With a captivating dreamy musical score, authentic dramatisations, and a lilting historical narration, this fascinating documentary was first produced by Times Television. It is a superb introduction to the magical, beautiful and historical rich country of Ireland which has made a distinctive and lasting contribution to the world. Discover the treasured and haunting tapestry of events in this cultural adventure from the time of the Celts to the Williamite War, from the rise of the O'Connell to the Easter Rising and the revolutionary Michael Collins. 66 minute colour DVD with interactive menus.

All on one disc, two terrific films which includes bonus material of deleted scenes and exclusive documentaries and an audio commentary. The Last King of Scotland stars Forrest Whittaker as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, his story seen through the eyes of Nicholas Garrigan (James McAvoy), a young Scotsman who becomes the volatile leader's personal physician. Seduced by Amin's charisma and blinded by decadence, Garrigan's dream life becomes a waking nightmare of betrayal and madness from which there is no escape. Inspired by real people and events, this Academy and BAFTA winning film on DVD has an optional commentary by Kevin McDonald. The second film is Walk the Line featuring Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon powerfully portraying Johnny Cash and the greatest love of his life, June Carter. The music alone is absolutely beautiful and the connection between the actors capture the unbridled talent of the musician and the passion for the talented and beautiful woman he was destined to be with, and the path of self. It has it all. Film one 117 minutes and film two 130 minutes, both in colour DVD.

The three most popular of Britain's finest stately homes on three quality colour DVDs, boxed, running time 138 minutes. Burghley House in Lincolnshire is a fabulous house built by William Cecil, Lord High Treasurer to Elizabeth I. Started in 1555 it took 32 years to build. Over 450 years later, its state rooms are filled with treasures including one of the finest collections of 17th century Italian masterpieces, an exceptional display of Oriental and European ceramics and fine furniture. And it still remains a family home. Colour TV programme on DVD. Chatsworth House was built by the remarkable Bess of Hardwick and altered by the First Duke. It is one of the nation's greatest private homes open to the public, its first floor taken up with richly decorated, state apartments built for a visit by King William III, but the King never came. 46 minute colour film of both the interior and exterior, and an opportunity to explore the home of the Duke of Devonshire. Blenheim Palace is the third and last in the series. In this programme, the Duke of Marlborough talks to Selina Scott about Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, paid for by an Act of Parliament in 1705 as a grateful nation thanked its greatest warrior, John Churchill, First Duke of Marlborough. Treasures include the tapestry which recalls the Battle of Blenheim in which Marlborough defeated the Franco-Bavarian forces in the War of Spanish Succession. Winston Spencer Churchill, who was born at Blenheim in 1874, is buried in the park at the tiny church of Bladon. Explore inside and outside of this fine stately home from the comfort of your armchairs. 46 minute colour programme. Set of three.

Four original incredibly moving black and white DEFA feature films: The Kaiser's Lakey, The Girls In Gingham, Farewell and When Martin Was Fourteen. The East German Film Company founded in 1946 DEFA recorded the suffering of working people, the misery of life in factories and poor accommodation, the growing organisation of resistance to warmongers and profiteers, as well as the battle for a better world, and these are the topics of this extraordinary film collection. An industrialist's son, the hero of this film, is a cowardly and conventional career opportunist. He seeks the recognition of all above him, denounces competitors, and becomes the despot of both his inherited paper factory and his own family. The focal point of The Girls in Gingham is Guste, who as a maid has had to look after her lords and ladies. Her husband is conscripted, and she has to support the whole family by toiling as a hand-grenade maker. The film is a cinematographic journey through the empire, war, economic crisis, the rise of Nazi Fascism and into a further even crueller WW2. Farewell is also set in 1914 when many young men euphorically volunteered to go and fight in the First World War. Hans Gastl does not become a soldier. He is against the war and his bourgeois parental upbringing and the film recounts in flash-back form the story of his tender love to the housemaid, a love that is brutally repressed by his father, his time in a boarding school for badly behaved children, his love for a former prostitute with a fateful end, and his friendship with a working-class boy. When Martin Was Fourteen is set in March 1920 at the time of the Kapp Putsch in Germany. Reich Army units march on Berlin to create a military regime and in his village, 14 year old Martin discovers a secret store of weapons that a landowner has hidden for the organisers of the Putsch. He and a friend organise a strike but as the approaching soldiers are to keep the village inhabitants down, the boys manage to courageously fight their way through the rebellious faction in the city so that the weapons end up in the right hands. The film accurately and excitingly represents both youth and this part of history. Four DVDs, running time 400 minutes approx.

