"Actor: Allen"

• Bohemian Rhapsody | Blu Ray | (14/03/2019) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Trigger Happy TV - Best Of Series 1 | DVD | (06/09/2004) from £5.99   |  Saving you £4.00 (66.78%)   |  RRP £9.99

  First shown by Channel 4 at the beginning of 2000, Trigger Happy TV is one of those hidden-camera shows that plays pranks on the unsuspecting public. The brainchild of writer-performer Dom Jolly and his co-director Sam Cadman, it's a beguiling selection of endearingly daft scenes triggered by the admirably straight-faced Jolly (an inappropriate name if ever there was one). His characters include, among many others, a traffic warden who ticks off street cleaners for parking their carts on double-yellow lines; a business man who produces a three-foot-long mobile phone and bellows loudly into the handset; and an incompetent secret-service agent who sidles up to people on park benches, slipping them cryptic messages. Unlike the elaborate ruses of other hidden-camera shows, the best gags here are decidedly low-tech and simple: Jolly's attempt to interact with a stuffed dog he's taken for a "walk" in the park, much to bemusement of passing joggers, is fairly typical of the programme's mix of deadpan humour and surreal visuals--less Beadle's About, more absurdist street theatre. And instead of relying on a laugh track to set the mood, the show has a surprisingly eclectic, even at times strangely mellow and introspective, soundtrack from such acts as The Happy Mondays, Elastica and the Stereophonics. While some of the recurring gags were beginning to flag by the end of the series, the beauty of this compilation is that it features only the strongest material. However, we won't get a chance to see the prank Jolly played on Bill Wyman, who objected when it was first screened on television. Wyman might not get Jolly's impish brand of humour. But this fresh and entertaining compilation gives the rest of us a chance to sample it for ourselves. --Edward Lawrenson

• Miss Jones and Son: the Comple | DVD | (30/08/2010) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Paula Wilcox (Man About the House) stars in this six-part comedy series depicting the complicated life of Elizabeth Jones a young woman coming to terms with the responsibility of looking after her baby alone at a time when single mothers faced widespread prejudice. Though sympathy and emotional support comes in the shape of next-door-neighbour and friend Geoffrey (Christopher Beeny - In Loving Memory) every step seems to bring fresh difficulties for Elizabeth - including the reproaches of her parents a radically curtailed social life and a much-reduced income... Miss Jones and Son came from the creative team responsible for And Mother Makes Three Man About the House and Robin's Nest. It was notable for being the first British sitcom to depict a single mother. Presented here is the complete first series.

• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Season 2 | DVD | (28/04/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £84.99

  The second series of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine must have caused mixed feelings for those involved. There was a sense of optimism behind the scenes that stemmed from having gained a loyal following--made up of plenty of new fans--in its relatively short first year. The show had genuinely succeeded in being different from its predecessors. Better still, The Next Generation would be bowing out gracefully halfway through this year. So it was that, with several more series guaranteed, the writers changed tack from standalone tales and into long-running story arcs. This was immediately evident in the format-testing three-part opening. Through the actions of Kira and her old pals, we saw that the Bajorans would only ever work toward their own agenda, whereas the Cardassians easily switched sides to suit their various agendas. The Federation was hardly innocent of political machinations either, especially with the discovery of the Maquis terrorists a few episodes later. This three-way dynamic would underpin the entire run of the show. Expanding upon it was the handover of the Klingon saga from The Original Series and TNG, in which old warhorses Kor, Kang and Koloth first appeared. That left the Ferengi to maintain an element of fun with their Rules of Acquisition (Number 112: "Never have sex with the boss's sister"), exploration of their sexist culture and, naturally, through everything touched by the scene-stealing Quark (who was rewarded with a cameo for his real life wife). What seemed like standalone stories--Odo meeting his mentor, a trip into The Original Series' parallel universe and the culminating encounter with some super-soldiers (the Jem'Hadar)--later turned out to be more optimistic seed-sowing. Unfortunately, this second series also began with some concern about a competitor franchise, which started at exactly the same time as TNG ended. The impact of Babylon 5 on DS9 and TV SF in general by the end of the year could never have been envisioned at the start. --Paul Tonks

• Bright Eyes | DVD | (07/08/2006) from £6.22   |  Saving you £6.77 (108.84%)   |  RRP £12.99

  When a maid is accidentally hit by a car and killed her young orphaned daughter is forced to live with the snooty couple her mother used to work for. A custody battle soon ensues between an aviator who adores the little girl and the couple's crotchety Uncle Ned.

