Drama

• The Isle | DVD | (23/05/2005) from £31.16   |  Saving you £-16.17 (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  'The Isle' tells a tale of a beautiful woman who lives on an eerie remote lake selling food to fisherman by day and her body by night. When the woman becomes obsessed with a suicidal former police officer haunted by the murder of his unfaithful girlfriend what develops is a perversely intriguing love story... Visually arresting shocking visceral and original Kim Ki-duk's 'The Isle' is extreme Korean cinema at its very best!

• Agatha Christie's Seven Dials Mystery | DVD | (03/03/2008) from £29.99   |  Saving you £-13.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £16.99

  This drama is based on the best-selling novel by Agatha Christie and starring Sir John Gielgud (Summer's Lease) Rula Lenska (Footballers Wives TV) Terence Alexander (Bergerac) Cheryl Campbell (William and Mary) and Christopher Scoular (A Dorothy L Sayers Mystery: Strong Poison). This stylish thriller is set in the midst of a high society weekend party. All appears to be going swimmingly until one of the guests fails to appear for breakfast and is later found dead. Broadcast at peak time on ITV in 1981 this is available for the first time on DVD in the UK.

• Teachers: Series 1 | DVD | (11/08/2003) from £9.99   |  Saving you £15.00 (150.15%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Depending on where you get your recommendations, you'll see Teachers described as a comedy, a drama, an irresponsible depiction of the teaching profession and a (fairly) sympathetic reminder of how teachers are expected to be morally unimpeachable despite being ordinary human beings like the rest of us. In fact, it's all of the above, which perhaps does more for the show's realism than all its supposedly controversial elements put together. The series stars Andrew (This Life) Lincoln as the feckless Simon, who, like several of his colleagues, is no more mature or advanced in terms of his ability to manage his own life than his pupils. The staff at the fictitious Bristol school are given to in-fighting, petty factionalism, bad behaviour, inappropriate nookie and dishonesty, both on and off-duty. That said, they also have to wrestle with professional and moral dilemmas and deal with their dysfunctional relationships: sometimes they succeed, often they don't. It makes for a superb, bittersweet concoction. If you want yet more social comment, it's worth noting that the series was filmed in a disused, empty LEA school. On the DVD: Teachers, Series 1 bucks the take-it-or-leave-it convention of many television series releases by actually providing some interview material as part of this two-disc set. Simple extras such as this cost little enough to include and do at least add some value to the package. --Roger Thomas

• Ambush In Waco - In The Line Of Duty | DVD | (23/02/2004) from £20.00   |  Saving you £-18.01 (N/A%)   |  RRP £1.99

  This riveting fact-based drama concentrates on the transformation of Vernon Howell into the self-made cult leader David Koresh. Failing as a musician Howell turns back to his strictly religious upbringing and uses his predatory charm to organise churches under his own leadership. But his ministry is tainted with both his obsession with rock-and-roll and his driven sexual appetites. This corrupt prophet eventually accumulates 19 wives in a frenzy of misguided devotion and a calculatingly cruel madness that eventually results in tragedy.

• Message In A Bottle / Tin Cup | DVD | (24/04/2006) from £16.22   |  Saving you £-2.24 (N/A%)   |  RRP £10.99

  Message In A Bottle: Grieving widower Garret Blake builds boats for a living. Rebuilding his life - that's another matter. But that's before Theresa Osborne comes to his North Carolina village. Theresa a lonely divorcee and researcher for the Chicago Tribune knows Garret is the author of the message she found inside a bottle on Cape Cod beach. And she knows the message spoke to her in a way that profoundly touched her heart. Kevin Costner as Garret and Robin Wright Penn as T

• The Pact | DVD | (14/04/2008) from £4.94   |  Saving you £0.05 (1.01%)   |  RRP £4.99

  Chris Harte and Emily Gold grew up together in seeming suburban bliss sheltered by the love and support of their parents. Unsurprisingly the deep friendship shared between the two blossomed into a high school romance but the peace and tranquility of the families' lives is brought to a devastating halt by a late night call from the emergency room. Emily is dead at 17 from a gunshot wound to the head inflicted by Chris as part of an apparent suicide pact.

• The Stolen Assignment | DVD | (19/01/2015) from £6.99   |  Saving you £3.00 (42.92%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Directed by future Hammer stalwart Terence Fisher, this entertaining, light-hearted crime thriller centres around the adventures of sleuthing reporters Mike Billings (John Bentley) and Jenny Drew (Hy Hazell) as they try to unravel the alibi of a suspected murderer... Stolen Assignment is presented here in a brand-new transfer from the original film elements in its as-exhibited theatrical aspect ratio.Henry Crossley is an artist whose wife is spending a week's holiday with her aunt. But when her aunt comes to see him, worried because her niece has not arrived, a police investigation into her disappearance begins. It seems that Henry was fully occupied at the time his wife went missing; but is his alibi completely truthful?

