Perfect World (sitcom)
Encyclopedia
Perfect World is a television show that was first shown on BBC
television in the UK from February 25, 2000 to June 25, 2001. It is set around the life of Bob Slay, an obnoxious, lazy and amoral phony marketing executive for a leading toiletries company. Yet Bob has a swish office, an attractive girlfriend and is well regarded by his manager.
The television show was written by Mark Grant (who would later go on to write Star) and Mark Chapman who was a co-writer for the second series and provided additional material for the first series. Mark Chapman also directed the first series and produced both series with Nick Wood directing the second. The show's other producer was Lucy Robinson (who produced the first Dennis Pennis instalment and played the mayoress in The Thin Blue Line
) and had executive producers Danielle Lux (All About Me) and Charles Brand (The Comic Strip Presents...).
said in an interview regarding the series: "I've never really worked in an office but it was the way I imagined you'd keep sane - I mean an office is sort of like an extended playground, isn't it? So the guy does absolutely no work and the only way he can relieve the tedium is by behaving despicably and I think the whole office would actually be sad if he left because it would suddenly be all very mundane. I mean I'm sure that's the case in a lot of real offices - it's like on reality-TV shows, everyone quite likes the bad guy in the Big Brother house, really."
Tasche de Vasconcelos who plays Lauren in the first series said: "It's a great show, I'm just so proud to have been able to do it. It's brilliantly written". She later went on to describe Paul as "a wonderful actor and co-partner he was so professional".
This is a review of the first episode of series one: "The stylish opening to this new office-centered, six-part situation comedy introduces Bob Slay, the ultimate marketing man. Paul Kaye
(well known as spoof interviewer Dennis Pennis), stars as a slick and selfish operator with a saccharine tongue who occasionally justifies his behaviour in asides to the camera. His only real area of vulnerability is his parentage - he was abandoned as a baby. That makes him particularly nervous when he has to meet his gorgeous girlfriend Lauren's parents for the first time. The plotting is quite convoluted in this distinctly adults-only opener, but it has its moments. The best of them involve the marketing director, played by Michael Cochrane as a sex-mad monster who steals all the best lines. Even he confesses to being a little over-eager with Lauren's mother, played by Jan Harvey."
in 2000, and rated 18 probably due to Paul Kaye saying the word fuck
in the episode 'Love'. The video has been discontinued but a Region 2 DVD
box set containing both series one and two was due for release on 26 January 2009 by 2entertain, the joint venture by the BBC Worldwide
and Woolworths Group
. BBC Worldwide
own 60% of 2entertain, while Woolworths Group
own 40%. However, the release was affected by the collapse of Woolworths in the UK and legal arguments and challenges by the BBC Worldwide
over the ownership of the rights over the recordings owned by 2entertain following the demise of Woolworths Group
. The legal dispute centres on whether a licensing agreement between BBC Worldwide
and 2entertain lapsed when Woolworths Group
went into administration.
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
television in the UK from February 25, 2000 to June 25, 2001. It is set around the life of Bob Slay, an obnoxious, lazy and amoral phony marketing executive for a leading toiletries company. Yet Bob has a swish office, an attractive girlfriend and is well regarded by his manager.
The television show was written by Mark Grant (who would later go on to write Star) and Mark Chapman who was a co-writer for the second series and provided additional material for the first series. Mark Chapman also directed the first series and produced both series with Nick Wood directing the second. The show's other producer was Lucy Robinson (who produced the first Dennis Pennis instalment and played the mayoress in The Thin Blue Line
The Thin Blue Line
The Thin Blue Line is a colloquial term for police and police forces, designed by a police officer after seeing a blue light reflecting on a black marble wall during the first Official Police weeks in Washington DC...
) and had executive producers Danielle Lux (All About Me) and Charles Brand (The Comic Strip Presents...).
