In the distant past, Channel 4 provided an oasis of incredible alternative comedy that turned heads and raised smiles. In those days Vic and Bob were having a Big Night Out, Frank Skinner resided in My Blue Heaven, Robert Lindsey was funny in Nightingales and in the wee small hours of the late evening we could all take a trip to Stoneybridge and beyond (what beyond Mucker?) with the cast of ‘Absolutely ‘. Yes, yes – they did release a couple of vidos in the early 90s, while Mr Don and Mr George got their own series and a video of their own; but, it has been some 20 years since the series and no one saw fit to release the whole series for home viewing until now.

So, I shall certainly be buying this one. Too long have I waited. Memorable characters like the Little Girl, Frank Hovis (on the lavatory), Calum Gilhooley, and the grumpy old man (whose cry of ‘Arse’ preceded the plaintive cry of Unlucky Alf’s ‘Bugger’ by more than 10 years). Yes, it had ups and downs, but so did ‘Monty Python’. While ‘ethnic’ comedy has not necessarily worked since, ‘Absolutely’ seemed to transcend this with characters both lovable and loathable with a British twang and a Celtic brogue.

Anyway… before I make a fool of myself with more comments, I’ll leave you with a piece of unreservedly juvenile humour in the lavatory with Frank Hovis:

Watched “Hugh’s Chicken Run” last night (the first of three programmes about organically reared poultry versus the intensively farmed variety) and I fear I may never eat supermarket chicken again. I know when I eat meat I eat something that lived and breathed not too long ago, but how that animal lived and died matter to me. I knew battery farming wasn’t so great – but in a few random scenes, my view of the intensive process has deteriorated. The enforced survival of the most profitable situation that results in the premature execution of injured or sickly birds by broken neck really bothered me – and I suspect it will get more distressing as the birds get older.

To live and grow under such pressure and in such squalor for less than 6 weeks – have we grown so heartless and indifferent to the lives of the animals around us. I’m reminded of the title of the book recording the last interviews with Philip K. Dick – ‘What If Our World Is Their Heaven?‘ What if he was right? And, even if not, do we have a right to make the short lives of these farm animals so damned unpleasant simply to feed our already distended bellies?