"Actor: Sid James"

• Carry On Girls | DVD | (27/08/2001) from £15.05   |  Saving you £-5.06 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Carry On Girls was the last really successful instalment of the epic series of British film comedies. It's studded with gems of cameo performances and a tremendously innuendo-laden Talbot Rothwell script that is easily the equal of any of its predecessors. The setting, a beauty contest to raise the profile of the dismal resort Fircombe-on-Sea, is ripe for politically incorrect activity of the sort that could only be conducted by Sid James at the height of his lecherous powers. Enter Bernard Bresslaw in a corset, Wendy Richard as Ida Downs, Barbara Windsor as Miss Easy Rider and a host of other semi-clad lovelies and watch as the whole thing rises to a slapstick climax of frisky old colonels, bikinis, bosoms and itching powder. In the smaller roles, Joan Hickson (BBC television's Miss Marple) is hilarious as an elderly woman who believes she is a man-magnet and the always under-used Patsy Rowlands excels as the downtrodden mayor's wife, a worm who finally turns. But in many ways this is June Whitfield's film. As the terrifying reactionary councillor Mrs Prodworthy, with a butch lesbian sidekick, she plots the downfall of her male colleagues with classic lines. "Rosemary, get the candle", she orders as Patsy Rowlands requests initiation into the cause. Margaret Thatcher never sounded so ominous. On the DVD: Like most of the other DVD Carry On releases, this one is presented in 4:3 format with a mono soundtrack. All right, you don't really need anything more sophisticated to recreate the cosy ritual of Carry On watching in your living room. And the print is good and sharp. But apart from the usual scene index, the lack of extras reflects a disappointingly unimaginative approach to celebrating a genre of film comedy that, for all its low budget reputation, provided a showcase for the cream of a whole generation of British comic actors. They deserve better.--Piers Ford

• Park Plaza 605 | DVD | (24/03/2008) from £19.97   |  Saving you £-6.98 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Suave private investigator Norman Conquest (Tom Conway) intercepts a secret message and meets a beautiful but foreign blonde lady Nadina Rodin (Eva Bartok) in room 605 of the Park Plaza hotel. But when Conquest wakes up in the room the next morning he is lying next to a dead body. With the mysterious blonde nowhere to be seen Conquest soon becomes the police's number one suspect with Inspector Williams (Sid James) following his every move. In order to clear his name Conquest enlists the help of Pixie Everard (Joy Shelton) but the going gets rough when he discovers that the murder is connected to a stash of stolen diamonds. As gun-happy gangs of communists and Nazi sympathisers turn up the heat Conquest has to solve the murder whilst staying one step ahead of both the gangs and the police.

• Bless This House - The Complete Third Series | DVD | (17/04/2006) from £14.83   |  Saving you £3.16 (17.60%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Sid James plays Sid Abbott - Mr Average Married Man. A representative for a stationery firm. Sid's interest in life are the three C's: Chelsea Courage bitter and Crumpet and not necessarily in that order. In common with most married men however he finds these ambitions constatnly thwarted by his wife son and daughter also not necessarily in that order. Sid likes to think he is with it but in actual fact he would not know it if he saw it. Diana Coupland plays his attractive

• Carry On Cabby | DVD | (29/01/2007) from £7.44   |  Saving you £8.55 (114.92%)   |  RRP £15.99

  The seventh entry in the Carry On series and the first not to feature Kenneth Williams. Charlie (Sid James) owner of the Speedee Cabs company finds he has some serious competition when his wife Peggy (Hattie Jacques) sets up a rival firm consisting only of glamorous female drivers. Cabbies driven to distraction include Charles Hawtrey Kenneth Connor and Jim Dale (in his first Carry On appearance).

• Red Sun Rising | DVD | (06/10/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  As the Japanese Mafia the Yakuza threatens to rip apart Los Angeles one cop crosses the Pacific to track down its most lethal killer.

• Bless This House - The Complete Sixth Series | DVD | (30/04/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Sid James plays Sid Abbott - Mr Average Married Man. A representative for a stationery firm. Sid's interest in life are the three C's: Chelsea Courage bitter and Crumpet and not necessarily in that order. In common with most married men however he finds these ambitions constatnly thwarted by his wife son and daughter also not necessarily in that order. Sid likes to think he is with it but in actual fact he would not know it if he saw it. Diana Coupland plays his attractive sensible level-headed wife. Sally Geeson is his 16-year old daughter Sally. She's in her last year at Grammar School and is the apple of Sid's eye. Robin Stewart plays Mike who is 19 and just left college. He is far too busy straightening out the affairs of the world to bother about a job. Episodes Comprise: 1. The Frozen Limit 2. Beautiful Dreamer 3. Fish With Everything 4. The Naked Paperhanger 5. Remember Me? 6. Something Of Value 7. Men of Consequence 8. Skin Deep 9. Friends And Neighbours 10. Well Well Well 11. The Phantom Pools Winner 12. A Matter Of Principle 13. Some Enchanted Evening

