Coupling - The Complete Seasons 1-4

COUPLING:COLLECTION - DVD Movie

Indeed, this series does benefit from creator and sole writer Steven Moffat's comic voice and vision. Missing in action is the Kramer-esque Jeff (although he makes something of a return in the season finale). These inevitable comparisons to "Sein-Friends" are no doubt heresy to Coupling's most devoted viewers. The birth of Susan and Steven's baby ends the six-episode season on a satisfying and surprisingly moving grace note. Sex is still topic 1 for the intertwined group of "exes and best friends," but in this pivotal season there are momentous "relationship issues" that will upend all their lives (insert your own "upend" joke while you're at it). Chain reactions inevitably ensue, fuelling comedy that is based almost entirely on misunderstanding.

The third series of Coupling, first aired in 2002, takes fans into new realms of engaging surrealism. All things considered, this is superior comedy for all thirtysomethings--genuine and putative.

Series 4: Feel free to insert your own "four-play" joke, or for that matter, your own "insert" joke. He provides his ever-game cast some witty, funny-'cause-it's-true dialogue, as in Oliver's observation that "Tea isn't compatible with porn." This Britcom is also less inhibited in language and sexual situations than its American counterparts. Susan is pregnant, inspiring in Steve nightmares about his own execution and unflattering comparisons of the birth process to John Hurt's iconic gut-busting scene in Alien. The women analyze everything to death. But in the surreal stakes, it's Richard Coyle as Jeff, wondering aloud what happens to jelly after women have finished wrestling in it, and Gina Bellman as Jane, musing on the importance of a first snog in identifying what men like to eat, who really raise the laughter levels. In the cleverly-constructed opening episode, in which the same "9-1/2 Minutes" are witnessed from three different perspectives, Sally and Jane can do what was left to the imagination when Monica and Rachel offered to make out in front of Joey and Chandler. Coupling charts the tangled sex lives of a close-knit group comprising "exes and best friends": womanizer Jack, hapless nice guy Steve, "strange and disturbing" Jeff, uninhibited Susan, neurotic Sally, and manipulative Jane. Individual viewpoints and terrors are explored through respective memories of the same event and what-if scenarios. The men are constantly in pursuit of a basic grasp of the "emotional things" that make women behave the way they do. A bonus disc takes viewers behind the scenes with segments devoted to bloopers and interviews with cast and crew. The performances are as strong as you'd expect from an established team, with actors such as Jack Davenport, Ben Miles (unreconstructed chauvinist Patrick), Sarah Alexander, and Kate Isitt (neurotic Sally) wearing their roles like second skins. This witty, instantly addictive British series could also be called Chaps or Squelchy in the City. But thanks to Steve Moffat's scripts, tighter and quirkier than ever, these characters are living, breathing human beings rather than cynical ciphers for comedy stereotypes. Joining the ensemble is Oliver, who is more in the Chandler mode as a lovable loser with the ladies. Breasts, bottoms and pants are the basis for most of the conversational analysis when these friends get together as a group, as couples, as girlfriends, or as mates, invariably becoming metaphors for the state of a relationship or situation. But Coupling has its own fresh and provocative takes on relationships. The obvious frame of reference is Friends (Steve and Susan are the Ross-Rachel equivalent), but this series also echoes Seinfeld in its coinage of catch-phrases (although it's doubtful that "the boyfriend zone" will replace "master of your domain") and plotlines (in episode one, Steve tries to dump Jane, who refuses to accept). Coupling may inspire feelings of déjà-view. Its success is due to the magical combination of Moffat's very funny scripts and the talents of six extremely likable actors, including Jack Davenport (Steve) and Sarah Alexander (Susan). At one point, a furious Susan discovers that Patrick not only had a videotape of the former couple having sex, but that he also taped over her.

Steven Moffat's second season is a brilliant consolidation of all those neuroses, small deceits, obsessions, and personality tics that struck such a resonant chord when Steve, Susan, and their four friends were first unleashed on us. Comparisons with Friends itself are tiresome and lazy: Coupling is an intrinsically British comedy that picks apart the trivial and the mundane in everyday relationships and takes them on surreal journeys, leaving the participants hilariously bemused and rarely any wiser. But it's Richard Coyle's Jeff whose sexual fantasies exert a compelling fascination that will really keep you watching in disbelief.