"Actor: PAUL RICHARDS"

• The ABBA Story - The Winner Takes It All | DVD | (17/09/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  The Winner Takes It All--The ABBA Story reflects the peaks and troughs of the Swedish supergroup's popularity over the decades, as well as the quartet's turbulent years together. Initially labelled as just another trashy Eurovision act following their win with "Waterloo" in 1974, the group confounded their critics by emerging as a credible musical team with superior songwriting abilities. Following a few years of mass adoration the punters got tired, and for most of the 1980s the group, along with their fans, were forced into years of hibernation and denial. Luckily a new dawn rose in the early 1990s with the emergence of ABBA tribute bands such as Bjorn Again, the appropriation of the group's music in the movies Priscilla Queen of the Desert and Muriel's Wedding, and the global success of the ABBA Gold greatest hits collection. This documentary successfully manages to piece together both the public and private side of the group, through the use of interview excerpts and video footage. The DVD also contains exclusive interviews with all four members of the band for the first time since their split. Reflecting on the intricate nature of their music, as well as the elevation of their compositions to the heady heights of pop classics, the documentary concludes with behind-the-scenes footage of preparations for the ABBA-inspired West End stage show Mamma Mia!. This is a must for all ABBA fans, as well as those wishing to discover the heritage of one of the world's greatest pop groups. On The DVD: although boasting 30 minutes of extra footage, interviews and music, this release is basically an extended version of the television documentary (of the same name) broadcast in 1999. The DVD version of the programme has been segmented into 20 chapters, labelled with names of classic ABBA tunes, which reflect the themes of particular parts of the narrative. Unfortunately all of the additional DVD footage has been subsumed into the documentary and cannot be accessed individually. There are no other extra DVD features (not even subtitles), and the main menu only allows access to the individual chapters. --John Galilee

• Poirot - Agatha Christie's Poirot - The Adventure Of The Italian Nobleman / The Chocolate Box | DVD | (16/06/2003) from £8.13   |  Saving you £1.86 (22.88%)   |  RRP £9.99

  More intriguing investigations for Agatha Christie's famed Belgian detective... The Adventure Of The Italian Nobleman: Hastings decides to buy an elegant car from Mr Vizzini's showroom. Whilst he is there Vizzini receives a message saying that his time is up. Later that day the messenger is found dead in his flat and Poirot and Hastings are drawn into the gangland underworld of London's Little Italy in a baffling case of elaborate blackmail. The Chocolate Box: Poirot is in Brussels accompanying Japp on a trip to receive the 'Branch d'Or' for services to Belgium. They meet up with some former colleagues who still have memories of a case that has apparently remained unresolved for twenty years.

• Poirot - Agatha Christie's Poirot - Peril At End House Parts 1 And 2 | DVD | (12/05/2003) from £13.48   |  Saving you £-3.49 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  While the little Belgian detective and his English sidekick are enjoying their holidays on the Cornish Riviera a chance meeting with Miss Buckley of nearby End House provides Poirot with the stimulation on which his little grey cells thrive.

• Poirot - Agatha Christie's Poirot - The Mysterious Affair At Styles | DVD | (16/06/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Another intriguing investigation for Agatha Christie's famed Belgian detective... The Mysterious Affair At Styles was Agatha Christie's debut novel and was first published in 1920. The story introduced Poirot her eccentric and fastidious creation to an enthusiastic public. Lieutenant Hastings is recovering from his war injuries when he receives an invitation to visit his old friends the Cavendish family at Styles St Mary. Staying nearby as guests of the Cavendishs' are a group of Belgian refugees including much to Hastings' surprise his old acquaintance from the Belgian Police Hercule Poirot. Before long the pair are pitting their little grey cells against family machinations and manipulation; murder and mayhem; money and mendacity.

• Poirot - Agatha Christie's Poirot - The Adventure Of The Clapham Cook / Murder In The Mews | DVD | (12/05/2003) from £4.98   |  Saving you £5.01 (100.60%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The Adventure Of The Clapham Cook: Mrs Todd from Clapham comes to ask Poirot if he will help her to find her cook Eliza who has disappeared. Poirot is at first insulted by such a trivial request for his talents but then decides the case could be intriguing. Murder In The Mews: Chief Inspector Japp calls on Poirot to assist in the investigation of the suicide of a young woman Mrs Allen who has been found in her London mews home on Guy Fawkes night. Poirot soon suspects that Mrs Allen is the victim of foul play.

