"Actor: Andrew"

• Monty Python's The Meaning of Life | DVD | (04/09/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Returning to the sketch-show format of their earlier days, Monty Python' s The Meaning of Life was always going to feel less ambitious and less coherent than their cinematic masterpiece, The Life of Brian. And inevitably given the format, some sketches are better than others. But, for a movie that has been much-maligned, The Meaning of Life actually features some of the Pythons' most memorable set-pieces: the exploding Mr Creosote has to be the most wonderfully grotesque creation of a team whose speciality was the grotesque; while the sublime "Sperm Song" mixes satire and lavish visual humour in a musical skit of breathtaking audacity. Elsewhere, Eric Idle produces another musical gem with "The Universe Song" ("Pray that there's intelligent life somewhere out in space / 'Cause there's bugger all down here on earth!"), while the Grim Reaper's appearance at an achingly tedious dinner party is the Pythons doing what they do best: mocking their own middle-class origins. Best of all, perhaps, is Terry Gilliam's modest introductory feature, "The Crimson Permanent Assurance", a 20-minute epic tale of the little men rebelling against the corporate system, a theme and a visual style that foreshadows his own masterwork, Brazil. Admittedly too many sketches sacrifice subtlety for shock tactics (the organ donation scene in particular requires a strong stomach), but when this film works it's nothing less than vintage Python. --Mark Walker

• Bruiser | DVD | (06/02/2012) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Henry is put down by all those around him. His wife is sleeping with another man, his best friend is stealing his money behind his back and his housekeeper insults him in Spanish. After hearing a man commit suicide on live radio Henry is moved to action. He wakes with a white plastic mask on his face and sets out to get his revenge.

• Dr. Finlay's Casebook - A Questionable Practice | DVD | (30/04/2020) from £9.29   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Unseen for over 50 years and thought lost forever, the missing episode of beloved classic BBC drama Dr. Finlay's Casebook has now been fully restored and made available for fans to cherish for the first time. Simply Media is delighted to announce the first ever Home Entertainment release of BBC's Dr. Finlay's Casebook A Questionable Practice: The Lost Classic, on DVD and available to download on Vimeo OD 17th April 2017. Believed lost forever from the BBC's archives, this piece of television history was miraculously recovered by Kaleidoscope and, at the request of our fans, made available to see again for the first time in over 50 years. The episode has been fully restored by the Doctor Who restoration team in time for the show's 55th anniversary this year. Based on A. J. Cronin's semi-autobiographical novella Country Doctor, the much-loved and memorable, long-running drama series Dr. Finlay's Casebook was aired by the BBC between 1962 and 1971, and very soon after it premiered in 1962, it quickly became one of the cornerstones of BBC drama at the time, amassing around 12 million viewers during its first series. Unfortunately, many of its episodes remain missing, although Simply Media have released what remains of this TV landmark on DVD. Set in the fictional Scottish town of Tannochbrae, the stories centre around the town's pre-NHS general medical practice, its residents, and the fascinating relationship between the young and forward thinking Dr. Finlay (Bill Simpson) and his traditional but highly pragmatic mentor and boss Dr. Cameron (Andrew Cruickshank). One of the most interesting aspects of the series was the ongoing friction between the two doctors and the disagreements they had. Finlay would propose new modern medical treatments to try, which Cameron would be sceptical of using on their patients, and the series looked at the consequences such treatment would have. The series is also remembered for not shying away from controversial issues at the time, such as abortion and poverty. The tension between Finlay and Cameron reaches crisis point in this dramatic episode A Questionable Practice. Dr. Finlay is exhausted after a lengthy flu epidemic, but when he requests a holiday Dr. Cameron declares that a break from work is a sign of Finlay's questionable dedication to the profession. Argument ensues, and the long hours of running the doctor's surgery and managing the health and wellbeing of the village's challenging patients causes Finlay to consider his future.... This DVD also contains a fascinating promo where you can view the un-restored and restored versions of this television classic side-by-side, giving an excellent insight as to the vast improvements restoration work has made to this lost television gem.

• Alan Bleasdale Presents - Self-Catering - Ch4 | DVD | (04/06/2018) from £5.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Based on the play by Jim Morris. Blood on the Dole follows the lives of four teenagers, two boys and two girls, struggling to cope after being thrust into the real world for the first time after leaving school. Living in deprived Merseyside, the four youths' bright-eyed optimism for their futures and new-found freedom is soon crushed by the realities of unemployment, poverty, and the brutal reality of living and trying to find work in a city in decline. They all soon find themselves in the hopeless situation of facing complete dependence on state handouts, the dole . The four teenagers instead find themselves turning to each other to find the strength to survive. An impressively fresh social commentary and portrayal of teenage love set within a disturbingly authentic account of disenfranchised youth. With austerity still very much a part of our political climate, and recent films such as I, Daniel Blake continuing to challenge such government policy, Blood on the Dole is still a hugely relevant watch today. Produced by BAFTA-winner Alan Bleasdale as a part of the Alan Bleasdale Presents series, a Channel 4 anthology showcasing and given a platform to new, up-and-coming talent young writers. After his successes in landmark dramas including Boys from the Black Stuff, The Monocled Mutineer and GBH, in 1994 Channel 4 gave Alan Bleasdale the opportunity to find and mentor new TV writers. Four big-budget, standalone films were made as a result, with top casts and experimental storylines.

