"Actor: David Dixon"

• The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy | DVD | (28/01/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The original BBC radio adventures of Arthur Dent (an ape-descendant whose anger at the apparently inexplicable destruction of his home planet Earth, situated in an obscure corner of the outer spiral arm of the galaxy, is expressed in frequent irritation at friendly automatic doors and vending machines) and his travelling companions, Ford Prefect (an itinerant towel-carrying hitch-hiker originally from a small planet somewhere in the vicinity of Betelgeuse), Zaphod Beeblebrox (the notorious ex-Galactic President and patron of Eccentrica Galumbits, the triple-breasted whore of Eroticon Six) and Marvin the Paranoid Android (who's still suffering from that terrible pain in all the diodes down his left side) proved to be such a success for the BBC that its transition to TV was (almost) inevitable. In 1981 several key members of the radio cast made the move to the small screen. Simon Jones' bewildered Arthur Dent remains the central character, shambling around in his dressing gown (a fact easy to forget on radio); Mark Wing-Davey's Zaphod Beeblebrox is the same as his boastful radio persona, even if the second head utterly fails to convince. Unfortunately, newcomers David Dixon (as Ford Prefect) and the irritating Sandra Dickinson (as Trillian) are no match for their radio predecessors.The problem here is not so much the low-budget look as the script itself, which is lovingly faithful to the radio series in a way that Douglas Adams' novels aren't. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was a lucid, satirical, occasionally profound, utterly unique comic invention on radio. As such, it has nothing to gain from TV. The script needs no visual elaboration--that's best left to the listener's own imagination. Only the animated renditions of the Guide itself enhance Peter Jones' wonderfully dry narration; otherwise--paradoxically, perhaps--by supplying images the concept is oddly diminished here.On the DVD: A suitably eclectic not to say eccentric collection of extra features makes this a wholly satisfying two-disc set, neatly packaged in a fold-out slipcase. On the second disc there's an hour-long "making of" documentary from 1992 featuring contributions from the cast and crew, including Douglas Adams; and then there's even more in a 20-minute section entitled "Don't Panic!". A fascinating behind-the-scenes peek at filming as the clock runs out on studio time and a look at the recording of the original radio series complete the first part. Then navigate to the "Outer Planets" to find outtakes, a deleted scene, Zaphod's animatronic second head on Tomorrow's World and Peter Jones's witty and shambolic introduction to the first episode, plus more besides. The series itself is presented in standard 4:3 ratio and Dolby stereo. --Mark Walker

• The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy Special Edition | Blu Ray | (01/10/2018) from £12.99   |  Saving you £5.00 (38.49%)   |  RRP £17.99

  For the first time in the history of the universe, the complete Hitcher's Guide to the Galaxy is available in high definition! The cult classic British series from the mind of Douglas Adams is back in this very special edition. Featuring all episodes in full HD and 5.1 audio plus over 5 ½ hours of new and existing bonus material. Unbeknownst to its inhabitants, Earth is to be demolished to make way for an intergalactic highway. Arthur Dent (Simon Jones), an unassuming Englishman, is whisked off the planet to safety by his alien friend Ford Prefect (David Dixon), and launched on a dizzying journey through space and time (with only a towel, and a fish to help them) to discover the meaning of life itself.

• Lake Placid | DVD | (02/08/2004) from £5.45   |  Saving you £7.54 (138.35%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Its placid waters complement the pristine Maine wilderness it borders. This tranquil setting is probably the last place you'd expect a gruesome fatality.

• Time Bandits | DVD | (30/09/2002) from £9.07   |  Saving you £13.91 (228.78%)   |  RRP £19.99

  With Time Bandits, only his second movie as director, Terry Gilliam's barbed humour and hyperactive visual imagination got themselves gloriously into full gear. Sketched out in a matter of weeks over Michael Palin's kitchen table while Gilliam struggled to get his dream project Brazil off the ground, this is a children's film made by a director who "hates kid films" and all the "mawkish sentimental crap" that goes with them. The 11-year-old hero, Kevin, finds himself lugged out of his suburban bedroom and off through a series of wormholes in time and space by a gang of rapacious, bickering midgets in search of loot, en route encountering (and casually despoiling) a gallery of eminent historical figures that include Agamemnon, Napoleon and Robin Hood, along with assorted ogres, giants and monsters. As co-screenwriters, Gilliam and Palin cheerfully filch ideas from everyone from Homer and Jonathan Swift to Lewis Carroll and Walt Disney, while the sets--as always with Gilliam--ingeniously work towering miracles on puny budgets. "The whole point of fairy tales", according to Gilliam, "is to frighten the kids" and Time Bandits taps into some archetypal nightmare imagery. But the whole farrago is much too good-humoured to be seriously scary. Not least of the movie's pleasures are a series of ripe cameos from the likes of Ian Holm as an irascible Bonaparte, Sean Connery good-humouredly spoofing his own image as Agamemnon, John Cleese's version of Robin Hood as inanely condescending minor royalty ("So you're a robber too! Jolly good!"), David Warner hamming it up gleefully as the Evil Genius, and the great Ralph Richardson playing the Supreme Being as a tetchy public-school headmaster. On the DVD: Time Bandits on disc comes with a generous wealth of extras. Along with the expected trailer--sent up Python-style by a disaffected voice-over--we get excerpts from Gilliam's storyboard and notated script, filmographies for Gilliam, Palin, Connery and David Rappaport (the leader of the vertically challenged gang), stills, production shots, a scrapbook with cast photos and drawings, notes on the film and plenty more background data, plus a cheerfully relaxed 27-minute interview with Gilliam and Palin. There's also an informative and appealingly unpretentious full-length commentary shared between Gilliam, Palin, Cleese, Warner and Craig Warnock, who played Kevin. The transfer, clean and crisp, is in the original full-width ratio, and there's a choice of Dolby Stereo or Dolby 5.1 sound. --Philip Kemp

• A Family At War - Series 2 | DVD | (10/01/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £79.99

  Featuring all the episodes from series 2 of A Family At War.

