"Actor: John Hughes"

• Midsomer Murders - Death's Shadow | DVD | (08/08/2003) from £6.88   |  Saving you £10.11 (146.95%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Based on Caroline Graham's novels and featuring the stolid crime-solving skills of Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby, Midsomer Murders made their television debut in 1997 and continue to keep viewers happy with that potent whodunnit ingredient: spectacularly bloody murders in the most tranquil rural settings the Shires have to offer. Midsomer is a vaguely defined area of villages and hamlets with charming names like Badger's Drift and Goodman's Land. It also has the highest number of violent deaths per capita outside the average war zone. Serial killings abound to test the nerve of Barnaby (John Nettles) and his sidekick Sergeant Troy (Daniel Casey), a dullard easily perplexed by a world which refuses to stick to his black and white view of things. Nettles is excellent; there's a hint of Bergerac still, now heavier of jowl and broader of beam, though the chasing is necessarily limited and the DCI enjoys the home comforts of an understanding wife and a spirited daughter. "Every time I go into any Midsomer village, it's always the same thing", he huffs. "Blackmail, sexual deviancy, suicide and murder." Ain't it the truth? The murders are astonishing. Family feuds, jealousy, incest, industrial espionage, all erupt at regular intervals leaving a trail of bodies with throats slashed, limbs dismembered and blood absolutely everywhere. Rivers of sheer nastiness run deep beneath the superficially pastoral perfection of Midsomer. Thank goodness there are still men like dependable Barnaby to get to the bottom of things. Eventually. Sure of Barnaby’s eventual success, Midsomer Murders make for a cosy, even comforting, couple of hours curled up in front of the television. And they make a great showcase for star turns from the great stable of British character actors, too, from Celia Imrie and Elizabeth Spriggs to Imelda Staunton and Duncan Preston, who invariably turn this whimsical stuff into the tastiest possible ham.--Piers Ford

• In The Line Of Fire | DVD | (18/02/2002) from £7.09   |  Saving you £5.90 (83.22%)   |  RRP £12.99

  This smart, tautly directed thriller from Wolfgang Petersen is about the cat-and-mouse games between a Secret Service agent named Horrigan (Clint Eastwood) and the brilliant, psychopathic assassin (John Malkovich) who's itching to get the President in his cross hairs. In the Line of Fire's back-story--Horrigan is haunted by his inability to prevent John Kennedy's assassination (Eastwood is computer-generated into archival footage)--is more than a little hokey, but the plotting itself is smartly, even ingeniously, constructed. Petersen manages a vice-like grip on the tension and Eastwood even gets to deliver an ever-more-timely lecture on the diminished nature of the office of President. Eastwood's as gruff and as infuriating to the by-the-book Powers That Be as ever and Malkovich oozes delightful menace. Rene Russo capably co-stars as a colleague with whom Horrigan gets friendly. --David Kronke

• Rubbadubbers - Here Come The Rubbadubbers | DVD | (12/05/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  One big splash of adventure after another the Rubbadubbers stories will take you off to fantastic lands of toothbrush trees bath-rack sailing ships and spongy desert islands. The Rubbadubbers are a group of bath toys with wild imaginations and their exploits will thrill every child who knows that the most exciting adventures are the ones inside your head. All you have to do is say ""if only"".... Scary Finbar - Finbar wants to be a Mighty Scary Shark but soon realises that it's not

• The Very Best Of The Royle Family | DVD | (25/11/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Spanning the three series of this superb sitcom, The Very Best of The Royle Family is a prime taster for those not familiar with the series. Co-created by Caroline Aherne and Craig Cash, who star as Denise and Dave respectively, The Royle Family deserves its own comedic category. They had a hard fight persuading the BBC to leave a laughter track off the show, which would have disrupted its unique ambience and chemistry. Never departing from the house of lazy, good-for-nothing but defiantly sardonic Jim Royle (Ricky Tomlinson) and wife Barbara (Sue Johnston), The Royle Family chronicles the everyday chat and banal comings and goings of this Northern household, which barely qualifies as "working" class, since mostly they are slumped on the sofa in front of the telly in a cathode-induced stupor. Confused viewers waiting for something to "happen" in the conventional sitcom manner will be disappointed. What they'll get instead is an irresistible stream of dialogue that captures unerringly the humdrum cadences of "ordinary" people. These episodes capture the Royles in customary, festive mood--Denise's marriage, Christmas, baby David's birthday party and so forth--which is good, as we get to see more of Liz Smith's magnificent Nana. As each seemingly inconsequential scene vividly illustrates, this is hardly a romanticised family. Denise is an appallingly negligent mother, there's probably never been a green vegetable in the house, most of their friends, including Darren, are well dodgy, and mum Barbara is unfairly put-upon ("Eh, I've been so busy this morning I haven't had time to smoke", she laments at one point). Yet undoubtedly, unlike their regal counterparts, this Royle Family are close-knit, somehow getting by. The family that watches telly together stays together. On the DVD: The Very Best of the Royle Family, disappointingly, has no extra features. --David Stubbs

