I don’t know how many out there are hardcore nerds for U.K. tv; I consider myself one of the few.  When Spaced, League of Gentlemen and Black Books (shame on you if you don’t know these) finally came out on DVD in the states my medulla oblongata exploded. My friends were bored to tears by the time they saw them, but afterwards, they had joined my U.K.TV cult with exploded heads.

Quick glossary for U.K.TV term (for those who don’t know):

Series = Season (Ex. “I thoroughly enjoyed the second series of Coupling” in U.K. is the equivalent to “The second season kicked ass!” in American.

Cracker (Starring Robbie Coltrane of the Harry Potter series fame) has some interesting early work of some of my favorite folks; Michael Winterbottom (director of 24 Hour Party People), Christopher Eccleston (bad guy in Gone in 60 Seconds and the Invisible dude in Heroes), Robert Carlyle (Daddy zombie in 28 Weeks Later, Begbie in Trainspotting), Kieran O’Brien (main dude in 9 Songs… ’nuff said).

Though I’ve heard this series kicks much ass, but I had yet to check it when it came out in it’s single series form, what I had heard is that it was along the same vein as Prime Suspect (which is how I fell in love with Helen Mirren). So when the whole collection came into the BSR! offices to review, I was “fairly excited” or “shat my pants with excitement” in American terms.

At first, I wasn’t too impressed and that was due to the fact that I tried to start off at the newest of the series, I was confused. It was clear that I started off on the wrong robot foot, so I began again this time where I was supposed to; the first episode.

When I started watching, I was skeptical on how exactly they would make Coltrane a badass that I would want to keep watching, how they did this was brilliant; Edward “Fitz” Fitzgerald is a boozing, chain-smoking, gambler with a rapier wit. He spends his days lecturing in a local college teaching phycology and occasionally gets asked to help with investigative polices cases because he’s good at what he does. The series is a mixture of primarily whydunit’s with a little bit of whodunit’s, that coupled with the immaculate dialogue throughout the series is its charm, add to that the flaws of a person with a “normal life” that seem to be in constant shambles and you have a great start for something original.

All that is the primary source of what keeps this program intrinsically interesting but there are so many shocking moments and as the characters and series develops into itself, you can see how every other crime drama on tv fails and this one succeeds miles ahead of the game no matter how dated it seems when you first start watching it. CSI: [insert a city here] can eat its overstayed-welcomed heart out, though this collection is a hefty 21 hours and some change, you really wish it could have been more but you’re thankful as hell that they ended this beauty on a high note. Each episode just permeates with sheer excellence in writing and direction that puts Hollywood to shame, barring a few American gems.

Sure, there are a couple episodes that I thought were garbage; one was starring Samantha Morton (the female pre-cog in Minority Report, Hattie in Sweet and Lowdown) were she is basically abducted by a religious cult and they try to kill her. On the upside of this one though is that you get to see her half-neked with some cool designs drawn on her body (designs that help Fitz crack the case). And if you don’t like intelligent drama then this may not be up your alley per se, but I think it has enough humor to bring along even the toughest of critics, like this line for example when describing the thrill of gambling: “How long has it been since your hands were trembling, your heart was pounding and your balls turned to ice?”

Pencilbot recommends you snuggle up with your main squeeze or settle into the deep impression of your favorite chair, “crack” open a cold one and start watching.