"Actor: Peter Graham"

• Brassed Off | DVD | (10/09/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Take The Full Monty, add a sharper emotional edge and replace the strutting strippers with a dignified British band. That's the essence of Brassed Off, a bittersweet gem released in 1996, a year before its more popular (and Oscar-nominated) counterpart. In the Yorkshire town of Grimley, there has always been a coal mine, just as for the last 111 years there has been a brass band and it seems that Danny (the wondrous Pete Postlethwaite) has been the director for every one of those years. Tory economic policies, however, are closing coal mines around the country in favour of nuclear power and Grimley appears to be next on the list. Danny is unfazed by the threat, claiming, "It's music that matters." But some of the men are about to quit the band until the appearance of Gloria (Tara Fitzgerald at her most radiant), who dazzles the all-male group (including old flame Andy, played by Ewan McGregor) first with her beauty, then with her flügelhorn playing. The new member gives the band a boost as they continue to perform and compete but closure remains very real, as director Mark Herman (Little Voice) accompanies the band's performances (played with gusto by the Grimethorpe Colliery Band) with scenes of angry labour-management confrontations and family strife. In this context, some of the characters claim that the music is an irresponsible form of escapism. It becomes clear, however, from a touching performance of "Danny Boy" to the stirring conclusion at Royal Albert Hall, that music is an expression of the human spirit, a bit of beauty and sanity in a harsh world. With defiance, the band can play "Land of Hope and Glory" even when the land offers them neither. --David Horiuchi

• Zulu | DVD | (18/11/2002) from £7.19   |  Saving you £10.06 (169.65%)   |  RRP £15.99

  One of the last of the classic-era widescreen epics, Zulu was also one of the last war movies to celebrate the virtues of the famous British stiff upper lip. At Rorke's Drift in 1879 a handful of British soldiers, hopelessly outnumbered by 4,000 Zulu warriors, fought one of the most celebrated defensive actions in military history. Zulu tells the story on an epic scale, bringing to life the heroism, courage, loyalty and sacrifice of those desperate hours. This is truly cast-of-thousands filmmaking, with vast action wonderfully captured in widescreen Technirama. John Barry, who also scored Goldfinger in the same year, provides a telling musical accompaniment. The superb cast includes Stanley Baker and Jack Hawkins, but Zulu's final claim to fame is that it made an instant international superstar of a young actor whose name is Michael Caine. A belated sequel arrived in 1979 in Zulu Dawn, which despite even more spectacular action and a great cast died at the box-office. It is nevertheless well worth seeing. On the DVD: Zulu on disc has excellent prologic stereo considering the age of the film, while the anamorphically enhanced 2.35:1 transfer is crystal-clear, boasting rich colours, strong contrast and detail and only occasional minor print flaws. The original American trailer, also presented anamorphically enhanced at 2.35:1, is a worthwhile addition. There is a very good new 45-minute "making of" (1.77:1 anamorphic, in stereo), curiously split into two parts. The heart of the programme consists of interviews with survivors from the film, focusing on Stanley Baker's widow. The only let down is lack of input from Michael Caine and composer John Barry. The commentary by film historian Sheldon Hall, author of a forthcoming book on the movie, and Second Unit Director Robert Porter is serious and packed with information. --Gary S Dalkin

• HELLRAISER: The Iconic Horror Trilogy (3 Film Collection) | DVD | (23/10/2017) from £12.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  WE HAVE SUCH SIGHTS TO SHOW YOU! In 1987, master of horror Clive Barker unleashed Hellraiser upon unsuspecting audiences launching what has proven to be one of the genre s most enduring franchises and creating an instant horror icon in the figure of Pinhead in the process. In Barker s original Hellraiser, Kirsty Cotton (Ashley Laurence) comes head-to-head with the Cenobites demonic beings from another realm who are summoned by way of a mysterious puzzle box. Picking up immediately after the events of the original Hellraiser, Hellbound: Hellraiser II finds Kirsty detained at a psychiatric institute and under the care of Dr. Channard, a man with an unhealthy interest in the occult. Meanwhile, Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth sees Pinhead and his band of Cenobites let loose in our own world, with terrifying consequences.

• All Creatures Great And Small - Series 1 - Part 1 | DVD | (07/04/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Based on James Herriot's autobiographical best sellers 'If Only They Could Talk' and 'It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet' the long running TV series 'All Creatures Great and Small' continued to satisfy the Herriot hysteria of the British public.

