"Actor: Alan"

• British Isles: A Natural History | DVD | (29/11/2004) from £23.99   |  Saving you £1.00 (4.17%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The BBC's latest lavish natural history series, The British Isles: A Natural History stirred a minor controversy when first aired because its presenter, the ever-affable Alan Titchmarsh, is better known as a gardener (and writer of saucy novels), not an expert on mineralogy, plate tectonics, or prehistoric flora and fauna. Until this programme the presumption had been that a multi-part flagship BBC documentary would be written and presented by an authoritative figure, David Attenborough or Simon Schama for example. For better or worse Titchmarsh has broken the mould. In fact, once past the glossily superficial opening chapter "3 Billion Years in the Making" (essentially a highlights programme of what is to come), Titchmarsh turns out to be an excellent host, addressing the audience in his familiar chatty way and cleverly exploiting his horticultural roots, noting for example how evidence of major geological changes can be found in the most humble plant, wildflower or weed. And unlike his more academic predecessors, he also uses his TV charisma to the full, finding lighthearted ways of imparting otherwise dry information: sampling malt whiskies to explain how water permeates through different types of rock; scoffing platefuls of clotted cream with jam and scones to show how desert conditions millions of years ago gave Devon its fertile soil; or even getting made up as a Neanderthal and strolling down Oxford Street. It's all far more cosy than Attenborough. The director of this eight-part series has clearly been watching Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings, as he never misses an opportunity for sweeping helicopter shots of snowy mountain peaks, rugged coastlines or glacial valleys. Combined with some neat computer graphics, the result makes ideal consumption for Sunday evening TV: easy on the eye and none too taxing on the brain, but informative enough to banish any fears of dumbing-down. --Mark Walker

• Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves | Blu Ray | (28/10/2019) from £15.26   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Bringing the iconic myth to the screen, Kevin Costner (Waterworld) plays one of the most beloved characters of all time in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. Robin returns from the crusades to find his father dead and vows revenge. With his Moorish companion (Morgan Freeman) he joins a band of peasant rebels in battle against the evil Sheriff of Nottingham (Alan Rickman). Featuring brilliant swashbuckling scenes of action and adventure, romance and a stellar cast including Christian Slater, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio and Brian Blessed, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves is one of the great blockbusters of the 90s.

• Southern Comfort | DVD | (15/01/2001) from £23.92   |  Saving you £-13.93 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Southern Comfort is more than merely Deliverance in the Louisiana Bayou. Walter Hill's taut little tale of weekend warrior National Guardsman on swamp exercises reverberates with echoes of Vietnam. Powers Booth brings a hard pragmatism to the "new guy" in the unit, a Texas transplant less than thrilled with his new unit. "They're just Louisiana versions of the same rednecks I served with in El Paso", he tells level-headed Keith Carradine. The barely functional unit of city boys and macho rednecks invade the environs of the local Cajun trappers and poachers, "borrowing" the locals' boats and sending bursts of blank rounds over their heads in a show of contempt. Before they know it the dysfunctional strangers in a strange land are on the losing end of guerrilla war. The swamp rats kill their commanding officer (Peter Coyote) and terrorise the bickering bunch as they flee blindly through the jungle without a map, a compass, or a leader to speak of. Hill directs with a clean simplicity, creating tension as much from the primal landscape and the Cajuns' unsettling reign of terror as from the dynamics of a platoon of battle virgins tearing itself apart from rage and fear. Ry Cooder's eerie and haunting score and the primal, claustrophobic landscape only intensifies the paranoia as the city boys splinter with infighting (sparked by a bullying Fred Ward), blunder through booby traps and ambushes, and finally turn just as savage as their pursuers in their drive to survive. --Sean Axmaker, Amazon.com

• Jonathan Creek - Complete Series 1-4 Boxset | DVD | (29/11/2004) from £18.98   |  Saving you £56.01 (295.10%)   |  RRP £74.99

  This box set contains all four series of Jonathan Creek to date. Alan Davies and Caroline Quentin star in this highly successful murder mystery drama series. Jonathan magic expert and amateur sleuth extraordinaire turns out to be less successful in his relationship with investigative crimewriter Maddy Magellen.... All the episodes from Series 1 and 2: 'The Wrestler's Tomb' 'Jack In The Box' 'The Reconstituted Corpse' 'No Trace of Tracey' and 'The House Of Monkeys'

• The Hunchback Of Notre Dame | DVD | (23/10/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Classic version of Hugo's tragic tale of unrequited love. Quasimodo is the deformed bellringer of Notre Dame taunted and brutalised by the townspeople because of his repellent appearance. Despite his outward appearance however Quasimodo has a tender heart as he demonstrates when he falls in love with beautiful gypsy girl Esmerelda.

