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Amazon.co.uk Review
Originally shown in 1998, Big Train was the eagerly awaited follow-up to Father Ted from writers Graham Linehan and Arthur Matthews. Resisting the pressure to make another sitcom, Big Train is, instead, a sketch show in the best Monty Python tradition, updated with influences from arch-surrealist Chris Morris as well as the contemporary The Fast Show. The sketches can be joyously odd--Pythonesque firefighting showjumpers, the evil hypnotist, and the outrageous onanistic office workers, for example--but the show never neglects to keep the punchlines coming thick and fast (though the animated staring contest does rather drag after a while). The cast comprises some of the best new names in comedy, including Kevin Eldon, Simon Pegg, Mark Heap, Julia Davis and Amelia Bullmore (who went on to become Alan Partridge's Ukrainian girlfriend).
Series 2 didn't pull into the platform until 2002, by which time Graham Linehan was absent writing Black Books. But Arthur Matthews maintains the quality of the first series on the whole--the man with oversized hands, the creepy cult questionnaire, the zookeeper's recruitment agency--adding some spot-on French art house cinema spoofs and other movie-style take offs somewhat in the manner of Spaced, which Pegg and Heap had gone on to make. That duo return here for more silliness along with new cast members Rebecca Front (The Day Today, Knowing Me, Knowing You) and Tracey-Ann Oberman (better known now as Chrissie Watts in Eastenders).
On the DVD: Big Train belatedly arrives on DVD in a two-disc set which includes a plethora of deleted scenes for both Series 1 and 2. There are cast biogs plus three of the sketches as performed on a German TV sketch show. Commentary on the first series is by both writers, though happily Pegg, Heap and Eldon gatecrash halfway through. Matthews and Eldon join director and producer for the somewhat more straight-faced commentary on the second disc. Menu options thankfully include the treasurable "Play all" facility. --Mark Walker
Synopsis
From the creators of Father Ted, this rather surreal sketch show features the recurring themes of jockeys, surgery and offices. There's a man with a spoon phobia, some show-jumpers in Hunting Pink who yearn to be firemen, and the first-series' animated Stare-Out with BBC Sport's own Barry Davies commentating. The second series features a foul-mouthed mermaid and a look at the life of a Beefeater. Jump aboard the lunatic subversion of the Big Train.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
If you're a fan of modern British comedy this show is a highlight of the last decade.
You have Simon Pegg and Hark Heap, just before they went off to make the incredible Spaced. Graham Linehan and Arthur Matthews just after Father Ted and before Linehan made Black Books, Kevin Eldon fresh from Brass Eye, and Catherine Tate before her (imo) underwhelming solo series.
The sheer comedy talent is eye watering and the first series is absoltely hilarious (second series drops to merely mortal standard, it has to be said). Highlights like the Evil Hypnotist, the Artist formally knows as Prince, and the no masturbation in the office sketch are sheer genius. In my opinion this is Linehan and Matthews at their best, getting to show off a massive range of ideas.
I find it hard to sympathise with reviewers who loved Spaced but hated this: to me Big Train is so perfect because it is a concentrated and distilled mix of everything (and almost everyone) that has been wonderful in British comedy for the last decade.
It still stands up as containing the cleverest, most surreal sketches we've seen. Later series like Smack the Pony softened the format a lot, while Little Britain went for less intelligent (but more accessible) writing. Big Train is the best of the bunch as far as I'm concerned, and even if you aren't blown away by the humour, it stands as a great early ensemble piece from an inimitable bunch of comedians who can (and have) now commanded their own solo series.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Big Train represents an early Graham Linehan/Arthur Matthews (Father Ted) entry into TV comedy genre and it's certainly distinctive. The overall format - Fast Show-esque skit/sketch comedy - is benign enough, but the content takes a highly surreal slant. At the time it was, if not revolutionary, at least a step in a fairly new direction and probably did not get mainstream attention. Thus we have firefighting show jumpers, Jesus and Satan in an office-feud setting and Chairman Mao doing Roxy Music's Virginia Plain. Probably the best sketches are the recurring (and genuinely wonderful) "World Stare-out Championships" animation and the Gunfight at the OK Corral (played by the Bee Gees and Chaka Khan).
