More about the hit UK TV comedy series from the BBC, Little Britain. This page contains information on ‘Little Britain’, the hit BBC TV sitcom. It contains some useful information on the series and details of the DVD releases.
Little Britain started life on BBC Radio. The double act of Matt Lucas and David Walliams created an impressive collection of characters that made the transition to TV in 2003.
The TV series started as a fairly unknown entity, but now has snuck its way into the culture as a popular mainstream British comedy, with many of the catchphrases being instantly recognisable, such as “yeah, but, no, but yeah”, “I want that one” and “the only gay in the village”
The characters in Little Britain, are a masterpiece – Known to most are the likes of Vicky Pollard, the incoherent “yeah, but nah” 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 actually walk. Personal favs of the team here, and the shopkeeper and the world’s most annoying customer.
You’ll need a slightly odd sense of humour to be a fan of this series, but it does grow on you, and there’s some truly funny moments tucked in between the more obvious sketches. Specials for us are the Tom Baker off-the-wall narration, and the tiny Dennis Waterman, who’ll write the theme toon, sing the theme toon…
“Little Britain – Complete First Series” – DVD Review
All eight episodes of the first series are included, and tempting though it is, we’d recommend that you curb your enthusiasm and don’t try to do the whole lot in one sitting – It’s a little like overdosing on Monty Python – after two or three episodes on the trot, the brain starts to get acclimatised, and the shows take on a surreal kind of predictability – we’d advise you watch in short doses… in that way, you can really get the most of what Lucas and Walliams are offering. Many of the situations reoccur in each episode and taken collectively, it the same joke played in a number of different ways (take Lou and Andy’s “I want that one” as an example), but with Little Britain, it’s not so much about the verbal puns and the situation, but the effort and attention to detail that’ve gone into the writing, production and the acting. There are also a fair number of below-the-surface comedy moments too, that are well worth looking out for. Watch closely! Obviously, anyone buying the DVD is probably doing so for the episodes themselves, but for us in the Radio and Telly office, the extras on the DVD are the gems here – some comedy DVD releases contain half a dozen outtakes and a commentary if you’re lucky, but this DVD really is packed with a strong collection of impressive extras, such as:
The Series 1 2-disc DVD is available from Amazon.co.uk & Play.com. For the US version reviewed here, go to Amazon.com |
The Series 1 DVD of Little Britain is a little treasure chest containing 225 minutes of uniquely Little Britain material. Here’s a quick look at what’s on the disks:
The producers are to be commended on a cracking collection of Lil’ Britain material. We reviewed the US version of the DVD (Little Britain has been running on BBC America, and now has a large following outside of the UK(, and we can’t help wondering how this series reflects on how Britain is viewed… would visitors be disappointed? We may not have invented the cat (as Tom Baker announces in one of the series intro), but we are home of many of the best 
Availability:
Also… Find out where it all started – The Little Britain Radio Series is available on CD from Amazon – also available for immediate download from Audible.co.uk |