• Poirot - Agatha Christie's Poirot - The Murder Of Roger Ackroyd | DVD | (12/05/2003) from £10.09   |  Saving you £-0.10 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The Murder of Roger Ackroyd opens with a retired Poirot (David Suchet) cursing vegetable marrows in his country garden. When his old friend is found stabbed in the neck, Poirot begins an investigation that reunites him with Chief Inspector Japp (Philip Jackson) and uncovers a chain of furtive phone calls and secret romances. Unfortunately, the restructuring necessary to adapt the story from text to film takes away some of the shock value of Christie's original ending, which caused quite a controversy when the book was first published in 1926. --Larisa Lomacky Moore

• Poirot - Agatha Christie's Poirot - Dumb Witness | DVD | (14/07/2003) from £24.93   |  Saving you £-14.94 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Poirot and Hastings are in Windermere watching Charles Arundel's attempt to break the world water speed record. They return to the Arundel's family members. The situation is exasperated when Aunt Emily falls down the stairs. Poirot suspects foul play and his suspicions are confirmed when she is found dead the following day. It becomes clear to Poirot that the only one who knows who murdered Emily is Bob the resident fox terrier. Poirot understands that this dumb witness must find its own way of telling him what he has seen...

• Poirot - Agatha Christie's Poirot - Sad Cypress | DVD | (19/04/2004) from £14.98   |  Saving you £-1.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Another intriguing investigation for the brilliant Belgian detective as the beautiful Elinor Carlisle stands accused of a double murder; that of her wealthy aunt Laura Wellman and also of her rival in love Mary Gerrard. Elinor had the motive and the opportunity to administer the fatal poison to both women. Poirot believes the evidence to be irrefutable but once his little grey cells get to work he begins to piece together another version of events as Elinor finds time running out...

• Poirot - Agatha Christie's Poirot - Tragedy At Marsden Manor / The Double Clue | DVD | (16/06/2003) from £9.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The Tragedy At Marsden Manor: Poirot is called in to investigate a murder at the local hotel. The Double Clue: Four unsolved robberies are creating work for Inspector Japp who has to call in Poirot for some assistance.

• Poirot - Agatha Christie's Poirot - Death On The Nile | DVD | (21/06/2004) from £20.00   |  Saving you £-7.01 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  A TV adaptation of Agatha Christie's whodunnit 'Death On The Nile' starring David Suchet as sleuth Hercule Poirot.

• Poirot - Agatha Christie's Poirot - The King Of Clubs / The Dream | DVD | (12/05/2003) from £6.54   |  Saving you £3.45 (52.75%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The King of Clubs: When cinema mogul Henry Reedburn is brutally murdered at his home Poirot is called in to help. Before his death Reedburn had some hold over the beautiful actress Valerie Saintclair. What was it and what relevance has the playing card found at the murder scene? The Dream Poirot: receives a typewritten note asking him to go and see wealthy tyrant Benedict Farley who is concerned about a recurring dream he is having concerning his own suicide. When he is found dead the next day it appears it is not a straightforward case of suicide.

• Kiss Daddy Goodnight | DVD | (22/05/2000) from £6.92   |  Saving you £2.06 (52.42%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Downtown Manhattan plays host to a number of misfits and loners. Laura is one of these. She has no past. She disguises herself picks-up lecherous middle-aged men slips them a mickey and empties their wallets. Laura lives in a world where there are clubs with no signs no names no nothing. Sid an old acquaintance who's turned up is a musician looking for a gig in a club with no name. He's left trouble behind; she's looking for it. So it's natural their paths should meet. Laura has an upstairs neighbour a man not unlike her unwitting prey named William a middle-aged poet writer and connosieur - an old village-type bohemian. But to William Laura is not unlike the daughter who deserted him - and to whom deadly payback is about to happen.

• Poirot - Agatha Christie's Poirot - Hercule Poirot's Christmas | DVD | (12/05/2003) from £14.98   |  Saving you £-4.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  A wealthy old man invites Poirot to his house as he fears for the safety of his family...

• Poirot - Agatha Christie's Poirot - Lord Edgware Dies | DVD | (12/05/2003) from £6.99   |  Saving you £3.00 (42.92%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Lord Edgware Dies finds Poirot (David Suchet) reopening his London office with the help of Miss Lemon (Pauline Moran) and Captain Hastings (Hugh Fraser). As they celebrate their reunion, Japp quips that there's "only one thing missing...the body". Right on cue, a corpse turns up just moments later. Most of the suspects are actors by profession, but Poirot's "little grey cells" are able to penetrate the murderer's disguise--though only after two more victims heighten the suspense. --Larisa Lomacky Moore

• Poirot - Agatha Christie's Poirot - The Adventures Of Johnnie Waverly / Four And Twenty Blackbirds | DVD | (12/05/2003) from £6.37   |  Saving you £3.62 (56.83%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The Adventure Of Johnnie Waverly: Country squire Marcus Waverly calls on Poirot to ask for help in dealing with kidnap threats against his son Johnnie. It becomes a race against time to discover the identity of the mystery letter writer and save little Johnnie from a terrible fate. 4 & 20 Blackbirds: As elderly Anthony Gascoigne lies dying at his Brighton home his estranged twin brother Henry falls to his death. A tragic accident or murder? Poirot believes the answer lies in the eating of a blackberry pie.