Films 4,5 and 6 in this series of Nugus Martin Productions, colour footage as never before seen. Hitler Strikes East film takes in Stalingrad and the Battle of Kursk, the biggest tank battle in all history. Red Sun Rampant follows the day that Japan entered World War Two and with its surprise attack on the US Fleet in Pearl Harbor. Japan swiftly followed this up with the defeat of a huge British army in Singapore and gradually America awoke. We see the battleship consigned to history and the emergence of the aircraft carrier. The Mediterranean and North Africa is the sixth film in the series. Mussolini's ambition had always been to recreate the old Roman empire but militarily he was a disaster. After failed attacks in North Africa and Greece, his armies were on the run. Should Hitler now divert his troops or support his ally? The film features the heroics of the tiny island of Malta as it withstood wave after wave of Nazi assault. It ends with the Allies fighting their up Italy and Germany in retreat. 150 minutes colour footage.

There are nine films in total to collect in these Nugus Martin Productions which is the best collection of rare and unseen footage of World War Two in the world, allowing us to view this epic struggle as never seen before. The first film in the series The Gathering Storm starts that great paradox. How could the settlement of the end of World War One, the 'War to end all wars' lead to an even greater conflict just a few years later? This film shows how the Great Depression sapped the will of democracies of the West to face up to a new and disturbing political phenomenon - the rise of militaristic dictators in Germany, Italy, Japan and Spain. The programme ends as Hitler plots his attack upon Poland. The second film Lightning War shows how the Nazis developed a terrifying new military tactic - Blitzkrieg - and how it caught first Poland and then Britain and France utterly unprepared. The film reveals how heroic French Resistance allowed the British to escape from Dunkirk and live to fight another day. The third film Britain at Bay is June 1940 when Britain stood alone against the Nazis and how close Britain came to defeat, as its exhausted Air Force struggled to fight off the German Luftwaffe. These three films have a total running time of 150 minutes of colour footage.

The last three films in the Nugus Martin Productions rare and unseen colour footage collection features Turning the Tide, the Soviet Steam Roller and Overlord. Sir Arthur 'Bomber' Harris thought the answer to defeat the Allies might lie in 'strategic bombing' attacking Germany's infrastructure and cities. But it led directly to the tragedy of Dresden when Allied planes fire bombed tens of thousands of ordinary Germans. So began a long game of cat-and-mouse between U-boats and British and American convoys. By July 1943 the full extent of Hitler's failed gamble in the East had become clear at Stalingrad and Moscow, and his army was now at the mercy of the vast Soviet war machine. The Red Army slowly pushed the Germans back out of Russia through Ukraine, Poland, the Balkans and Hungary. It was also a war fought by a small band of partisans, men like Tito in Yugoslavia, leading guerrilla bands against Nazi forces. Today it is easy to see D-Day as inevitable, but the film Overlord explodes that myth. It charts the development of specialised equipment needed for the amphibious landing and reveals the deception plan that wrong-footed Hitler. It shows how the Americans were very nearly driven off Omaha Beach and the film ends with the Liberation of Paris, as the Free French forces led by de Gaulle marched down the streets of the capital. 150 minutes of colour footage from this extraordinary collection. Bargain price.

Says what it is quite literally on the tin, tin-hatted soldiers of the First World War in the trenches look to the camera, a poppy in bright red decoration alongside the title of this large almost 12" diameter by 1½" deep coloured embossed tin. It contains five DVDs, total playing time four hours, with each film running to just around 48 minutes each. Each uses World War One archive footage, some very loud sound effects (no subtitles) and is a poignant and visual reminder of the 'War to end all wars', the Great War which ushered in the 20th century. People of all classes saw it as some great cleansing fire that would accelerate this battle and lead to a better world, but when it was all over, men died in the mud and the naïve dreams of progress along with the innocence of the pre-World War, faith in god and hope in the future all died in the trenches of Europe with them. Box set gift tin.

Directed by the acclaimed Bryan Singer, these two now classic films deliver a high voltage combination of visually stunning special effects, outrageous plot twists and unforgettable characters. X-Men introduces you to the incredible world of humans born with strange super powers that set them apart from the rest of humanity. Telepathic Xavier (Patrick Stewart), half-metal half-man Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), volatile Storm (Halle Berry) and the other mutants must band together against the villainous Magneto (Ian McKellen) who schemes to take over the world. X-Men 2 reveals an even deadlier threat - a mysterious government conspiracy to wipe mutants off the face of the Earth. Now the X-Men must unite with their former enemy to save themselves and possibly everyone on the planet. Certificate 12, running time 100 minutes and 120 minutes approximately, two DVDs slipcased.

A second programme written and presented by Peter Gammond the authority on Betjeman with more than 50 books on music and the arts. Sir John Betjeman CBE died in 1984 but his reputation has lived on as the quintessential poet of the suburbs - evocative, jolly, nostalgic and wary of change. He was also one of the world's greatest writers and several parts of Britain were very special to him such as North Cornwall, London and Highgate, Oxford, the Vale of the White Horse and Norfolk. The second DVD Betjeman's Britain traces his steps and words around many of the places he enjoyed and celebrated and all who love his poems will find them greatly enhanced by seeing the actual places featured in his work. 52 minute colour and black and white film.