"Director: Tim Van Patten"

• Rome - Series 1-2 - Complete | DVD | (19/11/2007) from £24.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The year is 52 B.C. Four hundred years after the founding of the Republic Rome is the wealthiest city in the world a cosmopolitan metropolis of one million people; epicenter of a sprawling empire. The Republic was founded on principles of shared power and fierce personal competition never allowing one man to seize absolute control. But now those foundations are crumbling eaten away by corruption and excess. A serialized drama of love and betrayal masters and slaves husbands and wives Rome chronicles a turbulent era that saw the death of a republic and the birth of an empire.

• The Pacific - Complete HBO Series | DVD | (01/11/2010) from £24.19   |  Saving you £15.80 (65.32%)   |  RRP £39.99

  Executive produced by Tom Hanks Steven Spielberg and Gary Goetzman The Pacific is an epic ten-part miniseries from HBO and the team that made Band of Brothers. The Pacific tracks the intertwined real-life stories of three U.S Marines Robert Leckie John Basilone and Eugene Sledge across the vast canvas of the Pacific Theater during World War 2. The miniseries follows these men and their fellow Marines from their first battle with the Japanese on Guadalcanal through the rain forests of Cape Gloucester and the strongholds of Peleliu across the bloody sands of Iwo Jima and through the horror of Okinawa and finally to their triumphant but uneasy return home after V-J Day. The Pacific is primarily based on two memoirs of US Marines Eugene Sledge's With The Old Breed: At Peleliu And Okinawa and Robert Leckie's Helmet For My Pillow. The series also draws on Eugene Sledge's China Marine and Chuck Tatum's Red Blood Black Sand as well as original interviews conducted by the filmmakers. If you're a fan of HBO's The Pacific then there's an ocean of great DVDs Blu-rays and Books to check out - click on any of the titles to find out more. DVDs: Band Of Brothers: Based on Stephen Ambrose's bestseller Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg bring you their epic vision of World War II from the perspective of elite US paratroopers dropped behind enemy lines. Flags Of Our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima Limited Edition Box Set: Clint Eastwood's daring and thought-provoking companion pieces come together in this 4-disc Collector's Edition. Blu-rays: Band Of Brothers: Limited Collector's Edition: Now available on Blu-ray every bullet bomb and bit of blood is rendered in spectacular high definition from the brutality of Bastogne to final victory in Berchtesgaden. Saving Private Ryan: Due for release on April 26th 2010 Spielberg's classic D-Day movie finally rolls onto Blu-ray - this is the kind of audio-visual masterpiece that the format was made for. Books: With The Old Breed by Eugene Sledge: As depicted in The Pacific Eugene Sledge was a real-life marine and this his memoires tells all about the horrifying hell of Pacific warfare during WWII. Helmet For My Pillow by Robert Leckie: Another inspiration behind the HBO series Robert Leckie's account from boot camp to demob is terrifying and captivating in equal measures. The Pacific (The Official HBO/Sky TV Tie-in) by Hugh Ambrose: Hugh Ambrose son of Band Of Brothers author Stephen Ambrose captures all the real-life spectacle savagery and heroism of The Pacific.

• The Sopranos - Season 5 | DVD | (20/06/2005) from £17.99   |  Saving you £44.00 (244.58%)   |  RRP £61.99

  Facing an indeterminate sentence of weeks/months/years until new episodes, Sopranos fans are advised to take the fifth; season, that is. At this point, superlatives don't do The Sopranos justice, but justice was at last served to this benchmark series. For the first time, The Sopranos rubbed out The West Wing to take home its first Emmy for Outstanding Dramatic Series. Michael Imperioli and Drea de Matteo also earned Best Supporting Actor and Actress honors for some of their finest hours as Christopher and Adriana. From the moment a wayward bear lumbers into the Sopranos' yard in the season opener, it is clear that The Sopranos is in anything but a "stagmire." The series benefits from an infusion of new blood, the so-called "Class of 2004," imprisoned "family" members freshly released from jail. Most notable among these is Tony's cousin, Tony Blundetto (Steve Buscemi, who directed the pivotal season 3 episode "Pine Barrens"), who initially wants to go straight, but proves himself to be something of a "free agent," setting up a climactic stand-off between Tony and New York boss Johnny Sack. These 13 mostly riveting episodes unfold with a page-turning intensity with many rich subplots. Estranged couple Tony and Carmela (the incomparable James Gandolfini and Edie Falco) work toward a reconciliation (greased by Tony's purchase of a $600,000 piece of property for Carmela to develop). The Feds lean harder on an increasingly stressed-out and distraught Adriana to "snitch" with inevitable results. This season's hot-button episode is "The Test Dream," in which Tony is visited by some of the series' dear, and not-so-dearly, departed in a harrowing nightmare. With this set, fans can enjoy marathon viewings of an especially satisfying season, but considering the long wait ahead for season 6, best to take Tony's advice to his son, who, at one point, gulps down a champagne toast. "Slow down," Tony says. "You're supposed to savor it." --Donald Liebenson, Amazon.com

