"Actor: Penny Johnson"

• 24: Series 1 | DVD | (14/10/2002) from £14.93   |  Saving you £35.06 (234.83%)   |  RRP £49.99

  Such a simple idea--yet so fiendishly complex in the execution. 24, as surely everyone knows by now, is a thriller that takes place over 24 hours, midnight to midnight, in 24 one-hour episodes (well, 45-minute episodes if you extract the ad breaks). Everything to take place in real time--on-screen and off-screen time the same--which means no flash-backs, no flash-forwards, no nice handy time-dissolves. Every strand of the plot has to be dovetailed and interlocked to make sure that things happen just when they should, in the right amount of time. Not that easy. Creator Robert Cochran and his team of writers and directors have done a pretty impressive job in putting the jigsaw together and keeping the tension ratcheted up high, as Federal Agent Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) hares around LA trying to stall an assassination attempt on a black Presidential candidate and rescue his wife and daughter from the clutches of the Balkan baddies. Twists, turns, revelations and cliffhangers are tossed at us with satisfying regularity. It’s not perfect: we get some hokey plot devices (instant amnesia, anybody?) and the final twist, once you start thinking back, makes no sense whatsoever. There are altogether too many huggy family moments ("I love you, Dad." "I love you, son"); and as for überbaddie Dennis Hopper’s "Serbian" accent… Even so, this is undeniably mould-breaking TV. Sutherland, rescuing his career from the doldrums in one heroic leap, fully deserves his Golden Globe. Sets and locations are artfully deployed--we gain a real sense of LA’s splayed-out geography--and Sean Callery’s score is a powerful, brooding presence. Like Murder One and The Sopranos, 24 is one of those series future TV thrillers will have to measure themselves against. On the DVDs: 24 is released in a six-disc box set. On discs 1- 5 there are no extras, but disc 6 includes the "alternative" ending and a preview of Series 2, presented by an urbane Kiefer Sutherland, that tells us precisely nothing. The transfer, in 16x9 widescreen and 2.0 Dolby Digital sound, does the high production values of the original every justice.--Philip Kemp

• Absolute Power | DVD | (03/04/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Director Clint Eastwood's 1997 box-office hit stars himself as Luther Whitney, a highly skilled thief who finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time, witnessing the murder of a woman involved in a secret tryst with the US president (played by Gene Hackman). Determined to clear his name, Whitney cleverly eludes a tenacious detective (Ed Harris) while investigating a corruption of power reaching to the highest level of government. Adapted by veteran screenwriter William Goldman from David Baldacci's novel, this thriller balances expert suspense with well-drawn characters and an intelligent plot that's just a pounding heartbeat away from real White House headlines. Absolute Power features the great Judy Davis in a memorable supporting role as the White House chief of staff who desperately attempts to cover up the crime. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

• The Larry Sanders Show - Complete | DVD | (28/03/2011) from £43.29   |  Saving you £56.70 (130.98%)   |  RRP £99.99

  In The Larry Sanders Show Garry Shandling is Larry Sanders, host of a fictitious chat show. But the real The Larry Sanders Show (1992-98), was alongside Sienfeld, one of the great cult successes of 1990's American TV. Nominally a sitcom, the naturalistic acting, uncensored strong language and absence of canned laughter lend the show a distinctive pseudo-documentary feel, as every week some of the top names in US entertainment appear as themselves. The viewer can't help but wonder just how much these celebrities are for real, and how much they are having us on when, for example, Billy Crystal seems so mercenary about using the episode "The Talk Show" to plug his movie, Mr Saturday Night. Other guests on the seven episodes of this DVD include Dana Carvey ("The Guest Host"), Alex Baldwin ("The List"), Robin Williams ("Montana"), Henry Winkler ("Hank's Sex Tape"), Courtney Cox ("Larry's Big Idea") and Brett Butler ("I Was a Teenage Lesbian"--a bonus episode exclusive to DVD). Clever and caustic, rather than laugh-out-loud funny, this release offers good value at 167 minutes, though the only DVD extra is a trailer. The picture on the first five episodes is soft and grainy. That matters improve considerably for the last two episodes suggests this is because of poor original tapes rather than a bad transfer. --Gary S. Dalkin

• The Larry Sanders Show: Complete Season One | DVD | (27/09/2010) from £12.70   |  Saving you £17.29 (136.14%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Undeniably the hippest show to air on HBO in the 1990s The Larry Sanders Show takes you backstage at a fictional late-night talk show with real-life guests from movies music and television.

