What do you get when you mix together two small-time crooks with one woman who loves them both? Theoretically, you get "a flat full of fun," though in this case fun is in the eye of the beholder. Thick as Thieves, an eight-episode comedy series that ran on British television in 1974, sets up the premise as George (Bob Hoskins) gets out of prison to find that his loving wife Annie (Pat Ashton) has hooked up with his best friend Stanley (John Thaw). The problem (from George's perspective) is that Annie has taken seriously the progressive ideas she's been reading in the newspaper while he's been in prison, and she doesn't want to choose between them... so a threesome they remain, but an uneasy one.

I've never been able to put my finger on what people really mean when they talk about "British comedy" as a specific genre; the closest I've come is that it's probably a way to label the combination of dry humor and off-the-wall wackiness that we see in programs like Monty Python, Red Dwarf, or Mapp & Lucia. What does "British comedy" mean when it's applied to something like Thick as Thieves? The humor in Thick as Thieves is about as ordinary as it comes, so in this case, all it really means is "comedy made in Britain."

What I mean by labeling the humor "ordinary" is that it's based on that tired old comedy stand-by situation: people at odds with each other, thrown into a situation together. Somewhere out there, there must be people who find continual bickering and shouting amongst other people to be the height of humor; how else to explain the countless comedies that try to draw laughs from the characters sniping at each other unpleasantly? Thick as Thieves has its share of jokes that draw on the absurdity of the situation, but it relies mostly on the antagonism between George and Stanley. I quickly grew tired of hearing them argue with each other; it just didn't spark a single bit of laughter in me.

The eight 24-minute episodes are each self-contained stories, but as is typical with British series, there is continuity from one episode to the next. Events that happen in one episode may have results in the next, even if the main thread of that episode is wrapped up. Though I personally just didn't enjoy the stories of Thick as Thieves, this technique of having a continuing storyline through the comedy does make for a more interesting story, with more opportunities for plot and character development, than the more typical U.S. sitcom style.

The one interesting part of Thick as Thieves for me was seeing Bob Hoskins in an early role. Followers of British television will also enjoy seeing John Thaw opposite Hoskins, playing a comic criminal rather than his later, more famous serious detective characters.

The DVD

Thick as Thieves is a two-disc set, packaged in two keepcases enclosed in a paper slipcase.

Video

This 1974 series looks very much like it's been rattling around in someone's dustbin (that's British for trash can) for the years between its television run and its transfer onto DVD. In addition to a rather faded, sad look overall, there's edge enhancement, odd skin tones (sometimes too pale, sometimes too reddish), and color bleeding. Occasionally we also get wavery lines across the screen... as if the transfer were straight from a VHS source. I've seen worse transfers, but fans of the show will be disappointed in the quality.

The episodes are presented in their original 1.33:1 aspect ratio.

Audio

The Dolby 2.0 track scrapes along at a notch below average here. There are no obvious problems with the sound (no background noise or distortion, for instance), but it does have a muffled quality to it overall that makes it often difficult to make out the dialogue.

The laugh track is incorporated into the soundtrack and can't  be turned off; fortunately, it doesn't usually overlap the dialogue.

Extras

Cast filmographies are included on the first disc.

The menus look straightforward, but they're actually a little tricky. There are four episodes on each disc, but on the first pass navigating through, I could only find the first two on each DVD. As it turns out, the episode selection screen shows the first two episodes on one page, and to access the next page you have to click on a tiny arrow that's next to the "main menu" button (and, in fact, looks like it's part of the "main menu" button).

Final thoughts

Every show has its fans, and Thick as Thieves must have a certain fan base or it wouldn't have been brought to DVD, but I have to admit that I'm just not one of them, as I found it utterly unfunny. For that reason, I'm going to recommend skipping this one. Those viewers who are already fans of the show will have a tough call on whether to buy it or not; the image and sound quality are fairly poor, but it's also likely to be the only release that this show ever gets.