Let me begin this review by saying that Universal's DVD release of this film is beneath contempt. It's exactly the same as the Polygram VHS release from 1993. There are absolutely no extras - none. Not even scene selection or subtitles. The whole film plays in one chunk, and that's it. The picture and sound quality are terrible - one can but wonder how different things might have been if Anchor Bay or Network had got their hands on it. Because this film deserves it. Derek and Clive, the notoriously filthy alter-egos of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, are outrageous enough to give the PC militia nightmares and keep the rest of us rolling on the floor in hysterics for weeks. To give you some idea of what the characters are like, Peter Cook described them as "strongly Tory, probably mechanics. They like a drink, are embarrassed by women and think the world's gone mad. Life ended for them when the Big Bopper died. They hate having to pay taxes when the country's going down the pan." In short, they're a dead-on, mercilessly funny spoof of every drunken pub bigot you've ever met - the boozy know-all who'll talk absolute rubbish on any given subject for at least ten minutes at the slightest provocation. We've all been there. This film, shot on a shoestring (which might explain the poor quality - they should have shot it on film instead) in documentary style by Russell Mulcahy and Nic Knowland (who went on to helm the far less amusing HIGHLANDER and CATS respectively) at the Townhouse Studios in London, captures Cook and Moore in the process of recording the final Derek and Clive album. The language is appalling, the attitudes indefensible, the subject matter spectacularly inappropriate, and the pair of them seem to be having a whale of a time, even when they're at each other's throats (which happens a lot). Cook is on record as saying he found it "therapeutic" to play such a scabrous, belligerent character, whilst Moore responded to the exercise in the spirit of a naughty schoolboy, revelling in the excitement of dirty words and crude humour. It's definitely not for all tastes, but it perfectly captures the spirit of freewheeling anarchy that defines Derek and Clive at their best - one wishes the recording sessions for 'Come Again' (their 1977 album) had been filmed as well, if only to see Moore drunk and hysterical during the infamous 'My Mum Song'.

All in all, a slice of pitch-black comedy history that needs a digital overhaul to drag it into the 21st century. Are you listening, Universal?