Meet Bernard, a bookshop owner with an aversion to customers (or secretly just likes kicking them out) closes when he wants to, always with a glass of wine in his hand, but strangely endearing. He has a dry wit that is spot on and very British. Manny calls into the bookshop really hyper and looking for a book to help him chill out. However, after dropping the 'Little Book of Calm' into his coffee and then swallowing it, he is now the calmest person around with a strange glow!
They make an odd but hilarious match as Manny is so calm and Benard is so irrate. The next door shop owner Fran is intense, anxious and looking for love and is friends with Benard, therefore now friends with Manny. The three of them involve themselves in often brilliantly bizarre adventures.
Manny finds that his new life is as Bernards slave, in the shop and in the flat they live in but he stays upbeat and happy. Normally I dont find beatings funny, but it fits in this show and it does make me laugh. Partly because I know two people like Bernard and Manny!!!
Genuinely funny perfomances, comic timing, sarcasm, outstanding writing, and lots of other good things mixed in, make this show watchable again and again. The main actors all have backgrounds in comedy and it definately comes accross in the show.
Series 1 _____
1. Cooking The Books 2. Manny First Day 3.The Grapes Of Wrath 4. The Blackout 5. The Big Lock-Out 6. He's Leaving Home
Series 2 _______
1. The Entertainer 2. Fever 3. The Fixer 4. Blood 5. Hello Sun 6. Nice Change
Series 3 _____
1. Manny Come Home 2. Elephants And Hens 3. Moo-ma And Moo-pa 4. A Little Flutter 5. The Travel Writer 6. Party
Value for Money ____________
This DVD offers excellent value for money at under £20 from Amazon, so many hours of play for the same price as a newly released movie.
I would recommend this to anyone who is or was a fan of Father Ted, the IT crowd (both from the same creative team as Black Books), Spaced, or who has a dry sense of humour.
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