"Actor: Sally"

• Year of the Rabbit | DVD | (22/07/2019) from £13.97   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  This Channel 4 sitcom, set in the dark heart of Victorian London, follows Detective Inspector Rabbit (BAFTA winner Matt Berry), a hardened booze-hound who's seen it all, and his hapless new partner Strauss (Freddie Fox, Cucumber). They are joined by Mabel (Susan Wokoma, Chewing Gum), the ambitious daughter of police chief Wisbech (Alun Armstrong, New Tricks) and together they fight crime - while rubbing shoulders with street gangs, crooked politicians and Bulgarian royalty. Also starring Keeley Hawes (Bodyguard) as the mysterious Lydia and Sally Phillips (Veep) as Princess Violetta of Bulgaria while Jill Halfpenny (Three Girls) is Rabbit's ex, the deadly Flora. Special features include a behind the scenes feature and picture gallery.

• Lincoln | DVD | (10/06/2013) from £7.48   |  Saving you £14.50 (264.12%)   |  RRP £19.99

  As with the great John Ford (Young Mr. Lincoln) before him, it would be out of character for Steven Spielberg to construct a conventional, cradle-to-grave portrait of a historical figure. In drawing from Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals, the director instead depicts a career-defining moment in the career of Abraham Lincoln (an uncharacteristically restrained Daniel Day-Lewis). With the Civil War raging, and the death toll rising, the president focuses his energies on passage of the 13th Amendment. Even those sympathetic to the cause question his timing, but Lincoln doesn't see the two issues as separate, and the situation turns personal when his son, Robert (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), chooses to enlist rather than to study law. While still mourning the loss of one son, Mary (Sally Field) can't bear to lose another. Playwright Tony Kushner, who adapted the screenplay, takes a page from the procedural handbook in tracing Lincoln's steps to win over enough representatives to abolish slavery, while simultaneously bringing a larger-than-life leader down to a more manageable size. In his stooped-shoulder slouch and Columbo-like speech, Day-Lewis succeeds so admirably that the more outspoken characters, like congressman Thaddeus Stevens (Tommy Lee Jones) and lobbyist W.N. Bilbo (James Spader), threaten to steal the spotlight whenever they enter the scene, but the levity of their performances provides respite from the complicated strategising and carnage-strewn battlefields. If Lincoln doesn't thrill like the Kushner-penned Munich, there's never a dull moment--though it would take a second viewing to catch all the political nuances. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

• The Shape of Water | Blu Ray | (25/06/2018) from £7.99   |  Saving you £2.00 (25.03%)   |  RRP £9.99

  From master storyteller, Guillermo del Toro, comes an other-worldly fairy tale, set against the backdrop of Cold War era America circa 1962. In the hidden government laboratory where she works, lonely Elisa (Sally Hawkins) is trapped in a life of silence and isolation. Elisa's life is changed forever when she and co-worker Zelda (Octavia Spencer) discover a secret classified experiment.

• The Madame Blanc Mysteries: Series 4 | DVD | (22/12/2025) from £16.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• The Amazing Spider-Man | DVD | (26/11/2012) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN is the story of Peter Parker (Garfield), an outcast high schooler who was abandoned by his parents as a boy, leaving him to be raised by his Uncle Ben (Sheen) and Aunt May (Field).

• Smokey and the Bandit | DVD | (28/03/2016) from £9.99   |  Saving you £5.00 (50.05%)   |  RRP £14.99

• Tipping the Velvet | DVD | (28/10/2002) from £6.30   |  Saving you £-0.31 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Screenwriter Andrew Davies describes Tipping the Velvet, his adaptation of Sarah Waters's acclaimed novel of lesbian love, betrayal and redemption in Victorian England, as "Pride and Prejudice with dirty bits". This three-part BBC production chronicles with relish the story of Nan Astley (Rachael Stirling, the ravishing image of her mother, Diana Rigg), barely 18, and certain that life holds more for her than her oyster girl's existence. "You'll meet someone who'll have your head spinning and your legs turning to jelly", her sister promises. That someone surprisingly turns out to be "gay and bold" Kitty Butler (Keeley Hawes), a music-hall entertainer with whom Nan falls instantly, and swooningly, in love. Nan follows her to London, where, as a double act, they become the toast of London, until Kitty's "marriage of convenience" breaks up the act and Nan's heart. The outcast Nan, decked out in Victor/Victoria duds, becomes a streetwalker, and then "tart" to the aptly named Diana Leatherby (Anna Chancellor). This affair, too, comes to "a bad end" as a destitute Nan is deposited back on the streets, where she insinuates herself into the lives of Florence (Jodhi May), a social worker, and her socialist brother. Is Nan "too spoiled and stained for love"? Will she risk her blossoming relationship with Florence when Kitty inevitably returns to rekindle their affair? Nan's couplings, while tastefully done, do carry what Waters calls "a queer erotic charge". They are graphic by BBC standards. But the sterling writing and performances will captivate even the most sensitive viewers, making this groundbreaking mini-series, to quote one character, "a delightful evening... a rare treat". --Donald Liebenson

