Nathan Barley

Video and audio are good. The show is presented in 16x9 anamorphic; the video quality varies due to the multi-media nature of the show, mixing VDU screens, videophones and all the in-camera "cool" special effects you can eat. It was shot on video and processed to add grain, dirt and other film-related artefacts. I tire of this kind of processing, but it's bang on the artistic intent of the show.

Audio is in Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround - very clean recording, with exceptional music selections, as would be expected.

The extras are as eternally capricious as the show. First up is the "untransmittable" pilot episode - in reality, a condensed version of the entire series, with additional deleted scenes bunged in here and there, and the story works better here than it does spread out across the show.

Next up, a bunch of deleted scenes - mostly scene extensions and alternate takes. Best of the lot (which isn't saying much) is Claire Ashcroft contractually interviewing Doug Rocket, a rich, fading musician, for a film grant.

A gallery of text-based articles and photos rounds off the potentially watchable extras.

The rest is completely barking mad. A redub of episode five, short Channel 4 trailers for the show, a series of audio-only Trashbat FM extras, including persuading someone to try cannabis for the first time.

Perhaps smoking illegal psychotropic substances will make the DVD appear more entertaining.