• 24: Series 1-4 | DVD | (08/08/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £119.99

  Series 1: The first episode begins at midnight on the day of the California Presidential Primary. Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) heads up the government's Counter-Terrorist Unit. He discovers that there's going to be an assassination attempt on Senator Palmer (Dennis Haysbert) an African-American presidential candidate. Bauer faces a battle against the clock to avert disaster. The series follows several characters as they live through a day that none of them will forget. For Kimberly (Elisha Cuthbert) a night on the town takes an unexpected turn. Teri (Leslie Hope) sets out to find Kimberly and encounters more danger than she ever imagined possible. Senator Palmer unaware there's going to be an attempt on his life faces the threat of a long buried scandal resurfacing. Meanwhile Jack with help from his Chief-of-Staff Nina Myers (Sarah Clarke) is charged with the responsibility of stopping the assassination. But who can he trust when it appears a rogue element inside the Agency is in on the hit? And all the time the clock keeps ticking... Series 2: Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) and the Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU) race to prevent a nuclear bomb being detonated by terrorists in Los Angeles in the second season of 24. Series 3: When the head of a Mexican drug cartel is imprisoned by Jack Bauer (Sutherland) a plot ensues to blackmail the US Government with the threat of a released bio-weapon that will kill millions to ensure his release. With Palmer seeking re-election to a second term will Jack survive this day? Series 4: 18 months after day 3 CTU has a new leader Erin Driscoll a steely government agent who made firing Jack one of her first priorities. After the explosion of a commuter train Jack who is now working for Secretary of Defense James Heller and also is romantically involved with Heller's married daughter Audrey Raines suddenly finds himself heading back to CTU for a meeting with Driscoll. Jack believes that the train explosion is a prelude for bigger things to come...

• Star Trek Next Generation Series 7 | DVD | (22/05/2006) from £17.98   |  Saving you £19.00 (118.82%)   |  RRP £34.99

  ""Space... The final frontier... These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: To explore strange new worlds... To seek out new life; new civilisations... To boldly go where no one has gone before!"" - Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) The complete seventh season of Star Trek: The Next Generation one of the finest sci-fi shows of all-time. Episodes Comprise: 1. Descent (Part 2) 2. Liasons 3. Interface 4. Gambit (Part 1) 5. Gambit (P

• The Larry Sanders Show | DVD | (19/06/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  In The Larry Sanders Show Garry Shandling is Larry Sanders, host of a fictitious chat show. But the real The Larry Sanders Show (1992-98), was alongside Sienfeld, one of the great cult successes of 1990's American TV. Nominally a sitcom, the naturalistic acting, uncensored strong language and absence of canned laughter lend the show a distinctive pseudo-documentary feel, as every week some of the top names in US entertainment appear as themselves. The viewer can't help but wonder just how much these celebrities are for real, and how much they are having us on when, for example, Billy Crystal seems so mercenary about using the episode "The Talk Show" to plug his movie, Mr Saturday Night. Other guests on the seven episodes of this DVD include Dana Carvey ("The Guest Host"), Alex Baldwin ("The List"), Robin Williams ("Montana"), Henry Winkler ("Hank's Sex Tape"), Courtney Cox ("Larry's Big Idea") and Brett Butler ("I Was a Teenage Lesbian"--a bonus episode exclusive to DVD). Clever and caustic, rather than laugh-out-loud funny, this release offers good value at 167 minutes, though the only DVD extra is a trailer. The picture on the first five episodes is soft and grainy. That matters improve considerably for the last two episodes suggests this is because of poor original tapes rather than a bad transfer. --Gary S. Dalkin

• Danielle Steel's Kaleidoscope | DVD | (29/09/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  After the shocking death of her parents Hilary (Jaclyn Smith) and her two younger sisters are torn apart and separated for over 30 years. Loving families take in the youngest girls but Hilary is left behind to endure a terrible childhood of cruel abuse and desperate poverty. Yet with iron determination Hilary achieves her dream of success... but erases all trace of her traumatic past. Then approaching death an old friend of their parents hires private detective John Chapman to trace the three women and unite them again. Hilary fights desperately to keep her painful memories buried and as Chapman probes beneath the hardened shell of her life he discovers an anguished and vulnerable woman.

• Lies Before Kisses | DVD | (01/04/2002) from £5.48   |  Saving you £0.51 (9.31%)   |  RRP £5.99

  When a prominent businessman is accused of murdering a prostitute his wife turns to an investigative reporter for help in clearing her husband's name. Instead she is drawn into a vacuum of betrayal passion and obsession where no relationship is as it seems...

• Automatic | DVD | (09/09/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  High-speed sc-fi action movie set in the year 2033 where a rogue Automatic J76 part man part machine butler handyman and defender runs riot on the eve of a press conference to announce its invention. It must be stopped at all costs...

• 24: Series 1 - 3 | DVD | (09/08/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £99.99

  24' is an innovative television drama where the entire series takes place in one day. Each of the 24 episodes covers one hour told in real time. And all the time the clock keeps ticking... This box set contains all three series of the high-octane adventures of Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) and his CTU team.

• Breach Of Trust | DVD | (22/09/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £1.99

  Mark and Cassie Woodman (William Russ and Roma Downey) could be just the perfect couple. They married young and although they've had their problems there proud of their teenage son Kevin and are still as happy as they were on the day they first got married. But when Mark takes a short buisness trip Cassie and Kevin's secure family world is lost when they see a TV news report that Marks plane has crashed with loss of many lives. After an anxious wait they hear the news they've been praying for - Mark is alive although badly injured and unconscious. However Cassie is stunned to discover that Mark had a travelling companion listed as Mrs C.Whitman who didnt survive the crash. The shocks don't end there leaving her wondering if she knew her loving husband at all...

• The Hills Have Eyes + The Hills Have Eyes Part 2 (Double Feature) | DVD | (13/10/2020) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A