Hi Wbryce,
Can't comment about London Uni for groundschool with the exception that my PPL instructor thought they were pretty good when he did his ATPL Technicals with them (whilst he was an instructor back in the good CAA days).
Although Naples Air Center are relatively new on the block in terms of ground school, they seem to be doing pretty well and very reasonable in terms of cost. They also do residential school as well as distance learning.
This is why I've just enrolled for the distance learning version of Moduel 1 with NAC Ground school. I was torn between Bristol and NAC for a while but I finally(!) opted for the latter in the end. I should have my notes in a week or so but have already seen some of them when I was at NAC last July.
Just try not to get easily distracted in the evenings after class when you've got to do another three or four hours of self study.
Best wishes,
Charlie Zulu.