"Actor: Wensley Pithey"

• Sykes - The First Colour Series | DVD | (02/02/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  All 16 episodes from Eric Sykes' first colour series from the BBC from 1972. This 3 disc set features completely uncut versons of the rarely seen episodes and includes a black and white episode from the end of the run which has not been seen since originally broadcast. The first colour series of Eric Sykes' show features an episodes with special guest star Peter Sellers.

• The Knack And How To Get It | DVD | (02/08/2004) from £17.95   |  Saving you £-1.96 (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Cool and sophisticated Tolen has a monopoly on womanising - with a long line of conquests to prove it - while the naive and awkward Colin desperately wants a piece of it. But when Colin falls for an innocent country girl it's not long before the self assured Tolen moves in for the kill. Is all fair in love and war or can Colin get the knack and beat Tolen at his own game?

• Hell Drivers | DVD | (26/01/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Hell Drivers sees James Bond (Sean Connery), Doctor Who (William Hartnell), one of the men from UNCLE (David McCallum), the Prisoner (Patrick McGoohan) and a Professional (Gordon Jackson), all supporting Stanley Baker in this hard-as-nails British action picture realistically set in a bleak late-1950s England. Baker plays Tom Yately, an ex-con who takes the only job he can get--truck driving at breakneck speeds for a corrupt manager (Hartnell) and brutal foreman (McGoohan). The constant short runs and competition between the drivers makes for an intense atmosphere which inevitably explodes into violence. Baker's only friend is an Italian ex-POW played sensitively by Herbert Lom, while Peggy Cummings is a remarkably free-spirited heroine for a British film of the time. Baker himself is superb, quietly tough, and broodingly charismatic, McGoohan is compellingly malevolent and Hartnell simply chilling. The film is consistently engrossing and often exciting, even when the plot spirals into melodrama towards the finale. One has to wonder where the police are during all this mayhem, but the fact that the screenplay, by John Kruse and Cy Endfield, received a BAFTA nomination suggests the scenario was at least reasonably realistic. Endfield also directed this, the second of six films he would helm for Baker, the most famous of which would be the all-time classic, Zulu (1964). On the DVD: Hell Drivers is presented in an anamorphically enhanced ratio of 1.77:1. This means a little of the original 1.96:1 VistaVision (70mm) image is cropped at the sides, which is just noticeable in a few shots. The print used is excellent, with only very minor damage, and the mono sound is fine. The disc also includes Look in on Hell Drivers, a 1957 TV programme that offers interviews with Stanley Baker, Cy Endfield and Alfie Bass, as well as comments from genuine truck drivers confirming the realism of the story, and a contemporary 15-minute television interview with Baker, which focuses on Hell Drivers, Sea Fury(1958) (also directed by Cy Endfield) and Violent Playground (1958). The original trailer rounds out an excellent package. --Gary S Dalkin

• Special Branch - Complete 1974 Series | DVD | (02/08/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £39.99

  The final thirteen episodes of Euston Films crime drama starring George Sewell Patrick Mower and Paul Eddington. One of ITV's top rated programmes in 1974 these episodes feature guest appearances from Dennis Waterman Peter Bowles Rula Lenska and Gareth Thomas in what was to be a forerunner to 'The Sweeney'. Episodes comprise: 1. Double Exposure 2. Catherine the Great 3. Jailbait 4. Stand and Deliver 5. Something About a Soldier 6. Rendezvous 7. Sounds Sinister 8. Entente

• Special Branch - Complete Series 1 | DVD | (08/03/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £39.99

  This action-drama series was both the forerunner to and inspiration of 'The Sweeney' aimed squarely at the same audience. Episodes comprise: 1. A Copper Called Craven 2. Round the Clock 3. Inquisition 4. Assault 5. Polonaise 6. Red Herring 7. Death By Drowning 8. All the King's Men 9. Threat 10. The Other Man 11. You Won't Remember Me 12. Hostage 13. Blueprint for Murder