"Actor: Nicholas"

• Band Of Brothers | DVD | (05/11/2002) from £34.99   |  Saving you £25.00 (71.45%)   |  RRP £59.99

  A genuinely epic achievement, the 10-part World War II drama Band of Brothers is a television series that makes big-screen Hollywood war movies look small in comparison. Based on the book by historian Stephen Ambrose, the series follows the US 101st Airborne Division's "Easy" E-Company from initial training through D-Day and across Holland, Belgium, Germany and Austria until the end of the war. Coproduced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, the series take its initial inspiration from Saving Private Ryan and borrows that film's visceral visual approach to combat scenes using hand-held camerawork and de-saturated photography. But where Band of Brothers excels is in its scrupulous attention to the realities of military life (retired US Marine Captain Dale Dye, who also co-stars, is the man to credit). After the high drama of the parachute drop on D-Day, Easy's greatest trial comes during the Battle of the Bulge, when they are besieged at Bastogne in the depths of winter. In one of the most harrowing and credible depictions of war ever committed to film we see the men enduring the repeated artillery attacks of the German forces and experience, if only vicariously, some of the sheer terror of the assault, while being humbled by the soldiers' courage and determination. Such feelings are enhanced by the series' masterstroke--bookend interviews with the surviving members of Easy Company, who talk with barely suppressed emotion of the experiences we see recreated. The endorsement of these veterans elevates Band of Brothers beyond any mere "war film"--its extraordinary achievement is that it shows the horror and savagery of war without gloss or jingoism, and yet celebrates the fraternal bonds and dogged heroism of the men who fought. On the DVD: Band of Brothers arrives handsomely packaged in a six-disc box set with two episodes on each of the first five discs. Sound (Dolby 5.1) and picture (1.78:1 widescreen) only enhance the series' epic credentials. Disc 6 contains all the extras, the meatiest of which is the marvellous 80-minute documentary "We Stand Alone Together" about the real men of Easy Company. There's also a first-rate, genuinely interesting 30-minute "making of" feature about actor boot camp, visual effects and blowing up fake trees among many other things. This is complemented by actor Ron Livingston's revealing Video Diaries of boot camp. Additionally there's a "Who's Who" section and footage of the HBO premiere at Utah Beach, plus a TV spot for car company Jeep. --Mark Walker

• Doctor Who: The Green Death - Special Edition | DVD | (05/08/2013) from £5.99   |  Saving you £14.00 (233.72%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Featuring the third incarnation of the Doctor--Jon Pertwee's patriarchal renaissance man--The Green Death is a solid addition to the Doctor Who canon. Originally broadcast in May 1973, it may now have dated a little, with its vegetarian hippies and "boyo" Welshmen, but it has all the elements of classic Who, the Doctor encountering green-glowing dead bodies, a shadowy mastermind, a global conspiracy, brainwashing, a megalomaniacal supercomputer and, of course, giant maggots.This story, the final sequence of Pertwee's penultimate season, reached the TV ratings Top 10, and fittingly, met high production standards. The environmental message, while facilitating Who's ongoing individual-freedom motif, also proved prophetic in its warnings of globalisation and pollution. The special effects, though admittedly dated now, were good for their time and budget--the stop-motion photography of the maggots and the front-axial projection used for the pulsating green skin are particularly effective. The well-crafted script manages to combine monsters, punch-ups and cliffhanger endings with cerebral concepts, human drama and erudite references to Beethoven and Oscar Wilde--the single tear of the reformed villain as he destroys his paymaster is just one of the subtle touches distinguishing this work. The Green Death's six filler-free episodes belong to the Golden Age of Doctor Who, and their denouement is one of the most poignant in the series' long history.On the DVD: the Beeb, as always, have gone to town on the picture, with the images and colours scrubbing up nicely for their age. Sadly there are none of the usual nostalgia-inducing contemporaneous news features, but there is an amusing mockumentary starring The League of Gentlemen's Mark Gatiss. The interviews with writer Robert Sloman and actor Stewart Bevan will also give fans some extra insights--particularly Bevan's revelation that the actors were discouraged from rehearsing the final scene so as to give it genuine emotional intensity. --Paul Eisinger

• Renfield | Blu Ray | (17/07/2023) from £9.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Evil doesn't span eternity without a little help. In this modern monster tale of Dracula's loyal servant, Nicholas Hoult stars as Renfield, the tortured aide to history's most narcissistic boss, Dracula, played by Oscar-winner Nicolas Cage.¯ Renfield is forced to procure his master's prey and do his every bidding, no matter how debased. But now, after centuries of servitude, Renfield is ready to see if there's a life outside the shadow of The Prince of Darkness.¯ If only he can figure out how to end his codependency.

• Those Who Wish Me Dead | DVD | (30/08/2021) from £5.40   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Angelina Jolie stars as Hannah, a smoke jumper reeling from the loss of three young lives she failed to save from a fire. When she comes across a bloodied and traumatized 12-year-old boy, they set out together to cross the miles of thick forest with two assassins in pursuit. Braving deadly lightning storms that threaten even Hannah's well-honed survival skills, they are caught between two relentless killers hunting the boy from one direction, and a massive fiery blaze coming straight for them, quickly consuming everything in their path.

