"Actor: Ron Cook"

• Tom Jones (Repackaged) | DVD | (23/01/2012) from £4.99   |  Saving you £5.00 (100.20%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Adopted in childhood by the kindly squire allworthy, Tom Jones is a young man whose destiny has been changed from that of annonymous foundling to one of privileged gentlemen. His roving eye gets the better of his good nature however, and an amorous indiscretion with a local girl results in exile from his beloved home. In Tom's abscence his true love Sophia is unwillingly betrothed to her loathsome cousin Blifil and flees to London to escape his clutches. Tom follows in hot pursuit, embarking on a series of adventures and misadventures from which he emerges redeemed by love. Set in the beautiful landscapes of Warwickshire, Oxfordshire and Dorset, this sumptuous BBC TV prodcution brings to sparkling life one of literature's great comic tales.

• Sharpe's Honour / Sharpe's Gold | DVD | (10/06/2002) from £5.92   |  Saving you £9.07 (60.50%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Based on the novels by Bernard Cornwell, Sharpe (1993-7) ran to 14 full-length television films that follow the adventures of the titular soldier through the later years of the Napoleonic Wars. The programmes are an outstanding achievement for the small screen, dominated by Sean Bean’s central performance as the heroic, troubled outsider who turns out to be a resourceful and loyal leader. Bolstered by a strong supporting cast, particularly Daragh O'Malley as Harper and (in later episodes) Abigail Cruttenden as Jane, Sharpe is often visually striking, the action tense and gripping. Consistency is maintained by all 14 episodes being directed by Tom Clegg. On the DVD: Sharpe on DVD contains a photo gallery and several screens of background text. The sound is full-bodied stereo while the very "sharp" (pun intended) picture has been transferred slightly letterboxed at 14:9. Though looking much better than the original TV transmissions the occasionally cropped framing makes it apparent the films were shot in 16:9 widescreen, so it is regrettable they have not been transferred to DVD in that format. Otherwise these are first-rate releases.--Gary S Dalkin

• The BBC Sherlock Holmes Collection | DVD | (05/06/2006) from £34.88   |  Saving you £5.11 (14.65%)   |  RRP £39.99

  A collection of BBC adaptations featuring Arthur Conan Doyle's celebrated super-sleuth. A Study In Scarlet: Peter Cushing stars as the intrepid private eye Sherlock Holmes and has to perform a little forensic investigation. The Boscombe Valley Mystery: Peter Cushing stars as Sherlock Holmes in another unfathomable mystery story with Nigel Stock as his faithful sidekick. The Hound Of The Baskervilles: Classic two-part story starring Peter Cushing and Nigel Sto

• Will Shakespeare - The Complete Series | DVD | (04/05/2009) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Written by Rumpole of the Bailey creator John Mortimer this six-part television dramatisation is based on the sixteen years that William Shakespeare is known to have spent in London remains one of the most impressive biographical portraits to date. With each episode built around the creation of a single play a skilful interweaving of known events and contemporary interpretation show how key experiences may have inspired some of Shakespeare's greatest works - the death of his young son and his love for the famous 'dark lady' of the sonnets for example. The bustling taverns and theatres of Elizabethan London are lavishly recreated while Shakespeare himself is played with tremendous sensitivity and breadth by Tim Curry. Originally screened in 1978 Will Shakespeare is a brilliantly imagined and very human portrait in which the flaws and frailties as well as the immense strengths of one of the world's greatest dramatists are brought vividly to life.

• On A Clear Day | DVD | (19/11/2007) from £4.11   |  Saving you £1.88 (45.74%)   |  RRP £5.99

  A depressed man decides to swim the channel in this movie from director Gaby Dellal.

• American Guerrilla In The Philippines | DVD | (30/09/2013) from £10.35   |  Saving you £-0.36 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  For the first time on DVD in the UK the wonderful 1950 film American Guerrilla in the Philippines. This is a long-awaited opportunity to view the movie which was directed by that giant of cinema Fritz Lang and shot in Technicolor on location in the Philippines. Based on Ira Woldert's true account the movie casts Tyrone Power as an American Navy officer stranded after the wreck of Bataan. Along with harassed local - Jeanne Martinez (Micheline Prelle) - he leads a small heroic band in feats of espionage until General MacArthur's famous return to the Philippines at the end of WWII.

