British comedy heavyweights Matt Lucas and David Williams are at it again with the third and final series of their megapopular show Little Britain. They have miraculously managed to bridge the gap between politically incorrectness, crude humor, and transvestites.
Okay, only the first two apply for the series as a whole, but the third is quite funny in its own right. Show creators and stars Matt and David play women better and more comfortably than anyone else in the world. If they didn’t look like men, their mannerisms and high-pitched voices would fool even a magician.
If you’ve watched the show before, you know that the transvestites include the characters Emily and Florence. They spend their day going about the town wearing old English dresses. It’s funny seeing the different reactions that people have toward them, most people play along, but some just refuse to. It’s also funny to see how far the two will go to prove that they are ladies, even taking advantage of very drunk men celebrating one of the their number’s last day of bachelorhood.
Other returning characters include the still ignorant Dafydd Thomas, who will always profess to being the only gay person in his village, despite his friend Myfanwy being gay and despite his reluctance to have any gay fling. Additionally, elderly friends Judy and Maggie, who are still friends despite Maggie’s habit of vomiting when anyone near her is non-white and non-heterosexual — even all over Judy’s future son-in-law, return. Maggie’s dog seems to share her owner’s bigotry as well.
One of the problems with using returning characters is staleness; we know these characters so how could they possibly keep being funny? Well, Matt and David keep that from happening by pushing the envelope even further. With Bubbles De Vere, Matt and David decide to add Bubbles’ ex-husband Roman and his new bride Desiree to the country club. It turns out that Roman is quite attracted to large women and Desiree certainly outdoes Bubbles in that department. The two get into a nude catfight in the first episode and the storyline just gets raunchier from there. In a desperate attempt to get Roman back, Bubbles frantically shops at the local market, picking out foods that would help her get bigger. Oh and by the way, she’s naked while she’s shopping.
My two favorite sketches are the very adorable “Lou and Andy” and the incredibly cute duo of “Sebastian and the Prime Minister.” Lou just keeps plugging along as he helps Andy and pretty much does everything for him. Andy is still very mobile despite Lou believing Andy to be completely confined in a wheelchair. In the other sketch, the Prime Minister is still very oblivious to Sebastian having a very big crush on him. Since the show’s inception, you’d think that Sebastian is just attracted to men in power, but in this series, you find out the real reason. Dare I say it? It’s love, but only if the Prime Minister doesn’t wear a mustache.
The obnoxious Vicky Pollard is back and now she has six kids. I don’t know how she still has custody of them as she can’t really support them because she doesn’t have steady employment and is terribly immature. In one episode, a rival gang intrudes upon Vicky’s gang’s territory, and Vicky succeeds in reclaiming it with her ultra-hip dancing.
The even more obnoxious Marjorie Dawes returns and is still leading Fat Fighters. How do those members still come back to that class when she does nothing but mock and ridicule them? Although I will say that Marjorie’s lack of understanding of anything that Meera (Charu Bala Chokshi) says is utterly hilarious. The exchanges that Marjorie and Meera have are timed just right so that they come out funny instead of annoying.
Extras include the Little Britain featured episode of South Bank Show. Through three segments totaling over forty minutes. The episode chronicles Matt and David’s creation process from the duo brainstorming ideas to writing the script to rehearsing to acting it in real time. It’s a very time consuming process and I can’t imagine what would happen if the two had to write a full twenty-two-episode American TV season. It probably wouldn’t be as funny.
Rounding out the set are commentary tracks on all six episodes by Matt and David; a Richard and Judy interview with the duo; and over forty minutes of deleted scenes, including more scenes of the family waiting at their soon-to-be-deceased father’s bedside. Each episode is again wryly narrated by Tom Baker of Doctor Who fame.