• Rome - Series 1-2 - Complete | Blu Ray | (21/09/2009) from £24.99   |  Saving you £5.00 (20.01%)   |  RRP £29.99

  The epic drama set in the days of Julius Caesar his brutal henchman Mark Antony his cunning heir apparent Otavian his conflicted friend Brutus his ruthless niece Atia and his wrathful lover Sevilia. It is a tale for ages seen through the eyes of Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo two soldiers whose lives become inexorably tied to the fate of Rome itself. Love and lust brotherhood and betrayal entangle the infamous Romans in a cruel match of power and principle revenge and redemption chronicling the death of the ancient republic...and the birth of an Empire. Superior picture quality and sound enables customers to experience Rome like never before.

• The Sopranos - Complete Collection | Blu Ray | (08/09/2014) from £46.65   |  Saving you £12.85 (27.55%)   |  RRP £59.50

  Tony Soprano is the head of two families and sometimes the pressure is too much to bear. As head of the Sopranos crime family he deals with conniving underbosses rival families and the occasional dead body. As husband to his wife Carmela and father to his two children Meadow and Anthony Jr. he deals with financial difficulties infidelity and trying to keep his professional life from colliding with his family life. Episodes Comprise: Season 1 The Sopranos 46 Long Denial Anger Acceptance Meadowlands College Pax Soprana Down Neck The Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti Boca A Hit is a Hit Nobody Knows Anything Isabella I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano Season 2 Guy Walks Into A Psychiatrist's Office Do Not Resuscitate Toodle-F**king-Oo Commendatori Big Girls Don't Cry The Happy Wanderer D-Girl Full Leather Jacket From Where To Eternity Bust-Out 11. House Arrest The Knight In White Satin Armor Funhouse Season 3 Mr. Ruggerio's Neighborhood Proshai Livushka Fortunate Son Employee of the Month Another Toothpick University Second Opinion He Is Risen The Telltale Moozadell To Save Us All From Satan's Power Pine Barrens Amour Fou Army of One Season 4 For All Debts Public and Private No Show Christopher The Weight Pie-O-My Everybody Hurts Watching Too Much Television Mergers and Acquisitions Whoever Did This The Strong Silent Type Calling All Cars Eloise Whitecaps Season 5 Two Tony's Rat Pack Where's Johnny All Happy Families Irregular Around the Margins Sentimental Education In Camelot Marco Polo Unidentified Black Males Cold Cuts The Test Dream Long Term Parking All Due Respect Season 6 Members Only Join The Club Mayham The Fleshy Part of the Thigh Mr. and Mrs. John Sacrimoni Request Live Free or Die Luxury Lounge Johnny Cakes The Ride Moe n' Joe Cold Stones Kaisha Soprano Home Movies Stage 5 Remember When Chasing it Walk Like a Man Kennedy and Heidi The Second Coming The Blue Comet Made in America Special Features: Season 1 Audio Commentary with Creator/Writer/Director David Chase and Peter Bogdanovich David Chase Interview (77:30) Featurette #1 Family Life (4:12) Featurette #2 Meet Tony Soprano (3:30) Season 2 Audio Commentary with: Director Tim Van Patten Director Henry J. Bronchtein and Producer Ilene Landress Director Allen Coulter and Producer Ilene Landress Director John Patterson Behind-the-Scenes Featurette: The Real Deal (04:51) Behind-the-Scenes Featurette: A Sit-Down with The Sopranos (13:36 Season 3 Audio Commentary with: Writer/Cast Member Michael Imperioli Director Steve Buscemi Series Creator/Writer David Chase Behind-the-Scenes Featurette w/host Karen Duffy (3:46) Season 4 Audio Commentary with: Writer Terence Winter Writer/Cast Member Michael Imperioli Writers Robin Green and Mitchell Burgess Series Creator/Writer David Chase Season 5 Audio Commentary with: Director Rodrigo Garcia Director Peter Bogdanovich Director Steve Buscemi Director Mike Figgis Cast Member Drea de Mattteo Season 6A Audio Commentary with: Cast Members Edie Falco Robert Iler and Jamie-Lynn Sigler Writer Matthew Weiner Writer Terence Winter and Cast Members Michael Imperioli and Tony Sirico Series Creator/Writer David Chase Season 6B Audio Commentary with: Cast Member Steven R. Schirripa Cast Member Dominic Chianese Cast Member Robert Iler Cast Members Stevie Van Zandt and Arthur Nascarella Making Cleaver (7:50) The Music of the Sopranos (16:28) Sopranos Bonus Disc Special Features:: Supper with The Sopranos Part I (36:50) Supper with The Sopranos Part II (38:02) Lost Scenes (Season 1 Episode 1): Tony and Dr. Melfi discuss Gotti Guiliani and his Mother (01:33) Lost Scenes (Season 2 Episode 1): Meadow asks Carmela about Tony's feud with his mother. Carmela and Meadow go to see Livia in the hospital and are greeted by Janice and a bodyguard etc. (04:07) Lost Scenes (Season 2 Episode 1): Pussy Silvio Paulie and the guys discuss Tony's relationshiop with his mother. (01:02) Lost Scenes (Season 3 Episode 10): Pussy is cornered in a heroin bust. (02:17) Lost Scenes (Season 4 Episode 3): Tony and Melfi discuss prejudice against Italians. (01:59) Lost Scenes (Season 5 Episode 3): Paulie calls Tony to ask for a meeting. They meet and Paulie asks for a sit-down with Feech. (02:24) Lost Scenes (Season 6A Episode 1): Junior is paranoid about a car parked on the street. (00:36) Lost Scenes (Season 6A Episode 8): Tony tells Vito it's safe to come home. (02:22) Lost Scenes (Season 6A Episode 11): Phil stops by to visit Vito's house and check the place out. (01:45) Lost Scenes (Season 6B Episode 1): Tony and Bobby play with fireworks. Janice asks where her hat is. (00:47) Alec Baldwin Interviews David Chase: Cut to the Chase (21:13) Alec Baldwin Interviews David Chase: Anatomy of the Mob (22:02) Lost Scenes (Season 2 Episode 2): Janice tells Livia she's not going to be defeated that easily. (01:51) Lost Scenes (Season 2 Episode 6): Tony rants to his family about Richie being at the funeral. (00:51) Defining A Television Landmark (45:29)