• Bad Boys / Bad Boys 2 | DVD | (23/02/2004) from £3.69   |  Saving you £26.30 (712.74%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Bad Boys: When $100 million of seized heroin is stolen from the Miami Police lockup Detectives Lowrey (Will Smith) and Burnett (Martin Lawrence) Miami's most mismatched cops are called upon to solve the case before the FBI close their department. Julie (Tea Leoni) is their only lead to the case but will only speak to Lowrey. As he is not around when she calls Burnett impersonates his cool slick partner. A hilarious role reversal begins in order to retain her trust. From t

• Midsomer Murders - Talking To The Dead | DVD | (07/06/2010) from £20.00   |  Saving you £-3.01 (N/A%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Midsomer Murders

• Midsomer Murders - Destroying Angel | DVD | (09/08/2004) from £5.94   |  Saving you £11.05 (186.03%)   |  RRP £16.99

  John Nettles and Daniel Casey star in another installment of this rural detective series based on the novels by Caroline Graham. When Gregory Chambers the manager of the Easterly Grange Hotel fails to turn up to the owner's funeral the local villagers are concerned. When Gregory then doesn't appear to perform his rather unconventional Punch and Judy show the villagers know that something is seriously wrong. It isn't long before Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby and Sergeant Troy

• The Royle Family - The Complete Series 3 | DVD | (19/11/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  On paper, The Royle Family doesn't sound that promising: a working-class family from Manchester sit in their cluttered living room, watch the telly and argue over domestic details (the arrival of a telephone bill, for instance, provides the big dramatic event of the first episode, which aired in September 1998). But from such small everyday incidents, Royle Family creators Caroline Aherne and Dave Best (who play young couple Denise and Dave) have crafted one of the most successful shows on British television--a comedy about the joys and frustrations of family life that's warm, honest and very, very funny. It's Britain's answer to The Simpsons, whose success the show rivalled when it started broadcasting on BBC2 (the programme jumped channels to BBC1 for its second series). Now in its third series, The Royle Family has seen its characters develop like real folk. Denise and Dave got married and now have a little sprog; Barbara starts menopause (how many sit-coms are brave enough to use that for laughs?) and Denise's kid brother Anthony shakes off his surly adolescence when he turned 18 in series two. Unlike Oasis--who provide the shows theme song "Halfway Round the World"--this programme just keeps getting better. But no soap--not even Brookside in its dafter moments--has one-liners as brilliantly crafted as The Royle Family's. Slouched in his armchair, Jim's dour running commentary on the TV shows that are on at the time are particularly priceless. Changing Rooms, for instance, boils down to "a cockney knocking nails into plywood... Is this what it's come to?" Not quite; as long as the Royle Family are around, there is something worthwhile to watch. --Edward Lawrenson

• Midsomer Murders: Days of Misrule | DVD | (02/02/2009) from £3.98   |  Saving you £13.01 (326.88%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Midsomer Murders

