"Actor: George Preston"

• The Beatles : Anthology | DVD | (31/03/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £45.99

  The Beatles Anthology was initially broadcast as a TV miniseries to run alongside the series of three Anthology double-CD albums. This set of eight documentaries has the heft and scope of one of Ken Burns' expansive projects. Still, you may find yourself with more material--particularly about the Beatles' early lives as lads in Liverpool--than you'll want to watch. The documentary material is copious, including early performance films and tapes, at the point before they found their true voices. The actual Beatlemania years--beginning in 1963 and concluding in 1970--feature extensive performance films, as well as home movies and archival material. The best parts, of course, are the interviews with the Beatles themselves, who produced the entire thing. Along with reworking two previously unreleased John Lennon tracks as "new Beatles songs", the Anthology includes some unseen Lennon interview tapes so that his acerbic voice can be heard as well. This stands as a comprehensive document of that heady period, the second coming of rock & roll, as the Beatles took what Elvis had started and expanded upon it exponentially. This box set gives a solid sense of the historical context and the way these four musicians changed the world around them in the 1960s. --Marshall Fine

• The Life And Adventures Of Nicholas Nickleby | DVD | (13/05/2002) from £39.99   |  Saving you £-20.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  This 2000 television adaptation confirms Nicholas Nickleby's place among television dramatists' favourite Dickens novels. It has all the vital ingredients: a sensitive, intelligent young hero cast by circumstances in the role of everyman whose fortitude is tested at every turn; romance; danger; one of Dickens' richest braces of characters; and a sense of humanity that is, at times, overwhelming. Condensing all this into three hours is no mean achievement. Martyn Edward Hesford's screenplay maintains an impressive balance between dramatic tension and allowing the characters the space they need to reveal their essential qualities. Only in the last 30 minutes does it become something of a gallop to the finishing post. True, the horrors of the boarding school could be more horrific; the grime of Victorian London and its toothless inhabitants could be grimier and less cosmetic. But as always with a superior production of a Dickens novel, the richness and depth of the drama outweigh such minor quibbles. As for the cast, James D'Arcy's Nicholas is pitch-perfect: part cipher for the injustices and despair he encounters, part emblem for the triumph of goodness, an innocent whose eyes are quickly forced open to the darker realities of life. These darker realities are congealed in Charles Dance's relentlessly chilling, heartless Ralph Nickleby. This is a deceptively complex performance; even as we cheer the gathering forces which finally extinguish his increasingly desperate power, the awful tragedy of his end still elicits a discomforting ounce of sympathy. Gregor Fisher as the one-eyed Squeers and Pam Ferris as his fearsomely lascivious wife are outstanding in an ensemble of fine character actors. And Lee Ingleby's Smike gives our tear ducts a good workout while steering just the right side of sentimentality. On the DVD: Nicholas Nickleby is presented in widescreen format with Dolby Digital soundtrack, and has all the technical qualities you might expect from the DVD release of a modern television production. Extras include cast filmographies, a Dickens biography and a list of his work, all of which add to the disc's merits as a literary educational tool. --Piers Ford

• Nostalgia For The Light | DVD | (10/09/2012) from £7.99   |  Saving you £8.00 (100.12%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Chile's Atacama Desert is the driest place on earth. Atop its mountains, astronomers gather to observe the stars. The sky is so translucent they can see right to the boundaries of the universe.It is also a place where the heat of the sun keeps human remains intact: those of Pre-Columbian mummies; 19th century explorers and miners; and the remains of political prisoners disappeared by the Chilean army after the military coup of September 1973. So while astronomers examine the most distant galaxies, at the foot of the mountains, surviving relatives of the 'disappeared', search for the remains of their loved ones, to reclaim their families' histories.Gradually the celestial quest of the astronomers and the earthly one of the Chilean women come together.