• Deadwood - Season 2 | DVD | (06/03/2006) from £14.98   |  Saving you £37.00 (284.83%)   |  RRP £49.99

  Fortune comes with a price. 1876 the Black Hills of South Dakota. In an age of plunder and greed the richest gold strike in American History draws out a throng of restless misfits to an outlaw settlement where everything-and everyone-has a price. Welcome to Deadwood...a hell of a place to make your fortune. Episodes Comprise: 1. A Lie Agreed Upon (Part1) 2. A Lie Agreed Upon (Part2) 3. New Money 4. Requiem For A Gleet 5. Complications 6. Something Very Expensive 7.

• The Sopranos: Complete Series 4 | DVD | (11/03/2003) from £14.49   |  Saving you £47.50 (76.60%)   |  RRP £61.99

  Unlike the previous three, this fourth series of The Sopranos largely eschews an overriding story arc in favour of developing several interrelated plot strands, most of which are then left dangling tantalisingly at the end. This year Tony's many extra-marital affairs finally come home to roost, even as he faces challenges to his leadership from within and without. Paulie Walnuts simmers with resentment over his perceived neglect, a resentment only exacerbated by Christopher's promotion; while Christopher's growing drug habit undermines Tony's trust in him. Paulie makes overtures to Johnny Sack and the New York family; Sack himself bears a deadly grudge against Ralph Cifaretto, and also embroils Tony in a dispute between the two families. Ralph and Tony clash over a shared interest in both a race horse and a goomar--you just know it's going to end in something much worse than tears. The women have as many problems, though: Adriana has reluctantly turned FBI informer, a drug-addled Christopher squashes her dog, and she has to confess that she can't have children; Carmela falls maddeningly, frustratingly in love with one of Tony's closest companions; Janice inveigles herself into Bobby's affections in a display of breathtaking emotional manipulation; while Meadow can no longer conceal the disgust she feels about her father's business, and Dr Melfi is increasingly sidelined, since Tony's behavioural issues have become, to all practical purposes, untreatable. The whole ends on a downbeat note as personal disillusionment overshadows the mob politics. With the imminent arrival of Steve Buscemi to the cast, the fifth series is primed to be an explosive one. --Mark Walker

• The Pacific - Complete HBO Series | DVD | (01/11/2010) from £14.99   |  Saving you £2.01 (13.41%)   |  RRP £17.00

