Ahhhhhhhh Bottom! My personal guilty pleasure. Right up there with buttered Milk Arrowroot biscuits and secretly admiring Kerry Packer. Bottom is to British television what ganster rap is to music, silly, violent, shallow and strangely entertaining.

The story of two complete dole-funded layabouts, one with a pretension for psuedoposh and the other with an appetite for anything alcoholic (up to and including All Spice aftershave) and a tendency to remedy any crisis with a knee to the groin (even, occasionally, his own), is the natural spinoff from the insanity that started with The Young Ones, faltered briefly in the middle of Filthy, Rich and Catflap and finaly ended up with these two social derelicts in their smegma encrusted bedsit in inner London.

Six more glorious episodes of mindless filth and violence. That it was never considered for a BAFTA is a travesty of modern televion programming.

DIGGER

Richie decides that the only way he's going to get both some cash AND a shag, is to marry a member of the aristocracy. When, however unlikely it seems, a dating agency matches him up with a widowed countess, the lads pull all the stops out to entertain her to dinner and thus ensnare Richie's new bride. But just exactly how well can a dinner party go with Edward Hitler standing in as Jives, the family butler?

PARADE

After making a few quid by particpating in a police lineup, Richie and Eddie head for the pub. As usual, their attempts to flirt with the new barmaid fall flat on their respective faces. That is, until Richie decides to impress everyone with his war stories. Unfortunately, the bloke next to them at the bar is a veteran and eager to swap experiences. Rapidly, Richie finds out that dropping a bunch of coathangers is not the only way to weave a tangled web.

BURGLARY

Some maniac is just maniacal enough to try and burgle the lad's flat. As usual, their fear driven attempt at self defence rapidly turns into peverse fanatical retribution...

Involving cling film..... 'nuff said.

CULTURE

An evening of sophistication is called for. Not becuase the lads are feeling sophisticated, but the telly's been repossesed and they've got to do something. Deciding to play chess, they are hampered by only two things. They only have three chess pieces and Richie doesn't know how to play. No problem, they can make up the other pieces with common household items and Eddie knows how to play chess, he'd make a great tutor, wouldn't he?

HOLY

It's Christmas, and no Christmas is complete without a proper Christmas lunch, is it? Still, Eddie, Richie and brussel sprouts is a dangerous combination at best...

'S OUT

For some completely unfathomable reason, Richie has decided that what the pair of them need is a weekend's camping in the country. For the lad's this means a pup tent on the local commmon next to a fetid pond full of old shopping trolleys. While Richie is determined to build a fire with two sticks and live off the land, Eddie has an emergency packet of biscuits secreted about his person....

Standard BBC 4:3. The image is better than some older British programs. there is little or no blooming when the Christmas tree explodes, and the stains on Richie's underpants are nicely contrasted against the grease in his hair.

Top one, Auntie!

Make sure that centre speaker is working properly, or you won't hear the squelching crunch sound as Richie drives a pencil up Eddie's nose and penetrates the skull...

You guessed it folks, Dolby Digital Mono here, all the way.

BOTTOM FLUFF, manifests as an extra episode of the series, but is in fact a compilation of bloopers and edited scenes from the series.

You may think it's funny when these two scream abuse at each other and then nail their own heads to the table. You should see it when they muck it up and have to do it three times to get it right!

Fabulous. Gory. Completely childish.

If only they could have got Olivier in for a guest spot.

Some things are just not meant to be. But still, there are some great knob gags.

Recommended.