• Concert For Bangladesh | DVD | (24/10/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £52.49

  The famous fundraising concert for Bangladesh featuring George Harrison and a whole host of his celebrity music friends on the star-studded set list. Disc 1 - The Concert For Bangladesh 1971: 1. Intro by George Harrison and Ravi Shankar 2. Bangla Dhun 3. Wah-Wah 4. My Sweet Lord 5. Awaiting On You All 6. That's The Way God Planned It 7. It Don't Come Easy 8. Beware Of Darkness 9. Band Introduction 10. While My Guitar Gently Weeps 11. Jumpin' Jack Flash 12. Young Blood 13. H

• Randall And Hopkirk Deceased - The Complete Second Series | DVD | (14/10/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The second chapter to the terrific remake of the cult classic 'Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased)' stars Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer as the dead detective and his hapless but very much alive partner. Mad ghosts mummified bodies experiments that mysteriously change a person's gender; nothing it seems is beyond the perlexing world inhabited by super-sleuth characters Jeff Randle and Marty Hopkirk aided and abetted by ghost-busting glamour girl Jeannie (Emilia Fox) and Hopkirk's mentor Wyvern (Tom Baker). This release features the complete second series of 'Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased)'. Episodes comprise: Whatever Possessed You?: Jeff and Jeannie are hired to investigate goings on at a hotel that is supposed to be haunted. Jeff has a disbelief in ghosts until Marty re-appears and gives Jeff back his memories of Marty being a ghost. Revenge Of The Bog People: Jeff's ex-fianc''e Freya Cargill asks him to re-open investigations into the death of her Egyptologist father. Jeff and Jeannie head for the museum where he worked and meet some of the strange staff who work there. O Happy Isle: Jeff and Jeannie are hired to investigate the apparent suicide of a young gay man on the remote island of Strait Isle in Scotland the inhabitants of which are starting to show some bizarre character traits. Painkillers: At the request of Bulstrode and Lacey Jeff and Jeannie pose as doctors to investigate activities at a secret underground pain-research laboratory. Marshall & Snellgrove: Jeff and Jeannie are hired to investigate what is happening at the home of an eccentric family. But so are their arch-rivals Marshall & Snellgrove another firm of private detectives... The Glorious Butranekh: When the baby of their secretary Felia is kidnapped by the sinister Butranekh Cult Jeff and Jeannie investigate some unpleasant goings on in Latvia. Two Can Play That Game: Jeff and Jeannie investigate an empty department store where a crook's love of playing games has reached lethal extremes. But Jeff and Marty's relationship has reached such a nadir that Marty is cast adrift in Rhadamanthus-On-Sea.

• Return Of The Killer Tomatoes | DVD | (07/06/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  This zany sequel stars George Clooney in one of his earlier roles and is brought to you by the team that gave us 'Attack of the Killer Tomatoes'. It is 20 years on from the Great Tomato Wars and red skins are still banned. But Professor Gangrene has made a fiendish discovery - how to turn tomatoes into perfect replicas of men and women. These tomatoes are really stewed and dangerous! Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the greenhouse the vegetable of doom returns!

• Concert For Bangladesh (Deluxe Version) | DVD | (24/10/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £121.48

  The famous fundraising concert for Bangladesh featuring George Harrison and a whole host of his celebrity music friends on the star-studded set list. Disc 1 - The Concert For Bangladesh 1971: 1. Intro by George Harrison and Ravi Shankar 2. Bangla Dhun 3. Wah-Wah 4. My Sweet Lord 5. Awaiting On You All 6. That's The Way God Planned It 7. It Don't Come Easy 8. Beware Of Darkness 9. Band Introduction 10. While My Guitar Gently Weeps 11. Jumpin' Jack Flash 12. Young Blood 13. Here Comes The Sun 14. A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall 15. It Takes A Lot To Laugh/It Takes A Train To Cry 16. Blowin' In The Wind 17. Just Like A Woman 18. Something 19. Bangla Desh

• The Beatles: Get Back | DVD | (12/07/2022) from £24.95   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• The Beatles: Get Back | Blu Ray | (12/07/2022) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A