Before streaming services, 4K UHDs, BluRays, and DVDs, the humble videotape reigned supreme.

Blocky VHS cases filled the shelves of HMV and WH Smith's Swindon branches as well as local businesses like Home Videos in Gorse Hill, Video Films in Covingham, and Videostop.

TV boxsets became massively popular, particularly those of comedies like Friends, though some releases attracted a lot of controversy.

Child's Play 3 was one of the new horror films - known as 'video nasties' - that were deemed too obscenely violent for general sale and banned, which led to retailers having to withdraw them from their product range or face legal action.

Football hooliganism documentary Hooligan '96 also caused a stir due to its content, while tapes of seemingly-innocent fare like Disney's Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast fell foul of Trading Standards authorities as they turned out to be counterfeit.

Our agony aunt page received concerned reader submissions about how their children were accessing "filthy" videos and whether the format would even work once the new Millennium arrived.

Blockbuster video dominated the market before Netflix came along and revolutionised the video-on-demand experience by transferring it to the world wide web.

Browsing the shelves for the latest video release may be a thing of the past, but some entertainment aficionados still enjoy popping into HMV and doing the same for the latest range of physical media on offer, some of which are not available to view on streaming services or purchase on-demand.