Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3954 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-01-16
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1

DVD Description
Taking inspiration from the golden era of late Seventies and early Eighties television, Look Around You looks at the very latest developments in science and technology in one of the most consistently funny parodies you're ever likely to see.

This brilliantly original second series has the same well-observed hilarious brand of humour as the first BAFTA nominated series and is presented by the very talented Jack Morgan (Robert Popper), Peter Packard (Peter Serafinowicz), Pam Bachelor (Olivia Colman) and Pealy Maghti (Josie D'Arby). In a blaze of 1980's big hair, sideburns, ra-ra skirts and jumpsuits, this series also features cameos from some of the UK's finest comedy performers including Harry Enfield, Matt Lucas, Simon Pegg and Sarah Alexander.

Each episode the team considers the future of music, health, sport, music, food and computers - much as they did in the original 'Tomorrow's World' series. Each week they are joined by guests, inventors and science specialists, looking at different inventions and testing out the latest technology.

The series culminates in a live final of the 'Look Around You Invention Of The Year Award' presented by HRH Sir Prince Charles. But with an excited live studio audience, a nervous group of contestants and one rather difficult and unpredictable guest, can the Look Around You team manage to keep everything going alright on the night?

Special Features
- Programme-maker's commentary - Pages from Ceefax - Play-at-home quiz pages - New Birds of Britain Film - Scary Picture - Test Card

Synopsis
A second series of the Spoof comedy science series reminiscent of education for schools, 'Tomorrow's World' and 'Open University' programming of the 70s and 80s. Includes discussions on Music, Health, Sport, Food And Computers, with HRH Sir Prince Charles presenting the award for 'Invention Of The Year' in the Live Final.

Customer Reviews

Surreal, funny and sublime
This is one of the most entertaning things you can watch - just sit back and slip into the parallel universe of 'look around you'.
It is simply pure fun and enjoyment from beginning to end and is full of huge laughs and intelligent yet highly surreal comedy. Co-written and produced by the man who brought you "The Timewaster Letters" (Robert Popper), Series 2 is the follow-up to the spoof educational programmes of the first series which appeared as ten-minute shorts on BBC2 with an array of bizarre experiments.
This incarnation takes the format of a studio-based show with a team of presenters along the veins of 'Tommorow's World' or 'Blue Peter', set in the 70's. We take a look at the future of such things as music, food, health and computers, each episode packed full of strange characters and bizarre situations.
Take another look at this DVD and if you haven't already seen it, buy it. This is one of the funniest, pleasing (and relaxing) comedies you'll ever watch.

Look at science differently.......
I stumbled across this show when it was shown earlier this year, and I tell you, I am mightily glad I did.

From the electro-pop synth-ed theme music, to the presenters' cheesy linking to each other, each of the first five episodes is set around a different theme, leading up to the "live" grand final (with a special appearance by Sir Prince Charles).

It's like the early eighties BBC TV show Tomorrow's World gone a bit sideways, as the presenters Jack Morgan, Peter Packard, Pam Bachelor and Pealy Maghti introduce us to the wierd and wonderful world of science.

Bottom line of this is personally, I don't care if there aren't any extras on the DVD (Although I hope there are) you should buy this DVD just for the pure comedy value, as it will have you screaming and howling with laughter!

Thanks Amazon - Thamazon!

Very Funny
I could end this review now by simply saying "If you like laughing, buy this DVD". But I need to say a bit more than that, because I think this show has been passed over by too many people, and it's ended up underrated and in the same "cult enthusiasts only" realm as Garth Marenghi's Dark Place.

Now that's a fantastic show too, and the two programmes have a lot in common. Not least of which in that they were shown without any major publicity and to limited audiences only. The other similarity is that they are both spoof shows. "Look Around You" is a spoof of Tomorrow's World, set in the 1970's, and it presents a kind of bizarre parallel universe in which the presenters look forward to inventions and new technology that they predict will change the way we live in the future.

It's hard to explain what is so funny about the show in writing, but on watching, I found it to be hilarious almost all the way through. Firstly, you can lose yourself in the show's supposedly "current" world where every high street has a much loved "casserole" chain restaurant, and people get robot John McEnroes for Christmas. Then you add to this the inventions featured on the show that the presenters predict will be changing all our lives for the better, such as the vegetable orchestra and the Memory Helmet. Throughout the show, further laughs come thick and fast from various interludes, like information on what programmes are coming up next, or the hilarious "Data Bank" that offers totally barking mini quiz questions.

The programme could have easily failed, however, without the talents of the performers who front the main show. The two original creators of the first series now appear on screen along with two new female presenters, and there are numerous cameos in each show, all of which are uniformly deadpan and convincing, the combined effect of which (with the four main presenters) is pure gold. Throughout the six episodes there isn't a single moment where any of the cast let the mask drop even for a second. Robert Popper and Peter Serafinowicz seem born to play the parts of the two male presenters and I challenge you to disbelieve the sincerity of Olivia Coleman (from The Office and numerous other mock-real life comedies) as she presents the moving and tragic story of "Cobbles", the disease which turns the sufferer into a pile of stones. Fourth team member Josie D'Arby does equally well, with an especially good line in fawning enthusiasm, be it over some truly dire computer games ("Diarrhea Dan") or in trying out a new sport called "Gonnis" (don't ask).

This show is so full of good ideas, i found it hard to understand why some reviewers have said the idea was being stretched too thinly. Each half hour show seemed to fly by for me, and I was laughing all the way. This second series is probably far more accesible to the casual TV viewer than the original show, which lampooned Programmes for Schools with a bit of Open University thrown in. I can't imagine there ever being a third series of this, although if there is, I'll be ready and waiting. But my advice is to buy both DVDs and treasure them.