Guest Author - Pam Lawrence

If you are like me, and love to do your Christmas shopping online to avoid the horrors of the mall, you need to get started very soon. We Canadians, with the current strength of our dollar, have never had a better time to shop for stuff from US sellers on Ebay (avoiding the stringent beast that is Canada Post) or even from the US Amazon store. DVDs always make fabulous presents for TV lovers, and over the coming weeks I'll take a look at what you really shouldn't miss for that Brit TV fan on your list.

As any British Telly fan will tell you, no show has taken the small screen by storm as completely in the past couple of years as the new Dr Who. David Tennant, voted the best Doctor ever, has won countless awards as the country's favourite actor in a drama, and no award show would be complete without a gong or two for the programme.

Just released in time for Christmas is the complete third series, starring Tennant and featuring Freeyma Agyeman as his new assistant, medical student Martha Jones. The collection features the entire 14 episodes on 6 discs and each episode can be seen with a detailed commentary.

Other goodies include Tennant's video diaries, and Agyeman's tour of the studio. Travel with the sexiest Time Lord as he visits Shakespeare, meets the dreaded Daleks again, and have a rollicking good time. Original, hilarious and heartbreaking, we are witnessing a new British TV classic.

Now here's another one I'd like from Santa, but he'll have to preorder it as it won't be available until January. The complete first season of the sexy and slick bodice ripper The Tudors has been riveting. It drives me crazy (as a former student of History) that folks are getting so het up about the 'historical inaccuracy' of this piece. I've said it before: it's entertainment guys.

OK, so Henry did have two sisters, not one, and I'm darn sure the Tudor monarch didn't look like Jonathan Rhys- Meyers either. But you know what ? I think he carries off the sheer physicality and charisma of the young, lusty, hot headed king with panache. You can see why the ladies in waiting couldn't wait to bed him. Just put the image of a rotund, gouty guy out of your head. This Henry is pure Hollywood, but he's great.

Now I've got that off my chest, I have one more DVD to tell you about, and this one will be available before the holidays. For fans of the hilarious and brilliantly acted comedy The Black Books, the release of the complete set on three discs will be welcome under anyone's tree. Featuring Dylan Moran as the foul tempered and eccentric bookseller Bernard Black, this one is for anyone who (like me) slaved away in what we used to call the 'book mines', and uncovers the hilarity and absurdity of those who love their books far more than they love people. Very, very funny.



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