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Spaced – Series 1 & 2 DVD box set (Pegg, Stevenson)
You’ve got to give Channel Four some credit, despite the fact that they now seem to have filled their schedules entirely with property programmes of shows with the words “breasts” in the title. While the BBC, who in the past have bought us the likes of Red Dwarf, Only Fools and Horses (it was good once you know) and The Young Ones, now relies on the mediocrity of My Family and the completely awful My Hero for its sitcom quota Channel Four has managed to bring us Black Books and the subject of this review, Simon Pegg (creator of Shaun of the Dead) and Jessica Stevenson’s Spaced. And because of this they should be thanked. Spaced is a sitcom about a couple of twenty somethings who refuse to grow up and be responsible when they probably should be. They pretend to be a couple to get a flat they both need and the sitcom follows their lives from hereon in. Tim (Pegg) is an aspiring comic book artist and Daisy (Stevenson) is a lazy writer, they are joined by Brian, a rather timid and unhinged artist, Marsha, their alcoholic landlady, Mike, who loves guns and Robot Wars and Twist, who works in “fashion”. This merry group embark on a variety of entertaining and, in the second series at least, occasionally ridiculous adventures which I can almost guarantee will have you laughing your socks of non-stop for several days. In addition to the obvious comic value of this series it is also worth mentioning how well and subtly the unresolved element of romance between Tim and Daisy is handled. Series one is certainly better than two (the clubbing episode has to be one of the best examples of TV comedy ever) but two is still funny and sharp, especially the concluding episodes of the series. The extras on both discs are reasonably extensive (biographies, out takes, deleted scenes, trailers etc.) but nothing too special. A quite brilliant programme and almost certainly under appreciated, check it out if you’re not already a fan and if you are then you have no reason not to buy this do you?
10 out of 10