John Reardon's 'Whoops Apocalypse!' TV Series (1982) R2 UK DVD May 21st 2007.

Now, this predates my concious comedy viewing by a few years, but I do remember snippets of it and I do know the series is fondly remembered and highly regarded. I would have been a young kid at the time, so I am in the same boat as many on this one. One thing is for certain, the show is very well known and to my knowledge hasn't been shown for some considerable time (if at all since the original broadcast - anyone know for certain?) or released on DVD until now, at least not around these parts.

It's noteable for several reasons. One is that it shows there's the possibility to look contemporary or appear still relevant because of other peoples actions (or lack of) rather than your own : the world is still run in a rather dangerous fashion to this day, don't see that changing any time soon. Secondly, it has some rather strange casting, John Cleese post-Python briefly turned his hand to just about anything including some rather mainstream stuff that's seemingly forgotten so it's another appearance of his in something unexpected for all but those that follow the teams work closely. Thirdly, this shows oldschool comedy actors alongside newschool talent, with Rick Mayall and Alexei Sayle (relatively, if not entirely, new to TV at the time) both in here with mainstream legends like Jeffrey Palmer; it's oftend as though people assume casting like this never happened, or that nobody becomes mainstream after starting out leftfield.

So, as (for me) a show like 'The Day Today' seems relevant now as it was in the early 90's, I would like to see how this stands up against its original broadcast impact of the early 80's. I fear this may also look a little dated perhaps in many aspects, but it's a rare treat none-the-less I suspect. This 2-Disc appearance also includes the 1986 film incarnation.

'Whoops Apocalypse!' at BBC Comedy Guide, at Wikipedia, at Answers.com, at Phill.