"Actor: Prunella Scales"

• Great Canal Journeys Series 3 | DVD | (02/10/2017) from £7.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Once again, we follow Britain's national treasures Prunella Scales and Timothy West as they navigate their way through some of the most beautiful and challenging canal routes in Britain and Europe. Along the way Tim and Pru meet the local characters who live on, work on, or just enjoy the canals, and witness first-hand how canal life has changed over the years. Journeys include: The Wey and Arun - London's lost route to the sea Birmingham to Braunston The Shannon-Erne Waterway, Ireland The Göta Canal, Sweden Stockholm and the Archipelago Stratford-upon-Avon

• Fawlty Towers: Series 1 and 2 | DVD | (19/11/2001) from £30.47   |  Saving you £-0.48 (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Often hailed as the greatest ever British sitcom, Fawlty Towers is closer to the more elaborate tradition of farce. Comprising two series made in 1975 and 1979, the total of just 12 episodes were painstakingly constructed by writers John Cleese and Connie Booth. Unlike most British farce, however, Fawlty Towers deals with the big themes--death, psychology, xenophobia and even sex-o-phobia (Basil's marriage to Sybil is the most sterile ever depicted in a sitcom). Basil's contempt for his guests is, of course, legendary. It takes little from patrons to unleash his sledgehammer sarcasm: "Rosewood, mahogany, teak? Sorry, I was wondering what you'd like your breakfast tray made out of", he sneers at a guest who dares to request breakfast in bed. Like every Englishman, he wants to be king of his own castle and resents having to take in lodgers to maintain the place, especially the open-necked younger generation, whom he regards as sub-human. Mostly, though, Fawlty Towers is comedy of exasperation--who can forget the "damn good thrashing" Basil gives his clapped-out car, or the nervous breakdowns he almost suffers trying to make himself understood to Manuel? It's also comedy of embarrassment. The very fear of losing his dignity generally leads Basil into the most spectacularly undignified of predicaments. His inevitable misery is our sheer delight. -- David Stubbs On the DVD: each six-episode season is given its own disc with a commentary track from John Howard Davies and Bob Spiers, directors of Season 1 and Season 2 respectively. The third disc has all the additional material, the best of which are new interviews with John Cleese, Andrew Sachs and Prunella Scales. Also included are text biographies of all the leads and the guest stars, a short background featurette on Torquay and the hotel owner who is said to have inspired Basil, a very short blooper reel of outtakes and a brief teaser with Cleese in character entitled "Cheap Tatty Review". Much of this extra material was comfortably fitted onto the individually available Season 1 and 2 discs, so it's a bit of a mystery why a third disc was deemed necessary for the box set. --Mark Walker

• Howards End | DVD | (27/11/2017) from £10.20   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Howards End is E M Forster's beautifully subtle story of the criss-crossing paths of the privileged and those they disdain--and of a remarkable pair of women who can see beyond class distinctions. Dramatic and tragic but also surprisingly funny, this James Ivory film focuses on a pair of unmarried sisters (Emma Thompson, who won an Oscar, and Helena Bonham Carter) who befriend a poor young clerk (Sam West) and, without meaning to, ruin his life. Meanwhile, Thompson also makes the acquaintance of a dying neighbour (Vanessa Redgrave), who leaves her a family home in her will--which her husband (Anthony Hopkins) destroys. But, ironically, he meets and falls in love with Thompson, even as their paths once more intersect with the increasingly miserable young clerk. Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's beautifully economical script also won an Oscar.--Marshall Fine

• Howards End | Blu Ray | (27/11/2017) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Howards End is E M Forster's beautifully subtle story of the criss-crossing paths of the privileged and those they disdain--and of a remarkable pair of women who can see beyond class distinctions. Dramatic and tragic but also surprisingly funny, this James Ivory film focuses on a pair of unmarried sisters (Emma Thompson, who won an Oscar, and Helena Bonham Carter) who befriend a poor young clerk (Sam West) and, without meaning to, ruin his life. Meanwhile, Thompson also makes the acquaintance of a dying neighbour (Vanessa Redgrave), who leaves her a family home in her will--which her husband (Anthony Hopkins) destroys. But, ironically, he meets and falls in love with Thompson, even as their paths once more intersect with the increasingly miserable young clerk. Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's beautifully economical script also won an Oscar.--Marshall Fine

• Hobson's Choice | DVD | (11/08/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  A story of feminism in 19th Century Salford Hobson's Choice deals with the empowering of female characters. Henry Hobson is a widower with a weakness for the pub and the owner of a successful bootmakers. In order to save his finances he denies his three daughters the right to marry. So in rebellion against her father eldest daughter Maggie starts up a relationship and rival bootmakers with Henry's star employee Will.