• The Secret Policeman's Ball - The Complete Edition | DVD | (12/04/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  A collection of all The Secret Policeman's Ball concerts in aid of Amnesty International. A unique collection containing over 10 hours and spanning 3 decades of live comedy and music for Amnesty. Includes performances by Peter Cook Sting Dudley Moore Rowan Atkinson John Cleese Eric Clapton Michael Palin and many more... This 4 disc set includes the following shows: Pleasure At Her Majesty's (1976) Mermaid Frolics (1977) The Secret Policeman's Ball (1979) The Secret Poli

• Secrets And Lies | DVD | (10/09/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  If a film fan had never heard of director Mike Leigh, one might explain him as a British Woody Allen. Not that Leigh's films are whimsical or neurotic; they are tough-love examinations of British life--funny, outlandish and biting. His films share a real immediacy with Allen's work: they feel as if they are happening now. Leigh works with actors--real actors--on ideas and language. There is no script at the start (and sometimes not at the end). Secrets and Lies involves Hortense (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), an elegant black woman wanting to learn her birth mother's identity. She will find it's Cynthia (Brenda Blethyn), who is one of the saddest creatures we've seen in film. She's also one of the most real and, ultimately, one of the most loveable. Timothy Spall is Cynthia's brother, a giant man full of love who is being slowly defeated by his fastidious wife (Phyllis Logan). There is a great exuberance of life in Secrets & Lies, winner of the Palme D'Or and best actress (Blethyn) at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival--not Zorba-type life but the little battles fought and won every day. Leigh's honest interpretation of daily life is usually found only on the stage. Secrets & Lies is more realistic than a stage production, however, especially when Leigh shows us uninterrupted scenes. Critic David Denby states that Leigh has "made an Ingmar Bergman film without an instant of heaviness or pretension." If that sounds like your cup of tea, see Secrets & Lies. --Doug Thomas

• Lucky Break | DVD | (14/07/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  This new British comedy from "The Full Monty" director Peter Cattaneo stars Jimmy Nesbitt and Olivia Williams as an in-mate and a prison councillor whose unlikely romance blossoms behind bars.

• Lucky Break / Very Annie Mary | DVD | (03/05/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Lucky Break Small time villians Jimmy and Rudy are caught doing a bank raid and are put in HM Prison Long Rudford. Whilst there they hatch an escape plan which involves them staging the prison governor's musical 'Nelson'. Very Annie Mary Tells the story of Annie Mary a woman in her early thirties living in the Rhondda Valley South Wales who is forced to make changes in her life when her father suffers a major stroke. The future of the family business is left in her hands and so she hatches a plan to raise money the only way she can.

• Mike Leigh: Secrets And Lies, Life Is Sweet, Career Girls | DVD | (30/09/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Secrets And LiesNominated for 5 Oscars winner of 3 BAFTA Awards and the winner of 'Best Film' at the Cannes Film Festival Mike Leigh's hilarious bittersweet comedy is an unmissable and moving slice of real life. Life Is SweetLife is Sweet is the remarkable story of an unremarkable British family told in the classic tragi-comedy style that is uniquely Mike Leigh's. It covers issues of unemployment anorexia failure nervous breakdown and hope as they affect one suburban London family and their friends and acquaintances. The characters and story were created with and by the actors - giving a special edge and momentum to the unfolding events. Leigh's sharply satirical and unsentimentally compassionate view of life strikes a chord with audiences and critics alike. Life is Sweet brings together an impressive cast - including Alison Steadman ('Let Them Eat Cake') Jim Broadbent ('The Avengers') Jane Horrocks ('Little Voice') and Timothy Spall ('Topsy Turvey') - many of whom have worked with Leigh in the past as has producer Simon Channing-Williams. Career GirlsFormer college flatmates Annie (Lynda Steadman) and Hannah (Katrin Cartlidge) decide to meet up in London for the weekend. Naturally both girls have changed since their student days of some 10 years earlier. The curry loving Cure obsessed acne ridden and moody flatmates of yesteryear have been replaced by confident career girls of today. As they talk go flat-hunting get drunk and bump into numerous people from their past the girls start to reminisce upon their earlier friendship.

• Sharpe's Honour | DVD | (15/01/2007) from £4.98   |  Saving you £3.01 (60.44%)   |  RRP £7.99

  Sean Bean stars as the dashing and daredevil Napoleonic hero Richard Sharpe Hero of Wellington's Spanish Army. But Sharpe unwittingly becomes caught up in a French plot; hie is convicted of the murder of a Spanish nobleman and sentenced to death this time he will need more than just his legendary courage to survive. In a desperate attempt to clear his name Sharpe is forced to venture deep into enemy territory to capture La Marquesa a beautiful French spy who alone can prove his innocence.

• Western | DVD | (26/03/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The Outlaw (Dir. Howard Hughes 1943): Jane Russell plays a busty siren who steals the heart of Billy the Kid in this Howard Hughes/Howard Hawks-directed story which centres on the rivalrous tentative friendships between Billy Doc Holiday and Pat Garrett. Vengeance Valley (Dir. Richard Thorpe 1941): An unusually adult Western for its time Vengeance Valley (1951) gave Burt Lancaster his first Western role. His athletic prowess made him perfect for the genre and he'd

• 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...

