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Dom Robinson reviews
The Complete Second Series
VCI
- Cert:
- Cat.no: VCD 0286
- Running time: 145 minutes
- Year: 2002
- Pressing: 2003
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 42 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 (Stereo)
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: None
- Widescreen: 1.77:1
- 16:9-enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: £19.99
- Extras:Out-takes, Comic Relief BBC idents, TV series trailers, Deleted Scenes,Trailers, Audio Commentary.
Director:
- Peter Kay
Producer:
- Henry Klejdys
Screenplay:
- Peter Kay, Dave Spikey and Neil Fitzmaurice
Music
- Various
Cast:
- Brian Potter/Max: Peter Kay
Jerry St. Clair: Dave Spikey
Ray Von: Neil Fitzmaurice
Paddy: Patrick McGuinness
Les: Toby Foster
Alan: Steve Edge
Kenny Senior: Archie Kelly
Young Kenny: Justin Moorhouse
Holy Mary: Janice Connolly
Joyce: Enid Dunn
Den Perry: Ted Robbins
Spencer: Daniel Kitson
Ant: Julian Sua
Dec: Wai Kee Chan
Frank Cartwright: Jim Bowen
Spawned from a one-off story, Phoenix Nightswas one of seven episodes (if you count “The Services” pilot on Comedy Lab) fromThat Peter Kay Thing, which went on to get two full series.
Below follows an episode-by-episode breakdown of the plot for each part ofseries two, but it’s unlikely we’ll be treated to a third installment down atthe club, which is a good idea if they feel they want to keep it fresh as itwas without diluting it like some comedies do, but two of the cast will returnin the forthcoming Max & Paddy spin-off. I only hope the restof the cast have roles in it too.
The first episode of this series picks up just as the last one finished, albeitwith Brian noticing what Den Perry did to his club before the end creditshad run completely(!)
With the club burnt out and Perry laughing at him from the sidelines, BrianPotter’s day in court goes badly and his liquor licence is revoked, as isthe licence to run a club, since the fire-fighting equipment wasn’t up tostandard and forged insurance documents.
However, Brian has a dream… to re-open the club with Jerry as the licencee,so he’ll cop for the blame when anything goes wrong, particularly when itcomes to importing their own beer now the brewery’s turned their back on them.Doesn’t sound too appetising, but it might stop Jerry singing about black binbags or corned beef.
A revelation is made to Brian when he pays a visit to Frank Cartwright(Jim Bowen), who tells him that the secret is to give the customerseverything they want under one roof, including garlic bread – “It’s thefuture, I’ve tasted it!”
And look out for a bouquet of flowers attached to a tram post in Blackpool,stating “In memory of Alan – Died 8th Dec 89”.
And note the moment when Brian looks in his diary and this time round,a couple of phone numbers have been badly blanked out of the programme(!)
Max & Paddy have a new driving job with “Asian Elders”.
In the second episode, plans are underway to relaunch the club as a themedvariety. What better way than to announce it with a fun fair and a specialday. Holy Mary plays Madame Zelda, the fortune teller, a woeful attempt at akids playroom in “Brian Potter and the Big Pink Paradise” with a condom machine,dishing out penny chews for 10p each, and a bouncy castle bought from a seedylocation in Amsterdam that’ll have to redisguised as “Sammy Snake”.
Max and Paddy set off to France to load up on cheap beer, bumping into a coupleof Chinese men along the way. How to get it all back through customs though?Max decides they’ll dress up as priests, like in The Cannonball Run,although the plan will have to change drastically…
There’s catastrophe in store though as Young Kenny can’t get his lion facemaskoff, the snake ‘reveals’ itself and Jerry St. Clair’s dressed up as “a gaysatan” as ‘Jerry the Berry’.
“It’s not what it looks, Brian”
“It’s a 20-foot cock and balls, man! It don’t look like nothing else!”
This show opens with their latest attraction to pull the punters in – aspeed-ramp which triggers a deafening new signpost telling them to “pull offinto Paradise”, upon which Jerry breaks his nose as he fails to see it initiallyand hits it at speed.
Max and Paddy are tanning themselves on the new sarolium (sic) and the newkitchen staff aren’t turning out to be much cop because it’s those Chineseblokes, who stowed away in the van, and they’re stir-frying the oven chips.Meanwhile, there’s a new barman in the offing as Jerry interviews Spencer(Daniel Kitson), despite the fact he appeared briefly in the firstseries.
