"Actor: John Pringle"

• Chariots Of Fire | DVD | (20/06/2005) from £5.96   |  Saving you £7.03 (117.95%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The come-from-behind winner of the 1981 Oscar for Best Picture, Chariots of Fire either strikes you as either a cold exercise in mechanical manipulation or as a tale of true determination and inspiration. The heroes are an unlikely pair of young athletes who ran for Great Britain in the 1924 Paris Olympics: devout Protestant Eric Liddell (Ian Charleson), a divinity student whose running makes him feel closer to God, and Jewish Harold Abrahams (Ben Cross), a highly competitive Cambridge student who has to surmount the institutional hurdles of class prejudice and anti-Semitism. There's delicious support from Ian Holm (as Abrahams's coach) and John Gielgud and Lindsay Anderson as a couple of Cambridge fogies. Vangelis's soaring synthesised score, which seemed to be everywhere in the early 1980s, also won an Oscar. Chariots of Fire was the debut film of British television commercial director Hugh Hudson (Greystoke) and was produced by David Puttnam. --Jim Emerson

• The Good Companions - The Complete Series | DVD | (26/09/2011) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Jan Francis leads a lively cast in Beiderbecke writer Alan Plater's definitive adaptation of J.B. Priestley s celebrated novel. Charting the rollercoaster fortunes of a struggling concert party Francis co-stars alongside Bryan Pringle John Stratton and Moody and Pegg's Judy Cornwell with guest appearances by Roy Kinnear Denis Lawson and Nigel Hawthorne. Priestley's defining work and one which established him as a national figure The Good Companions has been a mainstay of English literature since its initial publication in 1929. Jess Oakroyd discontented with his home his work and his football team tears up his Insurance Card and disappears into the night. He intends to go to Nuneaton but instead finds himself on the ragged edges of show business. We share with him the trials and tribulations of the Good Companions as they tour seaside towns industrial cities and rural backwaters in their search for success and stardom.

• Prime Suspect 1 | DVD | (06/11/2006) from £8.98   |  Saving you £4.01 (30.90%)   |  RRP £12.99

  When DCI Jane Tennison (Mirren) takes over the running of what appears to be an open and shut murder case her investigations lead her into a male dominated world and the hunt for a serial killer. Winner of BAFTA's Best Drama Serial in 1991 written by Lynda La Plante.

• Snow White - A Tale Of Terror | DVD | (06/02/2006) from £8.47   |  Saving you £1.52 (17.95%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The fairy tale is over. If you thought Snow White was only a fairy tale you're about to discover the truth but lock up your children first. The real tale of Snow White is a tale of relentless terror and unimaginable horror. When young Lillian's mother dies during childbirth the father soon remarries the well-intentioned Lady Claudia. However Claudia's heart is ruled not by her husband but by an evil mirror with the power to make Claudia Queen over all living things until

• Prime Suspect | DVD | (12/05/2003) from £13.85   |  Saving you £-3.86 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The first Prime Suspect introduces Helen Mirren's detective chief inspector Jane Tennison, the only female DCI on an old boy's club London homicide squad. She is like a phantom lurking around the edges of the action while the men rush through their latest murder case, joshing and winking with the kind of male camaraderie the cop genre has celebrated for decades. When DCI Shefford dies of a sudden heart attack, Tennison demands to take over. Despite her superintendent's resistance ("Give her this case and she'll start expecting more"), she becomes the squad's first woman to head a murder investigation. Scrutinised at every moment by her superior officers, Tennison is faced with a case that spirals out from a single murder to a serial spree, a second-in-command who undermines her authority and her investigation at every turn, a team resistant to taking orders from a woman and a private life unravelling due to her professional diligence. Lynda La Plante's script is a compelling thriller riddled with ambiguity that turns dead ends, blind alleys, and the mundane legwork of real-life cops into fascinating details. Mirren commands the role of Tennison with authority, intelligence, and a touch of overachieving desperation. Superb performances, excellent writing, and understated direction make this BBC miniseries one of the most involving mysteries in years. Look for future stars Ralph Fiennes and Tom Wilkinson in supporting roles. --Sean Axmaker

• Tess Of The D'Urbervilles | DVD | (12/05/2003) from £15.75   |  Saving you £-5.76 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The powerful tale of a peasant girl whose life is torn apart by the love and jealousy of two men. Tess's journey from innocent country maiden to tragic ruined heroine is a story of love prejudice and hypocrisy in an era of Victorian values.

• My Uncle Silas - The First Complete Series | DVD | (27/01/2003) from £24.99   |  Saving you £-5.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Adapted from H.E. Bates' novel My Uncle Silas is set at the turn of the last century and stars Albert Finney as the country-living womanizing rogue Uncle Silas. The series tells of what happens when Silas' townie nephew (Joe Prospero) comes to stay with him. Co-stars Lynda Bellingham and Sue Johnston.

• Original Sin | DVD | (05/07/2005) from £6.55   |  Saving you £-2.56 (-64.20%)   |  RRP £3.99

  Antonio Banderas is a wealthy nineteenth century Cuban businessman plunged into a life of subterfuge, deceit and mistaken identity in pursuit of a femme fatale (Angelina Jolie)whose heart is never quite within his grasp.

• Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg -- Australian Opera / Mackerras | DVD | (20/02/2004) from £32.38   |  Saving you £-2.39 (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg is Wagner's most life-affirming opera, a romantic comedy about life and love in 16th century Nürnberg with none of the mythological characters and settings of the composer's other operas. The story concerns a knight, Walther Von Stolzing (here sung by Paul Frey) who must win the hand of the woman he loves, Eva (Helena Doese) by competing in a competition to become the Master Singer of the city. Against him are various romantic rivals, while in the role of his eventual mentor is the shoemaker Hans Sachs (Donald McIntyre). Doese brings just the right innocent femininity to one of only two important female roles--the other is filled by Rosemary Gunn as her governess, Magdalene. Paul Frey is fine as the romantic young knight, but the opera belongs to the great New Zealand Wagnerian bass-baritone, Donald McIntyre. His performance is richly insightful as only one so steeped in the world of the composer could be. The staging is deliberately unspectacular, the colours muted to the natural earth tones of the Middle Ages, focusing all attention on the characters, drama and exhilarating music. Though running three-and-a-half hours, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg is an excellent introduction to Wagner's art; especially as presented in this 1990 performance in an engagingly direct and unpretentious style, one that draws the audience in and makes for highly effective small-screen viewing. On the DVD: Die Meistersinger is presented on two DVDs to maximise picture quality over the 227-minute playing time. The image is 4:3 and is typical of a 1990 live opera performance recorded on video, being perfectly acceptable while revealing all the faults of the medium. The stereo sound is very good without being exceptional. There are optional subtitles in English, German, French and Spanish but no extras. --Gary S Dalkin

• Percy And Thunder | DVD | (01/09/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Promising middleweight Wayne 'Thunder' Canter teams up with veteran trainer Percy Banks to contend for the World title. But in the corrupt world of prize fighting he finds that it takes more than talent to make it to the top.