A complete archive of The Medium is Not Enough’s reviews of TV programmes since 2005
Review: Gavin and Stacey – Series 1
WARNING: If you are married to a blonde woman from South Wales who’s lived in London for a while and has lost her accent and started talking like an English person, you might find that after exposing her to this DVD for two or more episodes, she exhibits certain behaviours. Her accent might return; she might start saying "lush", "by here" instead of "here" or "whereto" instead of "where"; and she might start calling you with "Oh! Rob!" These effects can last anything up to three days or more, during which SHE WILL BE UNAWARE SHE IS DOING ANY OF THIS. It’ll be very endearing though.
The thing about award-winning comedy shows is that no one’s going to watch them if you stick them on a network primarily devoted to Two Pints of Lager and shows like Can Fat Teens Hunt?.
Had we known there was a show called Gavin and Stacey in which a blonde woman from South Wales meets, falls in love with and marries a dark-haired guy from SE England, we’d have watched every single episode and repeat from the very first moment – it’ll be the closest we get to a biopic on Hallmark. Instead, it’s not until the second series (which is brilliant) that we found out about it. Heaven knows how those awards people came across it.
Although BBC3 will no doubt be repeating the first series again approximately five times a day (seven times a day if it wins any more awards) once the second series finishes, we decided – as might you, gentle reader – to give that first series a go by buying it on DVD. If you are considering it, here’s a handily timed reviewed to help you decide whether to spend your hard-earned money or not. Although it’s only £8 on Amazon – bar-gain!
