Alfresco: The Complete Series

Film Review by Michael Lawson | 29 Jan 2009
Film title: Alfresco: The Complete Series
Director: Stuart Orme
Starring: Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Ben Elton
Release date: 2 Feb
Certificate: 15

Before Fry and Laurie were Fry and Laurie, Robbie Coltrane was Hagrid and Ben Elton sold his soul, there was Alfresco. This DVD contains both series (and the original North West pilots) of a genuine treat. The pace of sketch shows is now so relentless that it’s almost exciting to watch a programme (originally broadcast in 1983) where sketches can last up to fifteen minutes, and elaborate scenarios are allowed to breathe. There is a rawness to the material which is immensely appealing, if only because we can see the genesis of the group’s continuing concerns: race, masculinity and Thatcherism (Elton); class, authority and Britishness (Fry and Laurie); and an insistent juxtaposition of high and low culture. Many skits (such as a POW camp escape-piano routine) miss the mark, but there are some real gems here, including the Wallies, a demented Beatles medley and the sight of Emma Thompson dressed as a punk. [Michael Gillespie]

http://www.networkdvd.co.uk