Listmania!
Worth watching!
Public Eye - The Complete 1971 Series [DVD]Public Eye - The Complete 1971 Series [DVD]
Buy new: £30.27 / Used from: £21.94
I'd never seen this show until recently. Utterly engaging. You will be impressed.
Hazell - The Complete First Series [1978] [DVD]Hazell - The Complete First Series [1978] [DVD]
Buy new: £11.97 / Used from: £9.50
Hazell - too decent & likeable to be the gritty Sam Spade style Noir detective he's meant to be. You won't be disappointed!
Lovejoy - The Complete Lovejoy Collection [DVD] [2004]Lovejoy - The Complete Lovejoy Collection [DVD] [2004]
Buy new: £65.47 / Used from: £60.00
Lovejoy - another affable rogue. Even the few patchy episodes have something to recommend them; excellent overall. You'll want all the episodes, so get this!
Sherlock Holmes - The Complete Collection [DVD]Sherlock Holmes - The Complete Collection [DVD]
Buy used from: £30.00
Another complete set; this time the definitive TV Sherlock Holmes. No blustering Watson here!
Man About The House - The Complete Fourth Series [DVD]Man About The House - The Complete Fourth Series [DVD]
Buy new: £8.57 / Used from: £2.43
Likable actors, good scripts - innocent fun the whole family can enjoy (Just don't consider the closing credit images too carefully). Beans, beans, chunky chicken!
Press Gang (Complete Series Box Set) [DVD]Press Gang (Complete Series Box Set) [DVD]
Another brilliant series. Although starting out as a kids programme, it rapidly grows beyond its initial constraints both in terms of audience and format boundaries (linear narratives, etc).
Paddington Bear - Please Look After This Bear [DVD]Paddington Bear - Please Look After This Bear [DVD]
Buy new: £5.78 / Used from: £2.65
For the little ones. It makes me smile too (though ask me again after Master Two Years Old has made us watch it several hundred times).
George And The Dragon [DVD]George And The Dragon [DVD]
Buy new: £21.48 / Used from: £12.49
I'm not a Carry On fan, but I love Sid James in everything else. Get this! It's hours of brilliant vintage comedy. Put it in your basket and save it as Amazon often drop/raise the price.
Hannay - The Complete Series [DVD] [2006]Hannay - The Complete Series [DVD] [2006]
Buy new: £20.67
Excellent adventure series, with Robert Powell as the stout-hearted hero; brave, fair, resourceful & honest just like any British hero should be. Stand tall with your bat straight & buy this.
The 39 Steps [1978] [DVD]The 39 Steps [1978] [DVD]
Buy used from: £4.10
Powell as Hannay again (or rather, previously - he did this first). Exciting & different enough from the Hitchcock version to be surprising as well.
Jeeves And Wooster : Complete ITV Series (8 Disc Box Set) [DVD] [1990]Jeeves And Wooster : Complete ITV Series (8 Disc Box Set) [DVD] [1990]
Splendidly evocative; charmingly funny. Stephen Fry is the clever servant & Hugh Laurie the daft master; they work together brilliantly.
Will Hay - Oh Mr. Porter! / Convict 99 [DVD] [1938]Will Hay - Oh Mr. Porter! / Convict 99 [DVD] [1938]
Buy new: £6.08 / Used from: £6.00
Oh Mr. Porter! Anything Will Hay did with Moore Marriott & Graham Moffat is worth a look; this is considered one of the best.
The Goodies (4 Disc BBC Box Set) [DVD]The Goodies (4 Disc BBC Box Set) [DVD]
The Goodies - something for every taste in humour: clever lines, dreadful puns, slapstick, sight gags. Graeme, Tim, & Bill - you're the best. I salute you!
Sherlock Holmes and the Railway ManiacSherlock Holmes and the Railway Maniac by Barrie Roberts
Buy used from: £4.03
There are many lack-lustre 'new' Sherlock Holmes stories, but Mr. Roberts writes authentic Holmes. Get any of his Holmes books that you can lay your hands on.
Locked Rooms (Mary Russell Mystery)Locked Rooms (Mary Russell Mystery) by Laurie R. King
Buy used from: £8.96
Laurie R. King's series of novels about the wife (yes, wife!) of Sherlock Holmes. All brilliantly written & plotted, this one in particular is a gripping and effortless read.
"Radio Times" Guide to TV Comedy"Radio Times" Guide to TV Comedy by Mark Lewisohn
Buy used from: £29.99
Useful & absorbing reference work.
Basil Brush - Sports Spectacular [DVD]Basil Brush - Sports Spectacular [DVD]
Buy new: £4.98 / Used from: £4.25
Don't think of it as a childrens show; think of it as a skewed sitcom with one character who happens to be a fox. A few good gags here - and look at the price! Add it to your basket!
Yes, Prime Minister - Series One [1986] [DVD]Yes, Prime Minister - Series One [1986] [DVD]
Buy new: £5.98 / Used from: £3.99
Hacker as PM; loved it. Three great actors deserving of the clever scripts on show here.
The PyratesThe Pyrates by George MacDonald Fraser
Buy new: £5.46 / Used from: £0.01
A genuinely funny swashbuckling novel. The author has used every cliche imaginable to send up every Hollywood pirate movie, & it works. Lively, light-hearted, and a decent sized read.
Judge Dredd Vs. Aliens: IncubusJudge Dredd Vs. Aliens: Incubus by John Wagner
Buy used from: £7.25
The black sheep of the list. Dredd faces off with the Aliens (you know the ones). Well scripted, well illustrated. Perhaps too visceral for your younger ones though.
The Story of Commodore: A Company on the EdgeThe Story of Commodore: A Company on the Edge by Brian Bagnall
Computer history is fiercely revisionist, with Apple, IBM, & Microsoft dominating all the mainstream reference books. Commodore were true pioneers and deserved a better-lasting success.
Life and Times of Scrooge McDuckLife and Times of Scrooge McDuck by Don Rosa
Buy used from: £193.94
I read comics as a child, & it was one of the joys of my childhood. Comics are too expensive for kids to buy nowadays. Get this as a little treat for them, then read it yourself!
The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck CompanionThe Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck Companion by Don Rosa
Buy new: £7.31 / Used from: £14.44
Partner to the above. This is the kind of innocent fun a comic should be; a lot of comics these days reflect the mean-spirited self-centred world we live in. Put some different fuel into your kids!