Product Review

Hilarious British sketch series that launched some of today’s top stars

In the tradition of Monty Python’s Flying Circus and Saturday Night Live, Alfresco brought hilariously inventive comedy to British TV in the 1980s. It also introduced an entire troupe of bright young talents -- Emma Thompson, Hugh Laurie, Robbie Coltrane, Ben Elton, Stephen Fry, and others -- who went on to stardom.

Wild and wacky, Alfresco serves up social satire and delightfully off-the-wall sketches that seem as fresh and funny today as when they originally aired. The laughs fly hard and fast, and no sacred cows escape the skewer when these versatile comic actors lampoon bureaucrats, Jesus freaks, self-righteous counterculturists, and even their own show. Now, for the first time, American audiences can enjoy every episode of this British comedy landmark.

DVD SPECIAL FEATURES INCLUDE the three-episode pilot series, the story of the alternative comedy boom in 1980s Britain, and cast biographies and filmographies.