Review of the DVD - rating: * * 1/2

Review of the film - rating: * * *

The main problem is picture quality. MPEG compression faults are usually the preserve of nit-pickers sitting too close to the set - well, not here. Blimey, they fair well leap out and grab you by the throat from the other side of the room. Strangely, they get worse as they go on - by around 84.30, some railings by the side of the road have taken on a surrealistic life of their own. Intriguingly, both widescreen and pan & scan sides are similarly affected. At a running time of 89 minutes and no extras - why on earth is this?

Sound quality is fine - the music benefits from the Dolby Digital treatment. The menus are static but quite stylish, and the scene sections feature full motion clips - a nice touch.

This disc was recalled when the wrong version slipped through the UK net - originally, the European cut was released. This is the BBFC approved version, with a few seconds trimmed from a shot of a needle for some reason, but no great loss. One positive thing is that this is better authored that the Euro disc - that has the opening Channel 4 credit and the closing credits on separate titles, which is clumsy and intrusive, causing a quite long delay on some players - especially at the end. No such problems here.

Nevertheless, this is a thrown away opportunity. No deleted scenes from the director's cut, no commentaries, no doccos for one of Britain's most controversial films of recent years. And a pretty rubbish picture.

Be that as it may, the tale of several Scotsmen still cracks (no pun intended) along swiftly enough. The makers were at pains to explain that they brought no moral perspective on the issue of drug abuse. While it ain't no advert for the white stuff, its an issue its hard not to take sides on, since even a passive acceptance can be interpreted as condoning crime committed at supporting the habit.

As a one off piece of shock cinema, Trainspotting works. As anything you'd want to revisit, it doesn't.