Little Britain: The Complete Second Series

If you liked the first series of "Little Britain", you can buy this one without hesitation. As of early May 2006, it hasn't been released in the US yet, so when I received a british copy as a gift, I ran out and bought a region-free DVD player just so I could watch it !

There are a few more wacky characters this time around, and the existing ones are more outrageous than ever. Some of the skits are so un-politically correct, it would never fly in the U.S, which probably makes it even more fun to watch.

If you go to your bank to apply for a loan, you'll probably have a smile on your face. " Computer says no".

I bought this DVD in Asia months ago. I guess it hasn't been released in America yet. Well, the DVD has tons of extras like the first! I love this series -David and Matt are brilliant! My husband doesn't like British humour, but he loves this series as well! Highly recommended!

Having been left Albion's shores these eleven years past, I have only returned to my homeland twice. On the second occassion, in 2005, I found myself being confronted at almost every turn with denizens of Blair's Britain.

Travelling from Newcastle station to nearby Sunderland I came across a phenomena where idle youths dressed in track suits and sporting apparent items of Burberry clothes or accessories and almost constsantly talking on mobile phones predominated in towns and on public transport. An old school chum identified this class as "Chavs" which would be known in the venacular of the United States as white trash and who is exemplified in Little Britain by Vicky, the archetyal Chav.

Indeed the endearing feature of this series and which is more prominent in Season 2 is the degree to which Britain laughs at itself through the mechanism of Little Britain. A friend commented to me that a number of the jokes and scenes were very repetitive and the degree of variation between sketches was not that great. While at first, I agreed, after several watchings it is clear that the writers of this show are able to focus on the stupidities which prevail in contempoaray British society. Take the question of cultural assimilation which is so loudly claimed as being the exemplar for other societies to follow. What Little Britain shows us is that the spin is radically different from the reality as indicated by the two ladies sampling different foodstuffs and the reaction of one of them upon discovering the social standing of the maker of that foodstuffs.

Similarly the homophobic attitudes of Daffyd, the only gay in the village. Again the reality being somewhat different from the publi9c persona. Whilst on that theme, some of the most hilarious sketches are about the straight Prime Minister and his gay secretary who has a thing for him. There is a degree of cruelty too particularly in the sketches of the mental patient who's behavious is being supervised by a medical practitioner who clearly has nothing to say in the face of repeated anti-social behaviour by a patient who often indicates every evidence of compos mentis but who perpetrates a fraud on the mental health care policy of the state.

Much of this show can be taken as being offensive and would be if it was not portrayed within the context of Britons laughing at Britain. The effects are heightened by the lush baritone of Tom Baker, better known as the fourth incarnation of everyone's favourite timelord.

All in all a vulgar comedy in the grand British tradition of Carry On and Monty Python yet at the same time, this is certainly a sharp witted social commentary which should make us all think in between all the laughter.

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