• Yellow Submarine | DVD | (01/02/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  This restored, animated valentine to the Beatles offers viewers the rare chance to see a work that's been substantially improved by its technical facelift, not just super-sized with extra footage. Recognising that its song-studded soundtrack alone makes Yellow Submarine a video annuity, United Artists has lavished a frame-by-frame refurbishment of the original feature, while replacing its original monaural audio tracks with a meticulously reconstructed stereo mix that actually refines legendary original album versions. What emerges is a vivid time capsule of the late 1960s and a minor milestone in animation. The music represents the quartet's zenith--Rubber Soul, Revolver and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The story line, cobbled together by producer Al Brodax and a committee of writers, is a broad, feather-light allegory set in idyllic Pepperland, where the gentle citizens are threatened by the nasty, music-hating Blue Meanies and their surreal arsenal of henchmen, with the Beatles enlisted to thwart the bad guys. Visually, designer Heinz Edelmann mixes the biomorphic squiggles, day-glo palette and Beardsley-esque portraits of Peter Max with rotoscoped still photographs and film; Edelmann's animated collages also nod to Andy Warhol and Magritte in properly psychedelic fashion, which works wonderfully with such terrific songs. High-orthodox Beatlemaniacs can still grouse that the animated Fab Four are (literally) flat archetypes, but that's missing the sheer bloom of the music or the giddy, campy fun of the visuals. Making sense of the story is second to submerging blissfully in the sights and sounds of this video treat. --Sam Sutherland

• Midsomer Murders - Faithful Unto Death | DVD | (08/08/2003) from £5.93   |  Saving you £11.06 (186.51%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Based on Caroline Graham's novels and featuring the stolid crime-solving skills of Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby, Midsomer Murders made their television debut in 1997 and continue to keep viewers happy with that potent whodunnit ingredient: spectacularly bloody murders in the most tranquil rural settings the Shires have to offer. Midsomer is a vaguely defined area of villages and hamlets with charming names like Badger's Drift and Goodman's Land. It also has the highest number of violent deaths per capita outside the average war zone. Serial killings abound to test the nerve of Barnaby (John Nettles) and his sidekick Sergeant Troy (Daniel Casey), a dullard easily perplexed by a world which refuses to stick to his black and white view of things. Nettles is excellent; there's a hint of Bergerac still, now heavier of jowl and broader of beam, though the chasing is necessarily limited and the DCI enjoys the home comforts of an understanding wife and a spirited daughter. "Every time I go into any Midsomer village, it's always the same thing", he huffs. "Blackmail, sexual deviancy, suicide and murder." Ain't it the truth? The murders are astonishing. Family feuds, jealousy, incest, industrial espionage, all erupt at regular intervals leaving a trail of bodies with throats slashed, limbs dismembered and blood absolutely everywhere. Rivers of sheer nastiness run deep beneath the superficially pastoral perfection of Midsomer. Thank goodness there are still men like dependable Barnaby to get to the bottom of things. Eventually. Sure of Barnaby’s eventual success, Midsomer Murders make for a cosy, even comforting, couple of hours curled up in front of the television. And they make a great showcase for star turns from the great stable of British character actors, too, from Celia Imrie and Elizabeth Spriggs to Imelda Staunton and Duncan Preston, who invariably turn this whimsical stuff into the tastiest possible ham.--Piers Ford

• Adolf Hitler - My Part In His Downfall | DVD | (07/02/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  London 1940: aspiring jazz musician and future comedy legend Terence ""Spike"" Milligan reluctantly obeys his call-up papers and sets out on an Army career filled with adventures that'll bring a smile to the face and a tear to the eye! Based on Spikie Milligan's own best-selling book.

• Rubbadubbers - Splish! Splash! Splosh! | DVD | (01/09/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The Rubbadubbers are a group of bath toys with wild imaginations and their exploits will thrill every child who knows that the most exciting adventures are inside your head. All you have to do is say ""if only""..... Episode titles: 'Amelia The Monster' 'Reg The Monster' 'Terence's Double Trouble' 'Sploshybird'.

• The Royale Family | DVD | (26/01/2009) from £4.97   |  Saving you £8.02 (161.37%)   |  RRP £12.99

  A Nigella-inspired Denise decides that she will cook the Christmas dinner this year.

• Midsomer Murders - The Sword Of Guillaume | DVD | (12/04/2010) from £4.96   |  Saving you £12.03 (242.54%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Midsomer Murders 13: The Sword of Guillaume

• Midsomer Murders - Four Funerals and a Wedding | DVD | (05/02/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £16.99

  At the Skimmington Fayre openly misogynistic Reverend Anthony Gant is shot dead not long after his cousin Mildred Danvers has passed away in the night. Barnaby is not convinced that Mildred died from natural causes. With the long standing battle of the sexes coming to a head at the Skimmington Fayre it is impossible to fathom who has not got a motive for murder. It takes a photograph and a cognitive leap for Barnaby to solve this mystery.

