Absolutely Fabulous-Series 5 (2001)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Main Menu Audio & Animation Outtakes Gallery-Photo Bonus Episode-Gay, With Audio Commentary
Rating
Year Of Production	2001
Running Time	237:25 (Case: 318)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered Multi Disc Set (3)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Bob Spiers
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Jennifer Saunders Joanna Lumley Julia Sawalha Jane Horrocks June Whitfield
Case	?
RPI	?	Music	Simon Brint Deborah Harry Simon Wallace

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.75:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Absolutely Fabulous - Series 5 is the latest DVD release of the hugely popular BBC television series charting the hedonistic life of Edina Monsoon (Jennifer Saunders) and her toxic offsider Patsy (Joanna Lumley). All the old favourites re-join the gang with the stunningly funny Bubble (Jane Horrocks) and uptight daughter Saffron (Julia Sawalha) complemented by the insane Mother (June Whitfield).

    Personally I felt that the series had gone off the boil in recent years, with the jokes becoming a little repetitive and one-dimensional. In series five Saunders managed to reinvigorate the ageing franchise and all that was once old seems - almost - new again. This three disc collection presents all eight episodes of the fifth series, plus the "feature length" episode "Gay" as an extra. The episodes are as follows:

• Cleanin' (29:23)."They don't wanna know your Mum is your best friend do they? They want it to be some one-armed lesbian asylum seeker". Whilst Saffy has been away on humanitarian aid work in Uganda, Eddy and Patsy have been up to their self-indulgent tricks. Eddy's list of celebrity clients is ever-dwindling. Given the way she treats Emma Bunton (Baby Spice) it's hardly surprising! With Eddy having incorporated her office into the house (complete with the remnants of Saddam Hussein's statue), there is little need ever to leave - except of course to eat...and shop.
  
  
• Book Clubbin' (29:05). "Don't be so stupid. Smoke can't get in there. If smoke could touch the baby you would have come out looking like proscuitto". Saffy seems set on a home-birth despite the less than reassuring training from her midwife (Janette Krankie). Still, maybe John (Felix Dexter), her African boyfriend will be able to motivate her a little more? Patsy and Eddy are enjoying the delights of their ladies' book club - and even though Ginger Spice sends her apologies Mariella Frostrup is on hand to assist in the dissection of the intricate OK! magazine.



• Panickin' (28:56). "You know my old nuclear shelter? I'm refurbishing it as a Panic Room". While Eddy is stocking her new panic room, in case of the inevitable "dirty bomb" falling on Holland Park, Patsy is forced to actually do some work in Jeremy's boutique. Despite her best efforts, she actually has to be nice to a customer when Minnie Driver turns up. As fate would have it, when Minnie turns up for a fitting at Eddy's house, Patsy and Eddy are trapped in the panic room leaving the starlet in the hands of Bubble!



• Huntin' Shootin' Fishin' (29:02). "I don't get you Mum. One minute it's Buddhism...the next it's butchery! Well, they're not incompatible darling!" Since Eddy has acquired PR responsibilities for Prince Charles' biscuit range, she is moving in aristocratic circles. When Patsy and Eddy head to a country retreat, they are dismayed to find the gamekeeper is none other than Clarissa Dickson Wright (Two Fat Ladies). Nevertheless, perhaps a spot of horse-riding and some clay pigeon shooting will be good for the soul?



• Birthin' (28:44). "We are talking about geniuses here! These people can take a pube and make a bouffant!" Saffy is preparing for her home birth. Patsy is doing some preparation of her own - it's her opportunity to dazzle the crowd at the Royal Albert hall during the Style Awards. With all sorts of fathers present, things are unlikely to go smoothly - even the placenta isn't safe in Edina's household.
  
  
• Schmoozin' (28:28). "It was just having a little bit of a feel-up while doing the household chores." Eddy is back in action - sleeping with Pete (Robert Lindsay) her first ever boyfriend...even though he is almost a year older than her. Amazingly, Pete has discovered the lost Beatles tapes - and Eddy is to host a party to celebrate the discovery (including Elton John at the piano). Patsy is rediscovering some tapes herself - the soft porn movies she starred in!



• Exploitin' (28:22). "By the look of that water I don't think they make an incontinence swimming pad for the elderly gentleman Darling!" Eddy is at her wit's end when the new baby is making her pad less than luxurious, whilst Saffy is close to breaking point and needs some time alone with John. Patsy manages to engineer the ideal solution - a day at the zoo for the baby! Oh, and while they are there, why not make use of it in a photo shoot for fashion god Jean Paul Gaultier?



• Cold Turkey (35:25). "OK, what's the story here...? Sixty-five year old woman, found collapsed. I'm forty-three!" In this Christmas Special, the spirit of Christmas proves just a tad too much for Patsy's drug-addled body and she ends up close to death in hospital. When sister Jackie (Kate O'Mara) is called to her bedside, surely things can only get better? John is fascinated by Saffy's homosexual father's bedroom activities, whilst Bo (Mo Gaffney) and Marshall (Chris Ryan) help to round out the family festivities.

