Little Britain is the comedy sensation that has taken the UK by storm, topping the best seller list and piling award upon award - including thei2004 British Academy Award for Best Comedy Program. Take a journey around Little Britain, a small and surreal parallel universe peopled by over-the-top eccentrics, lunatics and social misfits. Meet Vicky Pollard, the gloriously incoherent trailer trash teenager. And Emily Howard, the world's least convincing transvestite. Then there's Andy, sitting all day in his wheelchair painstakingly looked after by Lou, who has no idea his friend can walk. Little Britain presents the breathtaking debris of modern life in all its glory, and is written by and stars Matt Lucas and David Walliams and also features Anthony Stewart Head (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), the voice of Tom Baker (Doctor Who) and original music by David Arnold.

CRITIQUE

Little Britain is a pretty funny show. Creators Matt Lucas and David Walliams dress up as all sorts of characters, mostly women and some gays/transvestites, and write very funny sketches. The characters are not all the same – in fact they are very different from each other (representing various types of people living in Britain), and while there is something funny about all of them, there are the obvious standouts, including friends Lou and Andy (Andy is my favorite character as he is just hilarious and his favorite words are “I want that one” and “Yeah, I know”, but also very funny is Lou who calmly puts up with Andy’s antics), Vicky Pollard (the fast-talking trashy student who’s always in trouble and usually in denial), Michael the PM (Anthony Head) and aide Sebastian (who always makes sexual advances at the PM which is very funny), and Daffyd Thomas (the only gay in the village according to him, yet there is evidence to the contrary which he keeps denying).

Characters like Fatfighters instructor Marjorie Dawes and transvestite Emily Howard are fine, but not as interesting as the aforementioned characters. Ray McCooney however is a funny character as he talks much gibberish in between posing riddles and things, and his signature answer “yee-ee-sss” always gets a laugh out of me. Another funny bit on the show is the teacher at the Kelsey Grammer School (get it?) who goes completely against the type as his antics are just hilarious (while his students take a test he vacuum cleans the room, or he teaches math by subtracting Richard III from Henry V, something to that effect).

The comedy seems very much universal meaning anyone living in the United States should have no problems “getting” the comedy here. The surprising thing about this show is the terrific cinematography. Filmed in widescreen, each sketch looks like a short film, and the locations/sets, props and supporting cast add greatly to each and every scene. Sketches are also not too long, which is a definite plus because too much time with one or two characters can drag down a scene. Again, the writing of the sketches is very good; it’s highly original and sometimes quite out there. The show’s narration by Tom Baker is excellent; his voice is very authoritative and his jokes are funny. And lastly, the original music composed by David Arnold (who also scored the James Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies) is very fitting to the show's visual style.

THE VIDEO

BBC presents Little Britain in a crisp and colorful 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer. Each episode is divided into at least 22 chapters with each sketch getting its own chapter, which is a nice feature. Optional English subtitles are available for the deaf and hearing impaired.

THE AUDIO

BBC presents Little Britain in English 2.0 Surround. Dialogue is clear and easy to understand, and the music score is also presented well. The laugh track is fine but sometimes it interrupts part of a dialog in a scene. A French Dolby 2.0 dub track is also available.

THE EXTRAS

Accessible via the set-up menu is audio commentary by Matt Lucas and Dave Walliams on every episode, with producer Myfanwy Moore joining them for eps 1-4 and director Steve Bendelack on eps 5-8. These tracks are pretty good; informative and talkative with some interesting tidbits and discussions about sketches, characters and actors, writing, directing, performing, and thoughts on many other topics. I didn’t listen to all eight commentaries but fans of the show will be more interested in them than me.

Disc 1:

The Pilot Episode (28:59) presentation differs quite a bit from the first episode but is interesting to look at nevertheless as it includes funny skits.

Deleted Scenes (45:03) offers loads of unused scenes some of which are very funny while the rest are somewhat amusing but not necessarily strong enough to have made the episodes. There are some good bits with Matt Lucas’ hypnotist character, and much more. There are some 26 sketches here and each one has its own chapter stop.

Jonathan Ross Interview (12:34) is an excerpt from the TV show featuring Ross where he interviews Dave and Matt about Little Britain and some other things.

Character Playlist loads a menu of the more popular characters and you can select each one to view all of the respective character’s sketches (eps 1-4). Playing over this menu are newly recorded, funny audio bits from the characters (“I’m the only gay on this DVD,” for example). If you select the “Lou and Andy” playlist Lou asks you if you want to crash the disc (a menu pops up with options “yes and “no”). If you hit “yes” about four times the disc actually crashes. Select “no” and watch the playlist. Kinda funny.

BBC 3 Indents is a form of 2 TV spots with some 3-D monster characters speaking dialogue from two characters. Not sure what to make of this, really. It lasts for 2 minutes.

Disc 2:

What Does Britain Mean To You? (4:51) is a little survey where each character on the show is asked in front of the camera what Britain means to them, and obviously each one gives completely different (and silly) answer. Daffyd Thomas, for example, can’t do the survey “because I’m a gay,” he says. And wheelchair bound Andy would rather watch “Monster Trucks” than answer the question.

The Best of Rock Profiles (28:27) presents some of Dave and Matt’s favorite moments from the show they worked on some years ago. This featurette is divided into 18 chapters. I didn’t get much out of this, but fans of the two actors probably will.

How to Make a Little Britain (36:17) is the making-of documentary. It goes behind the scenes showing auditions with Dave and Matt casting the supporting characters, chronicles the shoot of the first season (starting in May 2003 and taking some 35 odd days or more of filming on location and in the studio) at various locations with the different characters (they film nearly all of the scenes involving one character and move on to the next one), features on-set interview quips/quick thoughts from Dave and Matt as well as others working on the production, looks briefly at two make-up sessions and the recording of Tom Baker’s narration, shows the recording of the laugh track with a live audience watching the episodes and a variety of scenes shot in the studio in front of the audience (at one point Matt jokingly tells the audience “no more laughing” as he messes up a short scene), very briefly showing the editing suite, and featuring a quick interview with composer David Arnold. Pretty good and comprehensive behind-the-scenes material.

Teenage Cancer Trust Sketches (14:39) presents the Little Britain portion of “The Cream of British Comedy” event (that also featured comedy artists Ricky Gervais and Steve Coogan, though not seen here) with Dave and Matt performing four live sketches including characters Lou and Andy, the PM and Sebastian, Vicky Pollard and her teacher, and Daffyd Thomas with his parents.

Character Playlist loads a menu of the more popular characters and you can select each one to view all of the respective character’s sketches (eps 5-8).

Radio 3 Live Interview (32:12) is an audio only feature presenting an interview with Dave and Matt. As opposed to a black screen showing during this (which would be boring), a selection of photos accompanies the audio.

FINAL THOUGHT

I highly recommend Little Britain. Its concept and execution (in terms of style and production) is impressive. Creators Matt Lucas and David Walliams know their comedy very well and are also terrific actors.

“Little Britain” is a very funny show.

Yeah, I know.