LOU - Now, you're absolutely sure you want to read this review? (Little Britain)

Member Name: W Shakespeare

Product:	Little Britain
Date:	14/07/05 (227 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Yeah, I know

Disadvantages: Could offend fat, bald people pretending to be wheelchair-bound and/or transvestites with moustaches

LOU - Coz, if you’re not, it could be a bit of a kerfuffle navigating back to the Dooyoo home page.

ANDY - Yeah, I know.

LOU - And you’ve always said that Caio.com was far superior to Dooyoo in terms of the accuracy and diversity of its opinion.

ANDY - Yeah, I know.

LOU - You said Caio emancipated the consumer in a way not seen since Emiline Pankhurst threw herself under a horse because she’d been overcharged for an ice cream.

ANDY - I wanna visit Dooyoo.

LOU - You also told Maria you thought Dooyoo was a second-rate website for people with nothing better to do than criticise perfectly good comedy shows.

ANDY - Yeah, I know.

LOU - You’re absolutely sure about this.

ANDY - Yeah.

LOU - Okay, an opinion on ‘Little Britain’ from the Dooyoo website it is.

ANDY - I wanna go to Ciao and read about monster trucks.

LOU SIGHS

If you haven’t met Matt Lucas and David Walliams’ (a name to strike fear into any spellchecker) ‘Lou and Andy’ creations then that probably didn’t mean much to you. If I was to say Lou is an ageing hippy devoted to caring for the fat, balding slob Andy who pretends to be wheelchair-bound simply so that he can be waited on hand and foot, you probably still wouldn’t see what was funny about it.

In fact, Little Britain works much like the ‘Fast Show’ and the Harry Enfield sketch shows of the 90’s, in that a colourful cast list of weird and wonderful characters, replete with odd catchphrases, mannerisms and world outlooks, act out their fatal flaws time and time again each week, in different scenarios.

It can be a little disconcerting when you’re watching for the first time, especially the narration by the completely barking mad yet loveable Tom Baker (who older readers will remember as the 1970’s Dr Who, well before Billie Piper was an eye in her father’s twinkle.)

In terms of characters, there is Daffyd Thomas, the rubber trouser wearing gay man who sends any other gays who dare to descend on Llandewi Breffi packing, in case it threatens his status as ‘the only gay in the village’. Vicky Pollard, the sulky, garrulous and rebellious teenage daughter who can spout around 500 words a minute of complete nonsense in a vain effort to talk herself out of a corner. The transvestites who try their damnedest to be ‘ladies’ although don’t always remember to shave their moustaches or use the ladies toilets. Or the Prime Minister fantastically portrayed by former Goldblend ad’ actor Anthony Head, with Walliams as Sebastian, his gay private secretary who treats him like a lover rather than his employer. And many more, some of whom lasted just a series, others who joined in the second series, and favourites like Lou and Andy who've appeared in both.

All of the characters are wild and wacky, although one or two, such as the mental patient who runs riot in every sketch, could be construed as being a little ‘near the edge’. Indeed the more observant fan will have noticed that some sketches shown on mainstream BBC 2 are edited slightly from their BBC 3 originals to tone down the more outrageous parts.
But that is what makes the show stand out, it pushes the boundaries of what it acceptable to laugh at or make fun of.

Lucas’ lack of hair allows him to don a range of outrageous disguises. In fact, Interesting Fact no 237, a friend of mine who went to school with Lucas says he was as bald as a coot at school, and was teased when he attempted to wear a wig, so he's obviously been donning those preposterous hairpieces from an early age. Both Walliams and Lucas have a good range of character voices, and both camp it up at every attempt.

The first series is available on DVD and video, as well as CDs from it’s early days on Radio 4. If you’re a real fan, you can even buy the first series scripts, although it is the acting that really brings these scenes to life, and it can be difficult to see the humour when it is just words on a page.

In conclusion, it’s either something you’ll love, or won’t have the foggiest idea what everyone is raving about.

So, before I go, a final word from Lou and Andy…

LOU – So you want to give this a ‘not useful’ rating do you?

ANDY – Yeah.

LOU –You can’t change your mind when you’ve done it.

ANDY – Yeah, I know.

LOU – There’s no going back. He’ll be very offended. He’s a very nice man.

ANDY – I wanna give it a ‘not useful rating’.

LOU – But you said it was wonderful. You said it totally did justice to the unique comedy cocktail that Lucas and Walliams have mixed up with the basic ingredients of British society.

ANDY – Yeah, I know.

LOU – There’ll be a right kerfuffle when he sees what you’ve written.

ANDY – I wanna do it.

LOU – Okay, ‘not useful' it is. There it’s done.

ANDY – I wanna say it was ‘very useful’ and nominate it for a crown.

LOU SIGHS

ADVERT - See my other TV reviews, all written in 2001, the last time I posted! (I've been busy.)

Summary: Ah, ah, ahhh