"Actor: Michael Sheard"

• On The Buses - Series 1 - Episodes 1 To 3 | DVD | (15/07/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Set around a London bus depot, On the Buses starred Reg Varney as Stan, an ageing bachelor and driver of the No.11 bus who still lives with his Mum (Cicely Courtneidge), his plain sister Olive (Anna Karen) and disgruntled brother-in-law Arthur (Michael Robbins). At work, he fraternises with the laddish and lecherous Jack (Bob Grant), with whom he pursues innumerable (and improbable) giggly, mini-skirted "clippies" (conductors) and cheeks the beady-eyed and punctilious bus inspector, Blakey (Steven Lewis) This first series was broadcast in black and white in 1969. Much of the comedy derives from gender role reversal--Stan and Arthur forced to do the household chores when Olive and Mum fall ill ("Family Flu"); "The Canteen", in which the busmen decide to run the canteen themselves; or "The Darts Match", in which Stan and Jack are bested at darts by--imagine--a pair of dollybird clippies. Despite its immense popularity, On the Buses hasn't dated well. Like the buses themselves, the jokes don't arrive very often and when they do, they're visible a long way off. The studio audience whoops cathartically at anything remotely alluding to sex, making you wonder at the repressed nature of British society in 1969. In later decades it would come to be treasured as somewhat creaky kitsch by audiences nostalgic for an age of politically incorrect innocence. On the DVD: On the Buses has no extra features here. The original black and white versions have scrubbed up reasonably well, although defects such as fading sound and poor dubbing have proven beyond amendment. --David Stubbs

• On The Buses - The Best Of Series 3 And 4 - Vol. 4 | DVD | (11/08/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Running from 1969 to 1973 On The Buses was one of the most successful comedy series ever made. Re-live the flares and wide collars with the On The Buses crew. 'On the Buses' is British comedy at its best. Starring Reg Varney as jack-the-lad bus driver Stan Bob Grant as his chirpy conductor Jack and Stephen I'll 'ave you Butler! Lewis as the long-suffering dim-witted Inspector Blake who does his best to get the buses out on time while making their lives as miserable as possible. Episode titles: Nowhere To Go The Canteen Girl Dangerous Driving The Other Woman.

• Riddle Of The Sands | DVD | (01/11/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Based on the ""classic spy thriller of the 20th century"" that historians hail as the ""tip-off"" that saved Britain from invasion. Two sailboating Englishmen discover a massive German fleet secretly preparing to attack their nation and set out to do something about it not only do they have to thwart the German Navy but Kaiser Wilhelm himself.

• The Persuaders - Vol. 5 - Episodes 15-18 | DVD | (18/02/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Further action-fuelled adventures with those cool crimefighters Lord Brett Sinclair (Moore) and Danny Wilde (Curtis). Epsisodes include: The Man In The Middle: A double agent is discovered working in British Intelligence... Element of Risk: A known criminal arrives in London and gets mixed up with Danny... A Home of One's Own: Danny buys himself a cottage and gets involved with the illegal activities of the local squire... Nuisance Value: A fake kidnapping threatens to test the sleuthing skills of Brett and Danny...

• Les Miserables | DVD | (28/06/2004) from £3.99   |  Saving you £2.00 (50.13%)   |  RRP £5.99

  France 1796: in the new Republic poverty is rife and crimes harshly punished. Jean Valjean is sentenced to five years at the gallery for stealing a loaf of bread. There the Inspector of Guards Javert takes an intense loathing to him - and every rebellion on Jean's part is met with strict punishment and a longer sentence. Jean eventually escapes. Five years later he is living a respectable life as a Mayor when fate intervenes and brings him face to face with his old enemy Javert. Victor Hugo's enduring classic is lavishly recreated and performed by an outstanding cast.