• Melrose Place - Season 1 | DVD | (13/11/2006) from £25.46   |  Saving you £24.53 (96.35%)   |  RRP £49.99

  Aaron Spelling's drama series about the lives careers trials and tribulations of a group of young people living in an apartment building in the trendy neighbourhood of Melrose Place. A spin-off of Beverly Hills 90210 Melrose Place starred Heather Locklear as the scheming Amanda Woodward head of her own advertising agency and owner of the apartment building. Episodes Comprise: 1. Pilot 2. Friends and Lovers 3. Lost and Found 4. For Love or Money 5. Leap of Faith 6. Second Chances 7. My Way 8. Lonely Hearts 9. Responsibly Yours 10. Burned 11. A Promise Broken 12. Polluted Affairs 13. Dreams Come True 14. Drawing the Line 15. House of God 16. The Whole Truth 17. Jake vs. Jake 18. A Melrose Place Christmas 19. Single White Sister 20. Peanut Butter and Jealousy 21. Picture Imperfect 22. Three's a Crowd 23. My New Partner 24. Bye Bye Billy 25. Irreconcilable Similarites 26. End Game 27. The Test 28. Pushing Boundaries 29. Pas de Trois 30. Carpe Diem 31. State of Need 32. Suspicious Minds

• Contraband Spain | Blu Ray | (17/02/2020) from £14.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Richard Greene stars as an FBI agent hot on the trail of his brother's killer in this thrilling crime drama from the mid '50s. Made concurrently with Greene's phenomenally successful TV series The Adventures of Robin Hood, Contraband Spain also stars Anouk Aimée and Michael Denison. It is is presented here as a brand-new High Definition transfer from the original film elements in its original theatrical aspect ratio. A member of a smuggling gang is found murdered on the Franco-Spanish border with counterfeit bills in his pocket. Agent Lee Scott the dead smuggler's brother is assigned to investigate.

• Nowhere To Go | DVD | (14/01/2013) from £15.98   |  Saving you £2.00 (14.30%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Directed by Seth Holt (The Nanny and Blood From The Mummy's Tomb), Nowhere To Go is a stylish, grimy tale of deception and betrayal. A rare, late excursion into film noir for Ealing Studios, scripted by first-time director Holt and critic Ken Tynan. This is the digitally remastered, previously unreleased original 100 minute version of the film. Paul Gregory (George Nader, Robot Monster) is a thief and conman. He has come to London from Canada in order to rob Harriet Jefferson (Bessie Love, The Lost World) of her rare coin collection. Having sold the coins, he puts the money in a safe deposit box and waits to be arrested, expecting to be out in five years. Sentenced instead to ten years, Gregory breaks out of prison with the help of Victor Sloane (Bernard Lee, The Third Man, Dr, No, Goldfinger, From Russia with Love), planning to collect the money then leave the country. A series of accidents and double-crosses sends Gregory spinning through London’s criminal underworld, before he ends up on the run in the Welsh countryside with socialite Bridget Howard (Maggie Smith, TV's Downton Abbey, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie). Special Features: Revisiting Nowhere to Go (A new Featurette including Crew Interviews)

• Nighthawks/Strip Jack Naked - Nighthawks 2 | DVD | (30/03/2009) from £22.96   |  Saving you £0.03 (0.13%)   |  RRP £22.99

  Nighthawks: After the end of his workday staid schoolteacher Jim explores the disco's and secret meeting places of London's gay underground unable to reconcile his sexual identity with the rest of his life - until the strain of living a lie threatens to take its toll at last. Nighthawks 2: British director Ron Peck's look back at at the production of his groundbreaking Nighthawks which candidly explored a closeted gay schoolteacher's inner conflicts. The director tells very poignantly his own story of self-discovery and coming out. Most striking is the story of how much effort and determination it took to get Nighthawks made and why there are hundreds of names in the closing credits that the producers would like to give thanks to - they are people who sent in small amounts of money after reading in a London gay paper that the filmmakers needed funds to continue the project.

• Honeydripper | DVD | (22/09/2008) from £8.22   |  Saving you £7.77 (94.53%)   |  RRP £15.99

  It's 1950 and it's a make or break weekend for Tyrone Purvis (Danny Glover), the proprietor of the Honeydripper Lounge. Deep in debt, Tyrone is desperate to bring back the crowds that used to come to his place.

• Death In Love | DVD | (16/08/2010) from £3.06   |  Saving you £6.19 (343.89%)   |  RRP £7.99