• The Man Who Knew Too Much | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £6.22   |  Saving you £3.77 (60.61%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Alfred Hitchcock's 1956 remake of his own 1934 spy thriller is an exciting event in its own right, with several justifiably famous sequences. James Stewart and Doris Day play American tourists who discover more than they wanted to know about an assassination plot. When their son is kidnapped to keep them quiet, they are caught between concern for him and the terrible secret they hold. When asked about the difference between this version of the story and the one he made 22 years earlier, Hitchcock always said the first was the work of a talented amateur while the second was the act of a seasoned professional. Indeed, several extraordinary moments in this update represent consummate film-making, particularly a relentlessly exciting Albert Hall scene, with a blaring symphony, an assassin's gun, and Doris Day's scream. Along with Hitchcock's other films from the mid-1950s to 1960 (including Vertigo, Rear Window, and Psycho), The Man Who Knew Too Much is the work of a master in his prime. --Tom Keogh, Amazon.com

• Succession: Seasons 1 & 2 | DVD | (07/12/2020) from £26.91   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Power, politics, money...it's all in the family in this provocative, bitingly funny drama series about a highly dysfunctional dynasty. When aging, uberwealthy patriarch Logan Roy (Brian Cox), CEO of one of the world's largest media and entertainment conglomerates, decides to retire, each of his four grown children follows a personal agenda that doesn't always sync with those of their siblings-or of their father. After Logan changes his mind about stepping down, he endures the often-childish bickering of his heirs while others in their orbit position themselves for a post-Logan world that seems imminent, though not predestined. Jeremy Strong, Kieran Culkin, Sarah Snook and Alan Ruck co-star as Logan's children; also with Hiam Abbass, Nicholas Braun and Matthew Macfadyen. Bonus Features Season 1 The cast and crew of Succession break down the action of the first season's heart-stopping finale Season 2 An Invitation to the Set with the Series' Storytellers 10 Inside the Episode Featurettes

• The Day Of The Jackal | Blu Ray | (04/09/2017) from £16.39   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  With its high-intensity plot about an attempt to assassinate French President Charles de Gaulle, the bestselling novel by Frederick Forsyth was a prime candidate for screen adaptation. Director Fred Zinnemann brought his veteran skills to bear on what has become a timeless classic of screen suspense. Not to be confused with the later remake The Jackal starring Bruce Willis (which shamelessly embraced all the bombast that Zinnemann so wisely avoided), this 1973 thriller opts for lethal elegance and low-key tenacity in the form of the Jackal, the suave assassin played with consummate British coolness by Edward Fox. He's a killer of the highest order, a master of disguise and international elusiveness, and this riveting film follows his path to de Gaulle with an intense, straightforward documentary style. Perhaps one of the last great films from a bygone age of pure, down-to-basics suspense (and a kind of debonair European alternative to the American grittiness of The French Connection), The Day of the Jackal is a cat-and-mouse thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat until its brilliantly executed final scene (pardon the pun), by which time Fox has achieved cinematic immortality as one of the screen's most memorable killers. --Jeff Shannon

• Night Dragon | DVD | (28/06/2010) from £10.78   |  Saving you £4.21 (39.05%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Night Dragon

• Iron Eagle 2 | DVD | (04/08/2008) from £6.49   |  Saving you £6.50 (100.15%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The wild blue yonder just got wilder. When an outlaw nation takes the world hostage America's oldest enemy becomes hew newest ally. Oscar''-winner Louis Gossett Jr. is back in the skies as General Chappy Sinclair in Iron Eagle II. With a crew of American and Russian misfits Chappy must teach them to fly together to fight together and to face an enemy bent on nuclear destruction. To Chappy it means only one thing trouble! Iron Eagle II... an aerial extravaganza where the wild blue yonder just gets wilder.

• A Voyage Round My Father | DVD | (28/07/2003) from £39.90   |  Saving you £-23.91 (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  From the Award Winning writer of 'Rumpole of the Bailey' comes this critically acclaimed autobiographical story of an unforgettable journey of an abusive father and his son. John Mortimer's autobiographical play 'A Voyage Round My Father' was given this spectacular film adaptation in 1981. Mortimer best known for his 'Rumpole of the Bailey' stories has fashioned an unexpurgated but affectionate portrait of his highly eccentric lawyer father Clifford Mortimer played by Sir Laur

• Close My Eyes | DVD | (14/06/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Two siblings raised by different parents reunite as adults only to discover a deep passion for one another. Over a hot summer in London things have changed since they last met and Natalie the older sister is married to a hugely wealthy man and languishing in the home countries whilst Richard is seeking escape from the anxieties and pressure of working life. Overwhelmed by their love they struggle to overcome their addiction not wishing to hurt those around them and yet seemingly unable to part.

• The Brief - Series 1-2 - Complete | DVD | (27/04/2009) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Alan Davies (Bob And Rose Jonathan Creek) stars as Henry Farmer a criminal practice barrister engaged in an ongoing fight for justice in the courtroom. Henry's life is dominated by chaos he has a huge workload debt and alimony payments to meet...and all this whilst being in love with the wife of a prominent politician who won't leave her husband for him! The Brief is an engaging blend of courtroom drama suspense intrigue and humour.

