Underworld

One of my favourite ever TV series from the days when Channel 4 (in UK) would present some of the quirkiest television dramas. It's a comedy-thriller which manages at times to be both very funny and at others very thrilling, but is very difficult to categorise in a way which does it justice. Perhaps its greatest strength is that it has a bizarre storyline which keeps taking unpredictable twists so that you can never anticipate what it's going to throw at you next. So you sit there and enjoy the ride.

Trying to describe the plot is a bit futile - basically 2 ordinary boring 40 year old (give or take) siblings get caught up in old- school gangster feuds in suburban London (or wherever it is) - because the switchback journey to its finale is what makes it great viewing.

Excellent acting and script, good character development for some very strange characters, lots of laugh-out-loud one-liners, other moments of carefully built high tension, some very poignant sub- plots - it all comes together very nicely. There are a couple of brutal scenes which now - nearly 20 years later - look fairly dated and unnecessary and some of the gender portrayals are a bit old- fashioned. But these are more reflections of what was acceptable in 1990s TV than anything else.

Never released on DVD as far as I know, but definitely worth revisiting if you can find it - I did, and it was just as good as I remembered from its original TV screening.

Trivia: it was produced by Hat Trick Productions, who also produce the BBC series "Have I Got News For You", which often features one of its founders - Andy Hamilton - as a panelist. Andy was one of the screenwriters for Underworld and makes a couple of uncredited cameo appearances as the neighbour with the flat cap. Some of Underworld's funniest and/or more surreal moments very much reflect the spirit of his contributions to Have I Got News For You.

I too saw this many years ago and loved it. The cast was excellent including many of the great character actors from British TV, like James Fleet and Trevor Peacock (Vicar of Dibley), Alun Armstrong (New Tricks), David Troughton (A Very Peculiar Practice) and many others. However I too am having trouble finding any information about its availability on DVD. I note that no-one has yet responded to the plea for DVD information by the 3 previous posters on this board, Internet searches using the series title are now overwhelmed with the new "Underworld: Rise of the Lycans" which is something different entirely. Please please can anyone tell us where we might find a DVD of this excellent TV series?

I'd have bought this like a shot on DVD - if it had ever been made available. But tonight, even better, I found it on All 4 and watched it streaming. Characters, script, plot, acting, all marvellous. Episode one is a little slow and that probably hurt the ratings; otherwise it's hard to account for the lack of repeats or a DVD.

With its pathetic drip of a hero and its Cockney gangster psychopaths Underworld could easily have been just another clumsy comedy pastiche, instead it is a gem.

The series is well written, produced and directed, its story brought to life by superb performances. It has an engaging plot whose many twists are sustained by a witty script.

Underworld is a kind of Midsommer Murders-paced bastard child of Mike Leigh and Guy Ritchie (although I think it pre-dates Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels).

This is a great show, and can currently be watched for free on Channel 4's "4OD" website in the UK - which I highly recommend you do!

A very random type of TV Show, strangely enough only just viewed, some 25+ years later. Certainly offers nostalgia, James Fleet (Vicar Of Dibley), Mike Reid (Eastenders), Christopher Fairbank (Auf Wiedersehen Pet), and Alun Armstrong (New Tricks) In very different types of roles. Blends Drama, Comedy, Crime, and Thriller Successfully. Not a must watch, but an entertaining show never the less. It is very much a war of feuding family's with James Fleet's character caught in the middle, a Mr. Normal thrust into the unfamiliar, not knowing which way to turn, comic relief and a randomness at every turn. I would suggest watching If Into nostalgia, twists and turns, and a penchant for the random, being a TV fanatic are your thing.