• Rawhide: The Complete Series | DVD | (11/08/2020) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Game of Thrones Complete Collector's Edition  | Blu Ray | (02/12/2019) from £59.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Based on the best-selling novel series by George R.R. Martin, HBO's drama series Game of Thrones holds the record as the most awarded series in television history. This limited-edition, custom-designed complete collector's set includes all 73 episodes of this epic eight season series. Also included is 15 hours of bonus content and never-before-seen footage.

• China Moon | DVD | (23/06/2003) from £4.99   |  Saving you £8.00 (61.60%)   |  RRP £12.99

  China Moon (1991) is a pleasing entertainment that assembles the dependable elements of film noir in the tradition of Body Heat (1981), The Last Seduction (1994) and, of course, the mother of all such films, Double Indemnity (1944). There's a femme fatale (the beautiful and talented Madeleine Stowe) and an honest cop (reliable Ed Harris) who soon becomes smitten. Her husband (Charles Dance) is a brute who beats her, so she murders him and inveigles Harris into helping her dispose of the body. That's when the complications begin, and Harris starts to sweat when his fellow cop keeps asking awkward questions. The acting is uniformly good, with Harris' partner played by Benicio Del Toro (Traffic) offering an excellent performance. Harris and Stowe strike sparks off each other, to the point where you almost believe he is being sucked into her schemes. On the DVD: The disc contains a theatrical trailer and several TV ads, with scroll-down filmographies of the major talents involved which are incomplete for some unknown reason. There's a brief and unenlightening five-minute documentary, with the principal cast plus the director, John Bailey, commenting on the film. Both image and sound are excellent quality, sound in Dolby Digital, picture in anamorphic widescreen ratio of 2.35:1 --Ed Buscombe

• Fading Gigolo | DVD | (29/09/2014) from £6.99   |  Saving you £9.00 (56.30%)   |  RRP £15.99

  In a scheme to make a quick couple of bucks a New York bookstore owner (Woody Allen) convinces his flower-arranger friend (John Turturro) that a fortune could be made by becoming a professional gigolo showing a good time to a number of beautiful and wealthy yet lonely local middle-aged women. Featuring an all-star cast including Sharon Stone Sofia Vergara (Modern Family) Vanessa Paradis and Liev Schreiber.

• Juliet Bravo - Series 5 | DVD | (14/08/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Kate Longton (Anna Carteret) continues her stewardship of the Lancashire police force plotting a tricky course through the pitfalls of force politics and rising crime on the streets... Episodes Comprise: 1. Attack 2. There's No None So Blind 3. The Day That The Circus Left Town 4. Getting Away With It 5. No Peace 6. Strike The Father 7. Lost And Found 8. Workforce 9. Hallowe'en 10. Alibi 11. Abuse 12. Ducks In A Row 13. Resolution 14. Flowers Tomorrow