• Straw Dogs | DVD | (07/10/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £7.99

  According to critic Pauline Kael Straw Dogs was "the first American film that is a fascist work of art". Sam Peckinpah's only film shot in Britain is adapted from a novel by Gordon M Williams called The Siege of Trencher's Farm which Peckinpah described as a "lousy book with one good action-adventure sequence". The setting is Cornwall, where mild-mannered US academic David Sumner (Dustin Hoffman) has bought a house with his young English wife Amy (Susan George) in the village where she grew up. David is mocked by the locals (one of whom is Amy's ex-boyfriend) and treated with growing contempt by his frustrated wife, but when his house comes under violent siege he finds unexpected reserves of resourcefulness and aggression. The movie, Peckinpah noted, was much influenced by Robert Ardrey's macho-anthropological tract, The Territorial Imperative. Its take on Cornish village life is fairly bizarre--this is a Western in all but name--and many critics balked at the transposition of Peckinpah's trademark blood-and-guts to the supposed peace of the British countryside. A scene where Amy is raped caused particular outrage, not least since it's hinted she consents to it. Not for the first time in Peckinpah's movies there are disquieting elements of misogyny, and it doesn't help that the chemistry between Hoffman and George is non-existent. (Impossible to believe these two would ever have clicked, let alone married.) But taken as a vision of irrational violence irrupting into a civilised way of life Straw Dogs is powerful and unsettling, and the action sequences are executed with all Peckinpah's unfailing flair and venom. Oh, and that title? A quote from Chinese sage Lao-Tze, it seems, "The wise man is ruthless and treats the people as straw dogs." The film was long withheld from home viewing in Britain by nervous censors, but this release presents it complete and uncut. --Philip KempOn the DVD: Straw Dogs is as jam-packed a disc as is possible for a film made before the days of obligatory "making of" features. Both the sound and visuals have transferred well, and, like the script, have aged well. There's a bumbling original interview in the style of Harry Enfield's Mr. Cholmondley-Warner, along with stills and original trailers. The new material includes a feature on the history of the film's censorship and commentaries by Peckinpah's biographers musing over interesting fan-facts (though none of the speakers have any first-hand experience of the making of the film). However, Katy Haber's commentary, and interviews with Susan George and Dan Melnick, offer a much more in-depth and intimate portrayal of the man and the making of the film. --Nikki Disney

• Bruce Almighty | DVD | (24/11/2003) from £7.33   |  Saving you £10.66 (145.43%)   |  RRP £17.99

  At the end of the worst day of his life, TV reporter Bruce (Jim Carrey) angrily ridicules and rages against God and God responds. Endowing Bruce with divine powers, God challenges him to take on the big job to see if he can do it any better!

• Not Going Out - Christmas Specials | DVD | (01/12/2014) from £6.64   |  Saving you £-2.69 (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.95

  Not Going Out- The Christmas Specials comprises a triple-bill of Christmas episodes from the hit Royal Television Society and Rose d'Or award winning BBC sitcom.