• Green Ice | DVD | (28/02/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £6.99

  Electronics expert Wiley (Ryan O'Neal) flees responsibility and New York city for Mexican adventure in this spectacular action romance. On the way he meets the beautiful Holbrook (Anne Archer) and joins up with her south of the border. But a meeting with the sinister Argenti (Omar Sharif) and the discovery of a sparkling collection of Green Ice in his hotel room lead to Wiley and Holbrook becoming embroiled in the deadly world of emerald smuggling...

• Lord Peter Wimsey - Five Red Herrings ) | DVD | (27/12/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Based on the series of novels written by Dorothy L Sayers in the 1920s and 30s, Lord Peter Wimsey was dramatised for TV by the BBC between 1972-5. Ian Carmichael, veteran of British film comedy, played the genial, aristocratic sleuth; Glyn Houston was his manservant Bunter. The pair are similar to PG Wodehouse's Jeeves and Bertie Wooster (whom Carmichael played in an earlier TV adaptation) though here the duo are equal in intelligence, breezing about the country together in Wimsey's Bentley and stumbling with morbid regularity upon baffling murder mysteries to test their wits. Those for whom this series forms hazy memories of childhood might be surprised at its somewhat stagy, lingering interior shots, the spartan paucity of music, the miserly attitude towards locations, especially foreign ones, and the rather genteel, leisurely pace of these programmes, besides which Inspector Morse seems like Quentin Tarantino in comparison. It seems that initially the BBC was reluctant to commission the series and ventured on production with a wary eye on the budget. The Britain depicted by Sayers is, by and large, populated by either the upper classes or heavily accented, rum-do-and-no-mistake lower orders, which some might find consoling. However, the acting is generally excellent and the murder mysteries are sophisticated parlour games, the televisual equivalent of a good, absorbing jigsaw puzzle. There were five feature-length adaptations in all. "Five Red Herrings" is the last and perhaps the least of the series, involving a trout fishing holiday interrupted by the death of a local artist. --David Stubbs

• On The Buses - Series 1 and 2 (4 Disc Box Set) | DVD | (12/08/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Set around a London bus depot, On the Buses starred Reg Varney as Stan, an ageing bachelor and driver of the No 11 bus who still lives with his mum (Cicely Courtneidge in the first series, Doris Hare in the second), his plain sister Olive (Anna Karen) and disgruntled brother-in-law Arthur (Michael Robbins). At work, he fraternises with the laddish and lecherous Jack (Bob Grant), with whom he pursues innumerable (and improbable) giggly, mini-skirted "clippies" (conductors) and cheeks the beady-eyed and punctilious bus inspector, Blakey (Steven Lewis) The first series was broadcast in black and white in 1969, and the show eventually ran until 1973. Eventually, On the Buses would be both celebrated and reviled for its leery, pre-feminist sauciness, and for the exasperated gurning of Lewis' little Hitler-esque inspector. The first series in particular, however, is more keen to develop the theme of Stan as Mummy's boy, with Lewis only a secondary character. Much of the comedy derives from gender role reversal--Stan and Arthur forced to do the household chores when Olive and Mum fall ill ("Family Flu"); "The Canteen", in which the busmen decide to run the canteen themselves; or "The Darts Match", in which Stan and Jack are bested at darts by--imagine--a pair of dollybird clippies. Despite its immense popularity, On the Buses hasn't dated well. Like the buses themselves, the jokes don't arrive very often and when they do, they're visible a long way off. The studio audience whoops cathartically at anything remotely alluding to sex--even a bared male nipple--making you wonder at the repressed nature of British society in 1969. In later decades it would come to be treasured as somewhat creaky kitsch by audiences nostalgic for an age of politically incorrect innocence. On the DVD: On the Buses has no extra features here. The original black and white versions have scrubbed up reasonably well, although defects such as fading sound and poor dubbing have proven beyond amendment. --David Stubbs

• On The Buses - The Best Of Series 3 And 4 - Vol. 1 | DVD | (11/08/2003) from £22.96   |  Saving you £-9.98 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Running from 1969 to 1973 On The Buses was one of the most successful comedy series ever made. Re-live the flares and wide collars with the On The Buses crew. 'On the Buses' is British comedy at its best. Starring Reg Varney as jack-the-lad bus driver Stan Bob Grant as his chirpy conductor Jack and Stephen I'll 'ave you Butler! Lewis as the long-suffering dim-witted Inspector Blake who does his best to get the buses out on time while making their lives as miserable as possible. Episode titles: First Aid The Cistern Busmen's Perks The Snake.