• Cracker: Cracker | DVD | (09/10/2006) from £5.34   |  Saving you £7.65 (143.26%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Written by Paul Abbott and Jimmy McGovern Cracker makes a long-awaited return to the small screen and DVD. Nine years on and Fitz is still married and visiting the UK for a family event. Since moving to Australia he has immersed himself in the academic world and has begun to doubt whether he still has what it takes to track down a killer. But when a high profile murder is committed Fitz discovers his ability to delve into the mind of a murderer is as strong as ever.

• A place to be | DVD | (14/05/2018) from £7.55   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Both Abel (Nelson A. Rodriguez), who works in social services, and Diego (Andrew L. Saenz), an auto mechanic, have waited a long time for the love they have yearned for. After several chance meetings the two finally hook up and quickly fall deeply for each other. But Diego has been hiding a secret: he s an undocumented immigrant and his repeated attempts to attain citizenship have led nowhere. When word reaches him that his mother is dying, Diego must decide whether or not to risk a trip back to Mexico, knowing he may jeopardize his chances of returning to America and a future with Abel. What will Abel do when he learns the truth? Can their love survive the dangerous choice the couple ultimately makes? A remarkably prescient love story for our time, A PLACE TO BE stirs both the heart and the head

• Odd Balls | DVD | (05/04/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Welcome to Camp Bottomout where boys will be boys and girls will be chased in the craziest ways possible! Not even the prim Miss Kitten can curb the instincts of these teenagers on the rampage who are after anything they can get their hands on in or around! Take a chunk of 'Porkys' add a touch of 'Bachelor Party' and sprinkle liberally with 'Screwballs' and the result is this very funny and outrageous movie: 'Oddballs'!

• Rat | DVD | (23/08/2004) from £5.38   |  Saving you £0.61 (10.20%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Pete Postlethwaite is Hubert Flynn Dublin bread deliveryman who loves his pint of Guinness his bet on the horses and his wife Conchita in that order. So when he comes home from the pub one evening and changes into a rat Conchita is slow to forgive. Conchita (played to perfection by Imelda Staunton) at first resists her family's eccentric plans for Hubert but when an opportunistic ghost-writer knocks on the door and proposes to put their story in a book and then a film of the book and a book of the film and riches beyond her dreams... she is tempted. So setting the stage for a series of bizarre and comical adventures for Hubert the rat and his family. Rat is the tale of family values little furry folk and one man's struggle to regain his humanity... literally! Special effects by Jim Henson's Creature Shop.

• War of The Dead | DVD | (28/05/2012) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Captain Martin Stone leads an American unit on a mission to join forces with an elite platoon of soldiers and destroy a Nazi bunker.

• Far From The Madding Crowd | DVD | (13/09/2004) from £17.98   |  Saving you £-4.99 (-38.40%)   |  RRP £12.99

  John Schlesinger's solid adaptation of Thomas Hardy's novel sees three rival suitors vying for the affections of the beautiful Bathsheba Everdene (Julie Christie decked out in a variety of bonnets and frilly dresses), who has just inherited a farm. The men in her life are stout, whiskered yeoman Gabriel Oak (Alan Bates), an impoverished local farmer; neurotic, repressed squire William Boldwood (Peter Finch); and handsome rascal Sgt Troy (Terrence Stamp), who dresses as if he's Flashman and breaks women's hearts for a hobby.Thanks to cameraman Nic Roeg and production designer Richard MacDonald (who also worked for Joseph Losey), 19th-century Dorset looks as pretty and as picturesque as a John Constable reproduction on top of a biscuit tin. Not that Schlesinger or screenwriter Frederic Raphael underplay the duress of rural life. We see the hardship of the farm workers' lives as the seasons turn. The film opens with a spectacular sequence in which Gabriel Oak's dog drives his flock of sheep over a cliff, thereby forcing him into penury. Whether hunger or heartbreak, every character here suffers. Bathsheba (like the model Christie plays in Darling) is a free-spirit in a society in which women's rights are severely restricted. --Geoffrey Macnab

• The Bunker - The Evil Is Within | DVD | (21/04/2003) from £20.00   |  Saving you £-4.01 (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Thriller/horror set during World War II. A group of German soldiers in the Ardennes in 1944 take refuge from the advancing Allied troops in an underground bunker system. However during the night a series of strange and horrifying events occur.