• Poirot - Agatha Christie's Poirot - The Cornish Mystery / The Disappearance Of Mr Davenheim | DVD | (12/05/2003) from £7.68   |  Saving you £2.31 (30.08%)   |  RRP £9.99

  David Suchet brings the great detective Hercule Poirot to rich life in The Cornish Mystery / The Disappearance of Mr Davenheim. These two episodes are lovingly true to their 1930s settings. In The Cornish Mystery Poirot has an unusual visitor--a victim who says she's not dead yet but is slowly being poisoned. The Disappearance of Mr Davenheim takes the standard case of a businessman's disappearance and spices it up with a friendly wager that Poirot can't solve the mystery without leaving his apartment. --Ali Davis

• Poirot - Agatha Christie's Poirot - The Adventure Of The Egyptian Tomb / The Underdog | DVD | (16/06/2003) from £6.28   |  Saving you £3.71 (59.08%)   |  RRP £9.99

  More intriguing investigations for Agatha Christie's famed Belgian detective... The Adventure Of The Egyptian Tomb: An archaeological expedition has discovered the tomb of King-Men-her-Ra in the Valley of the Kings. When Sir John Willard smashes the seal of the burial chamber he suffers a heart attack and dies. One by one the men involved in the expedition begin to drop off like flies. Is there a curse on the tomb or are there more sinister forces at work? Poirot is called in to investigate. The Underdog: Horace Trefusis the chief chemist at the chemical factory is going through confidential papers concerning a new compound called Astroprene when an intruder disturbs him. Poirot becomes involved and finds himself investigating a case of intruige and sabotage.

• Poirot - Agatha Christie's Poirot - The Affair At The Victory Ball / The Mystery Of Hunter's Lodge | DVD | (16/06/2003) from £9.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  More intriguing investigations for Agatha Christie's famed Belgian detective... The Affair At The Victory Ball: The Victory costume ball is in full swing just before midnight when a brutal murder is discovered. Poirot has only his own observations a mysterious note and a silver monogrammed case of cocaine to lead him to the killer. The Mystery Of Hunter's Lodge: Hastings accompanied by Poirot has been invited to a Grouse shoot on his uncle's estate. Amidst the gloomy Emglish weather and gun-smoke Poirot finds himself investigating a case of bizarre disguise and mistaken identity.

• Shadowmakers | DVD | (05/07/2004) from £14.98   |  Saving you £1.01 (6.74%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Based on the true events surrounding the secret wartime project in New Mexico where the first atomic bombs were designed and built Shadow Makers is the story of brilliant scientist Robert Oppenheimer who supervised the work on the now infamous ""Manhattan Project"". Directed by Oscar-nominated Roland Joffe the film focuses on the link between the progress of science at all costs deep moral ambiguities and the effects of the project on the individuals involved. Paul Newman plays th

• Poirot - Agatha Christie's Poirot - The Kidnapped Prime Minister / Western Star | DVD | (12/05/2003) from £8.53   |  Saving you £4.45 (80.32%)   |  RRP £9.99

  In The Kidnapped Prime Minister / The Adventure of the Western Star David Suchet once again brings the great detective Hercule Poirot to rich life. In The Adventure of the Western Star a Belgian film star's priceless diamond disappears after she receives threatening letters from a Chinese man. When Britain's Prime Minister vanishes on the eve of important international negotiations, Poirot is called in to solve the case of The Kidnapped Prime Minister. The deceptions in each crime are elaborately plotted, but for Poirot the solution is usually as simple as a children's nursery rhyme. Suchet portrays the dapper detective with a quiet dignity and sublime smile that often infuriate his action-hungry clients. But as Agatha Christie readers know quite well, all of the real action takes place in Poirot's "little grey cells". Providing comic counterpoint to Poirot's method is his sidekick, Captain Hastings (Hugh Fraser), whose well-meaning but befuddled attempts to help solve each case make these episodes entertaining even if you've already figured out whodunit. --Larisa Lomacky Moore