"Actor: Sophie Thompson"

• Emma | DVD | (05/02/2001) from £6.99   |  Saving you £8.00 (114.45%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Most people didn't mind Gwyneth Paltrow's English accent in this charming, 1996 adaptation of Jane Austen's novel (which also inspired Clueless). But even if it doesn't sound quite right to you, there are plenty of authentic and wonderful Brit thespians in this film by screenwriter-turned-director Douglas McGrath (co-author of Woody Allen's Bullets Over Broadway), including Juliet Stevenson (Truly Madly Deeply), Alan Cumming (Buddy), Phyllida Law (Much Ado About Nothing), Ewan McGregor (the Scots star of Trainspotting), and Sophie Thompson, outstanding and finally heartbreaking as the chattering Miss Bates. Paltrow plays Austen's benign busybody, Emma Woodhouse--so busy trying to arrange the lives of others that she is sidestepping her own. McGrath brings a kind of pretty and light touch to the production, his best move the wise delegation of creative authority to the actors themselves. --Tom Keogh

• 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

• A Room With A View | DVD | (06/01/2009) from £5.97   |  Saving you £12.02 (201.34%)   |  RRP £17.99

  A fresh look at the classic novel by E.M. Forster. This new interpretation of the novel is framed poignantly by Lucy's nostalgic return to Italy after the First World War. Starring a line up of fresh British talent including Timothy and Rafe Spall as Mr Emerson and his son George Elaine Cassidy as Lucy Honeychurch and Laurence Fox as Lucy's arrogant suitor Cecil.

• A Traveller in Time | DVD | (09/11/2015) from £6.98   |  Saving you £25.00 (501.00%)   |  RRP £29.99

  A modern teenager is transported to Elizabethan times and soon finds herself trying to save Mary Queen of Scots! When Penelope Taberner goes to stay with her Uncle Barnabas and Aunt Tissie on their remote, ancient, Derbyshire farm, she begins to see spooky visions. Travelling back to Tudor times, she soon uncovers a plot to free Mary Queen of Scots in order to overthrow Elizabeth I. And her very own ancestors, the Babington family, are responsible for the treason. Penelope already knows the tragic fate that awaits the Scottish Queen but can she stop history from following its natural course? This mysterious and charming drama was written by the beloved Little Grey Rabbit author Alison Uttley and was inspired by the real life Babington Plot.

• A Harlot's Progress | DVD | (14/01/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Heralded by many as a work of genius by artist William Hogarth - A Harlots Progress was created by using sketches of prostitutes in the early 18th Century. This film follows William Hogarth(Toby Jones) and looks at the facts of his life and also focuses on he life of a 22 year old prostitute who supposedly became his inspriation. From the creator of the forthcoming major Channel 4 drama series 'City of Vice' this prequel of sorts shows the graphic depiction of the sq

• Relative Values | DVD | (25/03/2002) from £8.80   |  Saving you £4.19 (47.61%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The Noel Coward play about a Hollywood star and the english aristocracy. With Julie Andrews, Stephen Fry, Jeanne Tripplehorn and Colin Firth.

• Bomber Harris | DVD | (04/11/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  John Thaw stars in this critically acclaimed BBC drama based on the wartime career of Sir Arthur 'Bomber' Harris the Commander in chief of Bomber Command from 1942-1945.

• Big Top | DVD | (20/09/2010) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  A colourful upbeat comedy set in and around a travelling circus Big Top stars Amanda Holden John Thomson Sophie Thompson Ruth Madoc Bruce Mackinnon and Tony Robinson What do you do when you've advertised a death-defying stunt that everyone has bought tickets to see and the performer is just a little bit too injured? How do you manage a group of people who are so jealous of each other that they are happy to sabotage their colleagues' performances? How do you hold onto your star acrobat when he is being chased by immigration officials? Fraught with problems and dealing with a cacophony of egos Ring Mistress Lizzie (Amanda Holden) must somehow keep the whole thing going.

• The Story Of Tracy Beaker | DVD | (02/10/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Tracy Beaker - The Movie Of Me: Tracy is loud funny gutsy brittle and creative. She's bright as a button with an answer for everything and always thinks she knows best. Tracy is a born leader who loves bossing everyone around. She has not seen her mum for quite a while and things weren't that great when she was with her. Then on the eve of her 13th birthday... Tracy Beaker - The Best Of Me: The complete series one of Tracy Beaker Tracy Beaker - More Of Me: More fun and adventures with Tracy!

