 Little Britain (BBC3) Recurring characters include Daffyd (a man who stubbornly holds on to the idea that he's "the only gay in the village," despite increasing evidence to the contrary); Vickey (an incoherently fast-talking trashy teen); Andy & Lou (a supposedly handicapped gentleman and his ever-patient caregiver); Emily Howard (the world's least convincing cross-dresser); Sebastian (preening aide to the Prime Minister, played by Tony Head); Dennis (a bizarrely diminutive actor who only accepts parts in which he can act as well as write and sing the theme tune); and a multitude of others. Lucas and Walliams submerge themselves so wholly into these parts that you can't help but get down with their stupidly absurdist worldview, which careens from the totally weird to the most brilliantly high-concept. And Tom Baker's silly faux-pompous narration provides the ideal connective tissue between scenes. The subsequent LB encore programs and Americanized version Little Britain USA were diminishing returns, I suppose, and David Walliams has certainly become quite the douche more recently. But classic is classic, and Little Britain is always worth another visit.
Review by Romeo Early © 2004 |