CS Weekly Archive > DVD > 6/06/08

Outlasting the Occupation

by jason davis

'Allo 'Allo: The Complete Series Eight

Jeremy Lloyd & Paul Adam

In the tradition of M*A*S*H, ‘Allo, ‘Allo outlasted the war it portrayed as it entered its eighth season under the guidance of co-creator Jeremy Lloyd and his new writing partner Paul Adam.  As café owner René Artois  (Gorden Kaye) explains in his increasingly complicated recap of the show’s ongoing plots, it’s now 1943, two years since the previous season, and the war in Europe is coming to an end, with the Allied invasion imminent.  With the Third Reich crumbling, the Nazis plot to secure a safe escape from occupied France, the various French resistance factions cook up more ludicrous schemes, and Ren&eacute must hide the fact that he’s impregnated his waitress Yvette (Vicki Michelle) from his wife Edith (Carmen Silvera).   Lloyd and Adam keep all their comedic balls in the air for a six-episode season that juggles the increasingly hard-to-acquire priceless painting of “the Fallen Madonna With the Big Boobies,” a plot to assassinate Hitler, and Yvette’s pregnancy alongside all the show’s well-worn catchphrases, questionable accents, and double entendres.  The documentary Comedy Connections traces the careers of creators Lloyd and David Croft, highlighting the shows on which they honed their craft.

'Allo 'Allo: The Complete Series Eight
BBC Video

Not rated; 248 min.

$34.98

Buy it now

Jason Davis has been the DVD Manager for CS Weekly, a contributing editor for Creative Screenwriting Magazine, and has written for Cinescape.com, MSN.com, and created the TV series Studio 13, which ran on Lorne Michaels' Burly TV network. He lives in the small space left over by his ever-expanding library of books, movies, and music.

'Allo 'Allo: The Complete Series Eight courtesy BBC Video

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