"Actor: Robin Laing"

• Band Of Brothers | DVD | (05/11/2002) from £29.49   |  Saving you £30.50 (103.42%)   |  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

• Murder Rooms - The Dark Beginnings Of Sherlock Holmes | DVD | (24/03/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £6.99

  So you're interested in the beginnings of Sherlock Holmes? Well then its elementary my dear Watson that you start here with 'The Dark Beginnings'... This BBC drama provides a fascinating insight into the fictional beginnings of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson the tale based on the real-life relationship between Arthur Conan Doyle and Doctor Joseph Bell his tutor at Edinburgh University.

• Band Of Brothers | Blu Ray | (10/11/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £49.99

  The acclaimed TV mini series tells the story of Easy Company of the US Army Airbourne Paratrooper division and their mission in WWII France during Operation Overlord.

• Murder Rooms: The Dark Beginnings Of Sherlock Holmes (1999) | DVD | (24/03/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

• The Lakes | DVD | (06/10/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  The Lakes brought writer Jimmy McGovern and actor John Simm a great deal of critical praise in 1997. Following a particularly dry period for British TV drama, the show's realistic characterisations and their painfully honest decisions hit audiences hard. Simm is a twentysomething trapped in a life of compulsive gambling, theft and being on the dole in Liverpool. On a whim he heads north to the Lake District. He expects to find the countryside quietude where his hidden poetical leanings might find a home, but instead gets caught up in a community like any other. Lies, temptation and tragedy beset every household just as much as the big city. The focus of Series 1 is Danny's relationship with Emma (Emma Cunniffe) and the consequences of having a child. As time races by, his link to the Lakes becomes an exercise in torment when the eyes of blame fall easily upon him after the accidental deaths of four schoolgirls. Stoking the flames of a series of secondary explosions in waiting are a pair of affairs, one adulterous, the other complicated by religion. On the DVD: The Lakes Series 1 comes with two separate commentary tracks for the very first episode. In interviews, John Simm fondly recalls how cold the lake water was and director David Blair recalls putting him in it. It's a shame the two weren't recorded together. It's also a shame that's all there is in this package. Even a few cast biographies would have been welcome. Picture is 4:3 and stereo sound is as you'd expect from 1990s UK TV. --Paul Tonks

• Beautiful Creatures | DVD | (10/04/2003) from £2.98   |  Saving you £13.01 (436.58%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Two women are thrown together in this black comedy when one accidentally kills the boyfriend of the other to protect her.

• Beautiful Creatures | DVD | (23/07/2001) from £4.96   |  Saving you £15.03 (303.02%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Two women are thrown together in this black comedy when one accidentally kills the boyfriend of the other to protect her.

• Danny Dyer Collection - City Rats/Borstal Boy/Dead Man Running | DVD | (01/03/2010) from £5.99   |  Saving you £19.00 (317.20%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Titles Comprise: City Rats: Welcome to the world of the City Rats where troubled souls collide to reveal a dark and twisted side of London. Small-time crook Pete (Danny Dyer) tries to get back on the straight-and-narrow after a stint behind bars but quickly finds his past catches up with him. Borstal Boy: Brendan Behan a sixteen year-old republican is going on a bombing mission from Ireland to Liverpool during the Second World War. His mission is thwarted when he is apprehended charged and imprisoned in Borstal a reform institution for young offenders in East Anglia England. Dead Man Running: As the recession hits the criminal world as hard as it is hitting Wall Street notorious gangster and loan shark Mr. Thigo (Curtis 50 Cent Jackson) arrives in London with his trusted aide Fitzroy (Ashley Walters) to make a brutal example out of one of his late payers.