• El Cid | DVD | (16/05/2011) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Sumptuous in every way, visually magnificent, with grandiose sets, panoramic Spanish vistas and intricately detailed costumes, possessor of one of cinema's greatest music scores, boasting vast and astonishingly kinetic battles, and breathing heroic virtue in every scene, El Cid is the very epitome of epic. For this reworking of the medieval legend of the Cid (Arabic for "Lord") who united warring factions and saved 11th-century Spain from invasion, producer Samuel Bronston and director Anthony Mann insisted every set had to be created from scratch, every costume specially made for this movie alone; they also shot entirely on location in La Mancha and along the Mediterranean coast of Spain to enhance the film's authenticity. The cinematography is saturated with the burnished hues of the Spanish landscape, as are the palatial sets and rich costumes; Miklos Rozsa's resplendent score is also the result of painstaking research into medieval Spanish sources. The screenplay is imbued with knightly gravitas and more than a little salvation imagery, from the opening scene of the young Rodrigo rescuing a cross from a burning church, to the movie's indelible finale as The Cid rides "out of the gates of history into legend". Charlton Heston is at his most indomitable as Rodrigo, "The Cid", a natural leader of men and the embodiment of every manly virtue (note that he fathers twins--a sure token of his virility); Sophie Loren is ravishing as Chimene, the woman whose love for Rodrigo conflicts with her filial instincts after he kills her father, the king's champion, over a point of honour. Their scenes together create a humane warmth at the heart of this vast movie: the moment when Chimene finally declares her love (beneath a shrine of three crosses--more symbolism) to the exiled Rodrigo forms a pivotal and very intimate centrepiece. Shortly thereafter he must rise from their rural marriage bed to lead his followers into battle, and the tension between his public and private lives adds a piquancy to the film's stunning battle sequences. The international supporting cast sometimes look like makeweights, especially when chewing on the occasionally stilted dialogue, but any such faults are easily forgiven as the scale and spectacle of El Cid carries the viewer away on a tide of chivalry. --Mark Walker

• The Commitments (Special Edition) | DVD | (14/03/2005) from £12.99   |  Saving you £-3.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

• The Sullivans Season 1 Volume 1 | DVD | (12/03/2012) from £99.99   |  Saving you £-60.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £39.99

  This epic story of a typical Melbourne family torn by the terror and uncertainty of World War II, is one of the most highly awarded and widely seen cornerstones of Australian television. The Sullivans is the story of a typical family in 1939 and follows the lives of the family members and friends during the years of the Second World War. With painstaking attention to historical detail from critically-acclaimed writers and starring some of the country's most revered and enduring stars such as Mel Gibson, Sam Neill, Kylie Minogue and Sigrid Thornton. Available for the first time on DVD, enjoy the first fifty episodes of this much loved series.

• Spiders | DVD | (25/02/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £11.99

  The future of the human race hangs by a thread! Assigned to cover the space shuttle landing college newspaper reporter Marci and her colleagues head out to a restricted area of the desert where they are also attempting to prove the existence of aliens they believe have landed there. When the shuttle crash lands nearby they sneak into headquarters and stumble upon a secret unauthorized experiment that has gone wrong: a spider on board that was injected with alien DNA is now on the loose...and each time it kills it gets bigger and hungrier!

• The Makropulos Case - Glyndebourne Festival Opera | DVD | (22/09/2003) from £20.00   |  Saving you £-2.01 (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Nicolas Lehnhoff's stunning 1995 production of Janacek's extraordinary black comedy The Makropulos Case was one of the first to be recorded in the superb new opera house at Glyndebourne. It was received with unanimous acclaim especially for its star the astounding singing-actress Anja Silja. Silja won an Evening Standard Award for her performance.

• The Bill - The Trial Of Eddie Santini | DVD | (07/10/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  This special collector's edition starring one of The Bill's most popular characters is a one off action packed video following one of the most gripping storyline The Bill has ever seen the story of Eddie Santini a recent recuit to CID who believes breaking the rules gets the job done but rapidly finds himself up on a charge of murder...

• Pet Sematary - Double | DVD | (16/08/2010) from £8.08   |  Saving you £4.91 (60.77%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Sometimes dead is better. Pet Sematary: For most families moving is a new beginning. But for the Creeds it could be the beginning of the end. Because they've just moved in next door to a place that children built with broken dreams the Pet Sematary. Pet Sematary 2: After the death of his wife veterinarian Chase Matthews (Anthony Edwards TVs ER) and his 13-year-old son Jeff (Edward Furlong Terminator 2: Judgment Day) move to Ludlow to rebuild their lives. Antagonized by the neighborhood kids. Jeff befriends another outsider. Drew Gilbert who lives in fear of his cruel stepfather Gus (Clancy Brown Highlander). After Gus cold-bloodedly shoots Drew's beloved dog the boys bury the body in the local Indian burial grounds - a place rumored to have the powers of resurrection. When evil is awakened the boys realize that sometimes you should just let dead dogs lie.

• Naked Boys Singing | DVD | (31/12/2007) from £20.98   |  Saving you £-3.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Naked Boys Singing! The title says it all! Caution - and costumes - are thrown to the wind in this musical revue featuring an original score and a handful of hunks displaying their special charms as they celebrate the splendors of male nudity in comedy song and dance. Naked Boys Singing! went 'full-frontal' at Los Angeles' Celebration Theatre in 1998. Since it's raucous debut the revealing review has dropped its drawers for eager audiences around the world.

• WWF - Wrestlemania X-Seven | DVD | (06/08/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The Astrodome - April 1st 2001: A record-breaking crowd of 67 925 was on hand for a historic night which included T.L.C. 2 a father/son war and a championship match with an ending you won't believe!