• The British Comedy Collection (12 Discs) | DVD | (30/10/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £79.99

  The very best of big-screen adaptations of all your favourite 1970s sitcoms! Includes: 1. Porridge (Dir. Dick Clement 1979) 2. Rising Damp (Dir. Joseph McGrath 1980) 3. Bless This House (Dir. Gerald Thomas 1972) 4. Steptoe And Son (Dir. Cliff Owen 1972) 5. Steptoe And Son Ride Again (Dir. Peter Sykes 1973) 6. Ooh You Are Awful (Dir. Cliff Owen 1972) 7. Love Thy Neighbour (Dir. John Robins 1973) 8. Till Death Do Us Part (Dir. Norman Cohen 1969) 9. The Likely Lads (Dir. Michael Tuchner 1976) 10. Are You Being Served (Dir. Bob Kellett 1977) 11. On The Buses (Dir. Harry Booth 1971) 12. Holiday On The Buses (Dir. Harry Booth 1972) / Mutiny On The Buses (Dir. Bryan Izzard 1973)

• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Season 1 | DVD | (24/03/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £84.99

  Of all the spin-off TV incarnations of Star Trek, Deep Space Nine had the hardest job persuading an audience to watch. By all accounts, Gene Roddenberry had concerns about the idea before his death in 1991. It took two more years to develop, and when it finally aired in 1993 reasons for that concern were evident right away. The show was dark (literally), characters argued a lot, no one went anywhere and the neighbouring natives were hardly ever friendly. Yet for all that the show went against the grain of The Great Bird's original vision of the future, it undeniably caught the mood of the time, incorporating a complex political backdrop that mirrored our own. In the casting, there was a clear intent to differentiate the show from its predecessors. Genre stalwarts Tony Todd and James Earl Jones were considered for Commander Sisko before Avery Brooks. The one let down at the time was that Michelle Forbes did not carry Ensign Ro across from TNG, but when the explosive Nana Visitor defiantly slapped her hand on a console in the pilot episode, viewers knew they were in for a different crew dynamic. In fact, the two-part pilot show ("The Emissary") is largely responsible for DS9's early success. Mysterious, spiritual, claustrophobic, funny and feisty, it remains the most attention-grabbing series opener (apart from the Classic original) the franchise has had. The first year may have relied on a few too many familiar faces--like Picard, Q and Lwaxana Troi--but these were more than outweighed by refreshingly detailed explorations of cultures old and new (Trill, Bajoran, Cardassian, Ferengi). As it turned out, Deep Space Nine was the boldest venture into Roddenberry's galaxy that had been (or ever would be) seen. On the DVD: Star Trek Deep Space Nine, Series 1's hour of special features is split between seven featurettes that really would have worked better edited together. Covering the show's origins and most aspects of Year One's production design, they all crib from interviews with actors and crew from the 1992 shoot (exclusively so in the 10 "Hidden Files"). Other interviews conducted in 1999 and 2002 tend to be more revealing, although the solo section on Major Kira is curiously lacking in recent input. While the designers describe their work with passion, creators Michael Piller and Rick Berman come off as stiff and lacking in knowledge. Hopefully this is something that will improve through the next six box sets. The interactive CD-ROM to build a DS9 database on your PC is something that will become more involving, too. Obviously the most important thing is the episodes themselves, and despite the lack of a commentary to enhance the best of them, sound in 5.1 and the crisp full-frame picture do them ample justice. --Paul Tonks END

• Carry on | DVD | (20/11/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £199.99

  This box set features a veritable campsite of bawdy comedic treats from the Carry On crew! Includes: 1. Carry On Abroad (1972) 2. Carry On Again Doctor (1972) 3. Carry On Doctor (1967) 4. Carry On Don't Lose Your Head (1966) 5. Carry On England (1976) 6. Carry On Follow That Camel (1967) 7. Carry On Matron (1972) 8. Carry On at Your Convenience (1971) 9. Carry On Behind (1975) 10. Carry On Camping (1969) 11. Carry On Dick (1974) 12. Carry On Emmanuelle (1978) 13. Carry On Girls (1973) 14. Carry On Henry (1971) 15. Carry On Holiday 16. Carry On Loving (1970) 17. Carry On Up The Jungle (1970) 18. Carry On up the Khyber (1968) 19. Carry On Sergeant (1958) 20. Carry On Nurse (1959) 21. Carry On Teacher (1959) 22. Carry On Constable (1960) 23. Carry On Regardless (1961) 24. Carry On Cruising (1962) 25. Carry On Cabby (1963) 26. Carry On Jack (1963) 27. Carry On Spying (1964) 28. Carry On Cleo (1964) 29. Carry On Cowboy (1965) 30. Carry On Screaming! (1966)

