Dominic Maxwell's five best comedy DVDs when you're ill

M*A*S*H
You may not be feeling too bright, but at least you haven't got a wise-cracking Alan Alda cutting you open in a blood-spattered tent in Korea. And as there were 11 long seasons of this masterful Seventies sitcom - available in one big box that, shamefully , is not currently available on prescription - M*A*S*H can hold your hand through even the most persistent bug.

Not Going Out
It's not deep, it's not dark, it's got a shiny set and a gurgling studio audience, but Lee Mack's mouthy flat-share sitcom is just the sort of effortless entertainment that can revive sunken spirits. See also Graham Linehan's similarly superficial (and similarly entertaining) The IT Crowd.

Flight of the Conchords
Last year's HBO series transferred the downbeat trippiness of "New Zealand's fourth best folk parodists" to the small screen with unexpected aplomb. Brett McKenzie and Jermain Clement make the boho underbelly of New York their comedy playground: and, if you're a bit sniffly, you won't worry about the one or two misfiring episodes without enough plot to support their quirkiness.

Monty Python's Flying Circus
At last! You're proper ill, so can finally allow yourself to reassess the incalculably influential, relentlessly ridiculous TV output of the five Oxbridge funnymen and their inhouse American cartoonist. Try to get well, if you can, before the distinctly patchy, Cleese-less fourth season.

Anchorman
Not only is Will Ferrell's intelligently stupid Seventies parody the funniest comedy film of the decade, it also has the best director's commentary of the decade. You can ignore the screen, lie down and listen as Ferrell and director Adam McKay ingore what's happening on screen, instead spattnig, phoning Ferrell's co-stars, and even inviting unwitting soul legend Lou Rawls into the studio with them for no good reason at all.

Debra Craine's top five dance DVDs to raise you spirits when you're sick

Swan Lake
For old-fashioned romance you can't beat the Kirov Ballet's luminous staging with Yulia Makhalina and Igor Zelensky as Odette and her Prince. White tutu heaven.

Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake
Okay, so the men love other men, not exactly traditional but believe me - this is a fabulous and moving reinterpretation of Tchaikovsky's classic ballet. And Adam Cooper as a swan - hot or what?

Sylvia
Love between a nymph and a mortal - can it ever work? That's the dilemma in Frederick Ashton's delicious ballet which has dreamy music by Delibes and Dussell Bussell as the amorous nymph in question.

Ballet Russes
There is nothing so inspiring as the sight of all these old ballet dancers reliving their golden years touring America in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. Who says you can't be glamorous at 80? This brilliant documentary proves otherwise.

Matthew Bourne's Nutcracker
I know I've already mentioned him, but honestly Bourne's Nutcracker is so much such fun that it's hard to resist. And if the kids are sick, it's one for all the family. With plenty of jokes to raise a much-needed smile.