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Category:    Home > Reviews > Comedy > British TV > Britcom > Sitcom > ‘Allo ‘Allo – The Complete Series Six (BBC Home Video)

‘Allo ‘Allo – The Complete Series Six (BBC Home Video)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C+     Extras: C     Episodes: B-

 

 

A few years ago, someone walked up to me and asked if they could get ‘Allo ‘Allo on home video in any form.  It was very popular on our local PBS affiliate, but not much discussed outside of its fanbase.  I was curious and to my surprise and the delight of the fan who asked, there was BBC Home Video issuing the show’s first season on DVD.  Well, here we are a few years later and The Complete Series Six from later in 1989.

 

The show focuses on René Artois (Gorden Kaye), a café owner in occupied France during WWII who is often dragged in to helping the Resistance.  Supposedly a spoof of the British series Secret Army, Americans are more likely to see it as a flipside to the now-controversial hit series Hogan’s Heroes (reviewed elsewhere on this site) where the Fascists are made to look like the buffoons they are, no matter how murderous.

 

This is one of the better seasons, as most of the eight shows here are written by the amazing team of Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft, creators of the safer Are You Being Served?  In these shows, especially he first four on the first of two DVDs, exceptional wit and panache is demonstrated in the writing and performances of an exceptionally gifted cast, the kind that put the “Britcom” on the map.  Now with HD here, this will be one of the last great such analog Pal productions in a long lone of exceptional shows.

 

The series moves seamlessly from war humor, to religion, to common sense and the lack of it.  It also has fun with language, cultural differences and is no holds barred in its approach, upping the humor all the more.  If you have never seen the show, catch one of these sets from the BBC, especially if you like a good laugh and you are a thinking person.

 

The 1.33 X 1 image was shot in PAL professional analog video and looks good for its age with good color and clean copies used for the transfers.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo is simple and clear.  The combination is better than broadcasts I have seen of the show on cable TV, making it the preferred way to view it.  Extras include trailers for other BBC Home Video releases and 16 bios for the cast and crew.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo


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