• Q: The Winged Serpent | DVD | (20/06/2005) from £20.59   |  Saving you £-3.60 (N/A%)   |  RRP £16.99

  It's name is Quetzalcoatl... just call it Q that's all you'll have time to say before it tears you apart! It's just another monstrous day in New York City where window washers have their heads bitten off topless sunbathers are plucked from rooftops bloody body parts rain down onto the streets and small-time crook Jimmy Quinn (Moriarty) discovers an enormous nest in the spire of the Chrysler building. Meanwhile an NYPD detective (Carradine) investigates a series of ritual

• The Sweeney - The Complete Series 2 | DVD | (12/09/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  The complete second series of this hugely successful television series starring John Thaw as the legendary Jack Regan and Dennis Waterman as sidekick George Carter. Episodes comprise: 1. Chalk and Cheese 2. Faces 3. Supersnout 4. Big Brother 5. Hit and Run 6. Trap 7. Golden Fleece 8. Poppy 9. Stay Lucky Eh? 10. Trojan Bus 11. I Want The Man 12. Country Boy 13. Thou Shalt Not Kill

• A Family At War - Series 3 | DVD | (11/07/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £79.99

  A Family At War is the classic ITV series chronicling the fortunes of the Ashton family living in Liverpool during the Second World War. This eight disc box set features the entire third series.

• A Family At War - Series 2 - Part 1 | DVD | (10/01/2005) from £18.51   |  Saving you £1.48 (8.00%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The second series of this classic ITV series chronicling the fortunes of the Ashton family living in Liverpool during the Second World War. Features the first 5 episodes.

• Escort Girls | DVD | (03/10/2011) from £8.75   |  Saving you £6.24 (71.31%)   |  RRP £14.99

  It's Christmas Eve in London, 1974 - and seven lonely people are on the town, looking to grab that elusive slice of enjoyment. So who better to contact than an escort agency- providing high-class ladies and gentlemen for anyone willing to pay the right price.But even in the saucy seventies, things weren't that easy- and our intrepid pleasure seekers have to face everything from inadequacy, rejection and catharsis to racism, violence and grand theft. Just goes to show how lonely a place the throbbing metropolis can be, especially during the holiday season...Donovan Winter's gritty, realist sex drama is a fascinating snapshot of a London long past, featuring an early performance from David Dixon (Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy, The Legend Of Robin Hood) alongside notable cult film faces Veronica Doran (Haunted House Of Horror, Funny Man) Ken Gajadhar (Death May Be Your Santa Claus) Helen Christie (Lust For A Vampire) and Maria O' Brien (Adventures Of Barry McKenzie, When Dinsoaurs Ruled The Earth) It's glittering, it's grimy, and above all, it's guaranteed to make you say, now where have I seen them before? A night in with the Escort Girls (and boys) is like the night out you never thought you'd have... and you still might not!

• Liam | DVD | (26/12/2001) from £18.00   |  Saving you £1.99 (11.06%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Liam is a seven year old boy growing up in Liverpool during the 1930s. At school he is learning about the perils of Catholicism, and at home he watches things change after his Father loses his job.

• Privates On Parade | DVD | (27/10/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  1947: the members of SADUSEA (Song And Dance Unit South East Asia) fall in and out of love while trying to dodge Malayan Communist bullets...

• A Family At War - One Of Ours | DVD | (15/03/2004) from £9.86   |  Saving you £10.13 (102.74%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The classic television series which tells the powerful story of the Ashton family during the Second World War. Living in Liverpool during the Second World War they struggle to deal with the harsh realities of life as their sons are sent abroad to fight children are evacuated and those who remain at home live in constant fear - either of the War Office telegram or the Luftwaffe.

• The Legend Of Robin Hood | DVD | (11/09/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  When a tyrant comes among us a hero will arise to oppose and crush him. In the whole range of fact and fiction there is no character who satisfies this need with more romantic exuberance than Robin Hood. This new serial written specially for television tells once more with a few original variations the story of his exciting life and adventures... The long awaited 1975 miniseries first aired on BBC1 is finally available of DVD!

• A Family At War - The Breach In The Dyke | DVD | (09/02/2004) from £6.63   |  Saving you £13.36 (201.51%)   |  RRP £19.99

  A Family At War is the classic ITV series chronicling the fortunes of the Ashton family living in Liverpool during the Second World War. This DVD contains four episodes of what happens to them as the war progresses: The Breach In The Dyke The War Office Regrets For Strategic Reasons The Night They Hit Number 8.

• Beyond Evil | DVD | (12/07/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  When an architect and his wife move into a house with a bloody past a 100 year old ghost possesses the wife!

• Time Bandits | UMD | (06/03/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

• Family At War A - Series 2 - Part 3 | DVD | (07/03/2005) from £13.20   |  Saving you £6.79 (51.44%)   |  RRP £19.99

  After everyone thought he was 'missing presumed dead' John Porter is found alive albeit disorientated and distant. Margaret has to contend with his unpleasant mother and make an agonising decision.