• Howards End (the Merchant Ivory Collection) | DVD | (06/09/2004) from £20.00   |  Saving you £-10.01 (-100.20%)   |  RRP £9.99

  ""Only Connect"". This famous command is the catalyst which brings together two very different Edwardian families - the one passionate and progressive the other hidebound by wealth and social status - with irreversible and devastating consequences. A dying woman's impulsive wish marks a turning point in the relationship between the cosmopolitan Schlegel sisters Margaret and Helen and the wealthy Wilcox family when Ruth Wilcox bequeaths her idyllic country house Howards End to Margaret (Emma Thompson). Convinced that he is acting in the best interests of his family the patriarcal Henry Wilcox destroys his wife's ""unofficial"" will. But as the lonely repressed Henry falls in love with Margaret and Helen's willful attacks on class and convention strike at the very heart of the Wilcox family fate decrees that Henry must pay dearly for his deceit.

• Mad Cows | DVD | (08/05/2000) from £6.75   |  Saving you £13.24 (196.15%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Based on the best-selling novel, this adaptation about an Australian who has a baby with her aristocratic cad of a boyfriend is written and directed by newcomer Sara Suggarman, who has injected her own particular style into the film.

• Great Canal Journeys: Series Five | DVD | (07/05/2018) from £11.09   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  The inspirational Timothy West and Prunella Scales continue their waterway adventures embarking on spectacular canal journeys across Britain and abroad. In this fifth series, Pru and Tim embark on remarkable canal journeys, sharing a passion that they've enjoyed for decades. From the Norfolk Broads to Kerela, India; this series of Great Canal Journeys is truly international. Their adventures also take them to Portugal & France. Features: Includes the episodes (on 2-disc DVD): The Norfolk Broads Marne-Rhine Canal Rio Douro Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal Kerela Assam Includes subtitles for the Hard of Hearing

• Wolf | DVD | (01/10/1999) from £9.98   |  Saving you £-3.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Sophisticated to a point, this well-executed wolf-man tale works due to its clever setting and enormous star power. We all know Jack Nicholson can go nuts but the script makes his character aware of his changes, sometimes for the better, early on. The setting, a publishing house in the middle of a takeover, gives the characters dramatic life before the horror elements kicks in. A senior editor about to get the boot, Nicholson's character becomes a new man after being bitten by a wolf. He takes on challenges at work, lives a more robust life and attracts a new love. But will his new-found energy consume him? Director Mike Nicholson keeps the action alive in the first half but the film peters out at the end with cheap theatrics and the overuse of slow motion. Michelle Pfeiffer has little to do as simply the love interest with a grittier than average personality. Better is James Spader as a smarmy colleague. Nicholson is in fine form, relying on his keen gift to spark interest (a twitch of the head, a look in the eyes), instead of heavy doses of movie make-up. Giuseppe Rotunno's sweeping camerawork sets the mood quite well. Wolf is easy to recommend, with the added feature it's hardly gratuitous. --Doug Thomas

• Hobson's Choice / The Sound Barrier | DVD | (14/04/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Hobson's Choice (1953) and The Sound Barrier (1952) is a double bill of cleverly juxtaposed films from David Lean's early canon, demonstrating that even without the landmark epics to come, British cinema would have been an infinitely poorer place without his tremendous contribution. Both films reflect his endlessly penetrating view of human behaviour and its perseverance through obstacles great and small. And both are effectively prisms that reflect all the aspects of that view, keeping the audience's sympathies constantly on the move. Hobson's Choice, based on Harold Brighouse's eternally popular 1916 comedy, boasts fine turns from Charles Laughton--at his brilliant, physical best--as the boot-shop owner with three troublesome daughters, and John Mills as the lowly boot maker, elevated and improved by the eldest daughter Maggie in a neat inversion of the Pygmalion fable. But both are kept in their place by Brenda de Banzie's portrayal of Maggie, a performance that glows with intelligence, truth and increasing warmth. The Sound Barrier is a drama about the race for a supersonic aeroplane. Superficially, its setting is quintessential post-World War II Britain: stiff upper lips, twin beds and clipped Rattigan dialogue. But it's prescient stuff. Ralph Richardson's aircraft manufacturer, sinister in his obsession, is an ominously skilful film performance. And Lean's take on the unthinkable cost of human achievement, interwoven with some spectacular cinematography, absorbs and unsettles. It's especially poignant now that the supersonic age has been summarily ended by Concorde's retirement. On the DVD: Hobson's Choice and The Sound Barrier are both black-and-white films presented in 4:3 picture format, from reasonable prints, and with a mono soundtrack of suitably robust quality for Malcolm Arnold's inventive scores. There are no extras, apart from scene indexes. --Piers Ford