  Unsurprising attracting awards attention, The Pacific is a ten-part series set in the midst of World War II, that follows the actions of three US Marines In the Pacific Theatre Of War. It’s a series not a million miles away from its spiritual predecessor, Band Of Brothers, which is understandable given the crossover of creative talent. Yet The Pacific is still a show with an identity of its own. It boasts the same sky-high production values of Band Of Brothers, but it also has a broader canvas, and a slightly slower pace to it. It’s absorbing drama, though, and the standard of it is kept high right throughout the ten-episode run. During that time, it takes in many key events of the time, and presents them with staggering confidence and strength. All of this, of course, makes you hope that the high definition transfer can do all of this justice. Fortunately, the news here is good. Few television shows have been treated to anywhere near the love that The Pacific has been in its 1080p transfer, and matched by surround sound work that’d put many blockbuster movies to shame, Is it Band Of Brothers 2? Absolutely not. Instead, The Pacific is a wonderful drama series in its own right, and one well worth picking up. --Jon Foster

• The Sopranos - Season 6 - Vol. 1 | DVD | (27/11/2006) from £12.99   |  Saving you £47.00 (361.82%)   |  RRP £59.99

  What does fate hold in store for Tony in the sixth season of HBO's multi-award winning gangster drama. Featuring 12 episodes.

• Sex and The City: The Complete Series | Blu Ray | (29/11/2021) from £54.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Own the ground-breaking HBO series on Blu-ray for the very first time, and experience the friendships and fashion in gorgeous high-definition. Sex and the City stars Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie Bradshaw, a New York-based writer who explores and experiences the unique world of Manhattan's dating scene, chronicling the mating habits of single New Yorkers. The series also stars cast regulars Kim Cattrall as PR executive Samantha Jones, who's seen -- and done -- it all; Kristin Davis as Charlotte York, still trying to hold on to the idea of happily ever after; and Cynthia Nixon as corporate lawyer and mother Miranda Hobbes, a pragmatist trying to balance the idea of love with the realities of life.

• The Sopranos: Complete Series 2 | DVD | (29/10/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £59.99

  The second series of The Sopranos, David Chase's ultra-cool and ultra-modern take on New Jersey gangster life, matches the brilliance of the first, although it's marginally less violent, with more emphasis given to the stories and obsessions of supporting characters. Sadly, the programme makers were forced to throttle back on the appalling struggle between gang boss Tony Soprano and his Gorgon-like Mother Livia, the very stuff of Greek theatre, following actress Nancy Marchand's unsuccessful battle against cancer. Taking up her slack, however, is Tony's big sister Janice, a New Age victim and arrant schemer and sponger, who takes up with the twitchy, Scarface-wannabe Richie Aprile, brother of former boss Jackie, out of prison and a minor pain in Tony's ass. Other running sub-plots include soldier Chris (Michael Imperioli) hapless efforts to sell his real-life Mafia story to Hollywood, the return and treachery of Big Pussy and Tony's wife Carmela's ruthlessness in placing daughter Meadow in the right college. Even with the action so dispersed, however, James Gandofini is still toweringly dominant as Tony. The genius of his performance, and of the programme makers, is that, despite Tony being a whoring, unscrupulous, sexist boor, a crime boss and a murderer, we somehow end up feeling and rooting for him, because he's also a family man with a bratty brood to feed, who's getting his balls busted on all sides, to say nothing of keeping the Government off his back. He's the kind of crime boss we'd like to feel we would be. Tony's decent Italian-American therapist Dr Melfi's (Loraine Bracco) perverse attraction with her gangster-patient reflects our own and, in her case, causes her to lose her first series cool and turn to drink this time around. Effortlessly multi-dimensional, funny and frightening, devoid of the sentimentality that afflicts even great American TV like The West Wing, The Sopranos is boss of bosses in its televisual era. --David Stubbs

• Sex And The City - Series 6 | DVD | (12/05/2008) from £17.98   |  Saving you £19.00 (118.82%)   |  RRP £34.99

  They've experienced the pleasure of sex the pain of heartbreak and the panacea of friendship. Now Carrie Bradshaw and her three best friends-Miranda Charlotte and Samantha- are headed into an exciting new chapter in their lives that's as unpredictable as the metropolis they live in. It's the last hurrah for Carrie and Co.