Ray Von has a plan to get the big bucks coming in – go back towhen Den Perry torched the club, then get TV’s top crime reconstruction show,Crimetime, to film it and get some free publicity. It’s bad enough whenBrian wants to play himself, but then so does Perry…
Spencer for hire.
Episode four begins with Kenny Senior giving tours of the crime scene aroundthe club, with a souvenir shop offering false charred remains, with the tuneof “Disco Inferno (Burn, baby, burn)” playing in the background.
Promoting the place never ends, when Brian teams up with Kamikaze Lager andtheir “Win A Year’s Free Supply” competition as part of their UK launch, exceptthat he’s going to rig it so the cub win the prize themselves. Jerry’s notpleased, though, because it’s this coming Wednesday and thus clashes with his”Free and Easy Night”. Brian replies, “I can do what we like, it’s yourclub!”
Winning the drink might not be that easy though, as his team consists of dimwitSpencer, serial liar Kenny Senior and Young Kenny, who’s written loads ofanswers on his arm. “Do you know the questions?”, asks Brian. “No”,Young Kenny replies, “but you never know…”
“Sport: My balls are black and blue – I’ve just hit them with a mallet!what game am I playing?”, comes one of the questions from ‘Ray Von Chong’.In the other room, things aren’t going well for Jerry as all his pills andherbal medication kick in at once and he goes so far off the rails there’sno turning back…
Jerry’s looking rather the worse for wear.
The lottery results are just about to be announced and… Brian’s electricitygoes as he’s coming down the stairs in his chair. “Calm down… What wouldThora Hird do?”, he asks himself.
Tonight, it’s Ladies Night and the feeling’s right, or at least it will bewhen they all arrive to view and test the array of whips, chains and dildoson offer. Watch out for when Holy Mary gets to test the Love Eggs.Elsewhere in the building, the Chinese food is taking hold and’The Golden Phoenix’ is born – their new restaurant area.
While Paddy’s doing the main cabaret act as Lord Love Rocket, Max is dreamingof owning a motor home. At four grand a piece, he’ll never afford one, but thenone of the women who attends the club that night asks him to murder her husbandand she’ll pay plenty for it…
Lord Love Rocket!
In the finale, Max is rumbled when the woman’s husband comes back and Paddyrealises he’s been taken for a ride when he hears Max got £8,000 for thejob and he was only given a grand of that. Knowing she won’t get her moneyback, she makes a serious threat to our two doormen.
The brewery realise the success that the club’s become and coincide theirbusiness return with a “Stars In Their Eyes” special night. Potter’s linedup Dougie Hayes to compere, but Den Perry’s stuck his nose in and put an endto that.
Hence, all their real acts have dropped out too, so the staff at theclub have to step in with Holy Mary as Lulu, Ray Von and Les Alanos as Adam& The Ants, Young Kenny as Meatloaf, Kenny Senior as BritneySpears and… wait for it… Spencer as Gary Glitter!
Despite the success, Den Perry tries one last time to get rid of Brian Potter,but the wheelchair-bound pseudo-licencee has one last trick up his sleeve.That won’t solve the bouncers’ problems, and with them thinking the heat’supon them and Max having his new motor home, they take the only optionavailable to them…
Do you wanna be in his gang?
There’s so much going on in each episode of the show that you need to see eachone at least two or three times. So many one-liners, so much input from PeterKay be it physical or verbal (even doing the radio jingles for “ChorleyFM – coming in your ears!”)
In the first episode now Ray Von is working on a fairground ride and keepingthe punters interested:
- “The louder you scream, the faster the ride.
Remember, fun is the key, but keep seated at alltimes or you *may* die!
Shabba!”
Working out how much to charge for the bouncy castle:
- Brian: “50p? A pound for five minutes, more like. Get’em spending!
People have got giros burning a hole in their shell suits.”
Jerry interviews Spencer for the bar job:
- Jerry: “What made you apply for the job?”
Spencer: “The DSS.”
Jerry: “And why do you think should I give it to you?”
Spencer: “Cos it’ll be the DSS paying me wages and it won’t cost you a penny.”
Jerry (smiling): “When can you start?”
