"Actor: Paul McDowell"

• The Thirty Nine Steps | DVD | (15/01/2001) from £4.99   |  Saving you £5.00 (100.20%)   |  RRP £9.99

  It's not the 1935 Hitchcock classic, but this sturdy 1978 adaptation of John Buchan's The Thirty Nine Steps is still a rollicking good adventure. In keeping with the Boys' Own derring-do of the story (set in Edwardian London and the Scottish Highlands), the movie maintains a brisk pace that's interrupted only for tea or cocktails. Robert Powell is Richard Hannay, the man who unwittingly becomes embroiled in a dastardly Prussian plot to assassinate the Greek Prime Minister. Framed for murder, Hannay must flee to Scotland and attempt to clear his name whilst outwitting the prune-faced Prussian agents. Among all the deftly choreographed action sequences and careful period settings there's a strong vein of humour in the film, and if it wasn't for the numerous murders there would be little reason for PG certification. The grand dénouement comes with the realisation that the predicted time for the assassination is linked to Big Ben; unlike the earlier movie this version climaxes memorably with Powell hanging from the clock's minute hand. It might not be Hitchcock behind the lens, but it's still jolly good fun. --Joan Byrne

• Only Fools And Horses - A Royal Flush | DVD | (09/05/2005) from £6.99   |  Saving you £9.00 (128.76%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Trotters Independent Trading Company comes face to face with the creme-de-la-menthe of British nobility...Del decides a visit to the opera is the perfect opportunity for Rodders to impress his new 'friend' the daughter of the Duke of Maylebury. However munching a packet of crisps through the duet and whistling along to the aria is more Peckham Astoria than Covent Garden. When Rodney is then invited on a shooting weekend he hardly needs Del to arrive enter the clay pig

• Chemical Wedding | DVD | (08/09/2008) from £14.99   |  Saving you £3.00 (20.01%)   |  RRP £17.99

  A supernatural, occult thriller from Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson and Monty Python director and editor, Julian Doyle, about a shy lecturer who becomes possessed by the late black magician, Aleister Crowley when an experiment goes awry.

• The Two Of Us - Series 1 - Complete | DVD | (08/02/2010) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Nicholas Lyndhurst - fresh from his success in the endlessly popular Only Fools and Horses - stars as twenty-something computer programmer Ashley opposite Janet Dibley as Elaine his marriage-phobic girlfriend in this long-running sitcom from LWT. This first series also featuring one of the last TV roles for Doctor Who legend Patrick Troughton was originally screened in 1986 and is available here for the first time in any format. Ashley Phillips is an average young man with a fairly average set of ambitions: he yearns for semi-detached bliss with a mortgage a wife and a baby. He already shares a basement flat with the fiercely independent Elaine a doctor's daughter but she resolutely rejects every one of Ashley's marriage proposals. To make matters worse Elaine works in a cr''che - an eye-opening experience that has left her with absolutely no desire to start a family... at least not just yet! Although Ashley's life is frequently interrupted by the ministrations of his overbearing mother Lilian there is always someone he can turn to for advice on matters of the heart: Perce his laid-back and lovable granddad.

• The Halloween 4K Collection (1995-2002) | Blu Ray | (04/10/2022) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Two of Us, the: the Complete S | DVD | (31/12/2019) from £12.53   |  Saving you £0.46 (3.67%)   |  RRP £12.99