This package holds both of the two series and the first was by far the best. Even when it's not jaw achingly sidesplitting (jockeys and the Artis Known as Prince), it's odd enough to be engaging and Mark Heap (Green Wing), Amelia Bullimore, Simon Pegg (Spaced), Julia Davis (Nighty Night)and Kevin Eldon take the Linehan/Matthews material and make it their own. The second series was not as good, and in the five episodes there is probably enough material to make up one episode as good as the first series (having said that the birth mother reunion sketch in S2E1 nearly killed me). So...
Series 1 *****
Series 2 ***
Both discs come with a fair few deleted scenes - unused sketches that are actually nearly as good as the released stuff.
This is an important milestone in British TV comedy sketch shows and one that's surrealism has never been surpassed. It's an essential part of any collection
This package holds both of the two series and the first was by far the best. Even when it's not jaw achingly sidesplitting (jockeys and the Artis Known as Prince), it's odd enough to be engaging and Mark Heap (Green Wing), Amelia Bullimore, Simon Pegg (Spaced), Julia Davis (Nighty Night)and Kevin Eldon take the Linehan/Matthews material and make it their own. The second series was not as good, and in the five episodes there is probably enough material to make up one episode as good as the first series (having said that the birth mother reunion sketch in S2E1 nearly killed me). So...
Series 1 *****
Series 2 ***
Both discs come with a fair few deleted scenes - unused sketches that are actually nearly as good as the released stuff.
This is an important milestone in British TV comedy sketch shows and one that's surrealism has never been surpassed. It's an essential part of any collection
28 of 32 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Okay Okay, so i am writing this before the DVD is released, but people, there is no need to wait for then, no need to delay clicking 'add to basket' for one moment longer....
Big Train is one of the best ever comedy series. The range of Characters are fantastic, and some scenes really are comedy gold - the jockeys being chased by the artist formally known as prince.. ..Ming the Merciless at home doing the hoovering.. the show jumpers who yearned to be firemen..and last but not least the supurb World Staring Championships, commentated on by Barry Davies. When you consider that it was written by the men behind 'Father Ted' and starred top comic actors such as Simon Pegg, Mark Heap and Kevin Eldon, the only question is why have we had to wait so long for the DVD??
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Series 1 Brilliant - Series 2 Very Good
My favourite sketch in this great show is actually an outake - the grainy and back and white WW2 vox pop with ordinary Londoners in the Blitz all wanting to surrender to Hitler... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Barry Wom
One of the best sketch shows ever.
I absolutely loved Big Train. It's hit and miss really, as every sketch show is, but in this one, the hits are much more common than the misses. Read more
Published 7 months ago by xebec
better than i remember
I remember big train being on in the 90's and found some sketches funny,so i took a punt on it,and im so glad i did,this is now one of my favourite sketch based comedies,it is... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Nicky Beet
so much fun!!
Why was this show cancelled? It is so much fun. Great actors, just love Mark Heap. Will be watched again and again.
Published 14 months ago by E. Johansen
Very very funny!
If you're a fan of Green Wing, Simon Pegg, Absolutely, the Fast Show or just like alternative sketch comedy, you wil love this DVD. 2 series for a very good price!
Published 16 months ago by J. Dutch
WHAT A CAST
Simon Pegg, Kevin Eldon, Mark Heap, Amelia Bullmore, Julia Davis, Rebecca Front, Traceyann Oberman, Phil Cornwell and Catherine Tate, with this cast alone its got to be worth... Read more
Published on 26 Mar 2010 by Stephen
5 stars
Too bad there are only two seasons of this stunning sketchshow. It's more absurd than the Fast Show, therefore more interesting to watch. 5 stars no doubt!
Published on 29 Dec 2009 by Eddie Coulant
Big Train - comedy classic
Big Train only ran for two series but established itself as one of the funniest shows ever made in a very short space of time. Read more
Published on 24 Nov 2007 by S J Buck
Abstract, funny, Genius
I remembered this series containing some of my favourite sketches of all time...
...Whilst watching the DVD, the main thing that struck me is how many of the sketches... Read more
...Whilst watching the DVD, the main thing that struck me is how many of the sketches... Read more
Published on 2 July 2007 by GeekZilla
Some misses, but still a must own dvd!
First things first, a lot of people have dubbed the second series as somewhat inferior to the first. I think series is just as good as the first in all honesty. Read more
Published on 28 Mar 2007 by A. Miller
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