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Last Updated: Thursday, 5 August, 2004, 12:52 GMT 13:52 UK
DVD review: One Foot in the Grave
By William Gallagher
BBC News Online

Richard Wilson as Victor Meldrew
Richard Wilson delighted viewers as grumpy Victor Meldrew

We've had Best Of videos and DVDs released for the comedy classic One Foot in the Grave but now, finally, we get it straight: the complete first series, some six episodes, plus a featurette.

That featurette is just the Rowland Rivron piece where he championed the show in the recent Britain's Best Sitcom poll but it's entertaining.

And has more interviews with more stars than you'd normally get on a DVD's short little Making Of.

Knowing the show as well as we do, it's strange to see its first steps but it has bellylaughs and heart.


Jonathan Creek

This second box set of Creek stories contains 12 episodes and also the two Christmas specials - arguably the finest ones in the show's run.

There's something endearing about this show, even when the solutions to its impossible crimes aren't all that satisfying, and the set is a treat.

Jonathan Creek
Spooky goings-on in Jonathan Creek make great entertainment

And when the solutions are as well done as they are in Black Canary and Satan's Chimney, it's all immensely, intensely, deliciously enjoyable.

There are few extras and the picture quality varies but it's a strong set.

The chief extras are three profiles, each about five minutes long, of writer David Renwick and stars Alan Davies and Julia Sawalha.

There's also a sequence of deleted scenes and a pop video but, unfortunately, no commentary.


Bedazzled

We're still in the mid-summer hiatus where the only films released are reissues but this one has a little extra as well as a bargain price.

The star of the movie, Brendan Fraser, is offered seven wishes by the Devil. You probably knew that, but what you may not have known is that the makers filmed more than seven wishes.

Sounds expensive, but rumour had it that they did nine and picked out the best ones. Some previous DVDs have had one deleted wish as an Easter Egg.

Now that one and a short other deleted scene is on this comedy DVD.

You also get brief Making Of and audio commentary but the film doesn't stand up to serious scrutiny and remains best as light entertainment.


SEE ALSO:
DVD review: The Simpsons
29 Jul 04  |  Entertainment
DVD review: Starsky and Hutch
22 Jul 04  |  Entertainment
DVD review: Mona Lisa Smile
15 Jul 04  |  Entertainment
DVD review: Cold Mountain
08 Jul 04  |  Entertainment
DVD review: Lost in Translation
01 Jul 04  |  Entertainment
DVD review: A Mighty Wind
24 Jun 04  |  Entertainment


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