• On A Clear Day | DVD | (30/01/2006) from £6.98   |  Saving you £12.01 (172.06%)   |  RRP £18.99

  A depressed man decides to swim the channel in this movie from director Gaby Dellal.

• Masters Of British Comedy: Volume 2 | DVD | (23/09/2013) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  For years they made the nation laugh and whatever your sense of humour they are still amongst the funniest men - ever! This unique DVD set provides an unrivalled insight into the wonderful performances given by three of the greatest British comedians. With a huge array of clips and rare interviews these films give a delightful overview of the careers that have brought laughter to homes across the country for the last 50 years and give us a chance to enjoy once more moments from Porridge to The Goon Show and Not Only.... But Also. Disc 1 - Ronnie Barker Disc 2 - Pete and Dud Disc 3 - Spike Milligan

• About a Boy - Box Set : DVD, CD & Book | DVD | (02/12/2002) from £19.99   |  Saving you £15.00 (75.04%)   |  RRP £34.99

  The film version of Nick Hornby's novel About a Boy takes a deeper though no less entertaining approach than the easy laughs of Fever Pitch and High Fidelity. The "coming together" of idle playboy Will (Hugh Grant) and put-upon loner Marcus (Nicholas Hoult) is a revealing tale of self-understanding and role reversal. Will finds that being yourself is of little consequence without a defining human context, while Marcus finds that pleasing others counts for little without a degree of self-confidence. How they arrive at this complementary awareness is the intriguing subject matter of the film, involving well-meaning single mothers, difficult adolescents and helpless older adults. Yet there's a wider significance to all this in the guise of human stereotypes--how we fall into them and how we can try to get out of them. The film's wit and amusement comes down to deft and understated directing from Chris and Paul Weitz, and a snappily crafted screenplay from Peter Hedges and the Weitz brothers. Grant clips his hair as well as his vowels for a believable and ultimately sympathetic Will--by far his best performance since Four Weddings and a Funeral. As Marcus, Hoult is convincingly self-dependent, but could have been even more self-absorbed. Toni Colette is a dead-ringer for the well-meaning but ineffectual hippie mother Fiona, while Rachel Weisz gives her best screen performance to date as the attractive and vulnerable Rachel, with whom Will comes of age emotionally. Badly Drawn Boy's soundtrack will delight those who enjoy his brand of reconstituted 1970s Dylan; the title track has a wistful charm and there's a gem of an instrumental in the "Countdown" sequence. About a Boy is in the best traditions of British comedy: enlightening as it amuses, it's a film to enjoy and come back to. --Richard Whitehouse

• The Legends Of British Comedy | DVD | (22/10/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £26.99

  This unique DVD set provides an unrivalled insight into the wonderful performances given by four of the greatest British comedians. With a huge array of clips and rare interviews these films give a delightful overview of the careers that have brought laughter to homes across the country for the last 50 years and give us a chance to enjoy once more moments from Carry On The Two Ronnies and Rising Damp and much more! Fantastic footage of the men themselves plus revealing and candid interviews with close friends and colleagues from the cream of the British comedy industry. Everyone knows the call of 'Oh Matron' from the Carry On films but the amazing career of Kenneth Williams is so much more than a catchphrase. In this DVD Carry On stars reminisce on his best performances and relive the genius that was Kenneth Williams His many performances on film and TV have made Sid James and his dirty laugh instantly recognisable features of British comedy. The people who knew and worked with him in the Carry On films and on TV complete this testament to a comedy legend. Perhaps best known for his role of Rigsby in Rising Damp Leonard Rossiter is a true comic acting hero. Appearing in film and TV roles he made cynicism and lechery a comedy art form. With clips spanning his career and interviews with intimates of the man this review gives a fresh look at his amazing comic talents. He is a comedian who took on so many characters from Fletcher to Arkwright as well as writing hilarious material for The Two Ronnies. In this DVD the comic genius that was Ronnie Barker is presented in all his glory with commentary from experts including long time partner Ronnie Corbett. Featuring extensive extracts from the finest comedy moments of the late great and sadly missed comedy duo of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore including hilarious highlights from Not Only But Also. Essential viewing for any comedy fan this film explores the complicated dynamic that grew into one of the best loved on-screen pairings in the history of humour. Featuring connoisseurs' cuts from the finest comedy moments of the late great and sadly missed Spike Milligan including hilarious highlights from the unforgettable Goon Show. Essential viewing for any comedy fan this film will take you into the fantastic (and sometimes frightening) world that fuelled the humour that inspired amongst many others the Monty Python team.

• Dark Waters | DVD | (01/06/1999) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £6.15

• Stranger on the Third Floor | DVD | (15/06/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A