The Worst Week of My Life-Series 1 (2004)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Main Menu Audio & Animation Interviews-Cast & Crew Outtakes
Rating	?
Year Of Production	2004
Running Time	199:39
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Mark Bussell Justin Sbresni Dan Zeff
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	None Given
Case	?
RPI	?	Music	Nina Humphreys

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

    The Worst Week of my Life is an English comedy series which first aired on the BBC in 2004. Subsequently, it has been shown in Australia on the ABC and two more series have been made. The third series, based on the build up to Christmas, showed on local TV just before Christmas 2007. Now, Roadshow are releasing the first series on DVD, which I am very glad about because I missed a couple of episodes when the first series aired locally.

    The seven episodes cover the seven days of the week of the wedding of publishing executive, Howard Steele (Ben Miller) to his fiancé Mel Cook (Sarah Alexander), one day per episode. To put it mildly, the week does not go well as Howard causes many problems, accidental and otherwise. He then makes things worse by trying to cover the problems up. One of the biggest problems he faces in this series is an obsessive ex-girlfriend, Cassie who does not like the idea of his getting married. Mel's family never liked him to begin with but the week tests their patience and sometimes their health and wellbeing. Her family includes her High Court judge father, Dick (Geoffrey Whitehead), socialite mother, Angela (Alison Steadman), flirty younger sister Sophie, Granny, ex-SAS Uncle Frasier and Binky the dog, who takes an immediate dislike to Howard. Howard is extremely unlucky but is also his own worst enemy as his attempts to avoid or cover up problems usually make things worse. The only other important characters are Eve, Howard's long-suffering PA and Ronnie, his embarrassing father.

    This is a very funny show featuring lots of sight gags, amusing (if unbelievable) situations and some excellent comic acting by the whole cast. Some scenes are certainly belly busting in their hilarity, usually ones involving Howard and Binky. A lot of the comedy is either slapstick or based on the class differences between Howard and his wife's family. There is also a nice undercurrent of heart in this show which aids its believability. Recommended for fans of slapstick and English comedy generally.

Video

    The video quality is reasonable but marred by a low bitrate.

    The feature is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio 16x9 enhanced which is the original aspect ratio.

    The picture was reasonably clear and sharp throughout, with no evidence of low level noise. There was some light grain throughout which tended to be heavier in darker scenes and sometimes turned into macro-blocking in backgrounds e.g. 91:05.The shadow detail was decent.

    The colour was good but sometimes marred by inconsistencies in broad expanses of colour e.g. 184:32.

    There was also some mild aliasing.

    There are subtitles in English. They were clear, easy to read and included some summarisation from the spoken word.

    The layer change occurs between episodes.
    

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The audio quality is good.

    This DVD contains an English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo soundtrack encoded at 192 Kb/s.

    Dialogue was very clear and easy to understand and there was no problem with audio sync.

    The music used is mostly the nice theme song but it suits the show well and sounds good on this transfer.

    The surround speakers were not used.

    The subwoofer did add bass to the music plus some tension noises.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

    The menu features rotating stills, the theme tune and a nice cursor motif.

Interviews (14:53)

    This featurette includes sound bite style interviews with cast & crew along with scenes from the show. They discuss the characters, the use of physical comedy, their desire for believability, the house used as the main setting and adding the 7th episode. Interesting but light.

Outtakes (4:09)

    An amusing selection of stuff-ups.

    This show is also available in the same format in Region 1 & 2 plus as part of a set including all three series in Region 2 only.

    On this basis lets just call it a draw.

    The video quality is reasonable.

    The audio quality is good.

    A small selection of extras are included.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall