Classic moments, however, include the description of top-down management
or "bottom-up" management, in the first episode, as well as Roy having to
do the sacking of the delivery driver, the behaviour of svelte estate agent
Madeline who flirts to get a sale, and Roy's car discussion with head teacher
Stuart Symonds and his secretary because it's blocking a "Keep Clear" area:
Stuart: "You're Greg Nissan?" Roy: "No, it's G-reg, Nissan." Secretary: "Reg Nissan? I've got Greg here." Roy: "No, I'm called Roy Mallard and I've got a G-reg Nissan. It's my car." Stuart: "Oh, I think I'm getting this now." Roy: "It's a Nissan Sunny. I'm sorry, there weren't any other spaces." Stuart: "It's a while since anyone called me sonny."
The picture looks perfect, which is should do as it's only three years old.
All the episodes are in their original 16:9 anamorphic ratio, apart from
"The Solicitor", but after emailing the BBC at the time, and listening to the
fact that the opening theme music is different, it's clear this particular
episode was shot and edited in 4:3, so still appears in its correct ratio.
I suspect this was a pilot episode as it's the only one to have emerged in
4:3. The opening visual credits are still the same but with your a WS TV in 4:3
mode they'll appear 'squashed' as it's the same image and not a cropped one.
No problems whatsoever with the sound, but there's no music during the programme,
just dialogue which is perfectly clear. There are English subtitles, with
six chapters for each episode apart from the first one which has seven and
the one menu has a small looped piece of the theme music.
However, there are no extras. The back cover states "Scene Selection", but,
BBC, that is not an extra, it's a given. The BBC don't seem to put out many
DVDs other than in the run up to Christmas, the last memorable one this year
being
The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy
which had stacks of extras, so there must be deleted scenes or interviews
around, or in the case of this one they could've included an episode or two
of the radio series. But no, we get nothing.
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
