard Cribbins.

Constantly taking advantage of the prison governor’s liberal methods towards authority, convict, and criminal mastermind Dodger Lane (Sellers) decides to commit the ultimate crime with the ultimate alibi. Along with a misfit crew of fellow inmates he plans to escape from prison, steal a priceless cache of diamonds and then return to his cell before anyone notices. Who said genius was easy?

BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES:

• NEW: Peter Sellers: Criminally Good – A look at the production of Two-Way Stretch featuring interviews with Peter Lydon, director of BBC Arena’s The Peter Sellers Story and the BFI’s Vic Pratt, co-author of The Bodies Beneath: The Flipside of British Film and Television
• NEW: Two-Way Stretch: Sellers on the Inside – Featuring interview footage with Roy Boulting, Beryl Reid, Bryan Forbes, Sidney Gilliat and Mai Zetterling originally shot for Seller’s Best (1992, dir Paul Joyce) a 60-minute documentary on the early film career of Peter Sellers, broadcast on Channel Four
• Audio Commentary by Authors and Comedy Historians Gemma Ross and Robert Ross
• Behind the Scenes stills gallery
• Trailer

HEAVENS ABOVE! (1963)

Blu-ray | 4 August 2025 | £15

The inimitable Peter Sellers stars as John Smallwood, an idealistic Reverend appointed to the parish of an upper-class village by mistake. With a bad habit of telling the truth at all times, Smallwood makes several clerical decisions that shock his wealthy, landed-gentry parishioners.

Inspired by an idea by British satirist Malcolm Muggeridge, the Boulting brothers’ Heavens Above! was considered a bit too sacrilegious for general consumption on its 1963 release. Way ahead of its time, the film, featuring Sellers at his most iconoclastic, has since accrued a loyal and vocal following. Superb supporting cast includes Eric Sykes, Irene Handl, William Hartnell and Joan Hickson.

BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES:

• NEW: Sellers Takes Off in Heavens Above! – A look at the production of Heavens Above! featuring interviews with Peter Lydon, director of BBC Arena’s The Peter Sellers Story and the BFI’s Vic Pratt, co-author of The Bodies Beneath: The Flipside of British Film and Television
• NEW: Heavens Above! – A Q&A with Daily Mash’s Tom Whitley, Eva Griffith and Benedict Morrison, filmed at the LOCO London Comedy Film Festival in 2025
• NEW: Heavens Above! The Mask Behind the Mask – Featuring interview footage with Roy Boulting, Ian Carmichael and Sidney Gilliat originally shot for Seller’s Best (1992, dir Paul Joyce) a 60-minute documentary on the early film career of Peter Sellers, broadcast on Channel Four
• Audio Commentary by Authors and Comedy Historians Gemma Ross and Robert Ross
• Lobby Cards Gallery