Gimme, Gimme, Gimme – The Complete First Series DVD – Rosalind Knight, Simon Shepherd

When Gimme Gimme Gimme first hit the television screen in 1998, it immediately divided the critics. Plenty loathed it, but it soon acquired cult comedy status in the BBC2 post-watershed tradition. Since then it has gone mainstream on BBC1 but as the first series shows, its appeal lies in a surreal anarchy. Linda (Kathy Burke, brilliant) and Tom (James Dreyfus, who went on to star with Bette Midler in her ill-fated sitcom) live in a world of self-delusion. They are the ultimate misfits; a grotesque ladette who thinks she is “gorgeous” and worships Liam Gallagher and a neurotic gay actor who can’t land a decent part for toffee but cherishes a secret passion for Simon Shephard, the smooth star of popular television dramas such as Peak Practice. They trade non-PC insults like most people make small talk (Linda: “There’s no such thing as gay. It’s just laziness.”), yet are totally reliant on each other. It’s vulgar, coarse, often outrageous and certainly not for the faint-hearted. But in most parts it is extremely funny. And if the self-regarding cuteness of so many US comedy imports turns your stomach, you’ll love it. This is Will and Grace, on cocaine, in a parallel universe. On the DVD: presented in standard 14:9 format with stereo soundtrack, this disk simply gives you the first series of Gimme Gimme Gimme exactly as it appeared on television. So the picture and sound quality are fine. Just select your favourite episode from the index and laugh away. The lack of extras is disappointing. There must be some great outtakes, which would have added a bit of value; so would biographies of the stars and writer Jonathan Harvey, who has become one of the UK’s best young playwrights. –Piers Ford