• Outland | DVD | (30/01/2013) from £8.99   |  Saving you £6.00 (66.74%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Outland is another in a long line of Westerns retooled for science fiction. Writer-director Peter Hyams (Capricorn One, 2010, Timecop) re-stages High Noon in outer space, with Sean Connery as O'Neil, the marshal for a settlement on one of Jupiter's moons. While investigating the deaths of some miners, O'Neil discovers that mine boss Peter Boyle has been giving his workers an amphetamine-like, work-enhancing drug that keeps them productive for months--until they finally snap and go berserk. When Boyle sends killer henchmen to neutralize the lawman, O'Neil is unable to get the miners to back him up. Outland is no classic but it offers solid suspense in an otherworldly atmosphere. It also stars Frances Sternhagen, James B. Sikking (Howard on television's Hill Street Blues) and John Ratzenberger (later to become famous as Cliff on the sitcom Cheers). --Jim Emerson

• Nazi Titanic | DVD | (10/09/2012) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The incredible truth behind Hitler's plan to film the story of Titanic...in the middle of WWII.Nazi Titanic is the amazing and mostly unknown story of one of the most bizarre chapters of WWII. In the middle of the war, Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, decided to make a movie based on the sinking of the Titanic. This movie was so large in its scale, the Nazis were forced to divert men, materials and ships from their war effort in order to complete the film. This programme reveals the story by investigating the making of the film, what happened to the original, as well as the Allies' sinking of the Arcona - the German liner used in the film to represent Titanic - just days before the end of WWII.

• Only Fools and Horses - Complete Series 7 | DVD | (06/09/2004) from £7.44   |  Saving you £12.55 (168.68%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Seventh heaven for fans of Only Fools And Horses with this complete series now on DVD! Episodes comprise: 1. The Sky's The Limit 2. The Chance Of A Lunchtime 3. Stage Fright 4. The Class Of '62 5. He Ain't Heavy He's My Uncle 6. Three Men A Woman And A Baby

• The Alan Clark Diaries | DVD | (03/05/2004) from £12.70   |  Saving you £0.29 (2.28%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Television drama based on the diaries of MP Alan Clark an outspoken and flamboyant character who made his impact in the political arena during the 1980's and 1990's. Various scandals affairs and career fluctuations are seen through his eyes painting a vivid and sometimes controversial picture of the workings of government and the Thatcher administration.

• The Most Reluctant Convert: The Untold Story of C. S. Lewis | DVD | (03/06/2022) from £11.04   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Raging Bull 30th Anniversary Special Edition | Blu Ray | (21/02/2011) from £13.11   |  Saving you £2.88 (21.97%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Raging Bull is arguably the finest work from the Scorsese and De Niro partnership. De Niro gives an amazing portrayal of a man whose animal side lurks just beneath the surface ever ready to erupt. Vivid and unremitting in its uncompromising brutality and honesty the fight sequences are famed for their realism. Violent throughout this film is a testament to Scorsese's and De Niro skills creating a thoroughly absorbing film about such an unlikable character. Renowned for throwing himself into the roles of the character De Niro went on a diet to gain fifty pounds during the production for the role of the faded star.

• The Jazz Singer | DVD | (02/10/2006) from £12.99   |  Saving you £4.00 (30.79%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Back in 1927, The Jazz Singer entered the history books as the first true, sound-on-film talking picture, with Al Jolson uttering the immortal words, "You ain't heard nothing yet!" But even then it was a creakingly sentimental old yarn. By the time this second remake showed up in 1980 (there was a previous one in 1953) it looked as ludicrously dated as a chaperone in a strip club. Our young hero, played by pop singer Neil Diamond in a doomed bid for movie stardom, is the latest in a long line of Jewish cantors, but secretly moonlights with a Harlem soul group. When his strictly Orthodox father (Laurence Olivier, complete with painfully hammy "oya-veh" accent) finds out, the expected ructions follow. Though the lad makes it big in showbiz, it all means nothing while he's cut off from family and roots. But in the end--well, you can guess, can't you? Diamond comes across as likeable enough in a bland way, but unencumbered by acting talent, and the music business has never looked so squeaky clean--nary a trace of drugs, and precious little sex or rock 'n' roll. As for anything sounding remotely like jazz, forget it. This is one story that should have been left to slumber in the archives. --Philip Kemp

• X-Men: Apocalypse | 4K UHD | (07/11/2016) from £6.99   |  Saving you £11.01 (157.51%)   |  RRP £18.00