• Sex And The City: Seasons 1 - 6 Complete Box Set | DVD | (22/09/2008) from £39.68   |  Saving you £60.31 (151.99%)   |  RRP £99.99

  Sex and the City is based on Candace Bushnell's provocative bestselling book. Sarah Jessica Parker stars as Carrie Bradshaw, a self-described "sexual anthropologist," who writes "Sex and the City," a newspaper column that chronicles the state of sexual affairs of Manhattanites in this "age of un-innocence." Her "posse," including nice girl Charlotte (Kristin Davis), hard-edged Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), and party girl Samantha (Kim Cattrall)--not to mention her own tumultuous love life--gives Carrie plenty of column fodder. Over the course of the first season's 12 episodes, the most prominent dramatic arc concerns Carrie, who goes from turning the tables on "toxic bachelors" by having "sex like a man" to wanting to join the ranks of "the monogamists" with the elusive Mr. Big (Chris Noth). Meanwhile, Miranda, Cynthia, and Samantha have their own dating woes. The second season builds on the foundation of the first season with plot arcs that are both hilarious and heartfelt, taking the show from breakout hit to true pop-culture phenomenon. Relationship epiphanies coexist happily alongside farcical plots and zingy one-liners, resulting in emotionally satisfying episodes that feature the sharp kind of character-defining dialogue that seems to have disappeared from the rest of TV long ago. When last we left the NYC gals, Carrie had just broken up with a commitment-phobic Mr. Big, but fans of Noth's seductive-yet-distant rake didn't have to wait long until he was back in the picture, as he and Carrie tried to make another go of it. Their relationship evolution, from reunion to second breakup, provides the core of the second season. Among other adventures, Charlotte puzzles over whether one of her beaus was "gay-straight" or "straight-gay"; Miranda tries to date a guy who insists on having sex only in places where they might get caught; and Samantha copes with dates who range from, um, not big enough to far too big--with numerous stops in between. The third season was the charm, as the series earned its first Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series to go along with its Golden Globes for Best Comedy Series and Best Actress (Parker). One of this season's two principal story arcs concerned hapless-in-love Charlotte and her pursuit of a husband; enter (if only...) Kyle McLachlan as the unfortunately impotent Trey. Meanwhile, Carrie has a brief but memorable fling with a politician who's golden, but not in the way she anticipated. She then sabotages her too-good-to-be-true relationship with furniture designer Aidan (John Corbett) by having an affair with Mr. Big, who himself has gotten married. Like I Love Lucy, the series benefited from a brief change of scenery with a three-episode jaunt to Los Angeles, where Carrie and company encountered, among others, Matthew McConaughey, Vince Vaughn, Hugh Hefner, and Sarah Michelle Gellar. The fourth season is just as smart and sexy as ever, mixing caustic adult wit and sharply observed situation comedy on the mean streets of Manhattan, though this time the quartet of singleton city girls must endure even tougher combat in the unending war of love, sex, and shopping. Carrie finally seems to have found her ideal life partner when she is reunited with handsome craftsman Aidan. But can their relationship survive trial by cohabitation? Meanwhile Charlotte seems to have both her dream Park Avenue apartment and a solution to her marital problems with Trey. But when the subject of babies comes up, everything starts to unravel for her, too. It's not just Charlotte who has baby issues either: after what seems like an eternity of enforced sexual abstinence Miranda is horrified to discover she's pregnant. And as for the sultry Samantha, she's on a quest for monogamy, first with an exotic lesbian artist, then with a philandering businessman, with whom to her utter dismay she just might have fallen in love. It was a short but sweet fifth season, as HBO's resident comediennes found themselves affected by forces beyond their control--the pregnancies of both Sarah Jessica Parker and Cynthia Nixon. A truncated shooting schedule to accommodate the actresses forced this season to be reduced to a mere eight episodes, but they and creators forged ahead, creating a handful of episodes that if short in content were long on emotion and laughs. Carrie and Miranda wrestled with their solitary lifestyles, albeit with new attachments--Miranda had new baby Brady and single motherhood, while Carrie found herself in the world of publishing as the author of a real-life book of her columns. Charlotte wondered if she'd ever find another man, while Samantha finally got rid of the one that had been vexing her far too much. If the season as a whole felt less than the sum of its parts, those parts were some of the best comedy in the show's history. The season's climactic episode, "I Love a Charade," was one of the series' best episodes ever, equally touching and funny, and grounded the show in an emotional maturity that announced that after all their wild travails, these women had truly grown up. After a long wait--like the entire fifth season--Carrie is dating again. The sixth season starts with Carrie and her sparkly new potential, Berger (Ron Livingston), trying to leave past relationships and hit it off, with mixed results. Meanwhile Carrie's friends seem to be settling down, relatively speaking. Miranda decides that her affair with TiVo cannot compete when Mr. Perfect (Blair Underwood, at his most charming) moves into her building. Charlotte's feelings for her "opposites attract" boyfriend (Evan Handler) deepen, but they still have a few things to iron out. Most surprising is Samantha's hot relationship with waiter-actor-stud Smith Jerrod (Jason Lewis) taking on something resembling love, despite Samantha's best intentions. Before the sixth season started in the summer of 2003, a bombshell hit: it was announced that this would be the finale. But it would be a long season, and these 12 episodes plant the seeds for the final 8 airing the following winter. These dozen episodes illustrate the maturity of the show: there's not a bad one in the bunch, and the show is still flat-out funny. The comedy blends serious points of how we perceive singles, couples, and parents (and the gifts we lavish on the latter two). Carrie's method of celebrating her singlehood is just another gem in this treasure of a series. With the last eight episodes of the sixth season, HBO's grand sitcom concluded, leaving untold numbers of women--and many men--feeling deprived. The six-year series certainly did not outlast its welcome; the final season is some of the best TV had to offer in 2004. In many ways, the eight episodes served as a single finale, with all four characters approaching a kind of destiny and happiness, the theme of this last half-season (which aired weeks after the first half). Carrie continues her romance with Russian artist (Mikhail Baryshnikov), a flippantly arrogant man who's been around the block, but able to supply Carrie's needed desire for magic. Miranda has settled down with Steve (David Eigenberg), but there is more that will change with her, including her address. Charlotte continues to make baby plans now that the husband slot is filled quite nicely (Evan Handler). Going down the final stretch--and Samantha's cancer--gives the series a more serious tone, but there's always a jab to tickle the funny bone: Miranda's awkwardness with happiness, Charlotte's latest passion, Carrie typing someplace new, and Samantha getting into Paris Hilton territory. Like any series winding down, there is a wedding, a baby, old faces popping up, and some star-ladened new ones. In the final two-part episode, "An American in Paris," Carrie faces her romantic destiny, but also solidifies herself as a fashion icon, an Audrey Hepburn for 21st-century television. In the penultimate episode, she asks her friends an emotional question: "What if I never met you?" Certainly fans can ask of themselves the same question and reminisce how much better TV became since they first tuned in these four women of the City.