• My Friend Walter - The Complete Series | DVD | (24/01/2011) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Ronald Pickup Prunella Scales and Don Henderson are among the cast of this fantasy adventure series with young actress Polly Grant giving an outstanding performance as a girl who sets out to save her family's farm with the help of a famous time-travelling ancestor. Adapted from the children s novel by Michael Morpurgo and directed by the BAFTA Award-winning Gavin Millar My Friend Walter originally screened in 1992 is available here for the first time on DVD. Bess Throckmorton a Devon farmer's daughter encounters an ancient bearded relative... and realises just how ancient he is when he reveals that he is the ghost of Sir Walter Raleigh! Sir Walter is determined to escape the Tower of London his prison for nearly four hundred years to return to the Devon farm of his youth - the only place he was ever truly happy. He wants to rediscover his family too and persuades Bess to take him home with her. On the family farm Sir Walter revisits the joys of his childhood; he also learns that the farm is now endangered by the covetous schemes of the horrible Borrowbill brothers - and devises a scheme of his own to restore the family fortunes while avenging his cruel fate. Unfortunately a mischievous spirit's idea of helping out isn't quite what Bess had in mind!

• The Ghost Of Greville Lodge | DVD | (14/11/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  A modern day ghost story for the whole family! Teenager James Greville has lived in children's homes his whole life so he is surprised when a Great Uncle invites him to his country manor for a holiday. He spends most of his time alone exploring the sprawling Greville Lodge and soon discovers that the Lodge has many secrets including doors to the west wing which have been sealed shut. One night James wakes up to find himself in front of one of the doors and this time it opens! Throug

• Merchant-Ivory Connoisseur Collection | DVD | (25/10/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £49.99

  Maurice Maurice Hall and Clive Durham find themselves falling in love at Cambridge. In a time when homosexuality was punishable by imprisonment, the two must keep their feelings for one another a complete secret. After a friend is arrested and disgraced for 'the unspeakable vice of the Greeks', Clive abandons his forbidden love and marries a young woman. Maurice however, struggles with questions of his identity and self-confidence, seeking the help of a hypnotist to rid himself of his ...

• Mapp And Lucia Collection - The Complete 1st & 2nd Series | DVD | (13/10/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Miss Emmeline Lucas (Geraldine McEwan) known universally to her friends as Lucia is a dreadful snob but in Miss Elizabeth Mapp (Prunella Scales) of Mallards Lucia meets her match. On the surface they are the most genteel of society ladies but beneath the veneer of politeness and etiquette lies a bitter and seething malice. There is no plan too devious no plot too cunning no depths to which they would not sink in order to win the battle for social supremacy. Using their deadly weapons of garden parties bridge evenings and charming teas the two combatants strive to outcharm each other as they vie for the position of toast of the town... This release features all ten episodes from both series of Mapp & Lucia adapted from the celebrated books by E.F. Benson. Episode titles: The Village Fete Battle Stations The Italian Connection Lobster Pots The Owl And The Pussycat Winner Takes All Change and Change About Lady Bountiful Worship Au Reservoir.

• The Rector's Wife | DVD | (05/07/2010) from £39.99   |  Saving you £-20.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Based on the bestselling novel by Joanna Trollope this is the four-part adaptation by Hugh Whitemore (A Dance to the Music of Time). Anna Bouverie (Lindsay Duncan) chafes at her limited life as a vicar's wife in a small English town. When her husband Peter (Jonathan Coy) is passed over for a promotion and her daughter is bullied at school Anna gets a job at a supermarket in another town - a small act of independence that sets off gossip domestic fights and worse. When Anna meets another man who seems to understand her frustrations she is soon tempted into an affair. Also featuring Prunella Scales and Pam Ferriss this is a rich and dramatic portrait of a woman trapped by the way the world sees her and her struggle to find some kind of freedom.

