The big one (€25) is just under 4" and was given to us by a friend who didn’t want it, she only suggested money when we pressed her to.
The smaller one, bought here in France some years ago is 2.5 inches thick. It is more modern but is unused these days as it is much smaller.
We do not have a need for catchup. Very rarely if something is on too late that I don’t want to miss (the longer repeat of HYGNFY where the subtitles actually sync with the speech (I can’t follow the original with people talking at the same time)), I switch from Manhattan to Humax and set it to record. Only problem is that the TV seems to object to being switched off when everything else is running and throws a hissy fit in the morning in refusing to switch on. 
I now have the answer, kindly provided on here, take the batteries out of the remote, press 0 and OK at the same time for a few seconds then try again with batteries replaced. No idea why but it seems to placate the delicate soul. 