Brian and Jerry have a war of words about stress:
- Brian: “What do you know about stress? You wanna try walking a mile in my shoes, boy.”
Jerry: “Yeah, so do you.”
Brian: “Oh, that were below the belt.”
Jerry: “Well, you wouldn’t have felt it then, would you?”
Max and Paddy discuss the merits of using a Broomhandle Mauser for the hit:
- Max: “It were me grandad’s. He shot a German with this.”
Paddy: “What, in t’war?”
Max: “No, in Benidorm. They had a row over a sun lounger.”
Spencer comments to Ray Von on the origins of Kenny Senior’s Britney Spearsoutfit, compared to what was available on the night at short notice:
- “Hey, that wasn’t in the hamper.”
And just to repeat one classic line from the first series, oninterviewing a Robot Wars contestant:
- Brian: “That a robot is it, son?”
Contestant: “Actually the term… automaton. The Cleaner’s
multidirectional, it’s fitted with a twin-wizard blade mechanism
at the back and it’s also got a trip-hammer device at the front.”
Brian: “You ever kissed a girl?”
Between seeing this series on TV and on DVD, as well as seeing the PhoenixNights regulars Dave Spikey (Jerry), Archie Kelly (Kenny Senior) and Toby Foster (Les)at the Comedy Store, Manchester, you’ll find Justin Moorhouse (Young Kenny) isa frequenter of their Wednesday night “Men @ Work” dos, and I also hugelyenjoyed Daniel Kitson’s (Spencer) one-man show (with support), although I can’tremember much about his clever ramblings apart from things about curtains andarseworms. He was excellent at thinking on his feet, though.
Also, in the intervening months, most of the cast, apart from Kay, had smallor cameo roles in Channel 4’s Oz-style drama Buried, whose mainlead was Lennie James. That’s not to say Kay hasn’t appeared in aprison drama as he cameod in Going Off Big Timealongside Neil Fitzmaurice, who was most recently in Channel 4’sPeep Show, which for my money was this year’s funniest comedy – and easilyas good as the Phoenix andThe Office.
The programme was filmed in 16:9 and is presented as such here on DVD. It looksspot-on all the way throughout the series. Gladly, VCI seem to have taken onmy point where I said “shame about the poor VHS owners who have to make dowith 14:9 – why do they bother with the extra BBFC expense? Just give the public16:9 throughout and be done with it!” – and this time the VHS is in 16:9too.
The sound is perfectly fine – regular Dolby Surround that doesn’t get muchto do during dialogue-only scenes, but gets across all those chicken-in-a-basketnumbers perfectly.
Collector’s Boxset
There’s a variety of interesting extras which make you realise, even some timeafter it was on TV originally, just how funny this series was.
- It’ll Be Alright On The Phoenix Nights 2: Outtakes (11 mins):24 clips in 16:9 anamorphic widescreen and with the same high quality as theoriginal broadcast. Excellent stuff.
These are available with and without swearing, although there’s no point inthe latter if you’ve just been watching the DVD as a whole, and it also remindsme of the first time BBC1 broadcast Beverly Hills Cop 3 – all theswearing was bleeped out… but the subtitles still retained the profanityintact!
- It’ll Be Alright On The Phoenix Nights 2: Max & Paddy (11 mins):More of the same, but centering on the two bouncers in 11 more outtakes.
- It’ll Be Alright On The Phoenix Nights 2: The Bowen (3 mins):The former presenter of Bullseye gets his own slot.
- Comic Relief Idents (1 min):Peter Kay joins in for two BBC1 idents with the wheelchair-bound basketballplayers.
- Comic Relief Outtakes (1 mins):And everything goes wrong for Brian…
- Deleted Scenes (21 mins):Broken up into three segments, doubling up the episodes, there’s some gemshere. Unlike the outtakes, these aren’t broken down into individual chapters.An optional commentary track is available.
- Trailers (2 mins):Four of the trailers used to promote the series upon its first broadcast onChannel 4.
- Audio commentary:Running throughout the series are comments from Peter Kay, Patrick McGuinness(Paddy), Steve Edge (Alan) and Archie Kelly (Kenny Senior).
All the menus are animated with clips from the show and sound mixing musicfrom the series and soundbites (eg. “Aw… shitter, shit, shit, shitter!!”),there are 7 chapters per episode, and this time there’s subtitles in English.
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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.