• The Return Of The Pink Panther | DVD | (06/03/2006) from £8.91   |  Saving you £7.08 (79.46%)   |  RRP £15.99

  The world's most hilariously disaster-prone detective is back on the case as Peter Sellers stars in this merry masterpiece of sheer slapstick sleuthing fun! When the priceless Pink Panther diamond is stolen yet again the inimitable Inspector Jacques Clouseau is saved from an unwilling early retirement and sent off to the country of Lugash to investigate. Certain that the heist is the work of a suave jewel thief known as The Phantom Clouseau unleashes his formidable array of outlan

• Ivanhoe - The Complete Series | DVD | (18/09/2017) from £7.25   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Simply Media are delighted to announce the release of BBC's Ivanhoe: The Complete Series. Originally shown on BBC One in 1970 as ten episodes, the complete series is now available on DVD for the first time 18th September 2017. Remembered fondly by those who used to watch the Sunday tea-time series, BBC's Ivanhoe is a faithful and captivating adaptation of the classic novel by Sir Walter Scott. Set in the romanticised world of Medieval Britain, filled with knights, chivalry, grand tournaments and sieges, where dispossessed Saxons are pitted against their Norman overlords. Scott's novel became a celebrated influence on modern-day popular perceptions of iconic British characters such as Richard the Lionheart, King John and Robin Hood. Adapted by acclaimed author and screenwriter Alexander Baron (City from the Plough) and directed by renowned BBC sci-fi director/producer David Maloney (Doctor Who / Blake's 7) the series proved to be a firm family favourite, and an easily accessible venture into Scott's intricate novel. Ivanhoe, a noble 12th century knight, returns home after being banished to the Holy Land by his Father for wanting to marry against his wishes. He comes back England after fighting alongside Richard the Lionheart in the crusades, only to find his country under the domination of corrupt King John, the true King's tyrannical brother. Ivanhoe must fight not only against King John, but also to keep his beloved Lady Rowena safe from the clutches of his arch nemesis, Brian de Bois Gilbert. The series stars actor and singer Eric Flynn (Empire of the Sun) in the title role as Ivanhoe. Flynn is also backed-up by a fantastic supporting cast, including his alluring and forbidden love interest Rowena played by Clare Jenkins (Doctor Who), the formidable Sir Brian de Bois Guilbert played by Anthony Bate (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979)), and an appearance from Peter Dyneley, the voice of Jeff Tracy in Thunderbirds.

• Mare of Easttown | Blu Ray | (13/09/2021) from £14.84   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  An HBO limited series focused on family and community, Mare of Easttown stars Kate Winslet as Mare Sheehan, a respected small-town Pennsylvania detective investigating a brutal local murder while also balancing her own personal life, which is rapidly falling apart around her.Considered a local hero for a game-clinching jump shot on her high school basketball team, Mare is the sole detective on her police force, which spends most of its time handling drug-related offenses. Behind the scenes, Mare is dealing with the unaddressed loss of her son, running a busy household filled with her mother, teenage daughter, and grandson, and an ex-husband who lives a stone's throw away with his new fiance.As pressure mounts to solve a missing person's case growing increasingly cold, the murder of a teen girl finds Mare obsessed with bringing the killer to justice in a town where everyone is a potential suspect.

• A Very Peculiar Practice - The Complete Series | DVD | (10/10/2011) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £49.99

  Lowlands University is a swamp of fear and loathing. A showpiece Sixties campus looking increasingly anachronistic in the paranoid, profit-driven Eighties, it is staffed by angst-ridden academics desperate to hang onto their privileged status amid swingeing cutbacks. It also houses what may well be the worst medical practice in the British Isles.Stephen Daker sees his new job at the Medical Centre as a chance to pursue excellence among a dedicated team and he's somewhat shaken when his colleagues turn out to be a wildly unpredictable dipsomaniac, a public school-educated fascist and an uber-feminist who sees illness as something men do to women. Dark secrets, sinister experiments, demented academics, STD epidemics, the Yankee Dollar, a desperate Creative with writer's block and a couple of nuns all conspire to make life on campus a hair-raising experience for Stephen!Andrew Davies' surreal, searingly funny look at sexual politics, medical malpractice and academic rivalry at the height of the Thatcher era won huge acclaim and a BAFTA nomination for Best Drama Series. This set comprises both series and A Very Polish Practice, the 1992 sequel film which finds Stephen coping with life in post-Communism Warsaw.

