"Actor: Jill Melford"

• The Organization - The Complete Series | DVD | (15/08/2016) from £11.35   |  Saving you £8.64 (76.12%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Donald Sinden, Anton Rodgers and Peter Egan star in this witty, sharply observed drama series which reveals the intrigues, resentments, bewilderments and betrayals of the staff of a large corporation. Based on writer Philip Mackie's own experiences, this award-winning series is available here for the first time.The Greatrick Organization is a faceless, multi-million-pound concern dedicated to making more millions. In its headquarters we meet an assortment of middle and junior executives, among them new boy Richard Pershore a handsome young hopeful who knows he's just walked into a jungle; press officer Rodney Spurling, widely known as the Chairman's whipping boy; and PR head David Pulman, with his beautiful, ever-efficient but possibly treacherous secretary, Veronica. Their lives may look cosy enough; all they have to do is keep on being loyal slaves until they're 60 or 65. But there are a hundred different ways to put a foot wrong

• Stitch In Time, A / Just My Luck | DVD | (12/05/2003) from £7.26   |  Saving you £6.99 (116.50%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Norman Wisdom reprises his famous Pitkin character for the third time in A Stitch in Time, and Edward Chapman is also back to provide Norman with the excuse to reprise his immortal catch-phrase "Mr Grimsdale!". Here he succeeds in causing chaos in a St John Ambulance unit, as well as donning drag to play a blonde nurse complete with suspender belt and silk stockings. Each Norman Wisdom movie usually sees him as the accidental Lord of Misrule in one institution or another, and this time it's the NHS: after being banned from his local hospital, Norman resorts to subterfuge to visit a little orphan girl. There's an autobiographical touch here, as Wisdom himself was raised in an orphanage and centred the plot of One Good Turn (1954) around such an establishment. --Gary S Dalkin An important step in the career of Norman Wisdom, Just My Luck is principally notable for the introduction of actor Edward Chapman, whom many would come to know as series regular Mr Grimsdale. Here he's the stuffy foil to Norman's romantic plans regarding his jewel-making job, where he'll do anything to possess some of the wealth about him. The chance comes in the form of an accumulator bet at Goodwood races thanks to a slimy Leslie Phillips. Another star cameo of note was a second appearance by Margaret Rutherford (after Trouble in Store) as an eccentric animal owner. But the real advance with the Wisdom formula was that--after a reasonably serious plot line--Norman finally gets the girl. --Paul Tonks

• A Stitch In Time | DVD | (12/11/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Norman Wisdom returns as his famous "Pitkin" character, but also for the first time since his appearance in 1958's The Square Peg, Edward Chapman is also back to provide Norman with the excuse to reprise his immortal catch-phrase "Mr Grimsdale". Following on from the previous year's On the Beat, this is actually Wisdom's third adventure as Norman Pitkin, and he certainly has a thing about uniforms. In the previous pictures he was in the army then the police, while here he succeeds in causing chaos in a St. John's Ambulance unit, as well as donning drag to play a blonde nurse complete with suspender belt and silk stockings. Each Norman Wisdom movie usually sees him as the accidental Lord of Misrule in one institution or another, and this time its the NHS: after being banned from his local hospital, Norman resorts to subterfuge to visit a little orphan girl. There's an autobiographical touch here, as Wisdom himself was raised in an orphanage and centred the plot of One Good Turn (1954) around such an establishment. It's all good fun and clearly shows where such later British comedy as Michael Crawford's BBC TV series Some Mothers Do 'Av 'Em (1973-78) found its inspiration. --Gary S. Dalkin

• The Servant | DVD | (25/02/2002) from £12.00   |  Saving you £1.99 (16.58%)   |  RRP £13.99

  For anyone interested in voyeurism, role playing, class envy and sexual humiliation, The Servant is an essential buy. Directed by Joseph Losey, scripted by Harold Pinter, it probes away remorselessly at areas other British film-makers would not go near. Dirk Bogarde, the golden boy of 50s British cinema, is transformed into a scheming, unctuous butler, Barrett. Hired by dapper young toff Tony (James Fox), he proceeds gradually to take over his master's life. In one scene, he seduces Tony's fiancée (Wendy Craig). Tony is soon slavering over the voluptuous but vaguely sinister Vera (Sarah Miles), whom he has been told is his butler's sister (in fact, she's Barrett's mistress). Gradually, the lines between master and servant are blurred. Tony becomes beholden to his butler's every whim.Nobody does queasy quite as well as Losey. The American-born director relishes the chance to disrupt the smooth workings of what seems a typical upper-class household. Compared to the bland comedies made at Pinewood in the late 50s, The Servant couldn't help but seem groundbreaking. Thanks to his performance, Bogarde, who'd starred in so many of those comedies, was at last taken seriously as more than a matinee idol. The critics adored the film, which was first released at around the time of the Profumo crisis. "Even if I make 10 better pictures in my lifetime", Losey observed, "I don't suppose one could expect to have such unanimous appreciation and approval again". --Geoffrey Macnab

• The House Of Eliott - Part 1 | DVD | (13/09/2004) from £11.47   |  Saving you £8.52 (42.60%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The first four episodes of the BBC drama series set in 1920's London. When the philandering Eliott dies penniless there is no inheritance for his daughters Beatrice and Evangeline to survive on. Forced to go into business their London dressmakiing enterprise grows into an industrial force to be reckoned with...

• The Vengeance Of She | DVD | (11/10/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £7.99

  When beautiful young Carol is taken over by the spirit of Ayesha queen of the lost city of Kuma an eccentric millionaire gives her refuge unaware that she brings the dark shadow of death to everything she touches...