• Green Wing: Series 1-2 + Special (Repackage) | DVD | (24/08/2020) from £24.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  The complete first and second series plus feature length special of the award-winning Channel 4 comedy. Green Wing is the BAFTA® award-winning series that is part surreal soap, part innovative comedy drama--and largely set, despite a bizarre lack of medical content, in a hospital. Devised and produced by Victoria Pile, the show stars Tamsin Greig as the idiosyncratic Dr Caroline Todd; Julian Rhind-Tutt the fop-haired, wise-cracking heartthrob Dr Macartney; Steve Mangan the lustful love god Guy Secretan; Mark Heap the stammering, neurotic Statham; Pippa Haywood the tyrannical, age-obsessed Joanna Clore; Michelle Gomez the terrifyingly unpredictable staff liaison officer Sue White; Karl Theobald the endearing failure Martin Dear; and Oli Chris, Dr Statham's nemesis student, Boyce. Also stars Sally Philips as Mac s ex-girlfriend and Olivia Coleman as an overworked mother of four. Special Features Series 1: deleted scenes, audio commentary with cast & crew, behind-the-scenes featurette, cast & crew biogs Series 2: deleted scenes, audio commentary with cast & crew, behind-the-scenes featurette Special: deleted scenes, alternative ending, audio commentary with cast & crew, behind-the-scenes featurette

• Happy-Go-Lucky | DVD | (18/08/2008) from £5.98   |  Saving you £14.01 (234.28%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The uplifting story of Poppy, a boho Camden-nite, who must come to terms with a whole new way of thinking after her beloved bicycle is stolen.

• Persuasion | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £5.95   |  Saving you £12.04 (202.35%)   |  RRP £17.99

  A new adaptation of Jane Austen's classic.

• Bridget Jones 3 Movie Collection - 20 Years of Bridget | DVD | (25/01/2021) from £3.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  For anyone who's ever been set up, stood up or felt up Celebrate 20 years of Bridget Jones with the 3 Movie Collection, includes 24 page behind the scenes booklet Join Britain's favourite singleton, Bridget Jones, in three delightful comedies that follow her through the ups and downs of modern romance with the Bridget Jones 3-Movie Collection! Oscar® winners Renée Zellweger and Colin Firth star in these laugh-outloud films, joined by Hugh Grant (Bridget Jones's Diary, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason) and Patrick Dempsey (Bridget Jones's Baby). Featuring heart-warming romantic moments and relatable situations, the Bridget Jones collection is a trilogy to watch again and again. Bonus Features: Feature Commentary Deleted and Alternate Scenes Behind the Scenes Gag Reel Extended End Credits The Making of Bridget Jones's Babywith Renée Zellweger, Patrick Dempsey and Colin Firth PLUS MUCH MORE!

• Legally Blonde 2 | DVD | (01/12/2003) from £4.98   |  Saving you £16.27 (437.37%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Reese Witherspoon is back in Elle Woods' strappy shoes. Now a rising young lawyer she finds out her beloved Bruiser's canine relatives are being used as cosmetic test subjects, so Elle heads to D.C. to take matters into her own well-manicured hands.

• Absence Of Malice | DVD | (16/07/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  In 1981, Absence of Malice was a prescient drama set in the world of journalism just before its power exploded out of control. The title refers to a verbal loophole effectively allowing invasion of privacy. After months of fruitlessly investigating the disappearance of a prominent figure, the Justice Division contrive to leak a story that'll flush out information. Unfortunately they pick on the one news gal with a moral backbone lurking behind the all-business façade. Sally Field is superb at controlling the contradictions within Megan, and is perfect next to the resolutely calm Gallagher (an Oscar-nominated Paul Newman). His bogus investigation is sure to backfire, and once the two get together it does so in the most satisfying of ways. Shot in gloriously sunny Miami locations, the film has a constant atmosphere of realism. When it's time to point the finger of blame, the film is given over to the starriest of cameos from Wilfred Brimley as the straight-talking Assistant Attorney General. His differentiation between truth and accuracy ought to be required learning for all journalists. On the DVD: The sound may be mono, but the picture is crisp enough. A minute-long deleted scene expanding Gallagher's business crisis is in poor condition however and doesn't add much. Neither does the theatrical trailer or three mini Filmographies of director Sidney Pollack, Newman and Field. The real extra treat is a 30-minute documentary, which features new interviews with Pollack, writer Kurt Luedtke, Newman and Field. Everyone has fond memories of making the film, even Field despite her bruises after the rough-and-tumble scene with the usually genteel Newman. --Paul Tonks

• The Little Mermaid Collection | DVD | (02/09/2013) from £12.99   |  Saving you £15.00 (115.47%)   |  RRP £27.99

