As a man, I find it a bit embarrassing admitting that I enjoy Miranda, the BBC sitcom co-written and starring Miranda Hart. Though I would like to preserve my machismo by assuring you that I don't "love" it - just like it. This DVD contains 6 episodes comprising Series 1. (175 minutes).

The English sitcom is set in a joke shop run by two friends, Miranda, a gangly, awkward woman and Stevie (Sarah Hadland), a short, squeaky woman. These two are frequently visited by Miranda's mother, played by Patricia Hodge, who is constantly coming up with ruses (futile) to find her hapless daughter a husband. Miranda's mother is desperate for her daughter to become "respectable" like all the other posh young women they know. Miranda suffers from chronic social faux pas and struggles even to keep up with her posh friends. However, she does fall in love but, sadly, given her accident and foot-in-mouth prone nature, this attachment does not progess as she wishes.

So, the premise of the show is Miranda's ridiculously hapless escapades in love, friendship and running a joke shop. The comedy is slapstick and irony based. Sometimes, I would say, the irony is excessive and their is a hint of smug/smart-alec to the comedy. However, most of the time it is absurd and rather amusing antics of a very English middle class and, usually, feminine way.

I would say that this comedy appeals to women more strongly than men. The main characters are women and the focus is on the fooleries and delusions of womenkind. Miranda's extreme clumsiness is funny but my favourite characters are Miranda's mother (Patricia Hodge) and Miranda's uber-posh, ditzy, Tilly (Sally Phillips). These two play rather extreme stereotypes of the posh upper-middle class females but they pull it off with brilliance. It's the scenes with either of these two that is the real reason that I watch Miranda.
Particularly amusing is the mocking of "posh-isms" or posh slang, as it might be called. So, Miranda's mum is always trilling, "Such fun!" to fill gaps in conversations, whilst posh friend, Tilly, urgently repeats, "Bear with, bear with" whenever she is interrupted by a phone call. Miranda Hart clearly understands the nature of posh talk (especially female) and she exposes it quite funnily in her comedy.

In criticism, I must say that the plots of the episodes of Miranda are not always the most creative or effective. There is a sense of working "on the fly" and coincidences and chances keep the plots going. Also, I find Miranda's romantic interest slightly torturous - I'd much rather see her falling into a hole in the park, rather than mooching around talking about how nervous she is about speaking to Gary.

Due to the basic plots and, sometimes, unimaginative storylines, I would not call this comedy "great". It does not really make me laugh out loud (though I am hard to please). However, it is amusing, does satirise upper-middle class society and women quite well and in Miranda, Sally Phillips and Patricia Hodges, it has some very funny absurdist performers.