Staying in at all this week? Here are the picks of TV and on-demand to keep you entertained without breaking the bank.
JUMP TO: 99P FILMS / ON-DEMAND / CATCH UP / TV / BOX SET / RADIO / ALBUM
99P FILMS
Captain Phillips
Mud
Half Nelson
The Call
The best of recent releases in this week’s Blinkbox 99p films are Tom Hanks vs Somali pirates in the excellent Captain Phillips and Matthew McConaughey’s great performance as a charismatic fugitive in Mud – that it’s only his third best of last year shows how good he’s become. There were mixed reviews for Halle Berry’s thriller The Call but if you want something not too taxing it’ll probably be ok. Though the very good Half Nelson is older, it’s another chance to see everyone’s favourite leading man Ryan Gosling. Stay clear of the other choices.
You can only rent them at this price on Monday, but you have 30 days to actually watch. Click through to the Blinkbox Movie Mondays page, select the film you want to watch (SD only) and enter the code MONDAYS117 at checkout to rent for that price. For more on Blinkbox and how to get £6 credit for just £1 when you sign up, see our Clever Site guide.
ON-DEMAND
Modern Family Monday 8.30pm, Sky One/NOW TV
Game Of Thrones, Monday 9pm, Sky Atlantic/NOW TV
24: Live Another Day, Tuesday 1am, Sky One/NOW TV
Mad Men, Wednesday 10pm, Sky Atlantic/NOW TV
Jack Bauer’s back! Again! This time in London. So expect some ridiculous stereotypes and illogical tube journeys alongside an action packed 12 hours (it’s not real time anymore). 24: Live Another Day joins an already very strong lineup of top US dramas and comedy on Sky Atlantic, which you no longer have to have Sky to get. In fact you can watch all of these and other Sky shows for £4.99 a month, with the first month free.
To do this you need to sign up for a free 30 day trial for Sky’s NOW TV Entertainment package (it’s their iPlayer) and then sign up for a further month at just £4.99 (They’ve cancelled a planned price increase!). The selection, as well as access to previous series box sets, makes NOW TV our number one choice for streaming services at the moment.
To watch you can either connect a laptop to your TV, watch on a tablet or computer, or buy a heavily subsidised NOW TV box for £9.99 (this also lets you watch iPlayer and 4OD on your TV). Make sure that your broadband contract has a decent data limit, as going over can cost. Click here to get your free trial. You can also buy a six month package for £34.99 including the box, which avoids the prices rise at the end of May to £6.99.
CATCH UP
The Trip To Italy, iPlayer until 16th May
Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon return as themselves in this semi improvised comedy that follows them as they travel and write restaurant reviews. This time they go to Italy. The final part is this Friday so there’s seven days after that to watch them all.
TV
Bridesmaids, Tuesday 9pm, Film4
The female Hangover, and much funnier.
Son Of Rambow, Tuesday 11.50pm, BBC One
Not Sly Stallone, but an 80s set coming of age comedy drama with great performances from it’s two young leads.
Fargo, Sunday 9pm, Channel4
Billy Bob Thornton and Martin Freeman star in this TV remake of the Coen Brother’s 90s classic. It’s meant to be very good.
BOX SET
House Of Cards, Netflix
If you don’t fancy any the on-demand choices above, you MUST watch House Of Cards. There are two series available on Netflix, or you can buy the first series. The cheapest we found for the DVD is £10.99 from Base.com.
You can get a free trial of Netflix for 30 days, then it’s £5.99 a month after that. Read our guide to make sure you get the best value when streaming film and tv.
RADIO
Radio 1 Stories: 10 Moments That Made Pharrell Williams, Monday 9pm, Radio 1
He might be a little over saturated right now, and I’m not a fan of Happy, but there should be plenty of decent tunes in this documentary. As producing duo The Neptunes he was behind hits such as Senorita, Slave 4U and Milkshake.
ALBUM
The biggest new releases this week:
On Monday only you can get Lily Allen‘s new album Sheezus for just 99p from Google Play. On CD the cheapest is £7.64 from WOW HD
Other releases we found on Monday include:
Tune Yards: Nikki Nack – MP3 £6.99 Sainsbury’s Entertainment / CD £6.79 WOW HD
The Horrors: Luminous – MP3 £6.99 Sainsbury’s Entertainment / CD £6.79 WOW HD
Gruff Rhys: American Interior – MP3 £7.99 Sainsbury’s Entertainment / CD £9.89 Base.com