Ten home-video releases perfect for the holidays

From new kids in town Downton Abbey and Sherlock to oldies such as Hill Street Blues and The Jeffersons, here's our pick of 10 box sets to get you through the holidays.

Benedict Cumberbatch is Sherlock. Courtesy BBC Home Entertainment
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Want a quick solution to holiday shopping? Here, in no particular order, is a list of 10 home-video goodies. They may not fit so well in loved ones’ stockings, but they’ll look just great on a video screen.

1. Batman: The Complete Television Series

In the later films, Batman was the Dark Knight. “I’m the Bright Knight,” says Adam West, who starred as Batman (alongside Burt Ward as Robin) in this campy, cartoonish romp that was broadcast for three seasons on ABC in the early 1960s. The set includes all 120 episodes completely remastered and featuring guest stars including Julie Newmar, Liberace, Vincent Price, Bruce Lee and Frank Gorshin in its first-ever home video release.

2. Hill Street Blues: The Complete Series

Before Mad Men and Breaking Bad, before The Sopranos and Lost, before any viewer dreamed of a new Golden Age of TV Drama, the seeds were planted and blossomed as Hill Street Blues. Boasting serial narratives, tragicomic tales and a brilliant ensemble, it was broadcast from 1981 to 1987, reaping 26 Emmys and paving the way for the great dramas we've been watching ever since. Now all 144 episodes are available in a 34-DVD set telling the full saga of a racially torn, crime-ridden precinct of an urban metropolis where it's always smart to "be careful out there".

3. Downton Abbey – Seasons 1-4

The perfect warm-up for season five of this grand soap opera returning in January. Following the Crawley family and their servants from pre-war England through the storms of the First World War and into the social upheaval of England in the 1920s, the lavish episodes – a dozen discs’ worth – feature a cast led by Hugh Bonneville, Elizabeth McGovern, Michelle Dockery and Maggie Smith.

4. The Jeffersons: The Complete Series, Deee-luxe Edition

This was the sitcom story of the American Dream, as lived by George Jefferson, a dry-cleaning magnate who moved on up from humble Queens beginnings to a deee-luxe apartment in the Manhattan sky. Starring Sherman Hemsley and Isabel Stanford as his take-no-guff wife, it was broadcast for 11 seasons from 1975 to 1985. Here are all 253 episodes in 33 DVDs. You want that on a hanger?

5. The Roosevelts: An Intimate History

In its seven parts and 14 hours, Ken Burns’s triple profile spans a century from Theodore Roosevelt’s birth in 1858 through the life of Franklin Delano Roosevelt to the passing of his widow, Eleanor, in 1962, at age 78. Not only are these three lives intertwined but, as Burns’s magnificent portrayal demonstrates, they are inseparable from the history of the early 1900s.

6. The Red Skelton Show: The Early Years, 1951-1955

Return to the formative days of TV comedy with this beloved star who preferred to be known simply as a clown. Skelton was on weekly television until 1971, but this set compiles 90 episodes from his earliest era, many of which have never been seen since their original showing. Skelton’s characters include Clem Kadiddlehopper, Cauliflower McPugg and Freddie the Freeloader, as well as himself as a master ­pantomime.

7. Sherlock: The Complete Seasons 1-3

This is the much-acclaimed contemporary Sherlock, with Benedict Cumberbatch as the timeless sleuth and Martin Freeman as his Watson in all three seasons in a 14-disc set. This limited-edition collection also includes bonus video content and commemorative busts of Watson and Holmes.

8. The Sopranos: The Complete Series

The full series, all six seasons, all 86 episodes, are now available in Blu-ray in 28 discs. Savour this slice of family life, including the final blackout that Sopranos fans still argue about – now in Blu-ray fidelity.

9. Agatha Christie's Poirot Complete Cases Collection

After a quarter-century run, Detective Poirot’s final episodes debuted this summer. As played by David Suchet, Poirot has come face-to-face with characters played by rising stars including Emily Blunt, Damian Lewis, Jessica Chastain and Hugh Bonneville. Revisit his cases in these 70 remastered ­episodes.

10. Pee-wee’s Playhouse: The Complete Series

This was always a show too cool and delightfully subversive for the kids it was nominally created for. With perhaps the best portrait of unfettered boyhood since Tom Sawyer, Paul Reubens is back in all 45 Playhouse episodes, plus Pee-wee's Playhouse Christmas Special, remastered in hi-def. Also on hand are Cowboy Curtis (Laurence Fishburne), Reba the Mail Lady (S Epatha Merkerson), Captain Carl (Phil Hartman) and other Playhouse pals including Magic Screen, Globey and Jambi the Genie. Mecka-lecka hi, mecka-hiney ho!