Black Books

Bernard Black runs a small bookstore that somehow survives despite Bernard's non-existent customer service skills and ethos. He hires Manny as an employee. Fran runs the shop next door, selling knick-knacks people don't need. Between the three of them many adventures ensue.

An hysterically funny series, written by and starring Dylan Moran. Wonderfully funny, imaginative and absurdist with some clever plots and biting dialogue. The banter and put-downs are off-the-charts brilliant.

Excellent work by Dylan Moran, Bill Bailey and Tamsin Greig as Bernard, Manny and Fran, respectively. Good chemistry between the three of them - they make a great team.

The show seemed to get better and better as it went on with Season 3 being insanely funny. It's as if Moran loosened up more and more as the show went on, allowing the jokes to feel less forced. A pity then that it ended after just three seasons and 18 episodes.

How could the owner of a book shop who says "Enjoy. It's dreadful but it's quite short" not be anything short of hilarious. This is so funny, every line is funny. No boring minutes, no fake action, just plain comedy in a style i find very appealing. Crazily funny lines like "Is space hot?" "Of course it is, where else do you think we get pineapples from?" are acted so perfectly making it spectacularly entertaining. A must see. My favorite show for sure.

I always have been a big fan of Fawlty Towers, Father Ted and Blackadder. So when I knew about this series, I just had to see it. Now that I have seen it, there is only one thing I can say about it: Black books is absolutely great and hilarious. It proves that the UK is still the best breeding ground for humoristic series.

Bernard Black - an anti-social, boozing and smoking sarcastic pessimist - runs his own book store. He doesn't like people who buy books and hates his customers. He has one employee: Manny. Manny looks more like a bum, never stands up for himself when he is the target of Bernard's sarcasm and is always full of stress. Next door to Bernard's shop is the Nifty Gifty gift shop run by Fran, probably the only friend Bernard has.

The humor is perhaps not to everybody's taste. I guess not everybody will understand and appreciate the sarcasm and surrealism in this series, but I loved it. I would give this series a 10/10 if we could vote on it.

I totally disagree with the other review. Black Books couldn't be funnier. It's one of a kind that takes on board other people's sense of humour, instead of sticking to the same dull and predictable jokes of programmes like Friends and Will & Grace. To say that it tries too hard to be funny, is unfeasible! Some of its most clever jokes almost go unnoticed, and without the aid of canned laughter! Whilst I am a fan of both, when I saw Black Books, I loved it! It's easy to empathise with the pessimistic Bernard, particularly if you're a similar type of person and to sympathies with the gradually stupider Manny. Everyone knows a Bernard or a Manny in their lives, which makes Black Books hilarious! Watch it!

Bernard Black runs his own bookshop even though he doesn't much like people who buy books and hates having customers. Next door to Bernard's shop is the Nifty Gifty gift shop run by Fran, probably Bernard's only friend in the world. When Bernard's accountant goes on the run Bernard employs stress victim, Manny to help in his shop. This leads to a series of surreal adventures around the shop.

This series (soon to return for a second series!) was poorly promoted by channel 4 (usually so good at getting great little comedies recognised - Spaced, Father Ted etc), and didn't get seen by anywhere near the audience it deserved. The storylines are always pretty wild - Manny absorbing the Little Book of Calm into his system in the first show - and never set in reality, ever. However they are never stupid because they are so wildly funny! The surreal adventures of Bernard and Manny are excellent - full of movie references, full of great dialogue and surreal action. As a sitcom it just sparkles with ideas, energy and imagination - for the first showing Ch 4 had it following Friends and it totally showed Friends up to be mass-produced, thoughtless entertainment. Sure, BB doesn't have the gloss of Friends and can feel a bit rough round the edges but you can't beat the fact that it feels fresh and new compared to all that gloss.

The chemistry between Bernard and Manny is great - even if their dialogue is mad at times. Bill Bailey is very funny doing stand-up and here he is really suited to Manny. Moran as Bernard is also great as the abusive drunk Irishman and is just so manically funny - not manic like Phoebe in Friends but manic like Jack in Father Ted. Tamsin Greig is also good as Fran, despite being a smaller character.

Overall this is a flagship for all that is good about channel 4 comedies - British, clever, imaginative, daring and very funny. Well done channel 4!