• Z Nation Season 4 | Blu Ray | (22/01/2018) from £12.05   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  All 13 Episodes from the Season Four of the Zombie Apocalypse! Over a vast apocalyptic landscape looms a BLACK RAINBOW that stretches from horizon to horizon. A soft black rain is falling, but when the rain falls on Zombies and humans alike, it melts the flesh from their bones. Warren is there, screaming as the skin melts away from her skull then she wakes. Season four begins 2 years in the future, just as Warren is waking from a coma to find that she, and a cured, flesh-toned, seemingly 100% human Murphy, have survived. The rest of the Team was scattered after the events of the season three finally. As Warren and Murphy find the others, they discover they may have lost one of their own; worse, one of Our Heroes may have delivered the deathblow. Physically and psychologically changed, Warren is haunted by the prophetic dream of a Black Rainbow and a powerful compulsion to travel east. Unwilling to lose her, the Team follows, and with the help of new parents, Kaya and Citizen Z, Our Heroes discover the hidden meaning of Warren's dream, Zona's plan to cleanse the earth for their own use, and the nearly impossible tasks Our Heroes will have to complete to save all that's left of non-billionaire life on earth. As if all that wasn't hard enough, the Zombie Virus has evolved again, the parasite spreading from the brain into all the remaining flesh, so that killing the brain no longer kills the Zombie; Mad-Zs must be totally obliterated, or they just keep coming. There's no gas, hardly any bullets, and damn few people that aren't bug nuts crazy. Just a dream and a mission and a sliver of hope, as Warren leads the Team back across the American Apocalypse, uniting our core characters again, new evolutions of their old selves, on a single mission of hope.

• The Rolling Stones - Rock And Roll Circus | DVD | (25/10/2004) from £13.20   |  Saving you £0.79 (5.98%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Unavailable at all for nearly three decades, then issued in a VHS edition in 1996, the Rolling Stones' legendary Rock and Roll Circus finally gets the full treatment with this DVD release documenting the 1968 event. The Stones were reportedly unhappy with their performance (hence the long delay), and it isn't their finest moment; performing "Jumping Jack Flash" and a variety of songs from their then-new Beggars Banquet album, Keith Richards is game, but Jagger's preening (especially on "Sympathy for the Devil") is over the top, and guitarist Brian Jones looks dissolute and well on his way to his death the following year. A certain weirdness permeates some of the other musical acts as well: Jethro Tull lip-syncs unconvincingly, Taj Mahal and band were obliged to perform before the circus set was completed and the audience had arrived, and John Lennon's outing with impromptu supergroup the Dirty Mac (with Richards, Eric Clapton, and drummer Mitch Mitchell) is hampered by Yoko Ono's caterwauling, although their version of the Beatles' "Yer Blues" is cool. Still, the Who are brilliant, Marianne Faithfull is beautiful, the various circus acts are fun, and the crowd clearly loves it. The DVD comes with some fascinating bonus features, including three extra songs by Mahal, some lovely classical piano by Julius Katchen, and a "quad split-screen" version of "Yer Blues". Best of all are a new interview with the Who's Pete Townshend and the various commentary tracks added for the DVD--especially those by Tull's Ian Anderson, director Michael Lindsay-Hogg, and Stones Jagger, Richards, and Bill Wyman (who dryly attributes Jagger's reluctance to issue the show to his dissatisfaction with his own performance, not the band's). Flaws notwithstanding, this is a treat. --Sam Graham

• Down Among The Z Men | DVD | (24/06/2002) from £7.29   |  Saving you £8.70 (119.34%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Although they made their name in the medium of radio, the legendary Goons also made brief forays into the world of television and, with Down Among the Z Men, film. It captures the team at a very early stage in their career, with Michael Bentine still in the fold, and with their unique, anarchic brand of humour still in its infancy. Sadly, the style and feel of the film does little to suit their comedy style. While radio offered an opportunity for their imaginations to run riot, here the four find themselves tied to a few stock characters, most of whom would make a more animated appearances later in their career. The plot--with its tale of eccentric professors and evil spies--sees a series of musical numbers and a variety performance crow barred into the proceedings. Those who wish to add to an already existing Goons collection may want to consider this, but anyone wondering what all the fuss is about should head straight for the many radio collections available and hear the sound of true genius at work. On The DVD: Down Among the Z Men offers little to recommend, with the DVD lacking in any extras whatsoever. Being taken from an original fifties print, the black and white picture is of reasonable quality yet cannot help but look extremely dated. At best it is the sort of curio that would pass time on a Sunday afternoon but it is hard to consider this a particularly essential DVD release. –-Phil Udell

• Toy Story 2 | DVD | (19/07/2004) from £9.97   |  Saving you £4.01 (57.45%)   |  RRP £10.99

  The toys celebrate their 10th birthday with this amazing double pack set.