• The Sopranos: Series 2 (Vol. 2) | DVD | (21/05/2001) from £6.03   |  Saving you £6.96 (115.42%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The second series of The Sopranos, David Chase's ultra-cool and ultra-modern take on New Jersey gangster life, matches the brilliance of the first, although it's marginally less violent, with more emphasis given to the stories and obsessions of supporting characters. Sadly, the programme makers were forced to throttle back on the appalling struggle between gang boss Tony Soprano and his Gorgon-like Mother Livia, the very stuff of Greek theatre, following actress Nancy Marchand's unsuccessful battle against cancer. Taking up her slack, however, is Tony's big sister Janice, a New Age victim and arrant schemer and sponger, who takes up with the twitchy, Scarface-wannabe Richie Aprile, brother of former boss Jackie, out of prison and a minor pain in Tony's ass. Other running sub-plots include soldier Chris (Michael Imperioli) hapless efforts to sell his real-life Mafia story to Hollywood, the return and treachery of Big Pussy and Tony's wife Carmela's ruthlessness in placing daughter Meadow in the right college. Even with the action so dispersed, however, James Gandofini is still toweringly dominant as Tony. The genius of his performance, and of the programme makers, is that, despite Tony being a whoring, unscrupulous, sexist boor, a crime boss and a murderer, we somehow end up feeling and rooting for him, because he's also a family man with a bratty brood to feed, who's getting his balls busted on all sides, to say nothing of keeping the Government off his back. He's the kind of crime boss we'd like to feel we would be. Tony's decent Italian-American therapist Dr Melfi's (Loraine Bracco) perverse attraction with her gangster-patient reflects our own and, in her case, causes her to lose her first series cool and turn to drink this time around. Effortlessly multi-dimensional, funny and frightening, devoid of the sentimentality that afflicts even great American TV like The West Wing, The Sopranos is boss of bosses in its televisual era. --David Stubbs

• The Sopranos - Complete HBO Series - Deluxe Edition | DVD | (24/11/2008) from £114.90   |  Saving you £15.09 (13.13%)   |  RRP £129.99

  Tony Soprano tries to be a good family man on two fronts - to his wife kids and widowed mother - and as a capo in the New Jersey mob. But when the pressures of work and family life start giving him panic attacks Tony begins seeing a therapist. These visits he keeps to himself because Tony has already identified his biggest problem - if one family doesn't kill him the other one will. The groundbreaking dramatic series from writer-producer David Chase stars James Gandolfini Lorraine Bracco Edie Falco Michael Imperioli and Nancy Marchand in an inside look at the family life of a modern-day mob boss. Part satirical loving homage to the influences of the great American gangster films part darkly comedic study of a New Jersey Italian-American family it is has become one of the most admired television series of all time.

