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Dom Robinson reviews 
- Cert:
- Cat.no: BBCDVD 1119
- Running time: 174 minutes
- Year: 2001
- Pressing: 2003
- Region(s): 2, 4 (UK PAL)
- Chapters: 36
- Sound: Stereo
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: English
- Widescreen: 1.78:1 (16:9)
- 16:9-enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: No
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: £19.99
- Extras: Cast interviews, Easter egg
Director:
- Declan Lowney
Producer:
- Rosemary McGowan and Paul Whitehouse
Screenplay:
- Paul Whitehouse and David Cummings
Music:
- Philip Pope
Cast:
- Danny: Paul Whitehouse
Terry: Mark Heap
Rachel: Fiona Allen
Angus: Clive Russell
Sid: Pearce Quigley
Charlie: Johnny Vegas
Emma: Tamsin Greig
Guest appearances from Simon Day, Charlie Higson, Mark Williams, Andrew Collins, Maria McErlane & Bob Geldof
Paul Whitehouse was part of a the massive success that was The Fast Show, despite the sad demise that was the largely laugh-free The Last Fast Show Ever trilogy of episodes during Xmas 2000, but thankfully he got back on track with the excellent Happiness, a series that may be labelled a sitcom but gets its comedy from elements of life that we all know about – as opposed to straight-forward sketches – and mixes in drama just at the right time.
With this review I’ll attempt to summarise the series in a few paragraphs, as opposed to my weekly synopsis of Series 2, being broadcast weekly from January 2003 onwards.
Danny (Paul Whitehouse) is a man with a crisis on his hands. On the one hand, he’s the successful voice of Dexter, a kung-fu nurse bear (try imagining that if you hadn’t seen the cover of the DVD and didn’t know it was created by Wallace & Gromit‘s Aardman Animations), yet he’s also approaching 40, he has a low sperm count and his wife’s only just died, after being run over on a zebra crossng. The first episode begins as he wakes up on the day of her funeral.
But in tragedy there’s also comedy to be found, so don’t be expecting a wallow-fest, most notably from Johnny Vegas falling into a hole in the ground due to roadworks.
Danny and Rachel – still ex-boyfriend and girlfriend?
Centering around Danny, we see him getting back into the dating game, particularly dating brunette Emma (Black Books‘ Tamsin Greig), as well as a few other girls beforehand, he undergoes a facelift with quite disastrous – but cosmetically-clever consequences, he’s introduced by man-about-town Angus (Clive Russell) to cocaine, dance music and nubile girls half his age, once his libido appears to be on the downturn (Note that the hard drug use in that third episode are the reason for the DVD’s 18-certificate).
Once he’s out of the doldrums and on the up with Emma, things are sure to get better… No? Well, there’s her step-father’s birthday party to contend with, which seems him destroying the television and he’s finally reached the age that life begins, but can he still avoid the Big Issue seller by photocopying the front cover and getting away with that? Skinflint!
The rest of the cast includes those that make up his friends, Smack the Pony‘s Fiona Allen as his ex-girlfriend Rachel – with a rather unfortunate mugshot on the cover, Spaced‘s Mark Heap as her husband Terry, plus flatmates Sid (Pearce Quigley) and comedian Johnny Vegas playing Charlie, a drunk. Just like real life then. Makes you wonder at times if Sid and Charlie are a couple, the way they hang about together drinking in the pub all the time, yet Charlie has a couple of kids from a previous marriage so perhaps that’s an untapped storyline waiting to develop.
There’s also guest appearances from Fast Show regulars Simon Day, Charlie Higson and Mark Williams, as well as Andrew Collins, Maria McErlane and, as himself, Bob Geldof, who comes on to do a voice for the Dexter series.
Johnny Vegas – after an accident.
There’s no problems to be found with the picture here. For such a recent series you’d expect that and you’re not disappointed. It’s presented in 16;9 anamorphic widescreen, as shown on TV. The sound is spot-on too. In stereo, it’s mainly dialogue-driven, with occasional songs thrown in.
With six chapters per episode, making 36 in total, there are also English subtitles and for extras it’s mainly cast interviews (33½ mins) with the main people sat looking rather uncomfortable as they tell you basic info about the programme, while clips are mixed in. I say “mainly cast interviews” as a brief 30-second Easter egg shows Johnny Vegas singing “The Way We Were” while sporting a bloodied nose, courtesy of being knocked over as a church door opens (click on the portrait for this). Menus are static and silent, albeit with Dexter kicking and screaming between some of them.
Now that the BBC have released a DVD of an excellent comedy/drama about adults turning 40, let’s hope they do the same with the excellent comedy/drama about adults turning 50 that was 2002’s Manchild, starring Nigel Havers and Buffy‘s Anthony Head.
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Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.