ENGLISH starlet Gemma Arterton plays the lead in Tamara Drewe, Richard Bryson’s DVD pick of the week.

DVD: Tamara Drewe (Momentum, �14,99)

ANYONE who followed Posy Simmonds’ brilliant Guardian cartoon will like this fleshed-out version of her reworking of Far From the Madding Crowd.

Gemma Arterton is the all grown-up newspaper columnist (complete with nose-job and flirty nature) who returns to her West Country home village to dazzle and bewitch the menfolk and invite waspish comments from their wives and girlfriends.

Roger Allam as a pompous writer and Tamsin Greig as his wife are very watchable and director Stephen Frears keeps this chucklesome sex romp ticking over to a neat ending.

It’s like a saucy mix of the Vicar of Dibley and Cold Feet, and is one of the best DVDs of the year so far.

RICHARD BRYSON