• The Sopranos: Series 2 (Vols. 1-3) | DVD | (23/07/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £32.99

  The second series of The Sopranos, David Chase's ultra-cool and ultra-modern take on New Jersey gangster life, matches the brilliance of the first, although it's marginally less violent, with more emphasis given to the stories and obsessions of supporting characters. Sadly, the programme makers were forced to throttle back on the appalling struggle between gang boss Tony Soprano and his Gorgon-like Mother Livia, the very stuff of Greek theatre, following actress Nancy Marchand's unsuccessful battle against cancer. Taking up her slack, however, is Tony's big sister Janice, a New Age victim and arrant schemer and sponger, who takes up with the twitchy, Scarface-wannabe Richie Aprile, brother of former boss Jackie, out of prison and a minor pain in Tony's ass. Other running sub-plots include soldier Chris (Michael Imperioli) hapless efforts to sell his real-life Mafia story to Hollywood, the return and treachery of Big Pussy and Tony's wife Carmela's ruthlessness in placing daughter Meadow in the right college. Even with the action so dispersed, however, James Gandofini is still toweringly dominant as Tony. The genius of his performance, and of the programme makers, is that, despite Tony being a whoring, unscrupulous, sexist boor, a crime boss and a murderer, we somehow end up feeling and rooting for him, because he's also a family man with a bratty brood to feed, who's getting his balls busted on all sides, to say nothing of keeping the Government off his back. He's the kind of crime boss we'd like to feel we would be. Tony's decent Italian-American therapist Dr Melfi's (Loraine Bracco) perverse attraction with her gangster-patient reflects our own and, in her case, causes her to lose her first series cool and turn to drink this time around. Effortlessly multi-dimensional, funny and frightening, devoid of the sentimentality that afflicts even great American TV like The West Wing, The Sopranos is boss of bosses in its televisual era. --David Stubbs

• The Sopranos: Series 2 (Vols. 4-6) | DVD | (25/06/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £33.99

  The second series of The Sopranos, David Chase's ultra-cool and ultra-modern take on New Jersey gangster life, matches the brilliance of the first, although it's marginally less violent, with more emphasis given to the stories and obsessions of supporting characters. Sadly, the programme makers were forced to throttle back on the appalling struggle between gang boss Tony Soprano and his Gorgon-like Mother Livia, the very stuff of Greek theatre, following actress Nancy Marchand's unsuccessful battle against cancer. Taking up her slack, however, is Tony's big sister Janice, a New Age victim and arrant schemer and sponger, who takes up with the twitchy, Scarface-wannabe Richie Aprile, brother of former boss Jackie, out of prison and a minor pain in Tony's ass. Other running sub-plots include soldier Chris (Michael Imperioli) hapless efforts to sell his real-life Mafia story to Hollywood, the return and treachery of Big Pussy and Tony's wife Carmela's ruthlessness in placing daughter Meadow in the right college. Even with the action so dispersed, however, James Gandofini is still toweringly dominant as Tony. The genius of his performance, and of the programme makers, is that, despite Tony being a whoring, unscrupulous, sexist boor, a crime boss and a murderer, we somehow end up feeling and rooting for him, because he's also a family man with a bratty brood to feed, who's getting his balls busted on all sides, to say nothing of keeping the Government off his back. He's the kind of crime boss we'd like to feel we would be. Tony's decent Italian-American therapist Dr Melfi's (Loraine Bracco) perverse attraction with her gangster-patient reflects our own and, in her case, causes her to lose her first series cool and turn to drink this time around. Effortlessly multi-dimensional, funny and frightening, devoid of the sentimentality that afflicts even great American TV like The West Wing, The Sopranos is boss of bosses in its televisual era. --David Stubbs

