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Highlights from the third TV series include Dudley's mail-order
Thai bride having more to her than expected, Lou and Andy
getting in a right kerfuffle over a quiz show phone-in, the
PM and Sebastian exchanging favours, Dafydd canvassing support
in the local Bi Elections, and Vicky Pollard offering scandal
to the press - for a price. By the way, computer still says
"No"...
Remarkably, the synopsis on the back of this double CD misses
out some of the characters that I feel work best in this TV-to-audio
compilation.
Carol
"computer says 'No'" Beer (David Walliams) and Sebastian (Walliams
again) are both quite rightly mentioned, but what about the
excellent Roy (Matt Lucas) and Mr Mann (Walliams) sketches,
in particular the one involving a painting of a disappointed
horse? This skit works just as well - if not better - on audio,
even though you cannot see the animals in the paintings. Then
there's Linda Flint (Walliams), the university counsellor
who is unerringly rude to the students who come to visit her.
You don't really need to see what the students look like when
Linda describes them as "fatty bum bum" or "Molly the mole".
Sir Norman Fry MP (Walliams), who keeps calling press conferences
to offer unconvincing explanations for the compromising situations
in which he finds himself, could have been created for the
audio medium, since his sketches require no visual cues at
all.
On the other hand, I am at a loss to explain why the Bubbles
DeVere (Lucas), Maggie Blackamoor (Walliams) and Mrs Emery
(Walliams) sketches are included on these CDs at all. On TV,
these scenes relied heavily on cheap, gruesome visual gimmicks
- naked obesity, vomiting and urination respectively - and
the latter two characters aren't that funny even when you
can see what's going on.
Other skits work better, though you do still need to know
what happened on screen. For example, without having seen
the TV series, listeners will not understand the endings to
any but the very last of the Dudley (Walliams) and Ting Tong
(Lucas) scenes. Nor will you get the penultimate Andy (Lucas)
sketch or David Baddiel's silent guest appearance as Mr Mann.
This
would seem to restrict the market for this product to people
who have seen and remember the TV episodes but want to listen
to them again on audio (while commuting to work, for instance).
These CDs are of little use to the visually impaired - which
is a shame, because the show's format has a built-in device
for audio description, in the voice of Tom Baker. A few choice
words from Baker, such as, "Out steps Mr Mann, looking exactly
like David Baddiel. Well, I'll let you into a little secret:
actually, it is David Baddiel. Obviously Jack Dee was
busy that week," could have made the experience complete.
Maybe someone has already suggested this, but BBC Audio says
"No".
Rumours
abounded at the time of transmission that the third series
would also be the last (though it is now known that Lucas
and Walliams are in talks with the Beeb for a fourth run).
Accordingly, several characters attain a degree of closure
here. With other creations, we are merely teased with the
possibility of them being written out, but they prove to be
red herrings. I won't give away which characters are affected,
in case you don't already know.
Best
of TV Series 3 does not represent the best of Little
Britain, even if you can always tell what is happening.
However, there are still plenty of genuine laughs to be had.
Reviewer says "Yes".
Richard
McGinlay
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