"Actor: Emma Cunniffe"

• The Lakes 2 | DVD | (06/10/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The original series of the The Lakes brought writer Jimmy McGovern and actor John Simm a great deal of critical praise in 1997. Following a particularly dry period for British TV drama, the show's realistic characterisations and their painfully honest decisions hit audiences hard. Simm is a twentysomething trapped in a life of compulsive gambling, theft and being on the dole in Liverpool. On a whim he heads north to the Lake District. He expects to find the countryside quietude where his hidden poetical leanings might find a home, but instead gets caught up in a community like any other. Lies, temptation and tragedy beset every household just as much as the big city. In the second series, far longer than the first, an exploration of Danny's tortured soul might have been the obvious continuation to the story; instead an almost Hitchcockian murder scenario occupies far more screen time. But by stretching things out, this second series does not have the same self-contained impact of the original. Additional writers only served to drag out Danny's boy-to-man journey. Ultimately, lessons are learned, including the realistic conclusion that life is without a poetical status quo. Despite the tail-off in overall quality, you'd be hard pressed to identify a better British drama in the years since. --Paul Tonks

• Flesh And Blood | DVD | (26/03/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Who you really are can be hard to face Written by Peter Bowker Christopher Eccleston and Emma Cunniffe star in Flesh and Blood which tells the story of a father whose world is turned upside down when he discovers the truth about his origins. Adopted at birth Joe Broughton (Christopher Eccleston) is overwhelmed by an obsessive desire to trace his real parents after the birth of his daughter Marie. When he discovers that his mother and father have learning disabilities and never knew they had a child his world is blown apart. For Joe as well as his wife Cath (Emma Cunniffe) it's the beginning of a rollercoaster journey which challenges not only his preconceptions about disability but also his sense of his own identity.