• The Evil Below | DVD | (09/09/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

  A down-and-out charter boat captain feels his luck has changed when a beautiful treasure hunter hires him to find the sunken ship El Diablo. Legend has it that the ship met its end while loaded with evil satanic artefacts. Meanwhile two divers accidentally discover the sunken tomb releasing a most terrifying force...

• Looking For Richard | DVD | (03/01/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Directed by and starring Al Pacino this quasi-documentary is Pacino's passion in his quest to make Shakespeare more accessible to modern day America. Shakespeare's most performed play 'Richard The Third' is the vehicle he uses to bridge the gap between Victorian soap opera and twentieth century culture. As well as hearing the views of the man on the street we also meet Pacino's friends and fellow actors in his film version of 'Richard The Third'. These include Kevin Spacey Winona

• Gilbert And Sullivan | DVD | (25/10/2004) from £99.95   |  Saving you £0.04 (0.04%)   |  RRP £99.99

  An 11 disc collection featuring peformances of: The Gondoliers H.M.S. Pinafore Iolanthe The Mikado Patience The Pirates of Penzance Princess Ida Ruddigore The Sorcerer Trial By Jury Cox and Box and The Yeomen of the Guard.

• Inspector Morse - Series 7 | DVD | (21/02/2005) from £14.99   |  Saving you £10.00 (66.71%)   |  RRP £24.99

  This box set features the entire seventh series of the classic British Television drama Inspector Morse. Episodes comprise: 1. Deadly Slumber: Avril Steppings was left with permanent brain damage after an operation went wrong. Morse is called in when the doctor who runs the clinic where the operation was performed is found murdered... 2. Day Of The Devil: Morse is involved in a man hunt when a dangerous mental patient escapes from a high security hospital...

• The 4400 - The Complete First Season | DVD | (10/01/2005) from £15.98   |  Saving you £11.00 (78.63%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The 4400, which began as a five-week mini-series, is built around a deceptively simple, dramatically rich premise. What if all the people, who had ever been abducted by aliens, were suddenly returned to Earth? What would happen? Although they look exactly as they did when they left, they have no knowledge of where they were or why they were taken. Now some even have special powers, like clairvoyance. As with ABC's Lost, which centres on the survivors of a plane crash, The 4400 features a large cast of characters and a host of mysteries to be solved. If the special effects, which are kept to a minimum, can be a little cheesy at times, the concept--and the skillful execution of the concept--easily makes up for it. Produced by Francis Ford Coppolla's American Zoetrope and created by Scott Peters (The Outer Limits), The 4400 is set in Seattle, where the 4400 are returned. The principal characters include Dennis Ryland (Peter Coyote of E.T.), the local supervisor of Homeland Security. He's joined by agents Tom Baldwin (Joel Gretsch of Taken), whose nephew was one of the returnees, and Diana Skouris (Jacqueline McKenzie of Romper Stomper), who takes in one of the youngest returnees. Guest stars include Michael Moriarty (Law and Order) in "Pilot" and Lee Tergeson (Oz) in "Becoming." Billy Campbell (Once and Again) also appears in several episodes as Jordan Collier, a real-estate magnate and returnee who becomes an advocate for others like himself, many of whom are having problems adjusting to a changed world. Like Lost, one of the biggest success stories of 2004, The 4400 debuted to strong ratings and was renewed for a full season. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

• Camp | DVD | (26/04/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  After a series of Broadway flops, songwriter Bert Hanley goes to work at a musical camp for young performers. Inspired by the kids, he finds an opportunity to regain success by staging an altogether new production.