"Director: Michael Gill"

• Civilisation | DVD | (18/04/2005) from £14.95   |  Saving you £37.04 (247.76%)   |  RRP £51.99

  'Civilisation' is probably one of the most famous documentary series ever made. Unreleased for many years it has been restored as is now available on DVD for the first time. Presented by distinguished art historian Sir Kenneth Clarke 'Civilisation' became the definitive history of art in the western world and has never been equalled let-alone bettered in the intervening 35 years.

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - The Movie Collection: 3DVD Set (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Secret Of The Ooze/Turtles In Time) | DVD | (28/10/2013) from £10.55   |  Saving you £4.44 (42.09%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Teenage Mutant Ninja TurtlesTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is the live-action adaptation of the cult comic book and popular animated TV show. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IIThe evil Shredder believes he's found what gives the turtles their power and proceeds to create dangerous mutants. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IIIEverybody's favourite giant turtles travel through time and space to feudal Japan to rescue their plucky sidekick April.

• Alistair Cooke's America | DVD | (18/10/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £49.99

  A classic from what now seems like the Golden Age of TV documentaries, Alistair Cooke’s America was first broadcast in 1972-3 and it remains, along with the contemporary The World at War, an example of how documentaries should be made: there’s none of the flashy editing, wobbly camera-work, over-intrusive music or costumed actors prancing around in the mode of Simon Schama’s fussy History of Britain for example. Here there is just scenery, the odd map or illustration and—most importantly—Cooke himself talking directly and unhurriedly to camera. Over 13 leisurely hours, he narrates a "personal history" of his adopted country, beginning with his own arrival as a fresh young Cambridge graduate in the 1930s before taking us back to the very foundations of America, its colonisation, the war of Independence (told in an admirably non-partisan way) and so on through momentous and turbulent decades right up to the early 1970s, where Civil Rights and protest movements are high on the agenda. Throughout, Cooke interweaves anecdotes and digressions into the main narrative, charming the viewer with his storytelling precisely in the manner so beloved of listeners to his admirable Letter from America. By the end he has a warning that, although delivered in 1973, remains as telling today as it did then: America, like Ancient Rome as depicted by Gibbon in his Decline and Fall, stands poised between its remarkable vitality and its equally remarkable capacity for decadence. Whether, like Rome, the USA becomes a victim of its own internal divisions or somehow manages to pull back from the brink still remains to be seen. On the DVD: This four-disc set is neatly presented in digipack format, and includes a Pebble Mill at One interview with Cooke in which he discusses the series. --Mark Walker

• Plays for Britain - The Complete Series | DVD | (02/09/2013) from £8.97   |  Saving you £11.02 (122.85%)   |  RRP £19.99

  This hard-hitting anthology series continued the single-play format that had proved so successful with ITV's legendary Armchair Theatre, presenting six contemporary plays by writers at relatively early stages in their careers. The keynote is a provocative realism: Stephen Poliakoff's Hitting Town is an intense portrayal of siblings who find refuge from their bleak lives in one incestuous night; Roger McGough's The Life Swappers is a darkly comic take on the theme of exchanged identities; Howa...

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - The Movie Collection: 3 Disc Set (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Secret Of The Ooze/Turtles In Time) (Blu-ray) | Blu Ray | (17/04/2019) from £17.95   |  Saving you £7.04 (39.22%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Teenage Mutant Ninja TurtlesTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is the live-action adaptation of the cult comic book and popular animated TV show. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IIThe evil Shredder believes he's found what gives the turtles their power and proceeds to create dangerous mutants. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IIIEverybody's favourite giant turtles travel through time and space to feudal Japan to rescue their plucky sidekick April.

