Please take my dissertation survey: www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm =TpGqCQpdD00nRBRQt8uNww_3d_3d ...
Please take my dissertation survey: www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm =TpGqCQpdD00nRBRQt8uNww_3d_3d It takes just 10 minutes to complete. Thanks
Member since:05.12.2005
Reviews:119
Members who trust:89
When I moved to uni almost a year ago, I knew I wasn't going to have a television so my relatives were nice enough to buy me various DVDs to take for watching. Little Britain season one was one such gift. I'd seen a few of the shows on TV and shown a mild interest in it, but I wasn't hooked on it or fussed either way.
The first time I watched the season through I was in hysterics. Each of the characters brings something different and you can follow their situation through the episodes. If you can't follow the many individual characters by watching episode to episode, there is a feature on the DVD that allows you to play all the skits with a particular character. They mostly have their own catchphrase too, which has a strange way of being able to bring strangers together, 'yeah I know', 'yeah but no but yeah but…' and 'eh eh eh' seeming to become a universal sign for Little Britain fans.
A few characters in brief:
Vicky Pollard - 'No but yeah but no but what happened was…' Having been through the British public school system, it's a shockingly true representation
of today's youth! Vicky Pollard is a juvenile delinquent, a teenage mother, a shoplifter, a bully, a thug …. The list continues. She also swaps her baby for a Westlife CD at some point (that might be season 2)
Daffyd Thomas - The only gay in the village … or maybe not, it seems there are many he just doesn't see them. Sometimes it's slightly disturbing to see his outfits as he's a large man and fond of tight plastic outfits.
Sebastian Love - Prime Minister's Aide (PM played by 'that man from Buffy') who's madly in love with his Prime Minister and insanely jealous of anyone else.
Marjorie Dawes - Fat Fighter's group leader, fixated on ruining the chances of her slimmers and de-motivating them in any way possible. One of my season fave scenes in Marjorie Dawes - 'Anybody? No? Dust? … Anybody? No? Dust? … Anybody? No? Dust? … Anybody? No? Dust? … Anybody? No? Dust? … Anybody? No? Dust? … Anybody? No? Dust? … Actually it's very low in fat.' It just cracks me up!
Emily Howard - a rubbish transvestite. 'I'm a lady'. Not one of the better characters I'd have to say, but gets better in the second season when s/he gets a friend.
Andy and Lou - 'yeah I know'. Andy is supposedly wheelchair bound and his good friend Lou spends all his time playing Carer. Only, when Lou's back is turned, Andy can get up and walk around, dive bomb, jump up and down, pretty much anything it seems.
Anne and her Doctor - this has to be my least favourite pair of the season. Anne is a patient in some kind of mental hospital and only ever says 'Eh Eh Eh' which I find annoying and not especially funny. The Eh Eh Eh is also my least favourite catchphase from the show.
Some of the parts that stick in my mind the most aren't even the skits themselves; they are the voice-overs linking the scenes. Tom Baker gives his voice to the narrator (if you can call it that) with little lines such as 'If you would like to buy a pet, visit a pet shop. If you would like to buy a pet shop, visit a pet shop shop. If you would like to buy a pet shop shop, well that's just silly.'
It has to be said, a lot of the time Little Britain is not funny because of the jokes or because it's 'clever', it's humour comes from the sheer comic genius of Matt Lucas and David Walliams. Without their gift of timing and acting, and the make-up/costume department, this show would not be the success it has become. Their ability to morph between characters seems almost magical at times. It is also true that the same jokes are repeated over and over again. At first this seems annoying, but the more you watch, the more you realise the repetition makes it more funny!
It's also important to realise that this show is hugely politically incorrect, taking it in turn to mock just about every social group and sigma available - gays, fat ppl, the wheelchair bound, the elderly, young people, asians ..... So people of a touchy nature probably wouldn't find it funny. I think to appreciate Little Britain at its best you have to be willing to laugh at yourself. With me, a lot of the humour is only funny because I can relate to it. Vicky Pollard is funny because it's so true, Sebastian Love is funny because we've all had giggly childhood crushes, Fat Fighters skits are funny because I've been to meeting …. Etc.
In my view, one of the few downsides of the season of a whole is that it isn't something you can sit watching over and over again in a short space of time, because the jokes then aren't funny. But I suppose one bonus of having it on DVD is that there are many extra features to watch so you can avoid reaching that 'its not funny anymore' stage.
DVD Features (from Amazon): - 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 - BBC Three Idents - Little Britain Survey - Friday Night With Jonathan Ross Interview
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Comedy - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Tessa Peake-Jones, Buster Merryfield, David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst
Comedy - Director: Gareth Carrivick - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Kathryn Drysdale, Sheridan Smith, Natalie Casey, Will Mellor, Ralf Little
Comedy - Director: Richard Boden, Mandie Fletcher, Martin Shardlow - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Hugh Laurie, Miranda Richardson, Stephen Fry, Brian Blessed, Tim McInnerny, Tony Robinson, Rowan Atkinson
"Britain, Britain, Britain, land of technological achievement. We've had running water for ... more
over ten years, an underground tunnel that links us to Peru, and we invented the cat," narrates Tom Baker gleefully at the beginning ofLittle Britain, introducin...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
"Britain, Britain, Britain, land of technological achievement. We've had running water for ... more
over ten years, an underground tunnel that links us to Peru, and we invented the cat," narrates Tom Baker gleefully at the beginning ofLittle Britain, introducin...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Take a journey round Little Britain and meet all your favourite characters including ... more
juvenile delinquent Vicky Pollard ('No but yeah but no'), Daffyd Thomas, who claims to be the only gay in his village, Sebastian Love, the government aide with a mad c...
Little Britain was the undisputed comedy success of 2003. Matt Lucas and David Walliams ... more
introduce us to a host of bizarre characters on a surreal but hilarious tour of the British Isles and its curious inhabitants. Narrator Tom Baker adds insightful an...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
Advantages: has both series in the one set and an extras section which is hilarious! Disadvantages: The main menu screne is not very clear - too clever for its own half.
![Little Britain - Series 1 [DVD] [2003]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78513372.jpg "Little Britain - Series 1 [DVD] [2003]")
May 29th, 2006
exceptional by (3%):
very helpful by (72%):
helpful by (21%):
not helpful by (3%):