• Men At Work: Season 1 | DVD | (01/07/2013) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £22.99

  Get your daily dose of menspiration in this laugh-out-loud comedy series created by writer and actor Breckin Meyer (Road Trip TV's Franklin and Bash). Irreverent and outrageously funny Men at Work - Season 1 follows the misadventures of Milo (Danny Masterson TV's That '70s Show) Neal (Adam Busch TV's Buffy the Vampire Slayer) Tyler (Michael Cassidy Argo) and Gibbs (James Lesure TV's Las Vegas) four sex-obsessed employees at a Manhattan-based men's magazine who have each other's backs as they mate date and relate to women.

• Moving Wallpaper - Complete Series 1 | DVD | (24/03/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Moving Wallpaper depicts the behind-the-scenes backbiting at the making of ITV1 brand new soap entitled 'Echo Beach'. Mastermninded by producer Jonathan Pope(Ben Miller)who is determined to make it the most talked-about show in Britain.

• Blood On The Sun / James Cagney On Film | DVD | (01/03/2000) from £4.49   |  Saving you £-0.50 (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

  This is one of the first American martial arts movies and features some gripping action with James Cagney doing his own stunts for which he trained intensively with Ken Kuniyuki a fifth degree judo master before shooting. This is Cagney at his best.

• Another Time, Another Place | DVD | (12/09/2005) from £20.00   |  Saving you £-4.01 (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Living in London in the dark days World War II American reporter Sara Scott (Turner) starts a passionate love affair with fellow journalist BBC reporter Mark Trevor (Connery). Mark refuses to marry Sara since he already has a wife and a child residing in a small village in Cornwall. However when Mark leaves for the continent on a dangerous assignment an expected turn of events will change Sara's life forever...

• Carry on | DVD | (01/09/2008) from £17.53   |  Saving you £-4.54 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  This Carry On collection includes the following films: Carry On Girls: You might think that a beauty contest would be the perfect place for the Carry On team to discover new heights of hilarity and new depths of depravity - well you'd be right! Sidney Fiddler brings a beauty contest to a quiet seaside resort. His problems start with two curvaceous Hells Angels Miss Easy Rider and Miss Dawn Brakes. There's Major Bumble Bernard Bresslaw as Britain's first drag beauty queen and last but not least Mrs Angel Prodworthy who is fighting on behalf of Women's Lib. Carry On Dick: Notorious outlaw Dick Turpin (More commonly referred to as Big Dick) is running rings around King George's Bow Street runners. Can the half-witted Captain Desmond Fancey Sir Roger Daley and Sergeant Jock Strapp succeed in bringing the wily rogue to justice? Sid James and the rest of the 'Carry On' gang are having a ball and everyone is invited merry England was never merrier. Carry On England: Make love not war! The Carry On team are part of an experimental mixed anti-aircraft battery during World War II. The Luftwaffe never had it so easy! Recruits ready (Jack Douglas) Willing (Judy Geeson) and Able (Patrick Mower) join forces to strike terror into the heart of the enemy and run rings round their pompous captain S. Melly (Kenneth Connor). Discover where Churchill's famous Victory sign originated from in this classic khaki caper: patriotism has never been funnier! Carry On Behind: Archaelogists Professors Anna Vooshka (Elke Sommer) and Roland Crump (Kenneth Williams) are desparate to begin poking round the remains of a Roman encampment. Unfortunately the local caravan site has been built over the historic site. Holiday pals Ernie Bragg (Jack Douglas) and Fred Ramsden (Windsor Davies) have their sites set on the local beauty spots - campers Sandra (Carol Hawkins) and Carol (Sherrie Hewson)! All the usual Carry On crew are at hand to fuel the 'in-tents' humour!

