Black Books - Complete DVD Box Set

No. of Discs: 3 DVDs
Age: 15+
Format: Region 2 / UK / PAL
Running Time: 426 Minutes

RRP: £29.99

Best Price: £9.47

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After the genuinely classic Father Ted, and before the rather disappointing (though still unfairly maligned) IT Crowd, Graham Linehan turned his creative talents to this gem. Written with principal actor Dylan Moran, Father Ted collaborator Arthur Matthews and the talented Andy Riley and Kevin Cecil, Black Books is a sitcom based around the life of misanthropic book shop proprietor Bernard Black (Moran) and his slightly more optimistic acquaintances Manny (the typically fantastic Bill Bailey) and Fran (Tamsin Greig).

Like Father Ted, the key to the comedy in Black Books is in its mixture of Black’s desperate rage at the world around him, and the gentle surrealism of the show and its supporting cast. Hence the show flits from Black’s drunken (or hungover) monologues on how much he despises his customer’s, to his and Manny’s attempts to deal with a ’nest’ of creatures unbeknownst to science that have infested the shop. The play between the cynical Bernard, the upbeat but put-upon Manny and the wine-fuelled, domineering Fran is wonderful.

Featuring guest appearances from the cream of British comedy talent (Kevin Eldon, Johnny Vegas, Jessica Stephenson and Rob Brydon, amongst others) Black Books vies with The Office and Spaced for the honour of being the best British comedy of recent times. This box-set includes all 18 episodes over three series, and has a rather hilarious ‘description’ of the show on the inside cover by Dylan Moran.