"Actor: Simon Russell Beale"

• Operation Mincemeat | DVD | (04/07/2022) from £6.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  It's 1943.¯The Allies are determined to break Hitler's grip on occupied Europe, and plan to launch an all-out assault on Sicily; but they face an impossible challenge - how to protect the invasion force from potential annihilation. It falls to two remarkable intelligence officers, Ewen Montagu (Colin Firth) and Charles Cholmondeley (Matthew Macfadyen) to dream the most inspired and improbable disinformation strategy of the war - centred on the most unlikely of secret agents: a dead man. Operation Mincemeat is the extraordinary and true story of an idea that hoped to turn the tide for the Allies - taking impossibly high risks, defying logic, and testing the nerves of its creators to breaking point.

• 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.

• My Cousin Rachel | DVD | (30/10/2017) from £3.81   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  A young Englishman plots revenge against his mysterious, beautiful cousin, believing that she murdered his guardian. But his feelings become complicated as he finds himself falling under the beguiling spell of her charms.

• 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.

• Operation Mincemeat | Blu Ray | (04/07/2022) from £11.89   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  It's 1943.¯The Allies are determined to break Hitler's grip on occupied Europe, and plan to launch an all-out assault on Sicily; but they face an impossible challenge - how to protect the invasion force from potential annihilation. It falls to two remarkable intelligence officers, Ewen Montagu (Colin Firth) and Charles Cholmondeley (Matthew Macfadyen) to dream the most inspired and improbable disinformation strategy of the war - centred on the most unlikely of secret agents: a dead man. Operation Mincemeat is the extraordinary and true story of an idea that hoped to turn the tide for the Allies - taking impossibly high risks, defying logic, and testing the nerves of its creators to breaking point.

• Persuasion | DVD | (01/11/1999) from £14.29   |  Saving you £5.70 (39.89%)   |  RRP £19.99

  After a slow beginning, in which the complex tangle of relationships is initially confusing, this BBC adaptation of Jane Austen's last novel, Persuasion, develops into an elegant romantic comedy. Austin combines a subtle dissection of the folly of class with a slow-burning, intensely passionate love story. Anne Elliot (Amanda Root) has loved Captain Wentworth (Ciaran Hinds) ever since she was persuaded to reject him years before. Now he has returned from the Napoleonic wars, but will love be allowed to blossom? Especially when Anne is surrounded by the selfish, petty-minded Mary, misguided by Lady Russell, and burdened by a father obsessed with fairness of countenance above all other considerations. Excepting a basic booklet, on-screen character biographies and a Dolby Digital soundtrack, there is nothing to distinguish this DVD from the video version. The picture is very good, but showing some grain, not exceptional, so unless you have a large television there is little advantage over tape. In any format, what makes this adaptation work is the sharp screenplay by Nick Dear and the naturalistic style of director Roger Mitchell (who joined the A-list with Notting Hill, 1999), together eliciting fine performances from the ensemble cast. Less flamboyant than Pride and Prejudice (1995), this is a civilised treat. --Gary S Dalkin

• The Deep Blue Sea | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £6.99   |  Saving you £9.00 (128.76%)   |  RRP £15.99

  The wife of a British Judge is caught in a self-destructive love affair with a Royal Air Force pilot.

• William Shakespeare: The Tempest | DVD | (28/07/2017) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• 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.

• Dance to the Music of Time | DVD | (19/07/2010) from £26.98   |  Saving you £-6.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Anthony Powell's 12 volume novel sequence A Dance to the Music of Time dramatised for television.

• The Hollow Crown: Series 1 | DVD | (13/06/2016) from £9.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Collection of four BBC adaptations of Shakespeare's history plays comprising 'Richard II', 'Henry IV: Part One', 'Henry IV: Part Two' and 'Henry V'. Beginning in the year 1399, the plays deal with events affecting the monarchy during a 16-year period, where the ruling orders of Richard II (Ben Whishaw), Henry IV (Jeremy Irons) and Henry V (Tom Hiddleston) find themselves beset by rebellion, greed and war. The cast also includes Rory Kinnear, Simon Russell Beale, Julie Walters and Lindsay Duncan.

• The Hollow Crown: Series 1 | Blu Ray | (17/11/2014) from £16.48   |  Saving you £16.50 (122.31%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Box Set of the 4 Part Television Mini Series; The Hollow Crown Richard II Henry IV Part 1 Henry IV Part 2 Henry V

• My Cousin Rachel (Includes Digital HD UV) | Blu Ray | (30/10/2017) from £9.77   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  A young Englishman plots revenge against his mysterious, beautiful cousin, believing that she murdered his guardian. But his feelings become complicated as he finds himself falling under the beguiling spell of her charms.

• A Dance To The Music Of Time | DVD | (12/05/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Adapted from the novel by Anthony Powell this miniseries tells the story of the upper classes in England from the early 1920s to modern times. Friendship murder adultery ambition and failure are set against a backdrop of social political and artistic life during the pivotal years of this century - from the decadence of the early Twenties to the sobering Thirties from the devastation of the Second World War to the world created in its aftermath. Centre stage is Kenneth Widmerpool and his rise to power through business the military and politics. The comings and goings of Widmerpool and his circle is charted by the omnipresent Nicholas Jenkins.

• Orlando | DVD | (26/05/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £23.99

  Tilda Swinton Billy Zane and Quentin Crisp star in this ""hip sexy and wickedly funny"" film based on the gender-bending novel by Virginia Woolf. Swinton stars as Orlando an English nobleman who defies the laws of nature with surprising results. Immortal and highly imaginative he undergoes a series of extraordinary transformations which humorously and hauntingly illustrate the eternal war between the sexes. Visually stunning and beautifully acted 'Orlando' is an intoxicating ble

• The Deep Blue Sea | Blu Ray | (02/04/2012) from £15.99   |  Saving you £4.00 (25.02%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The wife of a British Judge is caught in a self-destructive love affair with a Royal Air Force pilot.

• The Double Life Of Franz Schubert | DVD | (10/11/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  This is a dramatic exploration of the life and works of Franz Schubert. Featuring excerpts from many of his compositions the central narrative occurs during Schubert''s hospitalization for syphilis the contraction of which was both a consequence of his darker inclinations and a spur to some of his greatest work. As the doctors diagnose Schubert''s symptoms identify their cause and administer treatment the composer conducts his own internal imaginative examination a sometimes delirious and dreamlike evocation of the moments and music from his past life. The characters he recalls are his maverick friend and 'Svengali'' Franz von Schober his authoritarian father his illustrious but conformist patron Michael Vogl and his unfulfilled love Karoline Esterhazy.

• Radioactive | DVD | (27/07/2020) from £7.05   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  From the 1870s to the modern era, RADIOACTIVE is a journey through Marie Curie's (Rosamund Pike) enduring legacies her passionate relationships, scientific breakthroughs, and the consequences that followed for her and for the world. After meeting fellow scientist Pierre Curie (Sam Riley), the pair marry and change the face of science forever by their discovery of radioactivity. The genius of the Curie's world-changing discoveries and the ensuing Nobel Prize propels the couple into the international limelight. From the producers of ATONEMENT and DARKEST HOUR and Academy Award® nominated director Marjane Satrapi (PERSEPOLIS) comes a bold, visionary depiction of the transformative effects and ensuing fallout of the Curie's work and how this shaped the 20th Century.