Up In Town [2002]

Customer Reviews:

Captivating.......2008-01-27

This is not comedy in the Ab Fab sense; there are some laughs on the way but it's much deeper than that - in the same way that M*A*S*H was never "just a sitcom". It's fascinating how one's judgement of Joanna Lumley's character changes as the story unfolds... briliantly shot and the DVD commentary is interesting too.

A beautifully crafted piece of acting.......2007-10-11

This is a beautifully crafted, funny and poignant piece of acting. Joanna Lumley is one of the most under-rated of the UK's acting fraternity. She brings such natural and subtle charm to the role. I have watched it again and again and enjoyed peeling back the delicate layers of her character. Buy it, you won't be disappointed.

So...very...real.......2007-09-06

While it is funny, you can't really say this is comedy. The woman Joanna Lumley is portraying is actually rather tragic and sad. She lost so much but tries to cope with it all by pretending nothing's wrong, soldiering on without thinking too much about anything.
We can all see she's no longer who she once was, the rich and popular wife of bussinesman Tony. But she tries to explain her life to us through her eyes. So we see this sad and lonely person doing her make-up, explaining how she sees herself and the world around her, and in the end, the illussion (like her make-up) is almost perfect, both to us and to her. And she can go out to face the world again.
But though it isn't really comedy, seeing how she tries to justify the life she lives is tragically funny and very, very original! And Joanna Lumley does it al so seemingly effortless and natural.

Simplicity can be stunning!.......2007-08-09

I was so fascinated and entranced by Joanna Lumley's performance and Hugo Blick's text that I ended up thinking how wonderful could be a stage adaptation of this series of monologues. This is a touching masterpiece of sad comedy and the compelling proof that making incredible, accessible and deeply intelligent television comedy doesn't need to be expensive. Up In Town breaks an unexpected barrier between sitcom and serious theatre. Lumley is a goddess, Blick is a poet and Steve Coogan and Henry Normal, as producers, keep doing their subtle revolution in comedy.

A tiny gem.......2003-10-22

Don't be put off by the short running time. It is more than doubled by an excellent commentary. Bedsides, the writing is so tight you'll watch it many times anyway.

Lumley is stunning in this series of moving and carefully acted monologues. Darkly funny, but also empowering.

Possibly not everyone's cup of tea, but for fans of non-standard comedies (THE OFFICE, CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM, etc) it's well worth a look.

Customer Reviews:

Superb - long, long overdue!.......2008-02-20

Absolutely delighted to see this release finally become available. So many classics on here: Sylvester & Tweety Pie, The Jungle Book, Ernie conducting the Syd Lawrence Orchestra, 'Evil Eric' the Stuntman, Des O'Connor trying to sing on the Christmas show, Ernie's au pair, and much more that's either long since deleted or never previously available. I've always liked M&W's work during this period, and it's nice to see the efforts of writers Barry Cryer & John Junkin, and director/producer Keith Beckett in the spotlight for once (regular producer John Ammonds and writer Eddie Braben returned for the '79 special and the 1980 series respectively). Oh, and Peter Cushing's still waiting to get paid!

What Do You Think Of It So Far...?.......2008-02-20

This is a long overdue release: Season 1 (from 1980) of M&W at Thames TV plus their first special with Thames from October 1978 and the Xmas Special also from 1978. Add to this a Xmas Special/Extended interview with M&W quizzed by David Frost and then the 1980 Xmas Special, and you have an excellent set of programmes. Most of this is new to DVD and has not been seen for decades. At last we will be able to judge for ourselves the true quality of the Thames TV material - I've always thought that it was much underrated and thanks to Network hopefully more people will soon think this too.

Customer Reviews:

Fifth bumper season of this great classic comedy!.......2007-10-19

Not the best or funniest season of this great comedy series, but certainly the longest with a massive fifteen episodes! Two of them penned by Stephen Lewis (the Inspector) and Bob Grant (the Conductor) and these turn out to be among the funniest. Madeleine Mills makes another appearance as a different character, and this set includes another Christmas 'special'. This season also retains the original Ad. Bumpers that some of the previous sets are missing.

Good stuff.

Great Comedy.......2006-07-27

After what seemed an eternity, Network is doing a great job in releasing these series' every couple of months. The sad thing is that we only have one more classic season left(September release)before Arthur and Stan left. This is a great DVD and for the purists, the LWT logo is present on the shows along with the correct pauses on the breaks, I even managed to get a countdown clock at the beginning of one episode, not been able to repeat it though-must be an easter egg or something. The picture quality is passable, but on the first episode, there is an annoying video issue, hence one star off.

UK DVD:

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UK DVD