undefined

Product Description ------------------- All six episodes from the third series of the TV comedy hit. In 'Down and Out' Linda (Kathy Burke) is paid a visit by her old prison warden Miss Twitch (Ann Mitchell). 'Lollipop Man' sees Tom (James Dreyfus) get cast in a play alongside Tom Cruise. 'Secrets and Flies' has Linda visited by her son, who turns out to be black. 'Trauma' finds Linda in hospital and Tom trying to keep things under control when he gets a role in a big TV show. 'Singing in the Drain' sees Linda become a fashion model and Tom receive singing lessons from Linda-lookalike Heidi (Su Pollard). Finally, in 'Decoy', Linda helps Suze (Beth Goddard) out by ing on Jez (Brian Bovell) and Tom gets a part in the TV soap 'Crossroads'. .co.uk Review ------------- Gimme, Gimme, Gimme took situation comedy to new peaks of vulgarity when it returned for a third and final series in 2001, thanks to the full-on performances of James Dreyfus (Tom) and Kathy Burke (Linda) who suck up Jonathan Harvey's innuendo-laden scripts and spit them out like a couple of thespian tornados. "I don't think anything could relax my lips, baby," leers Burke, milking the endless supply of double entendres. "Mind you, after a couple of vodkas they're usually flapping around like flip-flops." Tom's descent into self-parody--when he looks in the mirror, he sees the new Noel Coward--can have only one logical conclusion: the offer of a bit-part in Crossroads which eventually splits up this dysfunctional friendship. Sex-crazed Linda is deluded beyond all reason--when she looks in the mirror, she sees Catherine Zeta Jones--and here we finally get some in into the reasons behind her grotesque traits: visits from her old Borstal wing governor (the excellent Ann Mitchell, sending up her Widows character), and the long-lost son she gave up for adoption. Like all successful comedy, Gimme, Gimme, Gimme has its dark side. It also becomes increasingly surreal as the episodes pass: Tom fails miserably in a walk-on role in a conceptual Japanese drama presented in a fire station; and Linda turns the back garden into a campsite. Sophisticated it isn't, but it's often wickedly hilarious and occasionally brilliant. On the DVD: Gimme, Gimme, Gimme is presented in standard 14:9 format with a stereo soundtrack, replicating the sitcom viewing experience. Apart from the episode index, there are no extras. At the very least biographies of Harvey, Burke and Dreyfus would have been useful. --Piers Ford