• After Henry - Series 1 - Complete | DVD | (10/03/2008) from £8.98   |  Saving you £8.00 (114.45%)   |  RRP £14.99

  After Henry follows the comfortable middle-class lives of three women; except that for one of them life isn't all that comfortable... Sarah has been left well provided for by her late husband but unfortunately she has also been left with a demanding mother and a prickly adolescent daughter who craves independence just as long as mother is there to clear up the mess... Episodes Comprise: 1. The Older Man 2. Phonecalls 3. The Teapot 4. Security 5. Romantic Complications 6. The Birthday

• Laxdale Hall / The Glen is Ours | DVD | (05/04/2010) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Laxdale Hall a rarely seen British comedy receiving its first release to home entertainment is a 1952 film directed by John Eldridge and starring Ronald Squire Kathleen Ryan Raymond Huntley Prunella Scales Fulton Mackay Roddy McMillan Jameson Clark and Jean Colin with Rikki Fulton as a poacher in his first film role. The few residents of Laxdale who own cars are refusing to pay their road fund licence because of the poor state of the only road which links them to the rest of Scotland. A parliamentary delegation including Samuel Pettigrew M.P. (Raymond Huntley) and Andrew Flett (Fulton Mackay) is dispatched to the Scottish Highlands to quell the rebellion! Along the way they encounter resistance from school teacher Morag McLeod (Prunella Scales in her first film) and her roguish dad Roderick McLeod (Jameson Clark). With a brief appearance by Rikki Fulton in his film debut as a salmon poacher there's plenty of action and laughter. Filmed amongst the beautiful scenery of Applecross Laxdale Hall is not to be missed. Also features The Glen Is Ours (1946) a timeless parable of politicians at odds with the will of their electorate. Recently de-mobbed Hector Andrews takes to the hustings to stop Cadisburn Glen being sold and converted from a beauty spot into an amusement park. With Ealing stalwarts Edie Martin and Anthony Baird and Sheila Latimer recently seen in BBC Scotland's Still Game.

• Marriage Lines | DVD | (04/02/2013) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £25.99

  Marking 50 years since it was first broadcast, this DVD collection brings together the complete series one and complete series three of the groundbreaking marital comedy Marriage Lines. This hit series, written by Richard Waring (Rings on Their Fingers), is also notable for the sparkling comedic brilliance of its rising young stars, Richard Briers and Prunella Scales. Newly-married George and Kate Starling arrive home from their honeymoon to discover that they've lost their door keys. How they come to meet their new neighbours and events that follow, sets the tone for a series that lovingly explores the perils and pitfalls of love, marriage, anniversaries, petty quarrels and the kind of making-up that's not so hard to do. Series two, and so many more, are irreplaceably lost, but luckily we have uncovered series three, returning to a heavily pregnant Kate and George in their new flat, facing up to the realities of becoming parents - something which Kate takes to with grace and assurance, while George will keep stubbing his toe on the crib in more ways than one. Fifty years on, it seems like only yesterday as Richard Briers and Prunella Scales find themselves living the result of those Marriage Lines. Special Features: Richard Briers and Prunella Scales: The Starlings Reunited Cast Filmographies Picture Gallery Subtitles

• Midsomer Murders - Beyond The Grave | DVD | (06/10/2003) from £7.09   |  Saving you £9.90 (139.63%)   |  RRP £16.99

  John Nettles stars as Chief Inspector Barnaby in this feature-length episode of the acclaimed crime series. When a portrait of Jonathan Lowrie a wealthy royalist who was killed by a Roundhead musketeer is slashed at the Aspern Tallow museum Barnaby and Sergeant Troy are called in to investigate. A series of strange events follows and soon the detectives are investigating much more than an act of vandalism.

• Emma | DVD | (27/09/2004) from £4.99   |  Saving you £8.00 (160.32%)   |  RRP £12.99

  An adaptation of Jane Austen's story of marriage and manners set in a picturesque 19th Century village which revolves around a spoilt young woman Emma Woodhouse who delights in influencing the love-lives of her friends with disastrous results.