  Death In Love

• Stand By Me | DVD | (10/12/2013) from £9.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  A sleeper hit when released in 1986, Stand by Me is based on Stephen King's novella "The Body" (from the book Different Seasons); but it's more about the joys and pains of boyhood friendship than a morbid fascination with corpses. It's about four boys ages 12 and 13 (Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O'Connell) who take an overnight hike through the woods near their Oregon town to find the body of a boy who's been missing for days. Their journey includes a variety of scary adventures (including a ferocious junkyard dog, a swamp full of leeches and a treacherous leap from a train trestle), but it's also a time for personal revelations, quiet interludes and the raucous comradeship of best friends. Set in the 1950s, the movie indulges an overabundance of anachronistic profanity and a kind of idealistic, golden-toned nostalgia (it's told in flashback as a story written by Wheaton's character as an adult, played by Richard Dreyfuss). But it's delightfully entertaining from start to finish, thanks to the rapport among its young cast members and the timeless, universal themes of friendship, family and the building of character and self-esteem. Kiefer Sutherland makes a memorable teenage villain and look closely for John Cusack in a flashback scene as Wheaton's now-deceased and dearly missed brother. A genuine crowd-pleaser, this heartfelt movie led director Rob Reiner to even greater success with his next film, The Princess Bride. --Jeff Shannon

• Fortress | DVD | (16/05/2011) from £6.73   |  Saving you £9.26 (137.59%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Fortress

• Flambards | DVD | (31/07/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Flambards is a delightful tale about a young orphan called Christina (Christine McKenna). Set in the years surrounding the first World War Flambards is a deeply moving story of growing and loving in a world that is continually changing. Christina has been moved from home to home for most of her life until one day she is sent to live at Flambards the once grand country home of her domineering disabled Uncle Russell and his two sons Mark and William. However much as Christina is hoping to find a loving new family she soon discovers the inhabitants at Flambards are an unhappy group torn apart by bitterness and jealousy. Episodes Comprise: 1. Christina 2. The Blooding 3. Entry To A New World 4. Lady Bountiful 5. Point To Point 6. The Cold Light Of Day 7. Edge Of The Cloud 8. Flying High 9. Sing No Sad Songs 10. New Blood 11. Prisoners Of War 12. What Are Servants For? 13. Inheritance

• A Family At War - Series 3 | DVD | (11/07/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £79.99

  A Family At War is the classic ITV series chronicling the fortunes of the Ashton family living in Liverpool during the Second World War. This eight disc box set features the entire third series.

• Kavanagh Q.C. - The Complete Series 1 | DVD | (15/03/2004) from £15.10   |  Saving you £4.89 (32.38%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The fact that John Thaw was able to make his eponymous character in Kavanagh QC stand out as a unique personality distinct from the superficially similar Inspector Morse says much about his understated skills as an actor. Thaw brought his trademark mixture of curmudgeonly belligerence and gruff sensitivity to Kavanagh, but the barrister--who first appeared on our screens in 1995 while the Oxford detective was still alive and kicking--is no polished-up Morse. He is far worldlier, is married and has a family. And although he is often troubled by his cases, he is never afraid to play the system. He knows that there are devious, even superficial lawyers, some of them in his own chambers, who he must face across the courtroom, but he acknowledges them as an unavoidable aspect of the world in which he works. The plots are often convoluted, but Kavanagh's wielding of the trusty sword of truth is always irresistible, particularly when the case involves some kind of high-level government aberration. "The End of Law" is a case in point; a particularly nasty tale about an unexceptional businessman framed for a murder which covers up an unpleasant security scandal. It's dark and dirty and full of troubling compromises. In the end, as with most of his cases, Kavanagh's craggy features convey a subtle hint of the sourness which comes with his chosen territory. --Piers Ford

• Q And A | DVD | (30/06/2003) from £9.99   |  Saving you £-4.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  A grim, disheartening view of the underside of city life, Q & A is a legal drama with a disturbing twist. Not exactly a whodunit--the guilt of policeman Nick Nolte is established early on--the plot follows the closing of the circle around him. Leading the murder investigation is Timothy Hutton’s young, idealistic district attorney Al Reilly, who finds himself battling a fraudulent and cynical culture. Racism, corruption and political machinations are all added to the mix, resulting in a film that is just a little too dense and slow moving to capture the imagination. Director Sidney Lumet creates a feeling of enveloping darkness around Hutton, who slowly manages to let the light in and bring the truth to the surface. With an obviously small budget, the film has more of a made-for-television feel than that of a big blockbuster and some of the performances err too much on the side of cliché. The concept of the New York melting pot is fairly effectively dismissed by the film, painting a picture of distrust between communities that often spills into verbal and physical violence. Not quite as unremittingly bleak as Harvey Kietel’s Bad Lieutenant, Q & A is still a tough, dark piece of cinema. On the DVD: Q & A is very much a film of the night, with much of the action taking place either in the shadows or in rooms with harsh, artificial light. The picture on the DVD reflects that perfectly, although the lack of budget is hard to disguise. The soundtrack quality is good, if not startling, but there are no extras aside from the movie’s theatrical trailer. All in all, it’s a fairly average package. --Phil Udell

• The Caretaker | DVD | (21/10/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The Caretaker was the play that made Harold Pinter's name when it was first performed at the Arts Theatre London in 1960 and it remains probably his most famous. Two years later Clive Donner's film version began shooting after producer Michael Birkett had raised the finance from such figures as Noel Coward Richard Burton Elizabeth Taylor Peter Sellers Peter Hall and Leslie Caron - all passionate admirers of the play. For the film two of the cast of the original production