"Actor: Maria McErlane"

• Eurotrash - Unzipped | DVD | (19/11/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  For people who like to snigger knowingly about sex and bodily functions, Eurotrash Unzipped is essential. It contains selections from all the seasons of Eurotrash, and a lot of material that was never shown because it was too gross, sexual or simply embarrassing--moments where the remorseless sexy teasing of host Antoine de Caunes just went a little too far. There is an entertaining featurette in which we are taken behind the scenes to the editing suite in which the voice-over staff decide precisely which irritating English accent to dub over the unfortunate French and German interviewees; this is a show that has always combined the view that foreigners are funny with the view that most British accents are funny as well. There is a memorial segment about the massive-breasted Lolo Ferrari, an odd exchange with Eddie Izzard about the danger of British breakfasts, trampolines and helicopters and the usual mixture of the grosser bits of the artistic avant-garde and the more pretentiously up-front sort of sex worker. It is business as usual--De Caunes, and occasionally Jean-Paul Gaultier, laughing at everyone, including themselves and the audience, for even bothering to talk about sex. On the DVD: The DVD, which is presented in Dolby Sound and a standard TV 4:3 ratio, also contains a photo gallery, some special-effects outtakes in which Antoine de Caunes performs more outrageous stunts than usual, Victoria Silvstedt saying sexy things in several languages, and (for computer DVD users) a feature which enables you to design your own garish Eurotrash set.--Roz Kaveney

• The Fast Show - Series 2 | DVD | (18/08/2003) from £3.99   |  Saving you £12.00 (300.75%)   |  RRP £15.99

  The second series of The Fast Show races on from where the first series left off, taking the now-familiar characters and projecting them into new and unusual situations. The "Suits You" men are let loose as waiters in a restaurant, Indecisive Dave finally makes his mind up, Unlucky Alf tries his hand at courting, Bob Fleming splutters his way through a midnight Badger Watch and Channel 9 branches out into light-entertainment with predictably incomprehensible results. The seven episodes also add further depth to many of the catchphrase-reliant characters. Rowley Birkin QC finds a touching reason to wish he hadn't been "very, very drunk", Ted and Ralph's romance stutters on, Brilliant! gets depressed and things turn sour for Which Was Nice. All our favourites are present and correct, but the freshest laughs come from the new characters and less-established sketches, such as an inept croupier blundering through his first day on the job, Brilliant!'s dad ("Rubbish!"), haughty, mistake-prone history presenter Gideon Soames, and the world-weary Carl Hooper's unspectacular show "That's Amazing!". On the DVD: The Fast Show, Series 2 comes to DVD with no extras, aside from some nicely animated menus, episode and scene selection. --Paul Philpott

• The Fast Show - Series One | DVD | (05/08/2002) from £9.99   |  Saving you £6.00 (60.06%)   |  RRP £15.99

  The Fast Show, like Viz comic and Private Eye magazine, is one of those comedic institutions whose principal appeal is its utter predictability. The jokes in every episode are exactly the same, every sketch an only slightly different path to one of a few familiar punchlines ("I'll get me coat", "Where's me washboard?", "Scorchio!", "Suits you, Sir," and so on): once the viewer or reader is in with the jokes, they feel part of the club. This sort of reductive comedy is extremely easy to do badly: it is testament to the writing and acting of Paul Whitehouse and his team that not only are most of the set-pieces funny every time they reappear (the overly prurient tailors, the pub know-all, the Trevor Brooking-esque football pundit Ron Manager), but that each individual sketch is funny more than once. This first series of The Fast Show does not include a couple of characters who became well-loved mainstays; neither the licentious car salesman Swiss Tony, for whom everything was "like making love to a beautiful woman", or the incomprehensible raconteur Rowley Birkin QC, had been developed at this stage. However, aficionados will regard this collection as indispensable for the beginning of the saga of awkward young aristocrat Ralph and his unrequited passion for his gardener, Ted: a funny yet oddly affecting rendering of love thwarted by circumstance. On the DVD: The Fast Show--Series 1 on disc includes interviews with the cast, and English subtitles. There is an episode selector and an individual scene selector, though the latter is confusingly laid out. --Andrew Mueller

• The Fast Show - Series 3 | DVD | (30/08/2004) from £6.98   |  Saving you £11.01 (157.74%)   |  RRP £17.99

  These eight episodes from the Fast Show's third series brought us sparking new characters like the 13th Duke of Wybourne No Offence Taff Lad and the Hearty Hikers and treats in the shape of Swiss Toni Dave Angel Eco-Warrior and the Posh Cockneys to join old favourites like Suits You Chanel 9 Colin Hunt Ted and Ralph and the ever-increasing parade of catchphrase heroes.

• The Fast Show - The Last Fast Show Ever - Part 1 | DVD | (04/12/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The success of The Fast Show has always relied on the number of sketches devoted to your favourite characters. While this, the last ever series, suffers a little for the loss of Caroline Aherne (presumably busy with The Royle Family?), and from the fact that those sketches based on a single catch-phrase or joke--Jessie's Diets, "Which was nice", and even the cough-prone Bob Fleming--seem to be running out of steam, the show's more rounded creations are all back and still going strong. Swiss Tony has emerged from therapy a new man, Colin Hunt gets the sack from his beloved office job and Ralph struggles on with his unrequited love for handyman Ted. There are new characters: a ragged, Charlton Heston-like astronaut who runs into different situations screaming, "What year is this? Who is the President?!", and a cynical, middle-aged woman who meets every note of human kindness she encounters with a sarcastic "Hah!", are particular standouts. However, as always, the series works best when the regular characters collide with contemporary phenomena, so here we have Indecisive Dave being phoned by a friend who's appearing on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?; the "Suits You!" tailors harassing an incognito Johnny Depp; the cheeky criminal stealing a child's Pokémon cards; John Actor playing hard-nosed interior designer Laurence Lewellyn Monkfish in Changing Monkfish; the send-up of recent gangster Brit flicks A Right Royal Barrel of Cockney Monkeys (populated entirely by pseudo-cockney public schoolboys); and a sketch in which Channel 9's gardening presenter is assisted by a topless woman. Nice Dimmocks! --Paul Philpott

• The Fast Show: The Farewell Tour | DVD | (24/11/2003) from £3.69   |  Saving you £12.30 (333.33%)   |  RRP £15.99

  In October and November 2002 The Fast Show favourites took to the stage.... to rapturous applause. This sell-out tour represented the final outing for a host of favourite characters from the 'suit you' tailors to a musical incarnation of Ted and Ralph to the office joker Colin Hunt.