I should imagine that anyone under 40 who appreciates art, good music and oddball humour will be familiar with The Mighty Boosh. The original idea was formed back in 1998 when Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding met and formed a stand-up double act.
After three successful stage shows, the BBC commissioned a Radio 4 series which aired in 2001 and from that the duo were given an eight part television series on BBC 3, first broadcast in 2004. The budget for the shows was small so Noel and Julian enlisted their friends and family as cast members and Noel used his art college experience to design costumes and backdrops for the colourful characters.

I chanced upon this weird and wonderful series late one night and by the end of the programme I was hooked. The trouble was, nobody knew what I was talking about! By the time the second series was shown however, a small army of followers had begun to form, mainly art students and fans of off-the-wall humour like me. (Think The Goodies and Monty Python).
Noel's connections with hip musicians Kasabian, Razorlight and Gary Numan also helped to raise the profile of the show and reach a wider audience.

Series One is set in a zoo, with Julian and Noel as disillusioned keepers Howard Moon and Vince Noir.
Julian is Howard, a middle aged loner with more than a touch of OCD and a love of jazz. Noel is Vince, a self-obsessed dreamer who can talk to the animals and has a close friendship with Bollo, the zoo's resident gorilla. The zoo is run by Bob Fossil, played by the brilliant Rich Fulcher. Bob is an arrogant, loud-mouthed American with absolutely no knowledge of animals who loves to dance outrageously to 70's disco music. He takes business advice from his right-hand man, shaman Naboo, who can see the future and cast spells. Beautifully played by Noel Fielding's brother Mike, Naboo can always be relied upon to save his friends Howard and Vince from the disastrous scrapes they get themselves into.
From the home-made costumes to the psychedelic music, The Boosh is a crazy ride through the subconscious of two mad men and never fails to lift my mood.
The pilot episode is easily the best, with the boys travelling to the Tundra to track down the Egg of Mantumbi, a precious stone in the care of parker-wearing midgets. Vince befriends a lonely polar bear and Howard gets caught in the act of trying to steal the Egg. When Vince comes to his rescue they both end up facing the wrath of the Black Frost. The episodes are interspersed with short animations using Noel's artwork and appearances from the Moon, who provides hilarious anecdotes of his observations from Space. And of course, each episode features an original song, some of which are so catchy you end up singing them for days!

During the first series we see Howard taking on a killer kangaroo in the boxing ring, Naboo's Miracle Wax rescuing the boys from Monkey Hell and a road trip to deliver some violent animals to the Detention Centre ends with Vince finding his adoptive father Bryan Ferry in the forest!
Series 2 however, is completely different. This time the setting is the flat in London which the boys share with Bollo and Naboo. Howard and Vince are trying to break into the music business and are experimenting with various styles to find The New Sound. Cue appearances from cockney villain The Hitcher, an evil nanna demon and Old Gregg, a cross-dressing, Baileys drinking sea creature who falls in love with Howard and holds him captive at his underwater lair.
But the jewel in the crown of this series is the final episode, the tale of Milky Joe. The boys finally catch a break and are invited to appear on a music show in America but Howard is scared to fly so they set off by boat, but they end up stranded on a desert island after Vince upsets the Captain. Vince is happy to sunbathe and make clothes from palm leaves but Howard needs intellectual stimulation, so he makes a friend from a coconut shell called Milky Joe and together they form a literary group, which Vince is not permitted to join.
Unperturbed, Vince makes himself a beautiful coconut ladyfriend, and so the adventure begins. No spoilers here, you will simply have to discover it for yourself.

The complete dvd set also has a host of extra features such as outtakes and short films etc. By series 3 the magic has begun to fade as Julian and Noel run out of steam but it has moments of pure comedy genius nevertheless. I would recommend the first two series to begin with and if, like me, you become a Boosh fanatic, then Series 3 is a must.