• Blue Thunder | DVD | (05/09/2005) from £12.77   |  Saving you £-6.78 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  The early 1980s experienced a wave of technology fever, and it seemed like every machine wanted to be bionic. There was K.I.T.T. the car, Street Hawk the motorbike, Airwolf the helicopter, and Blue Thunder--which looked like the Mechano version of Airwolf. In what seems a moment of Austin Powers humour, it's explained that this super chopper cost "five million dollars"! Its supposed reason for being is aerial crowd control, but as Murphy (Roy Scheider) discovers--when not suffering 'Nam flashbacks--there's a government plot to silence a Senator who's disgruntled with urban pacification standards. Director John Badham obviously loved fiddling about with technology--he directed Wargames after all--and here there are lingering shots of buttons and switches, multiple takes of turns in the air, and any excuse used for a bit of primitive computer imagery. The secondary characters quickly begin to seem like wallpaper: Daniel Stern's spunky co-pilot has but one plot device to execute, and Malcolm McDowell plays the same tired old Brit baddie he's played for years. Ultimately it's the protracted aerial battle finale (which played havoc with LA air traffic control) that stays with you. Oh, and a gratuitous cameo from a nude contortionist! On the DVD: There are no special features here, except a trailer and filmographies. --Paul Tonks

• Franklin and Bash - Season 1 | DVD | (14/11/2011) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  After winning a high-profile case, streetwise lawyers and life-long friends Peter Bash (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) and Jared Franklin (Breckin Meyer) are recruited to shake things up at a stuffy law firm. Now living large in the buttoned-down world of corporate law, these two legal rebels continue to practice their freewheeling courtroom style.

• Winston Churchill - The Wilderness Years | DVD | (03/12/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £34.99

  It's easy to forget that, though fronting the British war effort through most of World War Two, Winston Churchill had spent the previous decade isolated in Parliament and in an internal opposition to the Conservative party. Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years dramatises this period, in which the growing menace of Nazism in Germany was met with indifference, even fear by governments of the day who were more concerned with their survival than in serving those who had elected them. Churchill is perceptively played by Robert Hardy who confirms the image without falling into caricature. Visionary and obstinate by turns, he galvanises his supporters and enrages his enemies with a passion borne of conviction. A seasoned British cast includes Peter Barkworth as the amiable but ineffectual Stanley Baldwin, Eric Porter as the truly "out of time" Neville Chamberlain, Edward Woodward as the scheming Samuel Hoare, and Nigel Havers as the tragically flawed Randolph Churchill. Martin Gilbert has done a persuasive job transforming his novel into a TV script, the scenes in the House of Commons having a gritty reality that makes compulsive viewing. On the DVD: It's a pity that the Southern Pictures production first screened in 1981 has emerged so dimly in this incarnation. Has the master tape eroded so badly, or was it simply not available? However, it's worth putting up with the technical defects to enjoy this historically informed and grippingly dramatic serial. --Richard Whitehouse

• L.A., I Hate You | DVD | (11/02/2013) from £3.39   |  Saving you £9.60 (283.19%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Inspired by true events, L.A. I Hate You intertwines three tales of sex, violence and redemption, murder and unthinkable twists all taking place in the City of Angels: Los Angeles. When a desperate husband suddenly regrets the hit he has ordered on his handicapped wife, he frantically attempts to stop the murder. However, this sets in motion a series of events far greater than he can control for the lives of some seemingly unconnected people, including an action star wannabe, a frustrated family man and a guilt-ridden boyfriend. Starring Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange, Halloween), William Forsythe (The Devil's Rejects) and Dedee Pfeiffer (Vamp), L.A. I Hate You will lead you on a wild and steamy ride through the seedy and visceral streets of L.A., where broken dreams are the daily reality. Special Features: Deleted Scenes

• Love Lies Bleeding | DVD | (09/02/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Amidst the chaos of 19th century London is Katherine Ringward a beautiful young woman who dreams of carving a career for herself as a journalist. Whilst visiting a local newspaper office news arrives of the horrific and gruesome murder of a prostitute in the East End. As the body count grows and the culprit continues to elude the police Katherine finds herself involved in the biggest man hunt that London has ever seen.

• Chemical Wedding | DVD | (08/09/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  A supernatural, occult thriller from Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson and Monty Python director and editor, Julian Doyle, about a shy lecturer who becomes possessed by the late black magician, Aleister Crowley when an experiment goes awry.