Weekly Newsletter

The Funny Thing About Death

Thursday 3rd August 2023. Hardback

Six years ago, Jo Caulfield was about to go on stage when she found out that her big sister Annie had cancer. Not the best way to start a nationwide comedy tour. But the tour turns out to be a welcome distraction for both sisters. As Jo reports back from various hotels and service stations, they revisit their childhood and adolescence while navigating Annie's illness, learning through trial and error how to behave when someone you love gets sick.

The Funny Thing About Death is a memoir of two unconventional girls growing up in the 1970s. They didn't fit in at the Air Force bases they were raised on or the strict convent boarding school they were sent to. The Air Force was obsessed with communists and the nuns were obsessed with the Virgin Mary, neither of which were of interest to Jo or Annie. Annie was witty, spiky and greedy for life, rushing to be 'interesting' and experience adventures. She travelled the world and became a screenwriter and broadcaster. Jo was equally rebellious but didn't have a plan. She just wanted to be interesting like her big sister and thought it might involve eyeliner, smoking and being in a band.

Like her stand-up, Jo Caulfield's caustic wit and razor-sharp observations make her account of life with her sister, even in the worst of times, as entertaining as it is touching and relatable.

Take A Girl Like You

Out now. Blu-ray

Jonathan Miller's film of Kingsley Amis's comic novel (adapted for the screen by George Melly) casts Hayley Mills as a naïve young girl who moves from the North of England to teach in a London school and finds herself fending off the advances of a number of lusty suitors, including Oliver Reed, John Bird and Noel Harrison.

As much a document of its time as a satire on the sexual mores (and confusions) of the period, Miller's still remarkably fresh debut feature is buoyed by its terrific cast and a typically excellent Stanley Myers score. This high definition remaster is presented with original mono audio sound track and a number of extra features.

One Foot In The Grave - The Radio Episodes

Friday 11th August 2023. Vinyl

Four radio episodes adapted from the hit TV series by David Renwick from his original scripts.

Having been made redundant from his job by an electronic box, crabby Victor Meldrew is faced with the prospect of finding his feet in an increasingly frustrating world. In these four episodes - Alive And Buried, Timeless Time, In Luton Airport No-one Can Hear You Scream and The Beast In The Cage - things hilariously go from bad to worse for Victor and his long-suffering wife, Margaret.

Richard Wilson, Annette Crosbie, Doreen Mantle, Owen Brenman, Sally Grace, Jeffrey Holland, Jon Glover and Michael Fenton Stevens star in all four episodes (the complete series), aired on BBC Radio 2 in 1995. Presented in full-colour inner bags depicting the everyday trappings of Victor's life, two burgundy 140g vinyl LPs are housed in an illustrated wide-spine outer sleeve.

Still Open All Hours - The Complete Collection

Out now. DVD

Open All Hours returns to our screens, 28 years after the first series.

This warm-hearted sitcom sees Sir David Jason reprise his role as Granville who has inherited the corner shop from his beloved but miserly Uncle Arkwright. Now running the business with his cheerful and good-looking son, Leroy (James Baxter) - the result of a brief romantic encounter a couple of decades ago - Granville continues to serve the locals with a keen eye on a clever profit, from familiar and new faces including Nurse Gladys Emmanuel (Lynda Baron), the formidable Mrs Featherstone (Stephanie Cole), and pessimistic Wet Eric (Johnny Vegas). He is also still trying to woo the lovely Mavis (Maggie Ollerenshaw), who is now under the watchful eye of her fearsome sister Madge (Brigit Forsyth), and Granville tries to find a way through with help from his neighbour, Gastric (Tim Healy).

This box set contains all six series of the sitcom hit.

Robin And Wendy's Wet Weekends

Thursday 3rd August 2023. Audio Download

Childless couple Robin and Wendy have developed an obsession with Mayfield - the model village they've built in their garage. However, running a model village is slightly more complicated than they expected, especially as they live next-door to Derek, a former superstar salesman who is struggling with the erratic side effects of mental health medication, and Maureen, who is always getting involved in get-rich-quick schemes...

Includes every episode of the popular BBC Radio 4 sitcom.