• The Sopranos: Series 2 (Vol. 3) | DVD | (21/05/2001) from £22.77   |  Saving you £-8.52 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The second series of The Sopranos, David Chase's ultra-cool and ultra-modern take on New Jersey gangster life, matches the brilliance of the first, although it's marginally less violent, with more emphasis given to the stories and obsessions of supporting characters. Sadly, the programme makers were forced to throttle back on the appalling struggle between gang boss Tony Soprano and his Gorgon-like Mother Livia, the very stuff of Greek theatre, following actress Nancy Marchand's unsuccessful battle against cancer. Taking up her slack, however, is Tony's big sister Janice, a New Age victim and arrant schemer and sponger, who takes up with the twitchy, Scarface-wannabe Richie Aprile, brother of former boss Jackie, out of prison and a minor pain in Tony's ass. Other running sub-plots include soldier Chris (Michael Imperioli) hapless efforts to sell his real-life Mafia story to Hollywood, the return and treachery of Big Pussy and Tony's wife Carmela's ruthlessness in placing daughter Meadow in the right college. Even with the action so dispersed, however, James Gandofini is still toweringly dominant as Tony. The genius of his performance, and of the programme makers, is that, despite Tony being a whoring, unscrupulous, sexist boor, a crime boss and a murderer, we somehow end up feeling and rooting for him, because he's also a family man with a bratty brood to feed, who's getting his balls busted on all sides, to say nothing of keeping the Government off his back. He's the kind of crime boss we'd like to feel we would be. Tony's decent Italian-American therapist Dr Melfi's (Loraine Bracco) perverse attraction with her gangster-patient reflects our own and, in her case, causes her to lose her first series cool and turn to drink this time around. Effortlessly multi-dimensional, funny and frightening, devoid of the sentimentality that afflicts even great American TV like The West Wing, The Sopranos is boss of bosses in its televisual era. --David Stubbs

• The Sopranos: Series 2 (Vol. 6) | DVD | (25/06/2001) from £10.99   |  Saving you £2.00 (18.20%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Features the episodes 'House Arrest' 'Knight in White Satin' and 'Armour Funhouse'. Tony Soprano impacts many people. Dr. Melfi steels herself with vodka before sessions with the trouble capo di tutti. The eyes of Richie Aprile become hate-filled Manson lamps as he schemes to cap the capo. Uncle Corrado (Dominic Chianese) is still allowed to pull strings that aren't there. Pussy is playing junior G-Man to nail his boss to an indictment. But the person Tony impacts the most is Tony. He's a tormented work in progress - a torment that would lessen if Richie took a permanent nap. Janice took a bus back to Seattle and Pussy took a boat ride from which he didn't return. So guess what happens?

• The Sopranos: Series 1 (Vol. 4) | DVD | (16/04/2001) from £4.99   |  Saving you £9.00 (180.36%)   |  RRP £13.99

  The Sopranos, writer-producer-director David Chase's extraordinary television series, is nominally an urban gangster drama, but its true impact strikes closer to home: this ambitious TV series chronicles a dysfunctional, suburban American family in bold relief. And for protagonist Tony Soprano, there is the added complexity posed by heading twin families, his collegial mob clan and his own, nouveau riche brood.The series' brilliant first season is built around what Tony learns when, whipsawed between those two worlds, he finds himself plunged into depression and seeks psychotherapy--a gesture at odds with his mid-level capo's machismo, yet instantly recognisable as a modern emotional test. With analysis built into the very spine of the show's elaborate episodic structure, creator Chase and his formidable corps of directors, writers and actors weave an unpredictable series of parallel and intersecting plot arcs that twist from tragedy to farce to social realism. While creating for a smaller screen, they enjoy a far larger canvas than a single movie would afford, and the results, like the very best episodic television, attain a richness and scope far closer to a novel than movies normally get.Unlike Francis Coppola's operatic dramatisation of Mario Puzo's Godfather epic, The Sopranos sustains a poignant, even mundane intimacy in its focus on Tony, brought to vivid life by James Gandolfini's mercurial performance. Alternately seductive, exasperated, fearful and murderous, Gandolfini is utterly convincing even when executing brutal shifts between domestic comedy and dramatic violence. Both he and the superb team of Italian-American actors recruited as his loyal (and, sometimes, not-so-loyal) henchman and their various "associates" make this mob as credible as the evocative Bronx and New Jersey locations where the episodes were filmed.The first season's other life force is Livia Soprano, Tony's monstrous, meddlesome mother. As Livia, the late Nancy Marchand eclipses her long career of patrician performances to create an indelibly earthy, calculating matriarch who shakes up both families; Livia also serves as foil and rival to Tony's loyal, usually level-headed wife, Carmela (Edie Falco). Lorraine Bracco makes Tony's therapist, Dr Melfi, a convincing confidante, by turns "professional", perceptive and sexy; the duo's therapeutic relationship is also depicted with uncommon accuracy. Such grace notes only enrich what is not merely an aesthetic high point for commercial television, but an absorbing film masterwork that deepens with subsequent screenings. --Sam Sutherland, Amazon.com