"Actor: Richard Beale"

• The Death of Stalin | DVD | (26/02/2018) from £6.99   |  Saving you £-2.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £4.99

  The internal political landscape of 1950's Soviet Russia takes on darkly comic form in a new film by Emmy award-winning and Oscar-nominated writer/director Armando Iannucci. In the days following Stalin's collapse, his core team of ministers tussle for control; some want positive change in the Soviet Union, others have more sinister motives. Their one common trait? They're all just desperately trying to remain alive. A film that combines comedy, drama, pathos and political manoeuvring, The Death of Stalin is a Quad and Main Journey production, directed by Armando Iannucci, and produced by Yann Zenou, Kevin Loader, Nicolas Duval Assakovsky, and Laurent Zeitoun. The script is written by Iannucci, David Schneider and Ian Martin, with additional material by Peter Fellows.

• The Death of Stalin | Blu Ray | (26/02/2018) from £8.95   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  'The Death Of Stalin' follows the Soviet dictator's last days and depicts the chaos of the regime after his death.

• A Handful Of Dust | DVD | (19/09/2005) from £10.97   |  Saving you £-5.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £1.99

  Adapted from Evelyn Waugh's Jazz Age satire, A Handful of Dust is a brutal story of a failed marriage with shattering consquences. James Wilby stars as a country gentleman, Tony Last, who loves rattling around his expansive estate, Hetton Abbey. Tony's wife, Brenda (Kristin Scott Thomas), however, pines for London's excitement and commences an affair in the city with penniless aristocrat John Beaver (Rupert Graves). The fallout of Brenda's betrayal includes a family tragedy and creative divorce settlement ultimately undone when fed-up Tony goes on a naturalist trek through Brazil and becomes the hostage of a mad, illiterate explorer (Alec Guinness). One might wonder whether it's more appropriate to laugh or tremble at these events, and director Charles Sturridge's handsome, graceful production ingeniously accommodates the story's streaks of dark comedy and horror. With brief, memorable supporting roles for Anjelica Huston and Stephen Fry.----Tom Keogh

• Ancient Worlds | DVD | (06/12/2010) from £9.35   |  Saving you £15.64 (167.27%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Ancient Worlds is a six-part odyssey from the first cities of Mesopotamia to the Christianisation of the Roman Empire with archaeologist and historian Richard Miles at the helm. The series tells the story of what Richard argues is mankind's greatest achievement - civilisation. The series offers an epic sweep of history against a panorama of stunning locations and bold propositions about the origins of human society. In the 21st century we might fondly imagine that it is humankind's natural state to live together in communities that extend beyond blood ties. As Ancient Worlds sets out to show however no such assumptions were made by the first clan chiefs who decided to form communities in southern Iraq in 4500 BC. There is nothing natural about the city and its founders understood that its very survival relied on compromise ruthlessness sacrifice and toil. In the West we have consigned the term 'civilisation' to the museum display case. Embarrassed by its chauvinistic and elitist connotations we have increasingly taken refuge in more politically correct and soft-focused terms such as 'culture' to explain our origins. This series seeks to rescue civilisation from its enforced retirement and celebrate such a hard-fought invention.

• The Four Feathers | DVD | (14/06/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  What it lacks in grandeur, this 1978 TV version of The Four Feathers makes up for in fidelity to AEW Mason's classic novel. By cannibalising the superior 1939 production for epic shots and sequences, this modest adaptation draws attention to its meagre production values, relying heavily on casting and chemistry to compensate. That it succeeds, more or less, in capturing the essence of Mason's grand adventure is largely due to the appeal of Beau Bridges and Jane Seymour in the prime of their early careers. (Bridges' film career was gaining momentum; Seymour would rise from here to the similarly romantic Somewhere in Time.) Bridges is the shamed soldier Harry Faversham, transcending cowardice by rescuing his closest friends during Britain's bloody campaign in 1870s Sudan; Seymour is his beloved back home, torn between Harry and the seemingly braver Jack (Robert Powell). TV veteran Don Sharp provides tepid direction, while screenwriter Gerald DiPego would continue his prolific career for decades to come. --Jeff Shannon

• Secret Army - Series 3 | DVD | (04/10/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £49.99

  This award-winning series was a gripping and authentic portrayal of the war waged by one group of Belgian resistance fighters against the German occupation during the Second World War....

• A Handful of Dust | DVD | (27/05/2019) from £7.29   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Tony and Brenda appear to be the perfect married couple - with money, position, a great house and an adored son, John Andrew. When Tony invites John Beaver to stay for the weekend, he sets in motion a series of events which drastically disrupts the course of all their lives.

• Jupiter Moon 3 - Return To Space City | DVD | (20/12/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Jupiter Moon is about the perils of life on the very frontier of human existence. It is about the loves passions and ambitions of young people growing up in an alien and dangerous environment many millions of miles away from Earth.... It is the year 2050 and mankind has established a space city on Jupiter's moon. In orbit around the moon is the spaceship Ilea home of Columbus College University Of Space.

• A Handful Of Dust | DVD | (15/05/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Adapted from Evelyn Waugh's Jazz Age satire, A Handful of Dust is a brutal story of a failed marriage with shattering consquences. James Wilby stars as a country gentleman, Tony Last, who loves rattling around his expansive estate, Hetton Abbey. Tony's wife, Brenda (Kristin Scott Thomas), however, pines for London's excitement and commences an affair in the city with penniless aristocrat John Beaver (Rupert Graves). The fallout of Brenda's betrayal includes a family tragedy and creative divorce settlement ultimately undone when fed-up Tony goes on a naturalist trek through Brazil and becomes the hostage of a mad, illiterate explorer (Alec Guinness). One might wonder whether it's more appropriate to laugh or tremble at these events, and director Charles Sturridge's handsome, graceful production ingeniously accommodates the story's streaks of dark comedy and horror. With brief, memorable supporting roles for Anjelica Huston and Stephen Fry.----Tom Keogh