• Carry On Doctor | DVD | (04/05/2001) from £6.22   |  Saving you £3.77 (60.61%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Bedpan humour rules in Carry On Doctor, the vintage 1968 offering from the familiar gang, assisted by guest star Frankie Howerd as bogus faith healer Francis Bigger. Hospitals, of course, always provided the Carry On producers with plenty of material. Today, these comedies induce a twinge of serious nostalgia for the great days of the National Health Service when Matron (Hattie Jacques, naturally) ran the hospital as if it was a house of correction, medical professionals were idolised as if they were all Doctor Kildare and Accident and Emergency Departments were deserted oases of calm. But even if you aren't interested in a history lesson, Talbot Rothwell's script contains some immortal dialogue, particularly when Matron loosens her stays. "You may not realise it but I was once a weak man", says Kenneth Williams' terrified Doctor Tinkle to Hattie Jacques. "Once a week's enough for any man", she purrs back, undaunted. Other highlights include Joan Sims, excellent as Frankie Howerd's deaf, bespectacled sidekick, Charles Hawtrey suffering from a phantom pregnancy, 1960s singer Anita Harris in a rare film role, and Barbara Windsor at her most irrepressible as nurse Sandra May. This is one of the best. On the DVD: Presented in 1.77:1 format for a pseudo-widescreen effect, the picture quality is good and sharp, accompanied by a standard mono soundtrack. The same no-frills approach is taken with the packaging; a functional scene index and no extras. Yet again, a missed opportunity to use the DVD release to provide some context. At their best, the Carry On films are rightly seen as classic comedies of their type. They really deserve to be better celebrated. --Piers Ford

• Best Of British Comedy | DVD | (23/10/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £21.99

  A Box Set featuring 3 fabulous Comedy films from the Golden Age of British Cinema

• Carry On Again Doctor | DVD | (27/08/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The title of Carry On Again Doctor (1969) says it all; almost the same cast playing similar characters to their previous year's outing in Carry On Doctor. This one rejoices in the alternative title "Bowels are Ringing". But the enduring popularity of these films owes almost everything to their basic formula and if this one occasionally seems a bit cobbled together, all the old favourites are still there, working away. This time, the setting moves from the National Health Service to the private sector and even stretches as far as the "Beatific Islands" when Jim Dale is exiled to a missionary clinic for his overzealous attention to the female patients, who include Barbara Windsor of course. There, orderly Sid James rules the roost of the clinic with his harem of local women. Trivia addicts can spot Mrs Michael Caine in a brief role as a token dusky maiden. The second half of the Talbot Rothwell script picks up nicely as the characters converge on the private hospital back in England where Dale rakes in the money with a bogus weight loss treatment. Hattie Jacques is in fine form as Matron, Kenneth Williams fascinates with his usual mass of mannerisms and Joan Sims is stately as the Lady Bountiful figure financing most of the shenanigans. It's a tribute to their professionalism that we can still lose ourselves in some of the creakiest old jokes around. On the DVD: Bog standard 4:3 picture format and mono soundtrack provide an adequate viewing experience, especially as today most people will be more familiar with these films from television transmissions than from their cinema release. However, the lack of extras is a shame. Apart from the scene index, there is nothing to distinguish the DVD from its video equivalent. At the very least, a cast list or star biographies would add a little value. --Piers Ford

• Carry On Vol.3 | DVD | (01/09/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  This Carry On collection includes the following films: Carry On Loving: Sid James and Hattie Jacques run The Wedding Bliss computer dating agency and guess what? Chaos follows! Carry On At Your Convenience: Kenneth Williams is WC Boggs the troubled owner of a small company trying to manufacture fine toiletware. Incompetent management and a bolshy union are just about the least of Bogg's problems as you'll soon discover in this hysterical comedy that tells you everything you always wanted to know about your home's most vital convenience. Carry On Matron: Carry On Matron finds the team in top form in Finisham Maternity Hospital. Sid James leads a team of less than professional crooks intent on stealing a huge hoard of birth control pills. If your funny bone is in need of tickling this is the prescription you need! Carry On Abroad: The Carry On team take a package holiday that starts disastrously and rapidly goes downhill. The paradise island of Elsbels is not all it's cracked up to be.... The hotel isn't finished the staff are abit thin on the ground - in fact Pepe (Peter Butterworth) is the staff - and the locals are far from friendly! It's the holiday of a laughtime as Sid James Barbara Windsor Charles Hawtrey Joan Sims and the gang go on the razzle in the Med!

• Masters Of British Comedy: Volume 1 | DVD | (19/08/2013) from £19.97   |  Saving you £10.02 (50.18%)   |  RRP £29.99

  For years they made the nation laugh and whatever your sense of humour they are still amongst the funniest men - ever! This unique DVD set provides an unrivalled insight into the wonderful performances given by three of the greatest British comedians. With a huge array of clips and rare interviews these films give a delightful overview of the careers that have brought laughter to homes across the country for the last 50 years and give us a chance to enjoy once more moments from the Carry Ons to Rising Damp.

• Carry On - The Ultimate Carry On | DVD | (08/10/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £109.99

  Twelve classic titles in one box set