Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19644 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-10-20
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 176 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Focused on the madcap lives of flatmates Vince (Sean Lock) and Errol (Benedict Wong), the first series of the critically acclaimed BBC comedy Fifteen Stories High craftily points out the eccentricities of the modern world. Vince is an oddball with the habits of a man who has spent too much time in his own company. A lifeguard at the local swimming pool, he takes great pride in being able to tell swimmers off for no reason, and obtains his home decorating ideas from photos in Readers' Wives. His lodger, Errol is the opposite of Vince, naively stupid and always taken advantage of by others. But he has his own unusual habits, too, such as tearing at wallpaper whenever he sees an unstuck corner. Vince has the weirdest encounters, though: such as being locked in the stocks for six hours when wrongly accused of killing a swan; or taken hostage by a neighbour when he spies a moon-boot wearing Shetland pony in the man's spare bedroom.

Equally as funny are the short stories of the other residents living in the tower block that are interspersed between the antics of Vince and Errol. Enclosed within the four walls of different flats on the estate, these claustrophobic locations provide the ideal settings for the extreme behaviours depicted. There's the hygiene obsessive who forces a visiting double-glazing salesman to take a bath and wear a protective suit before being able to look round his flat; the old man who spends all night in front of a mirror in a pair of underpants pretending he's James Bond; and a New Age enthusiast who's always getting disturbed when recording relaxation tapes. The general weirdness of the series takes some getting used to, but once you decipher the crazy world of Vince and Errol this is five-star comedy with a dark tinge. --John Galilee

DVD Description
15 Storeys High is about two very different blokes who find themselves sharing a flat in a tower block on a south London council estate. The flat’s owner, Vince (Sean Lock) takes in a new lodger – Errol (Benedict Wong) and it is not long before he realizes he has made a dreadful mistake. Errol’s only crime, however, is that he’s a nice, considerate, thoroughly decent bloke. Vince, however, has spent too much time living on his own and is completely intolerant of anybody else! Errol is a real sweetheart and is very excited about his move to London and has a list of things that he wants to do there: Number 36 – drink a cappuccino, Number 37 – work with fish. Errol would do anything for anyone – but sadly, in a place like London, he is bound to be taken advantage of. 15 Storeys High also introduces us to some of the other tower block occupants – wife swappers, bible bashers, lap dancers, men who shout at the television and even a bloke who keeps a horse in his spare room. It has been described as "the antidote to Friends".

Contains all six episodes from the first series:

• The Sofa
  
• Pool Kids
  
• Blue Rat
  
• The Model
  
• Ice Queen
  
• Dead Swan

Synopsis
One of the BBC's cult TV comedies, this sharp and quirky series is written by and stars British Comedy Award winner Sean Lock. He's locked in a high-rise flatshare with another bloke on a South London council estate. But he's the landlord and his lodger Errol (Wong) is making his life a misery. What's more there are other hilarious oddball occupants in the block to contend with, from the wife-swappers and bible-bashers to the guy with a lodger of his own, a horse! Contains all six episodes from Series 1: "The Sofa", "Pool Kids", "Blue Rat", The Model", "Ice Queen" and "Dead Swan".

Customer Reviews

Ssshhhhh! Don't tell anyone how good it is...
I hadn't even heard of 15 Storeys High until it was recommended to me by Amazon - presumably because I've purchased Spaced, Black Books and Game On in the past. I didn't know what to expect from the series and I wasn't familiar with Sean Lock, the writer and star, despite him being a cult figure on the stand-up circuit.

Sean plays Vince, resident of a tower block and a life guard at the local swimming pool. He rents his spare room to Errol (Benedict Wong), who struggles to come to terms with the lunacy of London-life and its inhabitants.

The humour is dry, dry, dry and there is no laughter track or title music. The direction (by Mark Nunneley) adds brilliantly to the humour with creative camera angles and 'star wars' style swipe cuts. Vince and Errol's world is grimy and dark, populated by surreal (normal?) people and surreal happenings. The beauty of the series is that the two main protagonists don't moan about their existence, they just get on with it, they go to work and they come home. Life goes on.

Vince get's terrorised by scholl children, Errol gets a job in a fish market where his naivety makes him a tad prone to wind ups, Vince tries to get lucky with the girl upstairs, Errol tries to pass his driving test and Vince drink's a bit too much 'Blue Rat' energy drink ('all the energy of a rat, trapped in a can').

Series 2 has just started showing on tv and I can't wait for it to be released on DVD. Buy this DVD yourself but don't tell anyone else how good it is - it's a gem of a secret!

A grimy masterpiece of a sitcom
15 Storey's High was originally broadcast in November 2002 on a satelitte channel where it completed it's six part run and slipped by unnoticed. I was lucky, I managed to view the whole series and I have to say it is pure brillance. I can not emphasize that enough, if you missed it, buy it now. The series focusses on two very different flatmates, Vince and Errol.
Stand up comedian Sean Lock takes the lead as Vince and also writes the show as well. With a script that crackles with invention and wit, 15 Storey's High is indeed a very, very underated series.

Giving olives to people who don't like olives...
15 Storey's is a massively underrated show, which is hardly surprising to those who know that Sean has been one of the best stand-up comedians around for years and doesn't seem to get the exposure his talent deserves. Witness his occassional slots on HIGNFY to get an idea of his dry distorted take on things - he always manages to give paul merton a run for his money.

I met Sean & Martin Treneman (the other writer) at the Darts this year and I have bad news for those waiting for series 2 to come out on DVD. Unfortunately Sean feels that the BBC have no time for him and didn't 'get' FSH. Carlton aren't willing to pick up Series 2 as a syndication (as they did for Series 1) as the sales figures weren't startling and the BBC won't produce it themselves. Unless another independent production company comes into the fold the chances are it won't ever see the light of day.

Other than that, fans may be pleased to know that Sean & Martin are both lovely blokes who were happy to have a chat and pleased to meet fans of the show. And the darts was alot of fun.