"Actor: Patricia Hodge"

• Rumpole Of The Bailey - Series 5 | DVD | (29/12/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Leo McKern stars as the eccentric bibulous Old Bailey defence lawyer Horace Rumpole in the magnificent and hugely popular series written by the barrister/playwright John Mortimer. In this fifth series that first aired in 1988 Rumpole finds himself called in to assist a wide variety of defendants. Episodes comprise: 'Rumpole And The Bubble Reputation' 'Rumpole And The Barrow Boy' 'Rumpole And The Age Of Miracles' 'Rumpole And The Tap End' 'Rumpole And Portia' and 'Rumpole And The Quality Of Life'.

• The People's Passion | DVD | (01/04/2000) from £13.92   |  Saving you £4.07 (22.60%)   |  RRP £17.99

  The People's Passion is a BBC/NVC Arts co-production, originally shown on BBC in short instalments, but presented here as a single 50-minute programme. This is a musical version of the story of Holy Week, the narrator sung by the leading American opera star Jessye Norman, commenting on the action played-out by a very familiar British television cast. The use of modern dress and readily identifiable faces such as Robert Hardy (Pilate), Patricia Hodge (Procula), Ron Moody (The Donkey Minder) and Kevin Whatley (Judas) is an excellent device to stress the contemporary relevance of the story. Though if this is the aim, it is a brave move to refuse to "dumb down" musically, Donald Fraser's score being more in the English classical tradition of Vaughan-Williams' Pilgrim's Progress, than a populist Jesus Christ, Superstar musical. Rather old-fashioned, too, is the portrayal of Jesus, who does not speak but is danced in Spirit by Jonathan Cope, and given voice by the boys of St Paul's Cathedral Choir. With Thomas Allen also appearing as The Centurion--in rather more dignified style than John Wayne in The Greatest Story Ever Told--this is a direct, uncluttered and highly effective version of The Passion.On the DVD: The picture is presented at approximately 1.7:1 ratio, but lacking anamorphic enhancement for widescreen televisions. The sound, disappointingly for a 1999 production, is PCM stereo. The booklet offers biographies of only Jessye Norman and Jonathan Cope, but does not include the libretto, which can be printed out via a DVD-ROM. The programme can be viewed with or without English subtitles. --Gary S. Dalkin

• Rumpole Of The Bailey - Series 6 | DVD | (15/03/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Leo Mc Kern stars as the eccentric bibulous Old Bailey defence lawyer Horace Rumpole in the magnificent and hugely popular series penned by the barrister-playwright John Mortimer. This double DVD includes all the episodes from the sixth series of 'Rumpole Of The Bailey'.

• Rumpole Of The Bailey: Series 4 | DVD | (11/08/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Leo McKern stars as the irrepressible Horace Rumpole in this classic series written by the barrister-playwright Sir John Mortimer.

• Just Ask For Diamond | DVD | (04/12/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

  A South American dwarf by the name of Johnny Naples leaves a box of Maltesers in the incompetent hands of private eyes the Diamond brothers and is then found dead. The plot of this clever pastiche of 1940s noir movies also throws in 4 million in uncut diamonds a duo of Eton-trained assassins called Gott and Himmell and the Fat Man (the biggest criminal in England). It all ends with the younger Diamond brother (Nick 14 years old) alone and heroic about to be thrown to a watery grave in the Thames with a cement-filled bath attached to his legs. Poor kid. He's been kidnapped practically seduced by two women and threatend with death. And it's already way past his bedtime...

• Prague Duet | DVD | (04/12/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

  When an American psychologist makes a shocking discovery about her Czech grandfather it threatens her new romance with a famed Czech author in this harrowing drama.