• Harry Hill In Professor Branestawm Returns | DVD | (21/03/2016) from £9.98   |  Saving you £3.00 (37.55%)   |  RRP £10.99

  This time Professor Branestawm (Harry Hill) has a rival. He's not the only inventor in town. Can he beat the rascally Professor Algebrain (Steve Pemberton) in an inventing competition? When Lady Pagwell (Diana Rigg) dies, leaving a substantial sum to fund local inventing, it could mean the end of Professor Branestawm's money troubles. But scheming local councillor, Harold Haggerstone, (David Mitchell) will stop at nothing to thwart Branestawm and insists that Pagwell holds an inventing competition to decide who gets the money. So Haggerstone tries to hire his own, rival inventor. Professor Mary Oxford, from Cambridge (Rosie Cavaliero) fails to impress with a nuclear powered paperweight. The ˜Invisibaliser' presented by Professor Awfulshirt (Matt Berry) causes havoc (and much invisibleness). But when Professor Alegbrain (Steve Pemberton), from an unspecified European country, turns up, Haggerstone thinks he's on to a winner. Branestawm, meanwhile, is having problems of his own. Not only is he struggling to come up with an invention that will really knocks the judges socks off, he's upset his faithful young assistant, Connie (Madeline Holliday). He's so wrapped up in his work that he's been neglecting her and she's torn between helping him and working with the seemingly charming and attentive Professor Algebrain. But Algebrain is a huge disappointment to Haggerstone. He seems unable to invent anything that isn't absolutely lethal. He has a masterplan up his sleeve, though he will simply steal one of Professor Branestawm's inventions. And Branestawm has plenty: A tongue-twister, a machine for shrinking bills and making cheques bigger, a universal skeleton key made out of a real skeleton, and electric glasses that can see into the future (not to mention a machine that actually does knock peoples' socks off!) Algebrain steals the glasses & locks up Connie, Colonel Dedshott (Simon Day) and the Professor in Branestawm's inventory. However, they escape using Branestawm's skeleton key and there's a chase to the town hall for a final show down, with Algebrain on his single-wheeled monovelo and Branestawm in hot pursuit on his penny-farthing. Along the way, there's an attack by an unruly mob of wild waste paper. The professor gives a typically chaotic talk on inventing at the BBC. And Algebrain demonstrates his combined bath and guillotine. As well as the new guest stars, all the brilliant cast from last Christmas's Professor Branestawm film return to Pagwell, including Sophie Thompson as Connie's mum, Vicki Pepperdine as the professor's housekeeper (Mrs Flittersnoop), Adrian Scarborough as the vicar (trying to raise funds to protect the Lithuanian tiny stupid owl) and Charlie Higson as the irascible local mayor.

• Fat Slags | DVD | (11/04/2005) from £6.75   |  Saving you £13.24 (196.15%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Leaving their hometown of Fulchester in the North of England Sandra and Tracey head for the bright lights of London shagging and boozing their way to fame and fortune. Sean Cooley an internationally renowned billionaire suffers a blow to the head rendering him temporarily insane on the day the Fat Slags arrive in London. Spotting them on a popular daytime TV chat show he falls in love with their larger than life look and approach! Determined to make them stars he forces fashio

• Phil Cool / Cool Head | DVD | (20/08/2012) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Dubbed 'the world's only stand-up chameleon', impressionist extraordinaire Phil Cool was first seen by viewers of the BBC's Pebble Mill at One in the mid-eighties, an appearance leading on to three phenomenally successful series for the BBC and international fame for Cool. In the early nineties, his success was further established with these brilliantly surreal series for Central Television. Both Cool Head and Phil Cool showcase his unique talents to the full, with a mix of stand-up comedy, sketches and astonishing rubber-faced metamorphoses; from Rolf Harris to Mick Jagger, Keith Joseph to the Pope, the Prince of Wales to ET, no-one and nothing is off-limits for Phil Cool! On-screen participants include the real Rolf Harris, Dillie Keane (Fascinating Aida), Jon Glover (Spitting Image, Harry Enfield's Television Programme), and Sophie Thompson (EastEnders).

