For the worst idea in the history of bad ideas he needs an assistant and hires
the bizarre Manny (Bill Bailey), although if you appreciate Bailey's
brand of humour you'll probably find him behaving just like himself.
Accompanying the main cast members is Tamsin Greig as Bernard's
girlfriend Fran. I've always thought she looked a bit weird ever since she
played Paul Whitehouse's girlfriend Emma in Happiness last year.
I've decided to award this series just half-a-mark though, after seeing Kevin
Eldon's performance as the cleaner in the third episode.
Manny, the prostitute robot from the future.
There's no problem with the picture per se. It's free of artifacts and
presented in the original 16:9 widescreen as filmed and is anamorphic.
However, what I don't like is the supposedly "filmic" treatment given to the
print. The series, like Hollyoaks, is shot on video but supposedly
treated to look like film when it looks like anything but and just looks a
bit blurry. It was shown that way on TV so if you don't mind it then you'll
live with it.
As for the sound, I found no problems. Recorded in Dolby Stereo it will hardly
test your speakers but at the same time doesn't disappoint.
The extras consist of a 60-second trailer for the series, which
advertises that it includes guest slots from Johnny Vegas, Rob Brydon
and Jessica Stevenson. The Out-takes run for ten minutes and
include plenty of on-set fluffs. Both of these
extras are in anamorphic 16:9 like the series.
A Photo Gallery is included, as is a series-length Audio Commentary
from star Dylan Moran, Bill Bailey and Tamsin Greig. All the
cast sound very pissed and if you like the series you'll enjoy this. If you
didn't then you won't listen to it, but then you won't have bought the DVD
either.
There are 5 chapters per episode, so 30 in all, subtitles in English, but
all the menus are static and silent.
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
