Bernard Black runs a book shop, though his customer service skills leave something to be desired. He hires Manny as an employee. Fran runs the shop next door. Between the three of them many adventures ensue.Brilliantly funny. Over-the-top humour with some clever plots and biting dialogue.Good work by Dylan Moran, Bill Bailey and Tamsin Greig as Bernard, Manny and Fran, respectively.

Black Books is another fine example of just how good British comedy can be. This sitcom is set in a book shop and has 3 main characters. Bernard who is the owner, he is very sarcastic and doesn't like having customers in the shop; he will do anything possible to get rid of them. Then there is his assistant Manny who will do what ever Bernard says. Lastly there is Fran who is always drinking wine and trying to find a relationship.These 3 characters all compliment each other well and provide the audience with plenty of laughs. Some of the stuff they go through is hilarious as well as something that most can relate to. I would say it's a mix between Bottom and The IT Crowd.The 1st and 2nd series where extremely funny and it felt like it was a laugh a minute. The 3rd series was also very good apart from 1 or 2 episodes which didn't quite hit the spot for the entire episode. One of my favourite scenes is Manny making toast in the bath! Overall it is a great comedy series with 3 lovable characters who all add something to the show. You can buy all 3 series on DVD for a cheap price so I would highly recommend.10/10.

Brilliantly eccentric British comedy focusing on the antics of three so-called friends in London.Bernard Black is a book shop owner, a man so riddled with neurosis and hatred of humanity that he is utterly incapable of functioning in day to day life. Constantly angered by the presence of customers in his shop - he simply can't understand why they keep on bothering him for books, even though he chooses to run a bookshop - he is kept in check by the ministrations of his only friend Fran, and his single employee Manny, played with relish by the wonderful BIll Bailey.Surreal plot lines, acid fuelled humour and a great chemistry between the three leads adds up to a comedic master piece.Seldom does visual comedy make me so much as smile, but this show even manages that, with wonderfully bizarre visual gags to compliment the viciously sharp scripts.The series takes a slight dip in series 3, although this is only down to the relentlessly high standards set by the first two, and I for one am glad that they put it out of its misery before its reputation was tarnished.A fantastic addition to the comedy canon, highly recommend to fans of such fare as Blackadder and Peep Show.Enjoy.

That a sitcom which has been off the air for 6 years has now reached an almost Young Ones level of cult status isn't surprising when considering the talents of those involved. A who's who of contemporary British comedians had their chance to be yelled at by Bernard Black. The first episode featured a pre-Office Martin Freeman, and was penned by Father Ted writer Graham Linehan. Like both Ted and Fawlty Towers, the characters each have somewhat of a pathetic past, and fleshed out back stories which make them both sympathetic and identifiable over the three series arc. Gen-X sub-intellectuals who can't survive in the "real" world, and instead occupy a surrealist alternative Ren & Stimpy universe.The core cast of course have(had) a wealth of brilliant stand-up to build from. Dylan Moran had spent years morphing from the overgrown Harry Potter of his earlier stand-up career, into the bedraggled failed poet whom only wears suits, and drinks the finest of wines while chain-smoking 400 cigarettes a pop. As a book store owner who hates his customers he delivers each line as if he is a disgruntled, brunt out English professor who's hit the bottle after a failed marriage. Alternating to a poetic disgust with the modern world. You can FEEL every cigarette, every glass of wine dousing his blackened lungs. In an hilarious scene from the second season, he removes all the CDs Manny has packed for their holiday and replaces them with 12 inch vinyl LPs and a record player. In an evening out he decides to go to the movies, and after buying his drink and popcorn says to the gormless cashier "Excuse me, I only bought a drink and popcorn, but seem to have spent all of my money". When told "That's how much it costs" he remonstrates like a elderly man not accustomed to the times, with "Why? Does it produce some kind of euphoric high, or something?" Later that evening he tries to barter his belt for fast-food to the same blank cashier. When that fails he takes a job there, and we are treated to the indescribable sight of Bernard in a fast-food uniform. The look of disgust a misery is priceless.Bill Bailey has gone on to greater heights with his stand-up, but as Manny Bianco he will always be fondly remembered. Despite being the more active and sociable of the misanthropic trio, his naïve innocence hinders him from being able to take care of himself. Becoming a male prostitute on his first day away from "home", and reading aloud from the SAS handbook when locked inside the shop - leading him to devour Bernard's collection of dead bees. He is more than simpleton fodder, he is the key protagonist, and an excellent abusive plaything for Bernard. "Part man, part Fu-Manchu, all BASTARD".While Green Wing proved that Tamsin Greig only really has one setting, Fran (Enid) Katzenjammer is the perfect female counterpart to Black. And despite being the weakest link, her presence on screen is never unwelcome.Yes, some of the jokes are weak. And no, canned laughter is never acceptable. But Black Books reaches well beyond all s(h)itcom clichés through cartoonish surrealism. Bernard literally standing horizontally on a wall to illustrate an illness, and proclaiming in a convincingly wretched whimper "I feel like I'm being beaten up under water. I can feel bits of my brain falling away like a wet cake". While the first two DVDs feature audio commentaries which are as entertaining as the show itself, it seems none of the cast really had faith in the third series and thus didn't bother. The first episode of which does feature a choice performance from Simon Pegg, so t'is not a complete write-off.Black Books was a subversive and entirely quotable series which ended at the perfect time. "Pacman. It's pronounced Pacman."