Extras: Cast Interviews, Video Diary, Out-takes, Make-up shots
Director:
David Richardson
Producer:
Jo Hallows
Screenplay:
Richard Burke
Music:
Steve Wright and Gordon Higgins
Cast:
Geri Hudson: Joanna Taylor
Jason Cunliffe: Alex Thorne
Luke Morgan: Gary Lucy
Ben Davies: Marcus Patric
Izzy Cornwell: Elize Du Toit
Alyson: Sarah Jayne Steed
Adam Morgan: David Brown
Beth Morgan: Kate Baines
Dion: Gary Webster
Eddie: David Selling
Scott: Daniel Hyde
Matt: Kristian Ealey
Hollyoaks started life as a 2-days-a-week soap
on Channel 4. Since then it's already spawned a one-off video, Off on One
- which I haven't yet seen but should be on TV before long - and a 16-part
offshoot series for some of its characters, Movin' On - and has grown to
showing four episodes a week (Mon-Thurs), which I think is one too many, like
most soaps, because you still get 2-3 episodes of content spread over four.
Now we have a second one-off, Indecent Behaviour: 48 hours in the life
of several main cast members over the weekend of November 17th and 18th, 2001,
so if you were wondering why Luke was sporting big bruises the Monday after
and why everyone was in a mood with each other for reasons we hadn't found out
about, this is your chance to discover. Before the opening credits though, you
see footballer Jason having sex in the shower with a brunette so you know
Geri's in for a disappointment too.
During this episode we find out why Dan didn't like going out with Izzy
and it wasn't because he was gay (why else wouldn't he go with her?) and as
a result, Ben thinks he's on a promise. Geri starts to enjoy the party at
Jason's house after they go to a club, but her desires start to take an overly
dangerous turn. And the next morning, the new incarnation of Beth Morgan, since
her return to the soap, calls Luke to pick her up the next morning, causing him
to have his mind set on revenge.
There's also a rather pointless non-sub-plot with lovers Chloe and Matt about
how they love each other and it's just in there to eek out the running time
up to 90 minutes.
Izzy takes Ben for a bus ride to remember.
The one thing that's really annoying about this DVD is that while the programme
has always been filmed in 16:9 and presented anamorphically on digital TV,
those who transferred this particular one-off special saw fit to only do it
in the 14:9-centre-cropped non-anamorphic disappointment you usually only
expect on analogue TV. Why? It's even more annoying to find out... well, you'll
see shortly.
As such, while the general quality of what you can see is fine, the subtitles
get cropped off the bottom of the screen as I zoom it in to fill my widescreen
TV. Oh, what a let-down.
Sonically, everything's fine, but then a soap opera in stereo doesn't often
get much chance to shine.
All the extras, apart from the last part which doesn't feature video footage,
are in 16:9 anamorphic which is so damn irritating because the main feature
isn't!! Which brainiac was in charge here?
Trying to stay positive, there are 16 minutes of Cast interviews and
37 minutes in the Video diary section as this one-off show took a
staggering 12 days to film.
The Out-takes, lasting three minutes, are actually deleted scenes, not
cock-ups of the Denis Norden variety.
The Make-up shots are stills of all the main characters after they've
been through the wars in one way or another.
Subtitles are in English only, there's a decent number of chapters in 20
and the menus are subtly animated and scored with the main theme tune.
Overall, this isn't really going to be a DVD you'll watch time and again - no
more than you'd watch any other episode of Hollyoaks, especially due
to the picture cock-up, so I'd advise a rental only unless you think it's a
must-have afterwards.
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
