What better to warm you up on those cold wintry days and nights than a batch of uptempo tracks courtesy of Ministry Of Sound?

That’s where the new Ministry Of Sound ‘Running Trax: Winter 2013’ comes in handy. Again, the discs in this set are conveniently tagged ‘Walk’, ‘Jog’ and ‘Run’ for obviously they’ve realised they’re onto a winner (it is Australia’s number one fitness CD, after all).

Warm up to the diverse likes of Rudimental, Avicii, Usher, and The Potbelleez; keep up the pace to the sounds of Moby, Rita Ora, Dirty South, and The Presets; then dart about to the catchiest of tunes by Pitbull, Benny Benassi, Armin Van Buuren, Sam & The Womp and more.

Courtesy of Ministry Of Sound, Cream has 10 copies of the triple-disc CD Running Trax: Winter 2013 to give away. To try winning one, simply email your name, address, favourite current dance track and the Subject heading ‘Winter Trax’ to cream@pobox.com no later than 5pm, Friday 28 June. Remember, you can enter as many times as you like but only one entry per day, thanks.

Based on the 1970s British television police drama of the same name, The Sweeney is a new take on an old classic, with all the exhilarating action and old-school crime-fighting that made the original such a hit with audiences.

Set in contemporary London; armed and dangerous legendary Inspector, Jack Regan (played by Ray Winstone) and his loyal partner, George Carter (Ben Drew) have their own unique ways of operating. But when Regan disobeys orders and a bank heist ends in a shoot-out, leaving a civilian dead, Regan is stripped of office, even briefly imprisoned.

Loyal to his partner, Carter and his supervisor Frank Haskins (Damian Lewis) fight to have Regan released and will do whatever it takes to get the job done, even defying orders from their no-nonsense boss, Ivan Lewis (Steven Mackintosh).

British criminal drama at its finest.

The Sweeney is out now on DVD.

Courtesy of the Universal Sony Home Pictures Entertainment, Cream has 5 copies on DVD to give away. To try winning one, simply email your name, address and the Subject heading ‘The Sweeney’ to cream@pobox.com no later than 5pm, Friday 28 June. Remember, you can enter as many times as you like but only one entry per day, thanks.

There once was a time when American TV was so conservative, its programs failed to represent the darker side of society. Put simply, shows in the 1950s (like Leave It To Beaver)  right through to the 1970s (eg: The Brady Bunch) presented families as squeaky-clean with tame roles allocated to both women and men (she would stay at home; he would till 5 arriving on the welcome mat with a chirpy “Honey, I’m home”).

Then the ’80s ushered in a certain bitchiness (think Dallas and Dynasty), and the ’90s an even greater lack of scruples (Melrose Place), but come the Zeroes, TV grew utterly out of control. Enter the likes of Big Love, Dexter, True Blood and Weeds – many of these laden with taboo subjects. Then in 2008 arrived Breaking Bad – a series about an ex-high-school chemistry teacher, diagnosed with an inoperable lung cancer, who turns to a life of full-blown crime, using his chem nous to produce and sell illicit drugs.

Walter White’s transformation from respected authority figure to ruthless drug lord is one that has had audiences instantly hooked, with Bryan Cranston – who plays the protagonist – already having won three Emmys and a Screen Actors Guild Award for his superb performances.

Every episode in Breaking Bad Season 5 is just as riveting as its predecessor seasons. Walt continues to make a killing in the crystal meth business – until the fruits of his murderous schemes are threatened by a new development in an investigation led by his relentless brother-in-law Hank. Put simply, there are just as many lows in this season as there are proverbial highs.

And fans will be ecstatic to learn that both the Blu-ray and DVD versions feature an eight-minute bonus scene, ‘Chicks ‘N’ Guns’, written and produced exclusively for the home entertainment release.   

Breaking Bad Season 5 is available on Blu-ray and DVD through Universal Sony Pictures Home Entertainment from June 13.

Courtesy of the distributor, Cream has 10 copies of Breaking Bad Season 5 on DVD to give away. To try winning one, simply email your name, address and the Subject heading ‘Breaking Bad’ to cream@pobox.com no later than 5pm, Friday 28 June. Remember, you can enter as many times as you like but only one entry per day, thanks.

Halo has been one of the most popular franchises in gaming, with the fourth instalment of the game having broken all records. Now, that game is the basis of a movie, Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn, which will arrive on Blu-ray and DVD come June 19.

