TotalTelly.co.uk

Devoted to Popular, Cult and Retro TV

Look Around You : Complete BBC Series 2


RRP: £19.99
Our Price: £10.90 (subject to change)

Editorial
DVD Description

Taking inspiration from the golden era of late Seventies and early Eighties television, Look Around You looks at the very latest developments in science and technology in one of the most consistently funny parodies you're ever likely to see.

This brilliantly original second series has the same well-observed hilarious brand of humour as the first BAFTA nominated series and is presented by the very talented Jack Morgan (Robert Popper), Peter Packard (Peter Serafinowicz), Pam Bachelor (Olivia Colman) and Pealy Maghti (Josie D'Arby). In a blaze of 1980's big hair, sideburns, ra-ra skirts and jumpsuits, this series also features cameos from some of the UK's finest comedy performers including Harry Enfield, Matt Lucas, Simon Pegg and Sarah Alexander.

Each episode the team considers the future of music, health, sport, music, food and computers - much as they did in the original 'Tomorrow's World' series. Each week they are joined by guests, inventors and science specialists, looking at different inventions and testing out the latest technology.

The series culminates in a live final of the 'Look Around You Invention Of The Year Award' presented by HRH Sir Prince Charles. But with an excited live studio audience, a nervous group of contestants and one rather difficult and unpredictable guest, can the Look Around You team manage to keep everything going alright on the night?

Editorial
Special Features

- Programme-maker's commentary - Pages from Ceefax - Play-at-home quiz pages - New Birds of Britain Film - Scary Picture - Test Card
Editorial
Synopsis

A second series of the Spoof comedy science series reminiscent of education for schools, 'Tomorrow's World' and 'Open University' programming of the 70s and 80s. Includes discussions on Music, Health, Sport, Food And Computers, with HRH Sir Prince Charles presenting the award for 'Invention Of The Year' in the Live Final.

a change of idea from series one.........
Review date: 2008-06-20 Rating: 8 out of 10

Series two of look around you went in a different direction from series one in that they scrapped the idea of 10 minute science for schools clips and decided to make half hour science and technology programs similar to those seen in the early 80s.....eg ...tomorrow's world.Although not as funny as series one it still has a few good laughs here and there.The dvd has a hidden segment or easter egg as well on the additional items page check out the test card and play it through past the credits and the segment will begin playing.Well worth buying if you are into british comedy and sick of the stodgey american sitcoms playing on tv nowadays.

Similar Products

Reviews


A let down .
Review date: 2008-01-04 Rating: 4 out of 10

After buying the excellent Series one of Look Around You , I purchased Series two , expecting the same quota of laughs . I found this a disappointment . It does not get anywhere close to the first series . Some of the stuff is simply not funny , and it had me pressing the forward button on more than one occasion .

Hello
Review date: 2007-03-10 Rating: 10 out of 10

Unfortunately I suffer from Cobbles so I find typing difficult, but let me assure you this is a most excellent program.

Goodbye.

Very Funny
Review date: 2006-11-13 Rating: 10 out of 10

I could end this review now by simply saying "If you like laughing, buy this DVD". But I need to say a bit more than that, because I think this show has been passed over by too many people, and it's ended up underrated and in the same "cult enthusiasts only" realm as Garth Marenghi's Dark Place.

Now that's a fantastic show too, and the two programmes have a lot in common. Not least of which in that they were shown without any major publicity and to limited audiences only. The other similarity is that they are both spoof shows. "Look Around You" is a spoof of Tomorrow's World, set in the 1970's, and it presents a kind of bizarre parallel universe in which the presenters look forward to inventions and new technology that they predict will change the way we live in the future.

It's hard to explain what is so funny about the show in writing, but on watching, I found it to be hilarious almost all the way through. Firstly, you can lose yourself in the show's supposedly "current" world where every high street has a much loved "casserole" chain restaurant, and people get robot John McEnroes for Christmas. Then you add to this the inventions featured on the show that the presenters predict will be changing all our lives for the better, such as the vegetable orchestra and the Memory Helmet. Throughout the show, further laughs come thick and fast from various interludes, like information on what programmes are coming up next, or the hilarious "Data Bank" that offers totally barking mini quiz questions.

The programme could have easily failed, however, without the talents of the performers who front the main show. The two original creators of the first series now appear on screen along with two new female presenters, and there are numerous cameos in each show, all of which are uniformly deadpan and convincing, the combined effect of which (with the four main presenters) is pure gold. Throughout the six episodes there isn't a single moment where any of the cast let the mask drop even for a second. Robert Popper and Peter Serafinowicz seem born to play the parts of the two male presenters and I challenge you to disbelieve the sincerity of Olivia Coleman (from The Office and numerous other mock-real life comedies) as she presents the moving and tragic story of "Cobbles", the disease which turns the sufferer into a pile of stones. Fourth team member Josie D'Arby does equally well, with an especially good line in fawning enthusiasm, be it over some truly dire computer games ("Diarrhea Dan") or in trying out a new sport called "Gonnis" (don't ask).

This show is so full of good ideas, i found it hard to understand why some reviewers have said the idea was being stretched too thinly. Each half hour show seemed to fly by for me, and I was laughing all the way. This second series is probably far more accesible to the casual TV viewer than the original show, which lampooned Programmes for Schools with a bit of Open University thrown in. I can't imagine there ever being a third series of this, although if there is, I'll be ready and waiting. But my advice is to buy both DVDs and treasure them.

Thanks, Popper and Serafinowicz. Thankopper. Thankinowicz.
Review date: 2006-08-11 Rating: 10 out of 10

The first Look Around You series was already a triumph, but series 2, by reinventing the concept goes even further. I guess the best tribute I can pay to Serafinowicz and Popper's opus is this: I'm not from England and I never saw the educational and scientific shows they are satirizing. Tomorrow's World was never showed here in Portugal. Yet, this is such a brilliantly detailed and loving recreation of an era and its dreams of the future, that anyone, almost anywhere, can get the joke. Look Around You starts is universal comedy at its best, the cast is just perfect and the delightful cameos from some of Britain's top comedic talents (Simon Pegg, Edgar Wright, Mark Heap, Nick Frost, the voices of Matt Lucas and David Walliams) add to the brilliance. Look Around You 2 is a masterpiece of form and content: it really looks like a 70's-80's science show (and the Prince Charles cameo in the final episode is one of the most inspired, imaginative and technically amazing moments in Britcom History) and the text has the delightful absurdity reminiscent of Douglas Adams and, like Adams, there's poetry in some of the most outrageous concepts. And it's hilarious, hilarious as in "gasping-for-air-and-having-to-pause-the-DVD".

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Harry Enfield
Josie D'Arby
Robert Popper
Olivia Colman
Peter Serafinowicz

Creators:
Robert Popper (Primary Contributor)
Josie D'Arby (Primary Contributor)

Director(s):

Recording label: 2 Entertain Video
Manufacturer: 2 Entertain Video
EAN: 5014503153823
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: PAL,
Release date: 2006-01-16
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Audience rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Region code: 2
Language: English (Original Language)

Add to Cart

© 2006 Darren Hester, DesignsByDarren.com, Some Rights Reserved.
Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional