Miss and Hit

Introduction

I consider myself a comedy aficionado. But I didn't remember 1998's Barking, a sketch show recorded for Channel 4 and featuring Mackenzie Crook, David Walliams, Omid Djalili, Peter Kay, Dave Lamb, Rhys Thomas, Catherine Tate and Marcus Brigstocke, all of whom you will probably be aware of.



It follows the usual sketch show format - recurring characters who pop up one or more times each week, and then return each week, mixed in with one-off sketches.

Video, Audio, Extra Features

All looks and sounds fine (perfectly acceptable for a 13 year old TV show). Sadly no extra features, and a retrospective with one or two (or more) of the main protagonists would have been very welcome here.

Conclusion

A lot of misses, not many hits. Marcus Brigstocke's "cycle warrior" character was the real highlight (I know quite a few people just like that character), along with his pilot character but most of the other characters and sketches were rather weak and unfunny.



David Walliams' deluded Royal tour guide is the pre-cursor to Little Britain's Peter Andre (who was obsessed with Princess Anne) and one of his other characters even begins with Little Britain's Anne's "uh uh uh" catchphrase. Despite featuring prominently on the box, Peter Kay is actually hardly in the show, so that's a bit of marketing spin at work.



I'm not sad to have missed out on this first time round, although there are some fans out there who consider it a lost gem and will welcome this release. Personally I'm struggling to see how anyone got ahead in their careers off the back of this! One for fans of the series only really...