For those who’ve not played the popular game (where have you been?), the gist of the plot is this: for generations, humans travelled the stars and worked together to settle worlds under the banner of ‘The United Nations Space command’. Peace is now shattered by insurrectionists causing a galaxy-spanning civil war.

Main character, Lasky, and his fellow cadets need to fight for survival, only to find assistance from a mysterious ally – a mythic, armoured supersolder simply known as ‘The Master Chief’.

From the writers of TV’s Spartacus: Blood And Sand and Smallville, Halo 4: Forward Unto The Dawn stars Australian actor Tom Green (Home And Away), Anna Popplewell (The Chronicles Of Narnia series), Daniel Cudmore (the Twilight series and X-Men: The Last Stand)  and Enisha Brewster (Footloose).

The film’s sure to appeal to long-time fans and newcomers to the Halo Universe. 

Both the Blu-ray and DVD include over one hour of special features including 30 minutes of never-before-seen footage.

Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn is available on Blu-ray and DVD, June 19, through Anchor Bay.

Courtesy of the distributor, Cream has 10 copies of the film on Blu-ray to give away to readers. To try winning a copy, simply send your name, address and the Subject heading ‘Halo 4’ to cream@pobox.com no later than 5pm, Friday 21 June. Remember, you can enter as many times as you like but only one entry per day, thanks.

Tim Elliott (Darren Boyd) is a single father trying to win back the respect and affections of his precocious nine-year-old son, Marcus. In the hope of proving that he is not a complete loser, Tim quits his dead-end job only to find his life changes forever when he is accidentally recruited as a trainee spy for the UK Security Service, MI5.

Supervising Tim at work is irrepressible MI5 boss ‘The Examiner’ (Robert Lindsay), who teaches the recruits his own unorthodox approach to the espionage game. Tim struggles as he attempts to run his parallel family and professional lives without his secret being discovered, least of all by impressionable son Marcus.

SPY: The Complete Series 1 & 2 is out now on DVD through Roadshow Home Entertainment, RRP: $29.95.

To try winning one of 5 sets of ‘SPY: The Complete Series 1 & 2′, simply email your name, address and the Subject heading ‘Spy’ to cream@pobox.com no later than 5pm, Friday 7 June. Remember, you can enter as many times as you like but only one entry per day, thanks.

Forget mock horror flicks like The Blair Witch Project and the Paranormal Activity franchise and let’s get your teeth into some real horror. Real as in, like, it really happened.

When The Lights Went Out is a terrifying British ghost story based on a haunting that – if not genuine – did sincerely freak its victims out.

It was 1974 when the Maynard family moved into their ‘dream’ house in Yorkshire, England, only to discover a presence already there. Len, Jenny and their daughter Sally struggled to keep an already fragile family together as they were literally attacked by poltergeists, leading to the ultimate option of exorcism.

Though based on a true story, the film is a re-enactment that stars Steve Waddington (Sleepy Hollow), Kate Ashfield (Shaun Of The Dead), and Gary Lewis (Billy Elliot) and is produced by the people behind Bend It Like Beckham and The Buena Vista Social Club, so for a horror film, it has enough cred stamped over it to make even us believe.

When The Lights Went Out is available now on Blu-ray (RRP $29.95) and DVD (RRP $24.95) through Anchor Bay Entertainment.

Courtesy of the distributor, Cream has 10 copies on Blu-ray to give away. To try winning one email your name, address, the Subject heading ‘Lights Out’ and the answer to this question – What nationality does the word ‘poltergeist’ come from? – to cream@pobox.com no later than 5pm, Friday 17 May.

Government embarrassment, ministerial cock-ups, coalition rows, backroom deals, policy U-turns, spin-doctoring, political backstabbing, wild media speculation, and more time spent with one’s family… It can only be the eagerly-anticipated return of Armando Iannucci’s cutting political comedy The Thick Of It, in its final and fourth series.

Rebecca Front and Peter Capaldi reprise their BAFTA-winning roles as Nicola Murray and Malcolm Tucker, now consigned to the opposition benches, but still desperate for power. Roger Allam returns as Peter Mannion, the new Secretary of State for Social Affairs, supported by his team of special advisors and thwarted by his new coalition partners.