• Thunderbirds Box Set (9 discs) | DVD | (13/11/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £124.99

  Filmed in VIDECOLOR [explosions, drum roll, music builds to a climax] and SUPERMARIONATION"! The opening sequence of Thunderbirds is itself a masterclass in Gerry Anderson's marionette hyperbole: who else would dare to make a virtue out of the fact that (a) the show is in colour and (b) it's got puppets in it? But everything about this series really is epic: Thunderbirds is action on the grandest scale, pre-dating such high-concept Hollywood vehicles as Armaggedon by 30 years and more (the acting is better, too), and fetishising gadgets in a way that even the most excessive Bond movies could never hope to rival. Unsurprisingly, it transpires that the visual effects are by Derek Meddings, whose later contributions to Bond movies like The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker echo his pioneering model work here.As to the characters, the clean-cut Tracey boys take second place in the audiences' affections to their cool machines--the real stars of the show--while comic relief is to be found in the charming company of Lady Penelope and her pink Rolls (number plate FAB1), driven by lugubrious chauffeur Parker, whose "Yes, milady" catch phrase resonated around school playgrounds for decades. (Spare a thought for poor old John Tracey, stuck up in space on Thunderbird 5 with only the radio for company.) The puppet stunt-work is breathtakingly audacious, and every week's death-defying escapade is nail-bitingly choreographed in the very best tradition of disaster movies. First shown in 1964 and now digitally remastered, Thunderbirds is children's TV that still looks and sounds like big-budget Hollywood.In this box set: All 32 episodes on eight discs, plus a bonus DVD featuring "The Thunderbirds Companion", an exclusive documentary with interviews and behind-the-scenes footage. --Mark Walker

• Mare of Easttown | DVD | (13/09/2021) from £7.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  An HBO limited series focused on family and community, Mare of Easttown stars Kate Winslet as Mare Sheehan, a respected small-town Pennsylvania detective investigating a brutal local murder while also balancing her own personal life, which is rapidly falling apart around her. Considered a local hero for a game-clinching jump shot on her high school basketball team, Mare is the sole detective on her police force, which spends most of its time handling drug-related offenses. Behind the scenes, Mare is dealing with the unaddressed loss of her son, running a busy household filled with her mother, teenage daughter, and grandson, and an ex-husband who lives a stone's throw away with his new fiance. As pressure mounts to solve a missing person's case growing increasingly cold, the murder of a teen girl finds Mare obsessed with bringing the killer to justice in a town where everyone is a potential suspect.

• The Rise And Rise Of Michael Rimmer | DVD | (25/06/2007) from £8.99   |  Saving you £1.00 (11.12%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Cult political satire starring Peter Cook as Michael Rimmer an opinion poll executive who climbs the ladder until he becomes President of Great Britain.

• Parenthood - Complete Season 1-6 | DVD | (10/08/2015) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £20.99

  Family always comes first with the Bravermans in this stunning collection that captures every wise warm and witty moment from the critically lauded series. From executive producers Ron Howard Brian Grazer and Jason Katims comes all six seasons of Parenthood the dramatic series that touches on all the rewarding and real aspects of being a parent child or sibling. Join an all-star cast including Peter Krause Lauren Graham Dax Shepard and Erika Christensen as they take on raising babies toddlers tweens teens and even older parents in this gratifying collection guaranteed to make you “nostalgic for memories that aren’t even your own” (Tierney Bricker E! Online). It’s 103 episodes that prove every family is perfect in its own imperfect way now available for you and your family to watch back-to-back and uninterrupted!

• Thunderbirds Are Go - The Movie | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £7.26   |  Saving you £8.73 (120.25%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Thunderbirds Are Go followed the remarkable success of the Thunderbirds television series, bringing the three-dimensional puppet animation adventures of International Rescue to the big screen. Set in the 21st century, there is no attempt to explain the background story: as in the TV show International Rescue is a private family organisation who use hi-tech craft to rescue anyone in peril. Here it is the first manned flight to Mars which is in danger, as International Rescue foils a sabotage attempt at the launch, then race to avert disaster when the spaceship returns to earth. What could have made a 50-minute TV episode is expanded to feature length with Martian "rock monsters" and a surreal dream-sequence involving Alan Tracy, Lady Penelope and "Cliff Richard Jnr" & the Shadows, with a new song performed by the real Cliff and the Shadows. In the cinemas this was competing against another British children's TV SF spin-off, the equally colourful Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150AD, and would be followed by Thunderbird 6 (1968). Yet apart from more complex model work, a bigger orchestra and even bigger explosions, on TV this plays like a widescreen double-length episode. On the DVD: The mono sound is powerful, with Barry Gray's stirring music suffering intermittent distortion. Presented in anamorphic widescreen the picture is very good, with strong colours and only minimal grain, though the print does show occasional damage. Unfortunately the original extremely wide 2.74:1 Techniscope image is cropped to more conventional 2.35:1, to the extent that the careful compositions are noticeably damaged, which director David Lane refers to in his joint commentary with producer Sylvia Anderson (who also played Lady Penelope). 35 years after the event their commentary is packed with details of the filming process and full of information about the many problems of and solutions to making an animated feature. Both Anderson fans and budding animators will find this a real education. The original, rather battered, trailer is included, as are galleries of behind the scenes photos, promotional artwork and posters. Altogether it's rather FABulous. --Gary S Dalkin

