Review of Bo` Selecta! Vol 3 / Christmas Special

Introduction

Re-e-wind. And the crowd say Bo...Selecta.

So sang Craig David, giving rise to the name of this series.

Leigh Francis has found fame as Avid Merrion, who started out as stalker of Z list celebrities from Big Brother and the like. Bo Selecta also features Leigh and others in various rubber masks, impersonating famous people, but not necessarily vocally. These are really parodies, taken over the top by the strange masks and accents.

This set features the 2003 Christmas special, as well as series 3, which was broadcast in summer 2004. The format of the show has changed for the third series, with the Merrion character now becoming a Parkinson clone, "interviewing" celebrities in the studio, but continuing to misbehave and stalk them while they are there.

Video

A 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer, as it was first broadcast on Channel 4. It looks like your usual pretty good TV transfer, nothing that much to complain about. Colours are fine, as are black levels and contrast levels.

Plenty of visual humour on offer here, so the DVD transfer copes well.

Audio

A DD2.0 stereo soundtrack, again as first broadcast on Channel 4. It`s very good and works well. All dialogue is clean and crisp and everything is audible.

The voices of the characters aren`t really "impressions" although one or two creep close to that territory. Most of them are over-the-top caricatures, or just completely inappropriate for the character, which is where the joke lies.

Features

A commentary track is available for each episode, featuring Avid Merrion, producer Spencer Millman, and the director Ben Palmer. They have plenty to say throughout the episode, and go into reasonable amounts of detail about this series and how they`ve moved on from the previous two. There`s still plenty of puerile comments though.

On disc 1 there is a Bo`hind The Scenes section, which runs for something like 90 minutes. This is a detailed look behind the scenes, filmed over the whole series. It feels slightly "prepared" - by that I mean that they had already thought of making it for the DVD whilst filming, but this does have its advantages too, giving a real look behind the scenes.

There are also deleted scenes, some of which are good, some of which aren`t. Next up are "Lorraine Kelly`s bloopers" which is your usual out-take selection, but there is some funny stuff.

You can also choose to watch bits featuring specific characters, as well as all of Nadine`s closing songs, and all of the Big Brother bits, which have been excised from the episodes themselves (these bits typically opened the show and sometimes appeared before the break, as the series was broadcast during Big Brother season on Channel 4).

You can also choose to watch the "stings", which are the little magazine style bits between sketches.

The Xmas Special also contains the single that was released last year as well as a "making of" for it. I hate most Xmas songs, and this one`s no exception (bah humbug!)

A well rounded extras package overall.

Conclusion

Bo Selecta polarises audiences pretty well. You usually either love it to death, or hate it with a passion. Most of the people I know, me included, don`t actually fit into the 2 polar opposites though. I personally find some bits hilarious and some bits incredibly tedious.

The really obvious bodily part humour just washes over because its so ancient, and it`s been done so many times before. The Big Brother gags are mostly cheap and obvious. But then there are one or two little comedy gems buried underneath (I loved the Channel 4 ident type spoofs). The decision to change the format of the show slightly has definitely worked in its favour though.

So basically this is another DVD that fans will love and nearly everyone else will hate. There don`t tend to be too many casual viewers of this show but if you are then I`d say the DVD is a good thing as it gives you the chance to watch the bits you like and skip the bits you don`t (like the bear for example).

So great for fans, everyone else should avoid because you won`t like it!