Inevitably there’s a scramble for the moral high-ground and several people (including Nicola) are calling for some sort of inquiry. Everyone wants to spin the story, and everyone wants their own version of the story out there, by fair means or foul. But as more and more fingers get pointed the bigger the scandal becomes, finally threatening to implicate everybody. Surely now, the truth will come out. Unless someone lies, or creates a diversion of some kind, or simply pretends not to remember anything. They wouldn’t do that, would they?

‘The Thick of It’ Series 4 is out now on DVD through Roadshow Home Entertainment, RRP $29.95.

Courtesy of the distributor, Cream has 5 copies of the Series 4 on DVD to give away. Simply email us your name, address and the Subject heading ‘Thick Of It’ to cream@pobox.com no later than 5pm, Friday 17 May. Remember, you can enter as many times as you like but only one entry per day, thanks.

Labyrinth is based on the worldwide best-selling novel by Kate Mosse and produced by Ridley Scott. It is a gripping four-part TV mini-series, about two headstrong heroines battling to protect the secret of the Holy Grail. 

Living in different times, seventeen-year-old Alais Pelletier du Mas (Jessica Brown-Findlay) from 13^th century Carcassonne, and modern day PhD graduate Dr Alice Tanner (Canessa Kirby) must work together in order to save a 4,000-year-old secret from getting into the wrong hands. 

The mini-series boasts an all-star cast that also includes John Hurt (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy), Sebastian Stan (Black Swan, Once Upon A Time), Tony Curran (Doctor Who, This Life) and Jessica Brown Findlay (Downton Abbey).

An epic tale that’ll have you captivated from beginning to end as the true legend of the Grail is unearthed.

Labyrinth is now available on DVD through Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. To view a trailer of Labyrinth, click here.  

Courtesy of the distributor, Cream has 10 special packs to give away, including the original book by Kate Mosse and the mini-series on DVD. To try winning a pack, email your name, address, the Subject heading ‘Labyrinth’ (spell it right!) to cream@pobox.com no later than 5pm, Friday 17 May. Remember, you can enter as many times as you like but only one entry per day, thanks.

A young homicide psychologist-come-detective, the titular Alex Cross, meets his match in the spookily named serial killer, Picasso, with the pair facing off in a high-stakes game of cat-and-mouse. But when the mission gets personal, Cross is pushed to the edge of his moral and psychological limits.

The story takes Cross back to his origins as a Detroit police detective as he works with his partner, Tommy Kane. The two work with detective Monica Ashe in the chase for the serial murderer. Picasso’s ultimate target is Detroit-based multi-national Giles Mercier, but what appears as obvious, is anything but, as Cross has to try to get into a killer’s head to anticipate what could be next and to check the violent urges that Picasso has brought out in him.

Stars Tyler Perry, Ed Burns, Matthew Fox and Jean Reno. 

Courtesy of Universal Sony, Cream has 5 Blu-rays and 5 DVDs of Alex Cross to give away. To try winning one, email your name, address, your choice of DVD or Blu-ray and the Subject heading ‘Alex’ to cream@pobox.com no later than 5pm, Friday 3 May. Remember, you can enter as many times as you like but only one entry per day, thanks.

If you were around in the ’90s, you’d have noticed that music took two prominent diverging paths: one leading into the garages of grunge; the other up the steps into smoke-filled, laser-lighted club culture. Ministry Of Sound Anthems: ’90s deals explicitly with the latter.

The three-disc set kicks off with Corona’s Rhythm Of The Night, melding into more infectious club anthems like Haddaway’s What Is Love and Urban Cookie Collective’s The Secret, and deeper bass grooves like Mousse T’s Horny (one of the first dance tracks to use the word ‘internet’!) and Everything But The Girl’s Missing, as well as once-were-ubiquitous house tunes such as Strike’s U Sure Do and CeCe Peniston’s Finally.

Packed with some 60 tracks, including club classics by Deee-Lite, Madison Avenue, Armand Van Helden, Ultra Nate, Adamski (feat. Seal) right through to even the more reputable likes of The Shamen, The Prodigy, Underworld and Run-DMC, this is an essential trip down dance music memory lane.

Courtesy of Ministry Of Sound, Cream has 10 copies of the triple-disc set Anthems ’90s to give away. To try winning one, simply email your name, address, the Subject heading ‘90s’ and the answer to this sticky-beak question: what were you doing in 1999? Email your details and answer to cream@pobox.com no later than 5pm, Friday 26 April. And remember, you can enter as many times as you like but only one entry per day, thanks!