Spaced: The Complete First & Second Series

Channel 4 Video, £19.99

Although so far it’s only available Stateside as a Region 2 PAL import, this BBC Four sitcom from Edgar Wright, whose debut feature, Shaun of the Dead, is currently No. 1 at the UK box office, is worth the price of a new all-region player and then some. The evolving story of twentysomething aspiring graphic novelist Tim Bisley (Shaun‘s Simon Pegg) and wannabe journalist Daisy Steiner (Jessica Stephenson), who share both a flat and a platonic relationship, is the best BBC series since The Office, and considerably more geek-friendly. Wright’s genius conceit of shooting the sitcom as though it were a theatrical film, complete with dozens of cheeky film references per episode, musical cues lifted from sources spanning Ennio Morricone to The Shining, and a gaggle of superlative supporting characters straight out of Indie 101, is both hilarious and infused with a skewed sort of genuine realism. It’s not often you come across a show that generates more than a handful of righteous belly laughs per season – Spaced typically has that many in any given episode.

This article appears in May 21 • 2004.

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