This was the series of Armstrong and Miller that I first saw back in the late 1990's and it was only because I had the outrageous good fortune to have been working for Channel Four Television at the time with access to the tape library, lots of night shifts and cratefuls of blank VHS tapes! This was obviously long before anyone could just watch everything online on 4OD and DVDs back then were still selling for £25 a pop.
The 1990's Channel 4/Paramount Comedy series is a lot edgier and more outrageous than the relatively formulaic, anodyne and (dare I say) more repetetive "Little Britain"-style sketch show it seems to have become since they moved to the BBC, and it was originally made by Absolutely Productions (if you don't know Absolutely and you love '80s/'90s British alternative comedy then you need to see it). I absolutely loved their early Channel 4/Paramount years and as glad as I am to see them back on TV I am slightly bored by the BBC series.
Anyway, my old Channel 4 VHS compilation has been missing for a while and the DVD is now cheap as chips so I've ordered a copy. I would really love to see Armstrong and Millers' earlier Channel 4/Paramount series because I don't think I've even seen any of them. The BBC have released what they call "series 1-3" as a box set but strictly speaking it should be called "series 5-7".
I really can't understand why so many people like the BBC series but hate the Channel 4 series. I suppose you like what you're used to. I personally think the Comic Strip went downhill when they moved to BBC as well but some of my mates were raving about that at the time too.
Incidentally I think BBC comedy is ace and has a rich history of old and new classics and I am not slagging off the beeb's output in general.