  Following the critically acclaimed global smash hit X-Men: Days of Future Past, director Bryan Singer returns with X-MEN: APOCALYPSE. Since the dawn of civilization, he was worshipped as a god. Apocalypse, the first and most powerful mutant from Marvel's X-Men universe, amassed the powers of many other mutants, becoming immortal and invincible. Upon awakening after thousands of years, he is disillusioned with the world as he finds it and recruits a team of powerful mutants, including a disheartened Magneto (Michael Fassbender), to cleanse mankind and create a new world order, over which he will reign. As the fate of the Earth hangs in the balance, Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) with the help of Professor X (James McAvoy) must lead a team of young X-Men to stop their greatest nemesis and save mankind from complete destruction

• Doctor Who - The Invasion (2 Disc Set) | DVD | (06/11/2006) from £5.09   |  Saving you £14.90 (292.73%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Patrick Troughton's Doctor encounters the Cybermen in London in this classic adventure narrated by Frazer Hines. Arriving on Earth in 1975 the Doctor Jamie and Zoe discover that the component manufacturers International Electromagnetics has a vice-like grip on the world's technology. When he encounters the firm's company director the Doctor realises that there is something very odd about Tobias Vaughan... Vaughan is in fact in alliance with the Cybermen and together they are masterminding an aggressive invasion of Earth. If the Doctor and his friends are to defeat them they must risk life and limb in an adventure of epic proportions.

• Robin of Sherwood - The Complete Series (Reconfiguration) | DVD | (15/11/2010) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £59.99

  Robin of Sherwood: The Complete Series (8 Discs)

• Dixon of Dock Green Collection 1-3 | DVD | (03/08/2015) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  This collection features every surviving colour episode of one of the longest running police series on British television and one of the best-loved. Aired between 1955 and 1976, Dixon of Dock Green starred the popular Jack Warner in the role of Sergeant George Dixon, in a series that set the tone for television police drama and paved the way for all that would follow. Filmed on set and on location around the fast-disappearing dockland community of London's East End, the character of Dixon, with his friendly and informal ˜Evening all', offered viewers the kind of policeman you'd be tempted to welcome into your home for a cup of tea even if you'd just robbed a bank. Featuring episodes filmed between 1973 and 1976, this collection includes the final series, the 22nd, in its entirety, and also features a wide range of specially filmed cast and crew interviews, along with a tribute to the series' star, Jack Warner. In a modern world of CSI, DNA, and CCTV, much has changed and much remains the same in these still-gripping and utterly compelling episodes of Dixon of Dock Green.

• The Frankie Howerd Collection | DVD | (16/10/2006) from £14.99   |  Saving you £15.00 (100.07%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Featuring four of the comic's great shows Up Pompeii Further Up Pompeii Then Churchill Said To Me and The Best Of Frankie Howerd; which includes sketches from An Evening With Frankie Howerd and the Royal Variety Performances and chatshow appearances on Parkinson and Wogan.

• Final Destination 5 | DVD | (26/12/2011) from £12.83   |  Saving you £7.16 (55.81%)   |  RRP £19.99

  In Final Destination 5, Death is just as omnipresent as ever, and is unleashed after one man's premonition saves a group of co-workers from a terrifying suspension bridge collapse.

• Then Churchill Said To Me | DVD | (17/07/2006) from £4.79   |  Saving you £11.20 (233.82%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Based on the format established by Up Pompeii an outstanding showcase for Frankie Howerd's peculiarly hesitant comic delivery Then Churchill Said To Me features Frankie in dual roles at both at ends of various military mishaps! Made in 1982 the series was shelved due to Britain's involvement in the Falklands War. Briefly seen on satellite TV in 2000 this is your chance to sample a lost comedy classic!

• Heidi - Series 1 | DVD | (13/09/2004) from £17.99   |  Saving you £-3.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Heidi is a treasured story for all children one of many tales written by the Swiss authoress Johanna Spyri. This is a charming tale of a young orphan called Heidi who is taken to live with her Grandfather up in the mountains. A classic tale of childhood joys and friendships it has delighted and inspired generations of children. Episodes comprise: 1. The Village 2. Ohi Of The Alps 3. Peter The Goat Herder 4. The Grandmother 5. Winter 6. The Departure 7. Arrival In Frankfurt 8. The

• Harnessing Peacocks | DVD | (04/07/2011) from £6.99   |  Saving you £6.00 (85.84%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Sir John Mills Peter Davison and Serena Scott Thomas star in this warm funny and romantic story of a woman forced to make a new life for herself in a Cornish seaside town. Based on Mary Wesley's bestselling novel Harnessing Peacocks is adapted by the multi-award-winning Andrew Davies (The Way We Live Now Bridget Jones' Diary). As a teenager the beautiful Hebe was disowned by her family after becoming pregnant by a masked stranger during a fiesta in the Italian town of Lucca. Twelve years on she has established herself in an unattractive terraced street in Penzance. Her official profession is part-time cook catering to rich old ladies who value her personal attention. But Hebe has another source of income: she is a prostitute with a very limited set of wealthy male clients - her peacocks. The income from her dual role enables her to send her illegitimate son Silas to boarding school. Then a mysterious figure enters the network of discreetly intersecting relationships that exists between Hebe her clients and their families. And he is certain that he recognises her...