• Jonathan Creek: Series 5 | DVD | (17/03/2014) from £11.59   |  Saving you £8.40 (72.48%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Jonathan Creek may have left his windmill and the world of professional magic behind but as he settles down for what ought to be a quiet married life there are still plenty of bizarre mysteries to tax his unique deductive powers. In the first of three new episodes as he and his beautiful wife Polly leave the city to move into her deceased parents' sprawling old house in the country the dust has barely settled when Creek is called upon to investigate a brutal and baffling murder attempt in a West End London theatre. The leading actress in a spooky Gothic musical has been found stabbed unconscious and left for dead in an empty dressing room from which no assailant could possibly have escaped. But just as challenging are a number of other ghostly events that begin to occur in the village where Creek and Polly have now made their home ... and which in the weeks to come will provide yet more classic puzzles for the lateral-thinking detective to unravel.

• Stuart Little | DVD | (27/11/2000) from £2.99   |  Saving you £17.00 (568.56%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The smallest member of The Little family returns in this blockbusting sequel. Alongside fellow family pet Snowbell the cat he sets of on a journey through the streets of New York in search of a missing friend.

• Firefly - The Complete Series | DVD | (19/04/2004) from £18.69   |  Saving you £17.56 (100.75%)   |  RRP £34.99

  Much praised and much missed after its premature cancellation, Firefly is the first SF TV series to be conceived by Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy and cocreator of Angel. Set five centuries in the future, it is a show where the mysterious personal pasts of the crew of the tramp spaceship Serenity continually surface. In fact, it's a Western in space where the losers in a Civil War are heading out to a barren frontier. Mal Reynolds is a man embittered by the war, yet whose love of his comrades perpetually dents his cynicism--even in the 14 episodes that exist we see him warm to the bubbly young mechanic Kaylee, the preacher Book, the idealistic doctor Simon, even to the often demented River, Simon's sister, the psychic result of malign experiments. Firefly is also about adult emotional relationships, for example Kaylee's crush on Simon, the happy marriage of Mal's second officer Zoe and the pilot Wash, the disastrous erotic stalemate between Mal and the courtesan Inara. Individual episodes deal with capers going vaguely wrong, or threats narrowly circumvented; character and plot arcs were starting to emerge when the show was cancelled. Fortunately, the spin-off movie Serenity is planned; and in the meantime, what there is of Firefly is a show to marvel at, both for its tight writing and ensemble acting, and the idiocy of the executives who cancelled it. On the DVD: Firefly on DVD is presented in anamorphic 1.78:1 with Dolby Surround Sound. It includes commentaries on six episodes by various writers, directors, designers and cast members as well as featurettes on the conception of the show and the design of the spaceship Serenity, four deleted scenes, a gag reel, and Joss Whedon singing the show's theme tune, more or less. One of the things that emerges from all of this is how committed to the project everyone involved with it was, and is--unusually, you end up caring as much for the cast and crew as for the characters. The discs have subtitles in English and Spanish and the option of listening to the soundtrack dubbed into Spanish or French. --Roz Kaveney

• Highlander | DVD | (04/09/2006) from £5.98   |  Saving you £7.01 (117.22%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The first Highlander cinematic experience sizzles with energy thrilling action sequences and electrifying sword fights and is played out at a frenetic pace by a renowned cast. Christopher Lambert gives a mesmerising performance in his most famed role as the Scotsman out to fulfil his destiny as an Immortal under the tutelage of the flamboyant Ramirez played for laughs with great panache by the enigmatic Sean Connery. The year is 1536. Scottish Clansman Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert) is mortally wounded in battle by a terrifying warrior - The Kurgan (Clancy Brown). When his wounds miraculously heal Connor is cast out by the superstitious villagers to live a life of solitude. Several years later Juan Sanchez Villa-Lobos Ramirez (Sean Connery) a nobleman of Egyptian / Spanish descent teaches him that like he and the Kurgan MacLeod is an immortal who can only die by decapitation. He tells how the immortals are fated to duel down the ages to a mysterious distant time called ""The Gathering"" when the last few will battle for ""The Prize"". So begins a romantic action-packed saga spanning four centuries to modern day Manhattan where a reign of terror grips the city and headless corpses baffle the police. The Kurgan has arrived in town as a one-man wrecking crew maddened by aeons of blood lust slaughtering everything in his path searching for his ancient enemy - the Highlander. It all comes to a climax with an earth-shattering showdown between to two old foes against the spectacular New York night sky.... There can be only one!

• K-9 | DVD | (05/09/2005) from £8.25   |  Saving you £3.00 (42.92%)   |  RRP £9.99

  James Belushi stars as Thomas Dooley an unorthodox narcotics cop who teams with an independently minded police dog in this hilarious action-comedy. Headstrong Dooley is one step away from nailing a prominent socialite in a $50 million cocaine bust. But branded as too crazy to partner with no one will work with him except Jerry Lee a superbly trained German Shepherd police dog with the best nose in the drug-busting business. The unconventional pairing pleases neither partner but a

• Minari | Blu Ray | (28/06/2021) from £16.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  A Korean family starts a farm in 1980s Arkansas.

• Harlequin | DVD | (06/12/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £1.99

  An enigmatic stranger with uncanny magical prowess and miraculous psychic abilities mysteriously comes to 'visit' a powerful politician and quickly gains a spell-binding hold over the senator and his family... Magic Murder Mystery.... Nothing is as it appears to be....