  The Little Mermaid Special Features: Part of Her World: Jodi Benson's Voyage to New Fantasy Land Fathoms Below: Deleted Scene with Introduction Fight with Ursula Alternate Ending with Introduction The Little Mermaid 2: Return to the Sea Special Features: Read Along Trivia Game What Am I? Game The Little Mermaid 3: Ariel's Beginning Special Features: Deleted Scenes Games and Activities Music Disney Song Selection Backstage Disney: Splashdance - Behind the Scenes Featurette Peggy Holmes/The Little Mermaid: Under the Sea Behind the Scenes on Broadway

• Paddington | Blu Ray | (23/03/2015) from £6.99   |  Saving you £18.00 (257.51%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Adapted from Michael Bond's beloved books Paddington follows the comic misadventures of a polite young Peruvian bear with a passion for all things British who travels to London in search of a home. Finding himself lost and alone at Paddington Station he begins to realise that city life is not all he had imagined - until he meets the kind Brown family who read the label around his neck ('Please look after this bear. Thank you.') and offer him a temporary haven. But little do the Browns realise just how much comic mayhem one young bear will bring to their family life and when this rarest of bears catches the eye of a sinister seductive taxidermist it isn't long before his home - and very existence - is under threat... Produced by David Heyman (The Harry Potter series) Paddington is a timeless and universal story written and directed by Paul King. With Ben Whishaw as the voice of Paddington Bear the film's all-star cast includes Hugh Bonneville Nicole Kidman Sally Hawkins Jim Broadbent Peter Capaldi and Julie Walters.

• The Madame Blanc Mysteries: Series 3 | DVD | (26/02/2024) from £17.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Blake's 7 - Series 1 | DVD | (01/03/2004) from £17.03   |  Saving you £32.96 (193.54%)   |  RRP £49.99

  Blake's 7 was the hit BBC space opera launched in the wake of Star Wars, though with a grittier sensibility and produced on a fraction of the budget. Over 13 episodes the first series introduced freedom-fighter Blake (Gareth Thomas) as he escaped from the Orwellian Federation, gathered a crew of low-life rebels, salvaged an alien starship called the Liberator, and began striking back against the forces of Supreme Commander Servalan (sultry Jacqueline Pearce). The effects were cheap, and alien planets were represented by a disused quarry or an industrial complex, but the strong characters and cynical storylines created by Doctor Who veteran Terry Nation remain involving. The perfect foil for Blake was Paul Darrow's Avon, a near psychopathic criminal mastermind who only fought to save his skin. The cowardly Vila (Michael Keating) was almost as memorable, while the female leads were Jenna (Sally Knyvette), a smuggler and pilot, and determined Auron telepath Cally (Jan Chappell). Also on board was Gan (David Jackson), inhibited from violence by a brain implant. With even the good guys being criminals, including murderers, this was a galaxy far, far away from previous screen space opera. Though undeniably dated, the show is still vintage TV SF, right from the opening three-parter "The Way Back / Spacefall / Cygnus Alpha" to the cliff-hanging shocker "Orac", which introduces the final member of the un-magnificent seven. On the DVD: Blake's 7, Series 1 presents the 13 episodes across five DVDs so as to maximise picture quality. Following the BBC's Doctor Who DVDs the 4:3 images are as strong as one could expect from a 1970s TV show shot partly on video (interiors) and 16 mm film (exteriors). Film shots have some grain and vary considerably in quality while the video material shows occasional minor tearing and flaws in the tape. Otherwise these are as good as Blake's 7 is ever going to look. The same is true of the mono sound, which is clear and undistorted. Each DVD is introduced with a CGI reincarnation of the series' famous logo and three episodes are offered with a commentary. These are "Spacefall" (Sally Knyvette, Michael Keating and producer David Maloney), "Seek-Locate-Destroy" (Keating, Jacqueline Pearce and Stephen Greif) and "Project Avalon" (Knyvette, Pearce and Greif). The chat ranges from high-school reunion playfulness, including singing the title music, to some more serious insights into making the show, to an amusing running debate as to whether Glynis Barber appears in "Project Avalon". Other extras are "2 out takes, a missing scene, 1 robot, 2 flat feet and a blooper". These are exactly what they say: an extract from Blue Peter in 1978 with Lesley Judd making a Blake's 7 bracelet; nine clip compilations introducing the main characters; a synopsis for each episode; and a trailer for the Series 2 DVDs. --Gary S Dalkin