    Absolutely Fabulous - Series 5 will be just that for all fans of the series. For those unfamiliar with the work of Saunders and Lumley, even without having seen the previous series, the repulsive humour of the two main characters shines through, and really needs no familiarity with the back story to raise more than a few chuckles. Recommended for fans and collectors of the series, and although possibly not the strongest series, it will raise many a laugh nevertheless.

Video

    The video quality of this transfer is overall very good. With the adoption of widescreen digital TV in the UK over recent years, the quality of an increasing number of BBC releases is close to as-good-as-it-gets for standard definition. This is no exception.

    The series is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.75:1 and happily it is 16x9 enhanced. This is very close to the original (digital) televised aspect ratio of 1.78:1. The image is always very sharp - unsurprising for such recent digital television fare.

    Colours are clean, vivid and fully saturated throughout the series. There is no evidence of colour bleeding to be seen. Skin tones look natural enough - with the intended hyper-reality of Eddy's fake tan being an obvious exception. Black levels are reasonable and rock solid with no low level noise. Similarly, whites are bright and clean throughout with a broad range of contrast through the series...although perhaps at times a little over-lit? Shadow detail is rarely tested but is always fine where needed.

    I noticed no significant MPEG compression artefacts. Mild aliasing is present from time to time, with moire patterns cropping up frequently in heavily patterned furnishings. Edge enhancement is not a noticeable problem.

    The transfer is free from film (video) artefacts, with only the deliberate specks added to the Huntin' Shootin' Fishin' making any impact.

    The English subtitles are highly legible, well timed and fairly true to the on-screen dialogue (with some edits for brevity). They also provide some audio cues, such as door buzzers, for the hearing impaired.

    The first two discs are in a single sided dual layer DVD 9 format. I did not notice the layer change on either of them however, so I assume that the layer changes are wisely placed between episodes. The final disc is in a single sided and single layered (DVD 5) format.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The overall audio transfer is fine for a television series, but nothing special.

    The English audio track is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo encoded at 192 kbps. It would have been nice to have a Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track, but it isn't really needed for the comedy dialogue driven nature of this series.

    Dialogue is always perfectly clear - essential to make out the never-ending torrent of puns and gags. I noted no problems with audio sync at all. There is nothing significant in the way of hiss, pops or dropouts present.

    Music is credited to Simon Brint, but the most notable effort is the theme song and is of course This Wheel's on Fire as written by that mighty master of music (and my all-time fave) Bob Dylan. It is admirably performed by none other than Deborah Harry (Blondie) and Adrian Edmondson (Mr Saunders to you). There is only minimal incidental music elsewhere.

    As might be expected for a television series, the surrounds are unused. The sound from the front speakers is functional with little significant spread. If you make use of Pro Logic II, then some noise - including the grating laughter track - will be redirected to the surrounds.

    Depending on your set-up, the subwoofer may carry some redirected bass, but there is of course no LFE on offer.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    There are some reasonable extras available:

Menu

    The menus feature sound and simple animations. Each episode can be played independently, or they can be played in sequence. Chapter stops can be selected for every episode (six for each) and subtitles can be turned on or off. The following extras can also be found:

Disc 1

    Mistakin'. Running for a very healthy 21:00, these bloopers play in a continuous and hilarious sequence. They do contain material from later in the series however, so I would recommend you watch all of the episodes before viewing the bloopers. They are all of finished quality, presented at 1.78:1 with audio courtesy of a Dolby Digital 2.0 track encoded at 192 kbps.

Disc 2

    Photo Gallery. This is a fairly pointless collection of almost two dozen stills from the set.

Disc 3

    Gay. "I'll sniff him out! I mean, how many gay men can there be in New York"? This extended - although by no means "feature length" - special episode from 2002 runs for 54:20. When Eddy finds out that her estranged son Serge is gay, she is delighted. As Patsy is heading across to New York for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, why not follow her over there and track him down? A few guest stars make an appearance including Graham Norton and Whoopi Goldberg.

    Outtakes. A brief collection of bloopers, running for only 2:38 and presented in a ratio of 1.33:1 with a Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtrack encoded at 192 kbps.

    Photo Gallery. Another pointless collection of around eighteen stills from the New York episode.

    From what I can gather, the Region 1 release of this series appears to be essentially the same as our own. Buy whichever is cheaper.

    Absolutely Fabulous - Series 5 is a worthwhile collection of episodes showcasing the horrific high-fashion victim, nouveau riche, dipsomaniac characters portrayed by Joanna Lumley and Jennifer Saunders. Whilst not necessarily the strongest ever season, it is better than some. Fans of the show will enjoy the clean presentation and reasonable extras. For those unfamiliar with the show, start at the first season to get a grounding before ploughing into the champagne sodden world of Eddy and Patsy.

    The video quality is generally very good, with the most notable flaw being the aliasing and moire present on occasion.

    The audio transfer is fine without being remarkable - more than adequate for a comedic television series.

    There are a few reasonable extras in the set, with some extensive bloopers, a couple of photo galleries and an extra (not quite) feature length New York episode.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall