"Director: Bill Wilson"

• Not The Nine O'Clock News - The Best Of Not The Nine O'Clock News - Vol. 1 | DVD | (18/08/2003) from £23.99   |  Saving you £-8.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Volume One of Not the Nine O'Clock News comprises 98 minutes of early material from the sketch show that ran between 1979 and 1982. Starring Rowan Atkinson, Griff Rhys-Jones, Mel Smith and Pamela Stephenson and coscripted by Richard (Blackadder) Curtis among others, it wasn't especially ground-breaking by the standards of Monty Python or contemporary series such as The Young Ones, but it did provide some pretty blunt belly-laughs at the major social and political concerns of the era: Thatcher, Reagan, police brutality, the prospect of nuclear war. The latter makes for an excellent Question Time spoof, in which, with the four-minute warning having sounded, a panel of politicians continue bleating on their own agenda ("Three million people are going to die unemployed!"). Atkinson's stuff is among the best here, be it as a hideous young Tory, or as Gerald the Gorilla, now civilised to a fault by the captor who caught him in the wild. ("Wild? I was livid!") The much-repeated bit of him walking into a tree, however, doesn't work as he clearly anticipates the collision. While the musical elements look inevitably dated and a lengthy sketch on darts players boozing reaches the "Yeah, we get the point" mark long before it reaches its end, it's surprising how topical much of this material remains decades on--a sketch involving an agonising gay vicar springs to mind--while time hasn't eroded the quality of much of the writing. On the DVD: Not the Nine O'Clock News on disc comes with no extra features. --David Stubbs

• Dave Allen On Life | DVD | (01/11/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The very best of the comedian famous for his sit down stand up comedy.

• Not The Nine O'Clock News - The Best Of Not The Nine O'Clock News - Vol. 2 | DVD | (30/08/2004) from £9.89   |  Saving you £6.10 (61.68%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Between 1979 and 1982 the Not the Nine O'Clock News team produced the sharpest comedy to be found on British television and launched the careers of the stars production team and writers and was the most talked-about comedy series of the 1980s with an enormous following worldwide. Sketches flow with the sharpest wit. News clippings and archive material are mixed with monologues and music. This selection of their quick-fire blend of satire pastiche pop and witty sketches includ

• Boys In Love Collection Vol.1 | DVD | (09/07/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The Trip (2001): When 19-year-old gay-rights activist Tommy and 24-year-old Alan first meet in 1973 they find themselves on the opposite sides of the political coin. Despite their many differences they form a loving long-term relationship. In 1977 during Anita Bryant's crusade an anti-gay book Alan wrote years before gets published without his consent. The book destroys Tommy's credibility as a well-known activist resulting in Tommy and Alan's break-up. Seven years later Alan is given a second chance a reunion with Tommy and the opportunity to set things right. Under One Roof (2002): -- A highly erotic and funny romantic film about two guys in love! Daniel Chang lives at home with his clueless traditional mother. Desperate for a grandchild she's eager to see him married and spends much of her time planning introductions to suitable Chinese girls for Daniel. But when she recruits a new lodger for the downstairs flat Daniel finds himself falling for Robert the hot Southern boy who's moved to the big city. Robert's not a suitable Chinese girl - but is he gay? And does he feel the same way about Daniel? Daniel soon gets his chance to find out when the basement floods and his mother insists Daniel share his bedroom with Robert while the plumbers fix the mess downstairs. Everyone (2004): Ryan and Grant are getting married in this wise comic drama that reveals that there's more to marriage than you may have thought.