Nathan Barley: Series 1 [DVD]

I'm a longtime Chris Morris fan, and more recently a Charlie Brooker fan - living in Portugal, I wasn't aware of his Guardian column and his TV-bashing TV shows. I entered Brooker's world via Dead Set (not because it was written by him, but because I'm a zombie fan), loved it and started looking for his previous work. Nathan Barley was the only Chris Morris work I hadn't seen, so, being created by the two geniuses, it became essential. I was not disappointed. And the truth is - Nathan Barley ends up being as much a horror epic as Dead Set. It deals with zombies - just another kind of zombie. And the frustration and anguish that Dan Ashcroft feels (an amazing performance by Might Boosh's Julian Barratt) is just as suffocating as being surrounded by the living dead and feeling you're the only sane person in the world (although responsible for the dawn of the idiots, which makes it even more tragic). A masterpiece which manages to be hilarious and deeply disturbing!

Chris Morris and Charlie Brooker are a veritable dream team of comedy. Combine Brooker's articulately vehement ranting with Morris' deeply satirical guerrilla approach to entertainment and you're left with a potently scathing exploration of 'yoof' obsessed new media culture. But the best writing in the world can fall flat without the right actors and the ensemble cast of this comedy gold nugget really shine here. Julian (The Mighty Boosh) Barrat is superb as world - weary journalist Dan Ashcroft (Brooker's obvious mouthpiece), likewise comedy mainstay Richard Ayoade is gloriously loathesome as Ashcroft's cretinous colleague Ned. But it's Nicholas Burns that shines brightest as Nathan Barley himself! Seriously, he should be counted amongst the great comedy actors of our time! How he's not more famous is completely beyond me! Nathan Barley is so densely structured with gags that work on so many levels, visually and aurally the series actually improves with every viewing. This, my friends, is contemporary satire at its best!

if you've found this product, then you probably have some dim, flickering memory of catching an episode of this on channel 4 afte the pub sometime, so i'll spare you the synopsis. yes, it does have julian barrett in it. yes, it was written by chris morris. yet somehow, it wasn't quite as good as i wanted it to be; either then or now. the menus are innovative & amusing. the style of the show is almost VJ-ed; awesome when in an altered state! and if you get the humour, the DVD is worth it for the booklet alone.

I love Nathan Barley, i laughed myself stupid when i first saw it. The episode with the "13 year old" model is brilliant, i couldnt believe what i was seeing. However, all of the episodes are equally very funny. Julian Barrett & Noel Fielding are fab in the Mighty Boosh, but here Barrett is much darker in charector. He thinks Nathan is total idiot but the annoying thing is everyone else thinks Nathan is kinda cool (Fielding plays a over-the-top dj). Some great ideas in this series, which makes it a total one-off in more ways then one (you will never play rock/paper/scissors in the same way again). All culminating in a final episode... which i am not going to give away. Very, very funny.

I worked in London during the time this was set, and considered this a fly-on-the-wall documentory at the time. It still is! Still funny, still pertinent! Feels a bit nostalgic now

I brought this for my daughters birthday and she was ecstatic with it. However, the only downside was that the pouch that the disc came in didn't come with any adequate protection (such as a plastic wallet) that could have prevented the disc being damaged, since it is placed with the design exposed against a hard box. Unfortunately, due to this, my dvd is now badly scratched and will now have to be replaced. also, regarding other viewers criticisms of the dvd menu, my daughter found it very easy to use and no problems with it. All in all, a fab dvd for all fans of cult comedy :)

The best thing about Nathan Barley is that although it focuses on Hoxton media types it could be a commentary on modern society in general - the Idiots are winning. Whether its D-list celebrities, overpaid England footballers, over-hyped indie bands, bankers, management consultants or even MPs, the message is that to be successful you need to say and do the right things and agree with the right people. What you are saying, doing or agreeing is immaterial. And if you are wrong you will not be held accountable.

This program is not only hilarious but also a quite clever take on modern society. With the likes TOWIE and Made In Chelsea the subject matter or the rise of the idiots has never been more apt. Julian Barrat is brilliant in it as is Dan Clark. The skeptical and pessimistic outlook on modern society is typical of Charlie Brooker. Anyone who liked How Not To Live Your Life starring Dan Clark and Black Mirror written by Charlie Brooker will I'm sure appreciate this program. Occasionally the low budget of the show shines through but to me that just adds to its charm. I've always believed that this program was a bit ahead of it's time (a cliche i know) as most people who claim to be sitcom connoisseurs that i have spoken to have never seen this. All in all worth a watch you will not be dissapointed.