Smell the Movies
Smell the TV
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| Transmitted: | September 1999 - April 2001 |
| Country of origin: | UK |
| Genre: | Surrealism, Pop culture references, British eccentricity |
| Starring: | Simon Pegg, Jessica Stevenson, Nick Frost, Mark Heap, Julia Deakin, Katy Carmichael |
| Rating: | 5/5 |
| No. of seasons: | 2 |
Excellent and much missed oddball comedy from Simon Pegg and Jessica Richardson.
What's great about it is that it takes a fairly conventional sitcom setup, and bastardises it with aplomb.
Pegg and Richardson play a couple of twenty somethings down on their luck, who happen to bump into each other in a greasy spoon cafe, and discover they are both looking for somewhere to live. They decide to move in together, but have to pretend to be a married couple to do so.
So far, so regular.
Gradually though, as we meet more of the regular characters, things start to get odd.
Mike, Pegg's best friend, is a military nutjob, a TA member and general psychopath. Martha the landlady is a desperate alcoholic, besotted by Brian, the intense artist from downstairs.
One of the key aspects of the show that make it so hugely enjoyable are the constant genre references. Scenes will suddenly go off on a tangent as the camera angle changes, the cast start to act differently, and suddenly you realise they are playing out a scene from a horror movie, or a sci-fi flick, whilst still being relevant to the episode itself. This slick and inventive use of cult references makes for a hugely entertaining watch, as you can play guess the movie as well as laughing at the regular lines.
Excellent stuff, and a great shame only 14 were made.
Find an episode guide here:
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