Coupling: Complete Series 3 [DVD]

The third series of Coupling, first aired in 2002, takes fans of the BBC's comedy of sex, manners and modern relationships into new realms of engaging surrealism, leaving those irritating comparisons with Friends trailing in its wake. The men are constantly in pursuit of a basic grasp of the "emotional things" that make women behave the way they do. The women analyse everything to death. But thanks to Steve Moffat's scripts, tighter and quirkier than ever, these characters are living, breathing human beings rather than cynical ciphers for comedy stereotypes.

The performances are as strong as you'd expect from an established team, with actors such as Jack Davenport (the ever-perplexed Steve), Ben Miles (unreconstructed chauvinist Patrick), Sally Alexander (dryly intelligent Susan) and Kate Isitt (neurotic Sally) wearing their roles like second skins. But in the surreal stakes, it's Richard Coyle as Jeff, wondering aloud what happens to jelly after women have finished wrestling in it, and Gina Bellman as Jane, musing on the importance of a first snog in identifying what men like to eat, who really raise the laughter levels. All things considered, this is superior comedy for all thirtysomethings--genuine and putative. --Piers Ford

Includes all seven episodes:

• Split
  
• Faithless
  
• Unconditional Sex
  
• Remember This
  
• The Freckle, the Key and the Couple Who Weren’t
  
• The Girl With One Heart
  
• Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps

16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
DVD 9
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital Stereo English
Dolby Digital Stereo
Selective Commentary With Jack Davenport And Steven Moffat
Cast And Crew Interviews
Unfilmed Script Extracts

The Coupling gang are back for another hilarious helping of sexual exploration and social humiliation. The third series begins a heartbeat after the end of the last - with Steve (Jack Davenport) and Susan (Sarah Alexander) splitting up – and the entire first episode is conducted in split-screen, each half following one of the sundered couple as they both head to ‘The Temple of Woman’, a beauty salon for Susan, a strip club for Steve.

Life for their friends is no less complicated: Jane (Gina Bellman) has picked herself a religious boyfriend who doesn’t believe in sex before marriage; Jeff (Richard Coyle) is propositioned in the stationery cupboard by a woman who wants to ‘borrow’ him from his girlfriend; while Sally (Kate Isitt) and Patrick (Ben Miles) have to face two scary prospects – a spider in Sally’s bedroom and the possibility that they might want to be more than just friends …