• Hammer Volume Five: Death & Deceit (Limited Edition) | Blu Ray | (30/03/2020) from £39.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Hammer Volume Five: Death & Deceit collects four films from the early sixties which found the studio looking beyond the horror genre for its next box-office success. Visa to Canton (1961, released in the US as Passport to China) is a torn-from-the-headlines spy thriller; The Pirates of Blood River (1962), starring Kerwin Mathews (The 7th Voyage of Sinbad) and Christopher Lee (The Face of Fu Manchu), is a swashbuckling adventure; The Scarlet Blade (1963, released in the US as The Crimson Blade) is an English Civil War-set actioner which follows the fortunes of Cromwell's Roundheads; and The Brigand of Kandahar (1965) takes Hammer to the North-West Frontier for an action-adventure starring Ronald Lewis (Taste of Fear) and Oliver Reed (The System). All four films are presented for the first time on Blu-ray in the UK, while Visa to Canton, The Scarlet Blade and The Brigand of Kandahar make their world Blu-ray premieres. Extras INDICATOR LIMITED BLU-RAY EDITION BOX SET SPECIAL FEATURES: VISA TO CANTON High Definition remaster Original mono audio Two presentations of the film: Visa to Canton, and Passport to China, with the alternative US titles Audio commentary with film historian Kevin Lyons (2020) Hammer's Women: Lisa Gastoni (2020): profile of the Hammer star by critic and writer Virginie Sélavy Ticket to Ride (2020): film historian Vic Pratt discusses ethnocentrism in sixties British cinema David Huckvale on Edwin Astley (2020): appreciation of the film's score by the author of Hammer Film Scores and the Musical Avant-Garde Original theatrical trailer Image gallery: promotional and publicity materials New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing Limited edition exclusive booklet with a new essay by Josephine Botting, an account of the RB-47 affair which inspired Visa to Canton, an overview of promotional materials, and film credits World premiere on Blu-ray THE PIRATES OF BLOOD RIVER High Definition remaster Original mono audio Audio commentary with screenwriter Jimmy Sangster, art director Don Mingaye and Hammer historian Marcus Hearn (2008) Hammer's Women: Marla Landi (2020): profile of the Hammer star by film historian Kat Ellinger Stephen Laws Introduces ˜The Pirates of Blood River' (2020): an appreciation by the acclaimed horror author Andrew Keir at the Manchester Festival of Fantastic Films (1993): archival video recording of the acclaimed actor in conversation with Stephen Laws Did I Write That? (2020): Jonathan Rigby, author of English Gothic, discusses the career of Jimmy Sangster David Huckvale on Gary Hughes (2020): appreciation of the film's score by the author of Hammer Film Scores and the Musical Avant-Garde Yes, We Have No Piranhas (2020): video essay on the censorship history of The Pirates of Blood River Original theatrical trailer Brian Trenchard-Smith trailer commentary (2013): short critical appreciation Image gallery: promotional and publicity materials New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing Limited edition exclusive booklet with a new essay by Lindsay Hallam, Jimmy Sangster on The Pirates of Blood River, a selection of promotional materials, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and film credits UK premiere on Blu-ray THE SCARLET BLADE High Definition remaster Original mono audio Two presentations of the film: The Scarlet Blade, and The Crimson Blade, with the alternative US titles Audio commentary with film historian Kevin Lyons (2020) Hammer's Women: June Thorburn (2020): profile of the Hammer star by film historian Josephine Botting Stephen Laws Introduces ˜The Scarlet Blade' (2020): an appreciation by the acclaimed horror author Interviews with Hugh Harlow and Pauline Wise (2020): the second assistant director and continuity person discuss the making of The Scarlet Blade Almost an Auteur (2020): horror author and critic Kim Newman on the eclectic career of writer-director John Gilling David Huckvale on Gary Hughes (2020): appreciation of the film's score by the author of Hammer Film Scores and the Musical Avant-Garde Original US theatrical trailer Image gallery: promotional and publicity materials New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing Limited edition exclusive booklet with a new essay by Neil Sinyard, an extract from Oliver Reed's autobiography, a selection of promotional materials, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and film credits World premiere on Blu-ray THE BRIGAND OF KANDAHAR High Definition remaster Original mono audio Audio commentary with film historian Vic Pratt (2020) Hammer's Women: Yvonne Romain (2020): profile of the Hammer star by film historian Melanie Williams Stephen Laws Introduces ˜The Brigand of Kandahar' (2020): an appreciation by the acclaimed horror author Swashbuckling (2020): writer and historian Neil Sinyard looks at writer-director John Gilling's films for Hammer David Huckvale on Don Banks (2020): appreciation of the film's score by the author of Hammer Film Scores and the Musical Avant-Garde Original theatrical trailer Image gallery: promotional and publicity materials New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing Limited edition exclusive booklet with a new essay by Naman Ramachandran, an extensive selection of promotional materials, and film credits World premiere on Blu-ray

• The Saint - Vol. 1 - Episodes 1 And 2 - The Talented Husband / The Latin Touch | DVD | (10/07/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Stepping into the role of Leslie Charteris' "modern-day Robin Hood" Simon Templar (formerly played in films by smoothies like George Sanders), Roger Moore swiftly struck the right poses, adding a raised eyebrow to the character's established trademarks--a stick figure with halo, a whistled theme (co-composed by Charteris himself) and a quixotic commitment to adventure rather than decency. More clean-cut than the vigilante of the novels, Moore's Templar is a reformed thief (with an accent on reformed) whose adventures invariably involve a beautiful girl in trouble, an exotic locale established by stock shots and pantomime-level barroom sets with revolving fans on the ceiling, and "foreign" villains, played by familiar British character actors in false moustaches. The Saint ran from 1962 to 1969. Connoisseurs reckon the earlier, black and white shows are superior to the later colour seasons. From 1979 to 1980, there was a follow-up, The Return of the Saint, in which sufficiently ironic Ian Ogilvy donned Templar's polo neck, but the format seemed outmoded in comparison with The Sweeney and The Professionals. Volume One contains: "The Talented Husband" in which a playwright is found dead in suspicious circumstances, with guest star Shirley (Goldfinger) Eaton; and "The Latin Touch" which concerns a kidnapping in Rome, with Suzan Farmer and Warren (Alf Garnett) Mitchell. --Kim Newman

• The Saint: Monochrome & Colour episodes;The Contract, The Queen's Ransom | DVD | (15/01/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £1.99

  Two selected episodes from the smash series The Saint. The episodes are: The Contract The Queen's Ransom