• Blake 7 Series 3 - Limited Collector's Edition | DVD | (20/06/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £49.99

  Intergalactic adventure with an interplanetary resistance group battling for survival against a totalitarian super-power. Roaming a universe of boundless space and restrictive discipline freedom-fighter Blake with the crew of spaceship Liberator is locked in combat with the all-powerful forces of the Federation. Episodes comprise: 1. Aftermath 2. Powerplay 3. Volcano 4. Dawn of the Gods 5. The Harvest of Kairos 6. City at the Edge of the World 7. Children of Auron 8. Rumou

• On The Buses - Series 2 - Episodes 4 To 6 | DVD | (15/07/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Set around a London bus depot, On the Buses starred Reg Varney as Stan, an ageing bachelor and driver of the No.11 bus who still lives with his Mum (Doris Hare), his plain sister Olive (Anna Karen) and disgruntled brother-in-law Arthur (Michael Robbins). At work, he fraternises with the laddish and lecherous Jack (Bob Grant), with whom he pursues innumerable (and improbable) giggly, mini-skirted "clippies" (conductors) and cheeks the beady-eyed and punctilious bus inspector, Blakey (Steven Lewis) Despite its immense popularity, On the Buses hasn't dated well. Like the buses themselves, the jokes don't arrive very often and when they do, they're visible a long way off. The studio audience whoops cathartically at anything remotely alluding to sex--even a bared male nipple--making you wonder at the repressed nature of British society in 1969. In later decades it would come to be treasured as somewhat creaky kitsch by audiences nostalgic for an age of politically incorrect innocence. On the DVD: On the Buses has no extra features here. The original black and white versions have scrubbed up reasonably well, although defects such as fading sound and poor dubbing have proven beyond amendment. --David Stubbs

• On The Buses - The Best Of Series 3 And 4 - Vol. 3 | DVD | (11/08/2003) from £18.70   |  Saving you £-8.71 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Running from 1969 to 1973 On The Buses was one of the most successful comedy series ever made. Re-live the flares and wide collars with the On The Buses crew. 'On the Buses' is British comedy at its best. Starring Reg Varney as jack-the-lad bus driver Stan Bob Grant as his chirpy conductor Jack and Stephen I'll 'ave you Butler! Lewis as the long-suffering dim-witted Inspector Blake who does his best to get the buses out on time while making their lives as miserable as possible. Episode titles: Going Steady The Squeeze On The Make Brew It Yourself.

• On The Buses - The Best Of Series 3 And 4 | DVD | (11/08/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  One of the most successful TV series ever made running from 1969 to 1973 'On the Buses' is great British comedy at its best. Starring Reg Varney as jack-the-lad bus driver Stan and Stephen Lewis as the long-suffering dim-witted Inspector Blake ('Blakey') who does his best to get the buses out in time whilst making their lives as miserable as possible.

• On The Buses - The Best Of Series 3 And 4 - Vol. 2 | DVD | (11/08/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Running from 1969 to 1973 On The Buses was one of the most successful comedy series ever made. Re-live the flares and wide collars with the On The Buses crew. 'On the Buses' is British comedy at its best. Starring Reg Varney as jack-the-lad bus driver Stan Bob Grant as his chirpy conductor Jack and Stephen I'll 'ave you Butler! Lewis as the long-suffering dim-witted Inspector Blake who does his best to get the buses out on time while making their lives as miserable as possible. Episode titles: Mum's Last Fling Radio Control Foggy Night The New Uniforms.