• Crocodile Dundee | DVD | (14/01/2002) from £24.99   |  Saving you £-5.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Paul Hogan's hilarious endearing performance made 'Crocodile Dundee' the biggest box-office comedy smash of 1986! Michael J. 'Crocodile' Dundee (Hogan) is a free-spirited Australian who hunts crocodiles with his bare hands stares down giant water buffaloes and drinks mere mortals under the table. But he's about to face the ultimate torture test - a trip to New York City. Beautiful and tenacious reporter Sue Charlton (Linda Kozlowski) gets more than just a story as the ""wonder fr

• The Millionairess | DVD | (21/05/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Based on a play by George Bernard Shaw which studies an immensely wealthy woman who falls for the charms of a poor Indian doctor. Sophia Loren plays a spoilt heiress able to buy anything she wants. When she meets an Indian doctor (Peter Sellers) whose sole concern is to help the poor and needy she knows that this is the man for her. Although in love with her he is so terrified of being in her power that he foils all her attempts to 'buy' him. Only by setting an endurance test for each other are they able to be sure of their true feelings.

• Brassed Off | DVD | (17/09/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  It's 1992 and the miners of Grimley Colliery are facing uncertainty. Not only is their pit under threat but the Grimley Colliery Band is on the verge of breaking up - that is until Gloria (Tara Fitzgerald) arrives. As the only female member of the band she somehow manages to rekindle their enthusiasm for the forthcoming National Championship as well as rekindling a childhood romance with Andy (Ewan McGregor).

• Blue Streak | DVD | (26/06/2000) from £5.51   |  Saving you £0.48 (8.71%)   |  RRP £5.99

  If Eddie Murphy's comic tone turns on a dime, Martin Lawrence can perhaps be described as sauntering around the dime, looking around to see if anyone else has seen it, then picking the dime up, pocketing it, and casually walking off. He lazily indicates his humour, as if it's too much trouble to actually make the joke--and that distance is what makes him funny. At his best, Lawrence describes a kind of comic space and wanders around in it, claiming it for himself the way a dog might mark his territory, suggesting that what you think is funny doesn't matter to him; he just happens to be where the jokes are, and if you aren't laughing, that's your problem. In Blue Streak, Lawrence plays a jewel thief who plants a stolen diamond in the ventilation duct of a building under construction. When he's released from prison a few years later, he discovers that the building is now a Los Angeles police station. His solution: he impersonates a detective. Of course, everyone believes his disguise. Not only that, using his inside knowledge, he solves several crimes and earns the general admiration of the force. It's a standard fish-out-of-water setup and the plot doesn't take any chances with the formula, but Lawrence wears his role like a loose suit and does a little low-key boogie whenever he can, drawing you into the absurdity with a cock of his head and a roll of his eyes. --Bret Fetzer, Amazon.com

• Thunderbirds | Blu Ray | (15/09/2008) from £27.08   |  Saving you £7.91 (29.21%)   |  RRP £34.99

  When evil threatens International Rescue blasts-off to sort things out. Somewhere in the Pacific the rescue organisation is always on the lookout for trouble. The founder and co-ordinator of the group is astronaut Jeff Tracy whose sons serve as pilots of the group's five super-secret craft - the Thunderbirds. As the Tracys work for the good of mankind they must try to stop the villainy of The Hood who is determined to undermine the organisation and learn the secrets of the Thunderbirds aircraft. Thunderbirds delivers high-flying action and adventure through the imaginative use of Gerry Anderson's Supermarionation and the special effects of Academy Award' winner Derek Meddings.

• Parenthood - Season 1 | DVD | (04/07/2011) from £6.95   |  Saving you £23.04 (331.51%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Parenthood follows four grown siblings of the far-from-perfect Braverman clan as they try to balance kids and careers, dreams and commitments, and romance or a total lack thereof.

• Ghost Train | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  ""If this be a natural thing where do it come from where do it go? "" Tommy Gander a concert comedian; Teddy Deakin his pal; Jackie Withorp and her cousin Richard Winthrop; Miss Bourne a spinster visiting evacuees Herbert and Edna an engaged couple and Dr. Sterling travelling on a train to Cornwall miss their connections owing to a delay and have to spend a night in the waiting room of the eerie Cornish railway junction for Fal Vale. The station master tells them the s