Little Britain: The Complete Second Series DVD: Review By jamesdickens

This hugely popular sketch comedy series from Britain has found its way to American shores. "Little Britain" has many characters that are all played by series creators Matt Lucas and David Walliams. A host of British actors and entertainers also appear on the show. The sketches themselves poke fun at British society and traditions. If you're unfamiliar with British humor then brace yourself it's about to get a little crazy in here.

At this point I must inform you that I've never watched this series before, and my only experience with this kind of humor is watching Benny Hill. Now with that out of the way let's move on. First let's talk about some of the characters that you'll see on the show. Vicky Pollard is a young teenager that is probably representative of some of the teenagers running around Britain. Matt Lucas plays a character named Bubbles De Vere, a huge woman whose goes to the gym without paying her bill. The skits with Bubbles involve her stripping for the club employee and trying to come up with another "way" to pay her bill. You may be somewhat familiar with Lou and Andy, as these characters have appeared on TV in some shape or form. I found the "ladies" who are two transvestites to be the most annoying characters on the show. The only time I could tolerate them is in a skit they had with Robbie Williams.

The skits in Little Britain deal with all kinds of issues like obesity, teen pregnancy, homosexuality and racism. Depending on your sensibilities you may find the humor offensive. At times this show pushes the humor to the limit of decency and some times steps over it. This kind of humor may be commonplace on British TV, but in America the humor on TV tends to be a little more on the reserve side. As you can tell by the title "Little Britain", the humor is British through and through. Some of the stuff on the show is so outrageous you can't help but laugh. But there were times that where I "just didn't get it". If you're familiar with this particular show or a fan of British humor I wouldn't hesitate to recommending "Little Britain". To everyone else I say proceed with caution, you've been warned.

The special features on this DVD include the 2005 Comic relief sketches featuring stars like Elton John, George Michael and Robbie Williams. It was funny to see some of these stars participate in these sketches; George Michael's was particularly funny. The 2005 Comic Relief show has some deleted scenes for your viewing pleasure. You can watch all six episodes with the commentary track turned on, the contributors are Matt Lucas, David Walliams and Geoff Posner. The trio also provides commentary for the deleted scenes that didn't make it into the six episodes. You can also watch interviews with Matt Lucas and David Walliams on various popular UK chat shows. "Little doc*mentary" provides some additional insight into this crazy show.

"Little Britain" is presented in 16X9 widscreen which is unusual for a TV series being released on DVD. Most of the time these DVD sets in fullscreen. Good picture quality, what more could you ask for?

"Little Britain" is presented in English 2.0 stereo sound. There is no need for 5.1 surround sound anyway since most of the sound is just dialog. The only subtitle option is English.

This DVD set comes on 2 discs in a standard DVD case. The front of the DVD cover has two of the crazy characters from the show, and the back of the DVD has a picture of several others.

This TV series is not for everyone, if you dig British humor then you'll love this DVD. Others will still laugh at some of the gags but some of the British humor will fly over your head.