• Midsomer Murders: Master Class | DVD | (04/10/2010) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Piano student Zoe Stock has won a place at the Devington Manor Winter School led by internationally renowned musician Sir Michael Fielding. From the riverbank in the grounds of the manor she sees a woman jump from the bridge and disappear underwater. When Barnaby and Jones start investigating the possible drowning they discover unsavoury connections to the past that could prove lethal twenty years later. But can they intervene before the body count escalates and will the talented Zoe survive her master class? Nothing is as it seems behind the well-trimmed hedgers of the picturesque cottages in the idyllic English country of Midsomer. Beneath the tranquil surface of sleepy village life exist dark secrets scandals and downright evil. John Nettles stars as the humorous thoughtful and methodical Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby.

• Doris Day Collection | DVD | (17/10/2006) from £39.99   |  Saving you £10.00 (25.01%)   |  RRP £49.99

  This fantastic box set brings together six of Doris Day's finest efforts. Billy Rose's Jumbo (Dir. Charles Walters 1962): Pop and Kitty Wonder are the owners of the Wonder Circus and because of Pop's addiction to gambling they are constantly in debt and the creditors are very close to foreclosing on them. Their main attraction is Jumbo the elephant and it seems that their competitor John Noble wants Jumbo and is luring away all of their acts leaving them with virtually nothing. Then all of a sudden a mysterious man named Sam Rawlins joins them as a wire walker and Kitty is taken with him what they don't know is that he's Noble's son. The Glass Bottom Boat (Dir. Frank Tashlin 1966): Jennifer Nelson and Bruce Templeton meet when Bruce reels in her mermaid suit leaving Jennifer bottomless in the waters of Catalina Island. She later discovers that Bruce is the big boss at her work (a research lab). Bruce hires Jennifer to be his biographer only to try and win her affections. There's a problem Bruce's friend General Wallace Bleeker believes she's a Russian spy and has her surveillanced. But when Jennifer catches on...Watch out! Love Me Or Leave Me (Dir. Charles Vidor 1955): Story of torch singer Ruth Etting's rise from 1920s taxi dancer to movie star simultaneously aided and frustrated by Chicago mobster Marty Sydney's headstrong ways and pressure tactics. Please Don't Eat The Daisies (Dir. Charles Walters 1960): Drama critic Larry McKay his wife Kay and their four sons move from their crowded Manhattan apartment to an old house in the country. While housewife Kay settles into suburban life Larry continues to enjoy the theater and party scene of New York. Kay soon begins to question Larry's fidelity when he mentions a flirtatious encounter with Broadway star Deborah Vaughn. Young Man With A Horn (Dir. Michael Curtiz 1950): Aimless youth Rick Martin learns he has a gift for music and falls in love with the trumpet. Legendary trumpeter Art Hazzard takes Rick under his wing and teaches him all he knows about playing. To the exclusion of anything else in life Rick becomes a star trumpeter but his volatile personality and desire to play jazz rather than the restricted tunes of the bands he works for lands him in trouble. Calamity Jane (Dir. David Butler 1953): Deadwood Dakota Territory is largely the abode of men where Indian scout Calamity Jane is as hard-riding boastful and handy with a gun as any; quite an overpowering personality. But the army lieutenant she favors doesn't really appreciate her finer qualities. One of Jane's boasts brings her to Chicago to recruit an actress for the Golden Garter stage. Arrived the lady in question appears (at first) to be a more feminine rival for the favors of Jane's male friends...including her friendly enemy Wild Bill Hickock.

• Midsomer Murders : The Creeper | DVD | (01/03/2010) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Midsomer Murders: The Creeper

• Bad Boys | DVD | (01/10/1999) from £6.62   |  Saving you £9.36 (257.85%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Narcotics cops Mike and Marcus are back - this time investigating the flow of ecstasy into Miami and a dangerous criminal kingpin whose plan to control the city's drug traffic has touched off an underground war.