"Actor: Tim McInnerny"

• Strange Case of Sherlock Holmes | DVD | (24/12/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Everybody knows the name. Everybody knows Sherlock Holmes - or thinks they do. But few know the true story of Conan Doyle's remarkable life and fewer still the extent to which Doyle suppressed and sanitised the pain of Holmes' birth. Set between 1892 and the early 1900s, a new feature length drama for BBC TWO, The Strange Case of Sherlock Holmes & Arthur Conan Doyle, written by David Pirie (Murder Rooms, The Woman in White), is an exploration of the dark family past which drove Arthur Conan Doyle to create the world-famous detective... and then to murder him.

• Miracle Maker | DVD | (30/10/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  This animated feature-length life of Jesus boasts a stellar pedigree. Originally a BBC Wales production, it showcases the voices of some of Britain's finest actors in any medium: Ralph Fiennes as a brooding and humble Jesus, Miranda Richardson as Mary Magdalene, Richard E. Grant as John the Baptist and David Thewlis as Judas. The lovely, flute-heavy score is by Oscar-winner Anne Dudley (The Full Monty). And clearly a lot of expense has gone into the Claymation-like animation. But while it's hard to find fault with the rendering of this familiar story--it is respectful and definitely done, you might say, by the Book--it would have been nice if there had been a tad more joy, if it walked a bit lighter in its sandals. As it is, all the characters seem consistently subdued, whether they are expressing angst, rage, terror or bliss--none of which is helped by the figures' blank-eyed stares (if animators are becoming ever more sophisticated, why can't they get rid of those creepy blank gazes once and for all?). Still, the weight of having such formidable actors play these familiar roles lends the production a certain credibility, and parents looking for good religious videos that won't insult their kids' intelligence will be thrilled. --Anne Hurley

• Don't Eat The Neighbours - A Rabbit For All Seasons | DVD | (26/08/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  This DVD features four of the best episodes from the first series of the critically acclaimed animated comedy. Episodes include: 'A Rabbit For All Seasons' 'Colin Pays A Visit' 'Lucy The Adventurer' 'Lucy Blows Her Top

• Blackadder II (Remastered) | DVD | (25/07/2011) from £6.02   |  Saving you £9.97 (165.61%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Although now regarded as the opening salvo of a classic series, the original Blackadder series was not considered a great success, either among critics or many viewers, so a major rethink took place when it was recommissioned. On the writing front, future-Four Weddings And A Funeral scribe Richard Curtis was joined by Ben Elton, while the expensive War of the Roses-era sets were replaced by cosier Elizabethan ones. The most important change, however, was with Rowan Atkinson's eponymous character who, in the first series, had been a fairly weak-willed idiot but now emerged as the familiar Machiavellian fiend which would cement Atkinson's place in the pantheon of great British sitcom actors. Moreover, even if so many of the script's lines have been subsequently ripped off by lesser hands that it can't help but occasionally sound dated, the central performances of Atkinson, Tony Robinson (Baldrick), Tim McInnery (Lord Percy), Stephen Fry (Lord Melchett) and, of course, Miranda Richardson as the childishly psychotic Queen Elizabeth ("I love it when you get cross. Sometimes I think about having you executed just to see the expression on your face") remain note perfect. Yet the real pleasure for viewers may be in rediscovering the raft of excellent guest star performances--not least Tom "Doctor Who" Baker's berserk turn as a literally legless old sea dog given to guzzling his own urine long before the drinking water has run out. --Clark Collis

• Gunpowder, Treason And Plot | DVD | (19/04/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Award-winning writer Jimmy McGovern explores the lives of Mary Queen of Scots and her son James I in this new BBC drama. Robert Carlyle leads a prestigious cast in this lavish production. Peoples with infamous characters driven by compelling drama and life with love lust politics and prejudice we are offered a gripping ride through a fascinating period of history. Set against the brutal landscape of rebellion against religious repression 'Gunpowder Treason and Plot' dramalises

• 101 Dalmatians - Live Action | DVD | (22/01/2001) from £19.33   |  Saving you £-1.34 (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  It's hard to know who thought it would be a good idea to make a live-action version of Disney's animated classic. The one bright notion anyone had was casting Glenn Close as Disney Übervillainess Cruella de Vil; her flashing eyes and angular features are a perfect match and do credit to what is one of the most indelible animated characters Disney has ever created. The story remains essentially the same, focusing on Cruella's plot to kidnap the puppies of a young married couple (Jeff Daniels and Jolie Richardson) and make them into a coat. But the dreaded John Hughes, who wrote this script, fills it with sadistic slapstick and far too few genuine laughs. The human actors work hard, but to little avail; thankfully, there's a posse of puppies to regularly steal scenes when the going gets dreary--although there are only so many laughs to be had from inappropriate dog puddles. --Marshall Fine, Amazon.com

• The Blackadder (Remastered) | DVD | (25/07/2011) from £3.59   |  Saving you £12.40 (345.40%)   |  RRP £15.99

  The classic first series of BlackAdder was slightly different to its successors--Ben Elton was not yet part of the writing team, and Shakespearean parody featured prominently. Rowan Atkinson was at his best as a would-be Machiavellian medieval intriguer while Brian Blessed plays his gloriously over the top blustering militarist father. The episodes collected here are: "The Foretelling", in which Richard III, played by Peter Cook in a brilliant parody of Olivier, wins Bosworth only to get in an unseemly argument about a horse; "Born to be King" in which Edmund, lumbered with providing bearded ladies, morris dancers and eunuchs for a festival, discovers some indiscreet love letters; "The Archbishop" in which after his father has the Archbishop of Canterbury killed, Edmund starts his intrigues again; "The Queen of Spain's Beard" in which Blackadder's father's international schemes call for Edmund to make a dynastic marriage to Miriam Margolyes as the Infanta of Spain, and Jim Broadbent plays a peculiarly irritating interpreter; "Witchsmeller Pursuivant" in which Edmund falls foul of the demonic witchsmeller, played with more gusto than is quite credible by Frank Finlay; and "The Black Seal", wherein Edmund assembles a group of villains as his personal retinue (Rik Mayall plays a mad prisoner).

• The Comedian's Guide To Survival | DVD | (31/10/2016) from £3.99   |  Saving you £14.00 (350.88%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Struggling comedian James Mullinger (based on the eponymous, real-life comedian) has come to a crossroads in his life; no one wants to see him perform, his wife is fed up, and his day time boss has given him an ultimatum take a promotion and never do stand up again, or stick to the comedy and lose his job. To add salt to the wound, his boss sends him to L.A. to interview some of the greatest comedians alive for the magazine. Through spending time with his former heroes, a faint glimmer of his passion for stand-up comedy begins to stir again

• Erik The Viking | DVD | (07/08/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Erik a fine example of a Viking one day questions the ethics of his livelihood; raping and pillaging so he sets out for enlightenment and the gods of Valhalla. His men become adept at creating chaos on this wacky adventure.

• Automata | Blu Ray | (05/08/2015) from £17.86   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A