• Dancing At Lughnasa | DVD | (28/01/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  This affecting, bittersweet tale--adapted from Brian Friel's semi-autobiographical Tony Award-winning play--examines the emotional lives of the five unmarried Mundy sisters in 1936 rural Ireland. In their mutual care is eight-year-old Michael (sweetly understated Darrell Johnston), the illegitimate son of youngest sister Christina (Braveheart's Catherine McCormack). A voice-over from the adult Michael recalls that significant summer, in the month of August, during the feast of Lughnasa. The bolder townsfolk dance around a fire to Lugh, an ancient god of light. Yes, this is fiercely Roman Catholic Ireland and Lugh a pagan god, but that irony is at the core of the film: the hypocrisy of tradition. The dramatic change in the richly metaphoric movie comes with the arrival of two men: eldest sibling--and only Mundy brother--Jack (Michael Gambon), a priest returning from many years in Africa, now addled, and Christine's long-absent lover and Michael's father, the charmingly flighty Gerry (Rhys Ifans). Beautiful music and excellent performances highlight the film, which also features gorgeous cinematography of the Irish countryside. Meryl Streep is stern eldest sister Kate; Kathy Burke is lively Maggie; Brid Brennan (who appeared in the stage play) is thoughtful caretaker Agnes; and Sophie Thompson is simple sweet Rose. It's a quiet film, but one filled with ironic and haunting meaning. Directed by Pat O'Connor (Circle of Friends). --N.F. Mendoza, Amazon.com

• The Sherlock Holmes Catalogue - The Master Blackmailer | DVD | (28/04/2003) from £6.46   |  Saving you £3.53 (54.64%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The Master Blackmailer is a two-hour 1991 Granada TV adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's story The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton, which for the most part sticks close to the details of the original. Holmes (Jeremy Brett) takes on the reputed king of all blackmailers, Milverton (Robert Hardy), who has made a fortune extorting money from the famous and the blue-blooded and who routinely ruins others' lives when not pleased. Unable to talk Milverton into turning over letters belonging to Lady Eva Brackenwell, Holmes decides to steal them, going undercover as a plumber and even romancing Milverton's housemaid, Agatha (Sophie Thompson), to gain better access in the house. (The ethical Watson, played by Edward Hardwicke, is upset to hear of Holmes's deception of an innocent woman.) The story builds to a surprisingly violent finale, but the real hook is Brett's performance as the disguised detective and the startling suggestion that Holmes's close contact with Agatha truly moved the bachelor sleuth. --Tom Keogh

• Rameau: In Convertendo | DVD | (03/07/2006) from £2.49   |  Saving you £12.50 (502.01%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Jean-Philippe Rameau was still a young musician when he moved to Lyon where he probably composed his few surviving motets including the Grand Motet In Convertendo here performed by Les Arts Florissants under William Christie which anticipates Rameau's orchestration in his later operatic works. This wonderful fugue on Psalm 126 (verse 6) Euntes ibant et flebant (They went forth and wept) bears comparison with similar works by his contemporary J.S. Bach. In addition to a full performance of In Convertendo this DVD presents some of Rameau's key chamber music pieces and an insightful music documentary The Real Rameau which sheds light on the life of a composer who thought only of music dreaming of a universal harmony and regarding music as an example to all arts and indeed to all the sciences as well. Pictured by his contemporaries as a gaunt and taciturn man ill-suited to courtly surroundings his work was described by Berlioz as 'one of the most sublime conceptions of dramatic music'.

• Fat Slags | DVD | (29/03/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

• Emma | DVD | (16/08/2021) from £7.05   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  This delightfully fun and lighthearted comedy is based on Jane Austen's classic novel. Dazzling Gwyneth Paltrow (Shakespeare In Love) shines as Emma a mischievous young beauty who sets up her single friends. Funny thing is...she's not very good at it! So when Emma tries to find a man for Harriet (Toni Collette Knives Out) she makes a hilariously tangled mess of everyone's lives. You'll enjoy all the comic confusion... until Emma herself falls in love, finally freeing everyone from her outrageously misguided attempts at matchmaking!