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Not The Nine O'Clock News - The Best Of Not The Nine O'Clock News - Vol. 1 [1979]
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Atkinson's stuff is among the best here, be it as a hideous young Tory, or as Gerald the Gorilla, now civilised to a fault by the captor who caught him in the wild. ("Wild? I was livid!") The much-repeated bit of him walking into a tree, however, doesn't work as he clearly anticipates the collision. While the musical elements look inevitably dated and a lengthy sketch on darts players boozing reaches the "Yeah, we get the point" mark long before it reaches its end, it's surprising how topical much of this material remains decades on--a sketch involving an agonising gay vicar springs to mind--while time hasn't eroded the quality of much of the writing. On the DVD: Not the Nine O'Clock News on disc comes with no extra features. --David Stubbs
RRP: £15.99
Our Price: £4.94 (subject to change)
Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review
Volume One of Not the Nine O'Clock News comprises 98 minutes of early material from the sketch show that ran between 1979 and 1982. Starring Rowan Atkinson, Griff Rhys-Jones, Mel Smith and Pamela Stephenson and coscripted by Richard (Blackadder) Curtis among others, it wasn't especially ground-breaking by the standards of Monty Python or contemporary series such as The Young Ones, but it did provide some pretty blunt belly-laughs at the major social and political concerns of the era: Thatcher, Reagan, police brutality, the prospect of nuclear war. The latter makes for an excellent Question Time spoof, in which, with the four-minute warning having sounded, a panel of politicians continue bleating on their own agenda ("Three million people are going to die unemployed!").
A nostalgic but jumbled collection
Review date: 2007-09-11 Rating: 6 out of 10
Seeing Not The Nine O'Clock News again is like watching any favourite old comedy show - some bits are still funny, and others frankly haven't dated too well. Most of the content here (and in volume 2) - is good, and will raise a laugh with fans of the show from the days when it was first shown.
But there are some serious flaws. Firstly, both volumes are completely jumbled in terms of sketches being shown out of chronological sequence, and you get the feeling the programmes have been gutted ruthlessly for these DVDs. So, for example, we get the last ever song of the entire series - the risque "Kinda Lingers" - shown half-way through DVD 1, rather than more meaningfully at the end of DVD 2.
Secondly, lots of good material has simply been omitted - presumably because it's so dated, risque, lost, or planned for any further DVD releases.
This is a real shame, because other comedy series have been faithfully released by the BBC in series order.
Highlights - despite the icon status that the Two Ronnies have now attained in British comedy, one can't help but feel that the biting "Two Ninnies" was - and remains - absolutely spot on.
Lowlights - the sketches shot outside show just what a drab, miserable place Britain was in the late seventies, early eighties. Was it really like that?
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Reviews
another comedy from the 80`s
Review date: 2007-08-23 Rating: 8 out of 10
well written by then rising stars.it could do with the same treatment as drop the dead donkey dvds with information and the news stories of the time to help the younger viewers with the jokes.
Thatcher Epoch Comedy
Review date: 2007-05-06 Rating: 8 out of 10
This show was practically compulsory viewing for teenagers and students in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It introduced the British public to Griff Rys-Jones, Mel Smith, Pamela Stephenson and Rowan Atkinson. Chris Langham was in the first season but seemed to get replaced by G R-J after that.
It consisted of a series of sketches, some purely comedic, others with political overtones. The pizza parlour worker, played by Rowan Atkinson, sneezing on the pizza and declaring "Extra mozzarella" is the former, the close-up of a yobbish Griff R-J talking about him and his mates picking on some black blokes "because we 'ate 'em, right?" and the camera gradually pulling away during the monologue to show he's a uniformed policeman would be the latter.
Some great writing (Clive Anderson, Andy Hamilton, a pre-"Four Weddings and a Funeral" Richard Curtis), go-for-it acting and sketches that hit frequently enough to forgive the ones that didn't. The sketch with the trendy lefty social worker declaring the only way to deal with young men who misbehaved was to "cut their goolies off" is still a classic, as is Gerald the talking gorilla.
Vintage, timeless comedy
Review date: 2005-01-20 Rating: 8 out of 10
I disagree strongly with any assertion that the 'Not the Nine O'Clock News' sketches are dated. They have, if anything, improved with time, and if you are new to the programme, or wish to revisit the series, this DVD is a great place to start. It contains such classics as the darts sketch (which had such an impact at the time it temporarily ruined the reputation of the sport), the racist policeman, and Rowan Atkinson's brilliant turn as a Conservative politician addressing the Tory conference. It is a reminder of what classic sketch comedy is all about, and what Richard Curtis was capable of in his early career (though he was admittedly only one of a vast number of writers - who included members of the public).
It's a shame there are no extra features - I remember watching a very good documentary about the impact of the programme a few years back, and wonder why it isn't included. However, this is still well worth buying - and better than volume two.
Nice comedy, shame about the DVD
Review date: 2004-12-28 Rating: 6 out of 10
I've long been a fan of Not the Nine O'clock News, even though I recognise that it's pretty dated and I'm sure I'm too young to get half the references.
This DVD does contain many of the fantastic sketches - I was disappointed by the absence of one or two things but I think there is a vol 2 so I'll have to wait and see if they are included on it. As for the sketches which are present, although the poor film quality and a lot of the references are dated, the comedy truly lives on, and anyone viewing even for the first time cannot fail to find humour in Gerald the Gorilla or Question Time, among many other gems.
There were a few sketches which did fail to amuse me for their entire duration - the very first sketch about darts players really does drag on too long. But the DVD is definitely worth getting for the rest of the comedy.
So why did I only give it three stars? Because such a fantastic show deserves a much better release than this. I could easily believe that the whole thing was produced in a rush. Despite the fact that many more sketches could have been included, and perhaps even outtakes or interviews, there are no special features or extra material whatsoever. I would have really enjoyed a few things that weren't included when the series was aired. Even the scene selection is appalling - it just skips through random sections of the DVD, so when settling down to watch it, it is sometimes necessary to just sit and watch the whole damn thing from start to finish to make sure you don't miss anything. Not a problem for me, because I enjoy it too much, but anyone suffering it without being a fan is not going to like the fact that they cannot select specific scenes.
It certainly could have been done a lot better, and there must be some great material from this show that was sadly excluded. However, to anyone who did enjoy the programme in its day, I would definitely recommend this DVD because - who could live without this comedy? Well done Not the Nine O'clock News, not so well done BBC.
Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
Mel Smith
Pamela Stephenson
Chris Langham
Griff Rhys Jones
Rowan Atkinson
Creators:
Rowan Atkinson (Primary Contributor)
Pamela Stephenson (Primary Contributor)
Director(s):
Recording label: 2 Entertain Video
Manufacturer: 2 Entertain Video
EAN: 5014503128524
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: PAL,
Release date: 2003-08-18
Number of discs: 1
Audience rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 98 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1979-10-16
Language: English (Original Language)