Little Britain - Series 1 (DVD)

Little Britain has become a massive phenomenon in a very short space of time, though creators David Walliams and Matt Lucas certainly can't be accused of not having paid their dues to their craft. Like most of these apparent meteoric rises to fame, its probably been an over night success that's taken many years as the old saying goes.

David Williams (name changed for his equity card) who describes himself as 6'2", left-handed, ...
...the radio 4 version of Little Britain. After two well received radio runs and a TV pilot, the first series was aired on television in 2003. Welcome to their weird world.

The premise behind the show is a look at a warped version of Britain through a series of sketches mainly featuring a recurring core of characters. The narration between the sketches, a successful hangover from the radio show, in itself is a great piece of writing and ... more

Little Britain has become a massive phenomenon in a very short space of time, though creators David Walliams and Matt Lucas certainly can't be accused of not having paid their dues to their craft. Like most of these apparent meteoric rises to fame, its probably been an over night success that's taken many years as the old saying goes.

David Williams (name changed for his equity card) who describes himself as 6'2", left-handed, a little bit Welsh and too hairy began his path to success with the National Youth Theatre were he met Matt Lucas through a shared love of Reeves and Mortimer. Walliams then went to Bristol University where he was a year below Simon "Shaun of the Dead" Pegg and then began working in London television. Lucas had by now made his name in stand-up and began a long association with his heroes Vic and Bob appearing in a number of their shows. In 1995 the two were reunited a worked on a number of shows, the most notable being Rock Profiles, before writing the radio 4 version of Little Britain. After two well received radio runs and a TV pilot, the first series was aired on television in 2003. Welcome to their weird world.

The premise behind the show is a look at a warped version of Britain through a series of sketches mainly featuring a recurring core of characters. The narration between the sketches, a successful hangover from the radio show, in itself is a great piece of writing and the coup of having Tom Baker reading it makes it even more funny, not to mention surreal. Lines such as

"Britain, Britain, Britain, land of technological achievement. We've had running water for over ten years, an underground tunnel that links us to Peru and we invented the cat"

The sort of scripting normally associated with the likes of Eddie Izzard is a wonderful link into the various sketches and made even funnier by the fact that a well-respected and highly recognisable voice is delivering it. Like many sketch based shows the same characters seem to be involved in different versions of the same joke but the build up is always different enough to avoid being derivative and knowing where the joke is going somehow seems to heighten the delivery as the audience waits for the known conclusion. Lucas and Walliams play all the lead characters with the support of a number of other regulars including Anthony Head, who made his name in Buffy the Vampire Slayer although many older readers will remember him as the "Nescafe Man". If the test of a good comedy show is its quotability then Little Britain will surely be up there with Monty Python and the Fast Show long into the future.

The first sketch we were ever treated to was the now infamous Vicky Pollard, teenage mum and total inarticulate, in trouble with her teacher for not doing homework. Nothing original there, what makes the character so memorable, and ultimately quotable, is the confusing catch phrase of "yeah but no but yeah but no…. etc" and the indignant scream of "I can't believe you just said that". Based of a school truant that Lucas interviewed in his Bristol University days, as an observation of a certain quarter of British youth it is, sadly, very accurate. It is because of that it is so funny; it's more observational than you may realise.

Daffyd Thomas is another classic creation. He is, in his own mind, "the only gay in the village", but unaware that he lives in a place that has some very unconventional ways and the joke runs full circle in that he is the least experienced and most prudish of the lot. Its worth seeing just for Matt Lucas outrageous outfits and like the humour in the narration derives a lot of its punch from the pub barmaid, played by the excellent Ruth Jones, having some very choice lines to deliver.

Lou and Andy are another memorable double act. Having their birth many years before Little Britain and originally portraying a warped version of Andy Warhol and Lou Reed, these two were tweaked to become one of the most popular features of the show. Lou is a carer for the selfish and supposedly wheelchair bound Andy, but when Lou's back is turned Andy gets up to all sorts of outrageous antics. To show how much this pairing have already gone to the heart of the nation is the fact that one of their sketches, at the swimming pool, when Andy jumps off of the top board whilst his long suffering friend is talking to the lifeguard, was recently voted number one sketch of all time.

There are so many memorable characters and it doesn't really do the scripts justice to try and explain them on paper, as it were. A teacher who treats his live in ex-student lover as if she is still in class, a giant of a Russian baby sitter and a gay aide to the Prime Minister who can barely hide his love for his boss all add to the flavour of the show.

But it's the scripts above all that seem to put this show way above the rest of its generation. Taking fairly regular situations, familiar to all, a Scottish hotel, a weight watchers club or a school classroom, it's the surreal nature of the dialogue that really turns every thing on its head. Be it a teacher testing his students on their knowledge of crisp flavours at Kelsey Grammar School or a concert pianist stopping mid recital to check his mobile phone messages the observations are at once spot on and totally from a sideways view.

I guess the surreal nature is not going to be everyone's cup of tea, falling in a place more accessible than the likes of Reeves and Mortimer and less gruesome than League of Gentlemen, but containing influences from both. It has moved the sketch show into slightly new ground being less traditional in its delivery than some of its current rivals but maybe viewed as the natural descendant of Big Train or Smack the Pony. If you want to know why everyone is wandering about say things like " I get to write the theme tune, sing the theme tune..." and "And that's a right kerfuffle." this DVD set may just have the answers.

The Extras provide very good value for money and run as follows.
Commentary Track With Matt Lucas And David Williams Plus Producer Myfanwy Moore On Episodes 1 To 4 And Director Steve Bendelack On Episodes 5 To 8
Behind The Scenes Documentary
Pilot Episode With Commentary
Deleted Scenes With Commentary
Best Of Rock Profiles
4 Live Sketches From The 2004 Cancer Trust Concert
Little Britain Survey
Friday Night With Jonathan Ross Interview

The Pilot episode will be of interest to the army of fans as it is the transition from the radio to TV and many will be pleased to see many of their favourite characters coming through an evolution from one format to the other. They may also be surprised to see that Anthony Head has been there since day one. You will find this DVD on offer for about £12 and up on the normal sites.
 

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