"Actor: John Alford"

• Not The Nine O'Clock News - The Best Of Not The Nine O'Clock News - Vol. 1 | DVD | (18/08/2003) from £23.99   |  Saving you £-8.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Volume One of Not the Nine O'Clock News comprises 98 minutes of early material from the sketch show that ran between 1979 and 1982. Starring Rowan Atkinson, Griff Rhys-Jones, Mel Smith and Pamela Stephenson and coscripted by Richard (Blackadder) Curtis among others, it wasn't especially ground-breaking by the standards of Monty Python or contemporary series such as The Young Ones, but it did provide some pretty blunt belly-laughs at the major social and political concerns of the era: Thatcher, Reagan, police brutality, the prospect of nuclear war. The latter makes for an excellent Question Time spoof, in which, with the four-minute warning having sounded, a panel of politicians continue bleating on their own agenda ("Three million people are going to die unemployed!"). Atkinson's stuff is among the best here, be it as a hideous young Tory, or as Gerald the Gorilla, now civilised to a fault by the captor who caught him in the wild. ("Wild? I was livid!") The much-repeated bit of him walking into a tree, however, doesn't work as he clearly anticipates the collision. While the musical elements look inevitably dated and a lengthy sketch on darts players boozing reaches the "Yeah, we get the point" mark long before it reaches its end, it's surprising how topical much of this material remains decades on--a sketch involving an agonising gay vicar springs to mind--while time hasn't eroded the quality of much of the writing. On the DVD: Not the Nine O'Clock News on disc comes with no extra features. --David Stubbs

• Grange Hill BBC TV Series 9 & 10 Boxed Set (8-Discs) (DVD) | DVD | (19/10/2020) from £22.89   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  New pupils Eric ˜Ziggy' Greaves, Danny Kendall, Georgina Hayes & Ant Jones are amongst the fresh faces piling through the Grange Hill gates & Zammo makes some bad decisions when he should ˜Just Say No'. This boxed set features all 48 episodes from series 9 & 10, originally broadcast in 1986 & 1987. ALSO INCLUDED for the very first time The 1985 Christmas Special Episode (First broadcast 27th December 1985 Pre-Series 9). Grange Hill Series 9 synopsis First Broadcast on 1st April 1986 Zammo's behaviour becomes increasingly erratic & it's Roland who eventually discovers the shocking truth. The thorny subject of smoking is tackled with new student Danny Kendall taking every opportunity for a crafty cigarette. This leads pupils to set up an anti-smoking campaign, which also targets the teachers!! In other news the ever entrepreneurial Gonch serves up his latest money-making scheme, anyone for a slice of toast?? Grange Hill Series 10 synopsis First Broadcast on 6th January 1987 Imelda Davis continues her campaign of carnage & bullying, creating difficulties for pupils & teachers alike. It's a tough year for Danny Kendall as he battles cancer. Roland starts up a School Fund to help pay for his treatment. A sixth form barge trip is certainly eventful as Gonch, Ziggy, Rob & Trevor first manage to crash the boat, then send it floating off on its own with stowaway (& former Grange Hill pupil) Ant Jones inside. The school gets its own radio station; Zammo & Jackie get engaged; & what will happen to Harriett the Donkey ? Special Feature: 1985 Christmas Special Episode - First broadcast on 27th December 1985 The School Christmas Fayre preparations are underway. Roland faces Christmas alone & Calley can't decide which of her parents to spend the festive season with. At the Fayre Zammo & Banksie's shaky hand machine proves popular, as does the wet sponge stall (especially with Mr Baxter as the target!!). Gonch & Hollo unwittingly unleash pandemonium when they unlock a storeroom & a donkey runs out. Merry Christmas everyone!!

• Not The Nine O'Clock News - The Best Of Not The Nine O'Clock News - Vol. 2 | DVD | (30/08/2004) from £9.89   |  Saving you £6.10 (61.68%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Between 1979 and 1982 the Not the Nine O'Clock News team produced the sharpest comedy to be found on British television and launched the careers of the stars production team and writers and was the most talked-about comedy series of the 1980s with an enormous following worldwide. Sketches flow with the sharpest wit. News clippings and archive material are mixed with monologues and music. This selection of their quick-fire blend of satire pastiche pop and witty sketches includ

• London's Burning - The Complete First Series | DVD | (23/05/2005) from £15.91   |  Saving you £12.07 (93.42%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Blackwall Fire Station's Blue Watch takes to the streets again in the highly-popular drama series of the 80s and early 90s. Viewers loved the quirky but human characters that put their lives on the line with every episode and this set features some of the most fondly remembered including female fire-fighter Josie Lawrence ""Bayleaf"" ""Sicknote"" and ""Charisma"". This set not only features the original pilot film (by celebrated and award-winning writer Jack Rosenthal) but all five ep

• James Stewart - Screen Legends - Westerns | DVD | (05/06/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  James Stewart was one of the great western icons and this collection houses several of his finest efforts. The Man From Laramie (Dir. Anthony Mann 1955): Will Lockhart comes to a small town to find the man who sold rifles to the Apaches and caused the death of his brother a cavalry officer. Beaten and nearly killed by cohorts of the arms dealer he also becomes embroiled with a ranch baron and his overwrought son. Father and son are plotted against by their treacherous for

• London's Burning - Series 9 - Complete | DVD | (20/10/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  The complete ninth series of ITV's London's Burning which followed the lives and tribulations of Blackwall Fire Station's Blue Watch.

• Hollywood Strangler Meets The Skidrow Slasher | DVD | (18/07/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The Hollywood Strangler has been so hurt by a former girlfriend that he sees all women as teases deserving of a sinister final lesson. His strangulation spree of beautiful models commences even though he's continually seeking that elusive different woman. At the same time Hollywood is experiencing a throat-cutting explosion of the local vagrant population hence the Slasher. What will happen when the two killers meet?