"Director: Brian Penders"

• The Best of The Two Ronnies | DVD | (01/10/2001) from £2.97   |  Saving you £10.02 (337.37%)   |  RRP £12.99

  How could there not be a Best of the Two Ronnies? After all, there isn't any worst. The only conceivable gripe anyone could have with this collection is the usual how-could-they-have-left-out-so-and-so problem that is bound to beset a comedy programme of such high quality. However, pretty much every one of the 25 items on this generously filled release is an unmitigated joy. The duo's talent for quickfire wordplay is well to the fore in such sketches as "Nuts Milord", the phonetic "Swedish Lesson" set in a restaurant ("F-U-N-E-X?" "S, V-F-X.") and in the classic "Ice Cream Parlour", in which Corbett's request for cheese and onion ice cream is met with Barker's endless list of alternatives delivered at auctioneer-like speed. They also excel at manipulating the whole concept of how dialogue works, as in "Crossed Lines" (two halves of two different telephone conversations heard at once) and "Mastermind", in which Corbett's special subject is "answering the question before last". All told this is an unmissable collection; so in the words of the St Botolph's Country Dance Group (featured in the wonderful song-and-dance finale), "Sod off, sod off, so doff your hat I pray". On the DVD: The Best of the Two Ronnies on disc is presented in 4:3 TV ratio and also includes artist profiles plus a helpful, stills-driven menu, but no other extras. --Roger Thomas

• The Two Ronnies - The Best Of The Two Ronnies - Vol. 2 | DVD | (29/09/2003) from £5.27   |  Saving you £7.72 (146.49%)   |  RRP £12.99

  From 1971 to 1987 and over the course of 12 series and eight specials The Two Ronnie's became one of the great television comedy shows. Millions of viewers lapped up the sketches of doctors' surgeries middle-class parties government ministry broadcasts as well as the regular news headlines Ronnie Corbett monologues Ronnie Barker word-play sketches and fabulous comic songs. This selection features some of the best of these including: The Short-sighted Optician The Ministry for S

• Boom Boom! - The Best Of The Original Basil Brush Show | DVD | (22/10/2001) from £29.99   |  Saving you £-20.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The Terry Thomas of children's television returns to the screen in Boom, Boom! The Best Of The Original Basil Brush Show. The raffish star, with his distinctive laugh, trademark tweeds and enduring catchphrase, was created in 1963, diligently learning his trade before hitting the big time in the 1970s in his own show. The cheeky vulpine host went on to vex a succession of "Mr"s with his continual interrupting, ad-libbing and appalling jokes:Mr Roy: "Do you know about ethics?"Basil, lisping: "Yes, it's somewhere near Sussex, isn't it?"The show's guest list boasted the best of 1970s celebrity: Alvin Stardust, Cilla Black, John Inman and Demis Roussos to mention just a few--all treated to Basil's unique blend of charm and brusque wit in a series of excruciating sketches.The show was dropped in the 1980s but Boom, Boom! The Best Of The Original Basil Brush Show proves that Basil, now a pop-culture icon, is a truly 21st-century fox. --Helen Baker