"Actor: Sally Delaney"

• The Very Best Of The Royle Family | DVD | (25/11/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Spanning the three series of this superb sitcom, The Very Best of The Royle Family is a prime taster for those not familiar with the series. Co-created by Caroline Aherne and Craig Cash, who star as Denise and Dave respectively, The Royle Family deserves its own comedic category. They had a hard fight persuading the BBC to leave a laughter track off the show, which would have disrupted its unique ambience and chemistry. Never departing from the house of lazy, good-for-nothing but defiantly sardonic Jim Royle (Ricky Tomlinson) and wife Barbara (Sue Johnston), The Royle Family chronicles the everyday chat and banal comings and goings of this Northern household, which barely qualifies as "working" class, since mostly they are slumped on the sofa in front of the telly in a cathode-induced stupor. Confused viewers waiting for something to "happen" in the conventional sitcom manner will be disappointed. What they'll get instead is an irresistible stream of dialogue that captures unerringly the humdrum cadences of "ordinary" people. These episodes capture the Royles in customary, festive mood--Denise's marriage, Christmas, baby David's birthday party and so forth--which is good, as we get to see more of Liz Smith's magnificent Nana. As each seemingly inconsequential scene vividly illustrates, this is hardly a romanticised family. Denise is an appallingly negligent mother, there's probably never been a green vegetable in the house, most of their friends, including Darren, are well dodgy, and mum Barbara is unfairly put-upon ("Eh, I've been so busy this morning I haven't had time to smoke", she laments at one point). Yet undoubtedly, unlike their regal counterparts, this Royle Family are close-knit, somehow getting by. The family that watches telly together stays together. On the DVD: The Very Best of the Royle Family, disappointingly, has no extra features. --David Stubbs

• Haunted London | DVD | (26/10/2009) from £19.98   |  Saving you £-5.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Exploring London's real ghost stories from Biggin Hill airfield to a haunted Underground station, including interviews with eye-witnesses

• Army Wives: The Complete First Season | DVD | (03/08/2009) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £25.99

  By focusing on those "keeping the home fires burning" and largely ignoring politics, Army Wives appeals to fans of great drama all over the political spectrum. The Season One box set shows a key reason for its strength: the first-rate cast, led by Catherine Bell (JAG) as Denise and Kim Delaney (NYPD Blue) as Claudia, but also featuring the seasoned TV actress Wendy Davis (Joan) and plucky newcomer Sally Pressman (Roxy). There's also one prominent Army husband, Claudia's husband Roland, played by the handsome Sterling K. Brown. The chemistry among these women, living together at an Army base while most of their husbands are off at war--or helping to orchestrate the battles afar--is as undeniable as in any great TV ensemble, reminiscent of the early days of ER. This territory has been for some reason largely unexplored by Hollywood, but what a rich territory it is: Americans may exhort "Support our troops", but the ones who do that day in and day out, on a deep emotional level, are the troops' families. In one moving mid-season scene, Claudia gives a speech, exclaiming, "We serve too!" which is no less moving for being obvious. The series also doesn't stint on its visuals and sets. Shot on location in South Carolina, using a variety of vacant military bases and stately historic homes, Army Wives has a richness, a depth rarely seen on TV. The optional commentary, by the episode's director and its visual effects director, helps the viewer appreciate the cinematic techniques employed in the shots--lingering tracking shots, for example, and fewer cuts back and forth. But Army Wives is not without humor. When Roxy overhears a conversation in a ladies' room about one wife's possibly being beaten, she announces for the full room to hear: "He hits you once, hit him back. Hits you again, shoot him in the b--ls!" Cut to closed stall, where a couple has been trying to have a secret tryst, stifling laughter. The laughs leaven the tears, but the drama of the series overall is always first-rate --A.T. Hurley