Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7624 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-04-28
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 172 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
The six 30-minute episodes of Coogan's Run, originally broadcast in 1995, serve as a reminder that there's more to Steve Coogan than just Alan Partridge. Most Partridge-like here is the horrendous Gareth Cheeseman, the Ford Probe-driving sales rep in "Dearth of a Salesman", whose empty life unravels as spectacularly as his Norwich-based counterpart. Familiar from Coogan's stage act are handyman Ernest Moss, here accompanied by John ("Eccles Cakes!") Thomson, and Paul and Pauline Calf, whose "Get Calf" is the series highlight.

Perhaps because the other instalments venture into less familiar territory they tend to feel less successful, though both the writing and the characterisations are always strong. Paired with cowriter Patrick Marber in "Natural Born Quizzers", Coogan is a quiz nerd bent on revenge; in "Thursday Night Fever" saddo DJ Mike Crystal finds empowerment in a brash alter ego; while "The Curator" heads towards the spoof-horror territory later served up so disappointingly in Dr Terrible's House of Horrible. --Mark Walker

DVD Description
The Steve Coogan catalogue contains a wealth of characters which we’ve grown to know and ....hate: Alan Partridge in Knowing Me, Knowing You (KMKY), Paul and Pauline Calf and Tony Ferrino. As if this wasn’t enough, there’s all the misfits that feature in this DVD.

In Death of a Salesman we meet Gareth Cheeseman, in the corporate jungle he is truly a tiger. With only 3 days left of the Microsell conference, Gareth will do anything to clinch the deal that will elevate him to super-salesman status. Natural Born Quizzers introduces us to trivia nerd half brothers Stuart and Guy Crump. The only aim for these top draw saddos is to right the wrong that was the 1975 Top of the Class quiz final, which they lost and it’s going to take kidnapping, explosives, 20 years in a psychiatric unit and a badminton racket to do it! As the Handyman for all Seasons, Ernest Moss is a one man stand against the unscrupulous property dealers that ride into Ottle town and their cowboy builder chums. The Curator is a sinister tale of the ginger-bearded museum man who loses everything. From then on, the cost of admission is murder! Mike Crystal is the entertainer going nowhere fast in Thursday Night Fever and it’s only when he invents himself the toughest agent in showbiz, Clint Stallone, that things start to turn around. The zenith of this collection of misfortune and oddity is Get Calf - Fat Bob, Mum, Julie, baby Petula Dusty and Grandma Calf are back too in Paul and Pauline’s red hot tale of blue robes, dark forces and shagging.

Special Features
Commentary by producers Geoff Posner and David Tyler
Photo galleries
English subtitles

Customer Reviews

Hit and Miss.!
I remember being quite disappointed by this when I first saw it as a young teen. Having been continually taken to the brink of a heart attack form the non-stop comedy cavalcade that was Knowing Me Knowing You, I was expecting another out and out laugh-riot from the great-man Steve Coogan. Instead, we get a series that attempts something different with every show, going from the straight ahead comedy of Paul Calf to the almost Ealing subtlety of Earnest Moss, and then the more problematic attempts at something darker with both Natural Born Quizzers and The Curator respectively.

Coogan is on fine form throughout, popping up two or three times per episode in various guises, whilst giving each character their own individuality and identity. This is what Peter Kay did to greater effect with channel four’s That Peter Kay Thing, but greater only because Kay’s sights were not set as high as Coogan’s are here. What Coogan IS attempting is pretty intelligent stuff, with overlapping storylines and characters, all of which exist in the fictional northern town of Ottle. The first episode takes on the continuation of the Paul and Pauline Calf saga that began with the excellent Paul Calf video diary, in which we see Paul a little older, though non the wiser, trying to escape a series of hoods by hiding out with a rather dubious religious sect.

Episode two is another standout, featuring a great script from Father Ted writers Graham Lineham and Arthur Mathews, in which Coogan takes on the role of self-obsessed business exec Gareth Cheeseman, who has to spend the weekend at the most disastrous business conference of his life. These first two episodes are the strongest in terms of pure comedy, which is after all what we are here for. From this point on the ideas become more elaborate, with the Handyman for all Seasons episode being shot in black and white, whilst the fourth episode sees all-round entertainer Mike Crystal experiment with altar-ego Clint Stallone, much to the pleasure of his beleaguered wife. This brings us to the aforementioned darker episodes, the rather poor Quizzers, and the somewhat successful Curator.

Quizzer’s is given a shot in the arm from Partridge stalwarts Rebecca Front and Patrick Marber, though the characters featured never reach beyond the realm of annoying caricature. Marber pops up in a different guise for the Curator, acting as principal writer and director with a story of murder and revenge. The character here is stronger, though the more darker elements of the plot detract from the overall comedy value... making this funnier than the majority, but nowhere near as strong as episodes one and two. On the DVD we get a running commentary from the producer and director, which gives us some technical information and some general anecdotes about what went into the series, but rarely goes beyond backslapping praise for Coogan and the writers.

The lack of involvement from the great man himself is also a sad factor, something that could be said about almost all of these Coogan reissues. With Coogan’s Run we have what will always be one of his most problematic efforts... he tired something different and for the most part it worked. Though unlike other characters such as Partridge, Calf and Tony Ferrino, this is decidedly a little more hit and miss. If you are a Coogan devotee, then this is something worth exploring, though for the casual fan there is nothing here that you can’t find elsewhere. Three Stars.

Awesome!
I discovered coogans run during late night channel flicking on satelite tv and have to say I've been hooked ever since! Coogan plays various overlapping characters throughout the six episodes which are absolute masterpieces. If you enjoy comedy in any sence of the word you MUST buy this dvd. I would recommend you watch the disc at least twice all the way through to fully appreciate the overlapping of the characters.

Follow this up with the purchase of "Paul And Pauline Calf's Video Diaries" which is sadly only available on vhs at the moment, but is a must see if you enjoyed this. That is another undiscovered comedy gem! Happy viewing!

An excellent series
Coogans Run is a fantastic series which had me laughing out loud when it was broadcast. The best episode of the 6 here is Dearth of a Salesman. Gareth Cheeseman is perhaps the funniest character Steve Coogan has ever played. You can tell that a lot of Alan Patridge's later characteristics were based on him (When this was broadcast Alan Partidge had still only been seen as a chat show host!). Fantastic!