Two Pints of Lager & a Packet of Crisps – Series 1 & 2 Ralf Little 2003 DVD

Janet (20, half a cider-and-lager) dropped out of college to be a lady-who-lunches. She now works in a mobile phone store. She’s got Jonny (21, pint of bitter). He’s the one who really, really wants to be a bloke, but finds it hard to leer at women. He’s easily swayed by Gaz (23, pint of lager). He’s the genuine Cosmo Bloke. What Gaz really wants is to find someone with larger breasts than Donna (20, pint of lager). Loud and tough but with a heart of gold, she’s one of the girls. Until she gets home to Gaz, where she’s the man. Which is why she envies Louise (19, Malibu and Orange without ice). She’s gorgeous, but she’s the only one who’s never had a boyfriend. Which is why she is jealous of Janet. This brilliantly-observed, highly engaging comedy features five loveable, skint characters in their 20s, in a script written for the Playstation generation.
Contains all the episodes from Series 1 and 2:
Series 1
Fags, Shags and Kebabs
Spunk
Bone with the Wind
Angry Wangery
Lard
Ugly Babies
Series 2
On the Blob
Bungle
Dirty Girls
Vomit
Crusty Curtains
Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps is the smuttier, stupider sitcom descendent of Men Behaving Badly, but lacks that show’s charm and intelligence. The series tells the story of five twentysomethings–the loveable Johnny (The Royle Family’s Ralf Little), his libidinous sidekick Gaz (Will Mellor), their long-suffering girlfriends Janet (Sheridan Smith) and Donna (Natalie Casey), and a token comedy-weirdo Louise (Kathryn Drysdale)–doing their best to fathom life’s hardships through endless discussions about sex, booze and relationships.
In trying to appeal to a “yoof” audience through the use of recognisable, everyday settings, Two Pints… eschews the tradition of focusing on a “situation” almost entirely; essentially consisting of a string of scenes in which the characters sit trading witless banter in a pub, then in a lounge, then in a kitchen and then in the pub again. As a result it can’t punch in the same league as more sophisticated, dramatically satisfying and, frankly, funnier sitcoms such as The Office, Spaced or Black Books and feels more like a weak excuse for a series of toilet gags. On these terms, however, it is amusing if juvenile entertainment. In particular, Little’s performance as Johnny, a confused child trapped in a man’s body, provides both humour and a likable centre to the show.
On the DVD: Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps on DVD has the complete first two series with has episode selection, scene selection and subtitles but no special features