Cast
This was Paul Kaye's final appearance as a recurring cast member in a television series as of August 30, 2006 and was Derran Litten's (Vaughan) second recurring television appearance. The television show has been referred to many times as a sitcom that was only made off the success of the Dennis Pennis episodes made for BBC.- Paul KayePaul KayePaul Kaye is an English comedian and actor. He achieved notoriety in 1995 portraying the character of Dennis Pennis, a shock interviewer on The Sunday Show...
as Bob Slay - Derren LittenDerren LittenDerren Litten is a British comedy writer and actor. He is best known as the co-writer of the award-winning The Catherine Tate Show, for which he wrote and appeared as several different characters in the first two series and the 2005 Christmas Special...
as Vaughan Rogers - Nina WadiaNina Wadia-Television and film:Wadia first came to prominence in BBC sketch show Goodness Gracious Me, playing characters such as Mrs "I can make it at home for nothing!" and one half of The Competitive Mothers...
as Margaret (Maggie) Stone - Michael CochraneMichael CochraneMichael Cochrane is an English actor who specialises in playing upper class characters, sometimes with a suaveness that hides their villainy....
as Terrence Bentley (Marketing Director) - Tasha de VasconcelosTasha de VasconcelosSandra de Vasconcelos Mota e Cunha, aka or better known under the name, Tasha de Vasconcelos is a supermodel, actress and notable humanitarian.- Childhood :Sandra Tasha is born in Beira, in Mozambique, her family was forced to flee from 2 revolutions...
as Lauren - Dariel Pertwee as Briony
- Hannah Storey as Julia
Quotes and reviews
Paul KayePaul Kaye
Paul Kaye is an English comedian and actor. He achieved notoriety in 1995 portraying the character of Dennis Pennis, a shock interviewer on The Sunday Show...
said in an interview regarding the series: "I've never really worked in an office but it was the way I imagined you'd keep sane - I mean an office is sort of like an extended playground, isn't it? So the guy does absolutely no work and the only way he can relieve the tedium is by behaving despicably and I think the whole office would actually be sad if he left because it would suddenly be all very mundane. I mean I'm sure that's the case in a lot of real offices - it's like on reality-TV shows, everyone quite likes the bad guy in the Big Brother house, really."
Tasche de Vasconcelos who plays Lauren in the first series said: "It's a great show, I'm just so proud to have been able to do it. It's brilliantly written". She later went on to describe Paul as "a wonderful actor and co-partner he was so professional".
This is a review of the first episode of series one: "The stylish opening to this new office-centered, six-part situation comedy introduces Bob Slay, the ultimate marketing man. Paul Kaye
Paul Kaye
Paul Kaye is an English comedian and actor. He achieved notoriety in 1995 portraying the character of Dennis Pennis, a shock interviewer on The Sunday Show...
(well known as spoof interviewer Dennis Pennis), stars as a slick and selfish operator with a saccharine tongue who occasionally justifies his behaviour in asides to the camera. His only real area of vulnerability is his parentage - he was abandoned as a baby. That makes him particularly nervous when he has to meet his gorgeous girlfriend Lauren's parents for the first time. The plotting is quite convoluted in this distinctly adults-only opener, but it has its moments. The best of them involve the marketing director, played by Michael Cochrane as a sex-mad monster who steals all the best lines. Even he confesses to being a little over-eager with Lauren's mother, played by Jan Harvey."
Video and DVD Releases
Perfect World series one was released on VHSVHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
in 2000, and rated 18 probably due to Paul Kaye saying the word fuck
Fuck
"Fuck" is an English word that is generally considered obscene which, in its most literal meaning, refers to the act of sexual intercourse. By extension it may be used to negatively characterize anything that can be dismissed, disdained, defiled, or destroyed."Fuck" can be used as a verb, adverb,...
in the episode 'Love'. The video has been discontinued but a Region 2 DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
box set containing both series one and two was due for release on 26 January 2009 by 2entertain, the joint venture by the BBC Worldwide
BBC Worldwide
BBC Worldwide Limited is the wholly owned commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation, formed out of a restructuring of its predecessor BBC Enterprises in 1995. In the year to 31 March 2010 it made a profit of £145m on a turnover of £1.074bn. The company had made a profit of £106m...
and Woolworths Group
Woolworths Group
Woolworths Group plc was a listed British company that owned the high-street retail chain, Woolworths, as well as other brands such as the entertainment distributor Entertainment UK and book and resource distributor Bertram Books...
. BBC Worldwide
BBC Worldwide
BBC Worldwide Limited is the wholly owned commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation, formed out of a restructuring of its predecessor BBC Enterprises in 1995. In the year to 31 March 2010 it made a profit of £145m on a turnover of £1.074bn. The company had made a profit of £106m...
own 60% of 2entertain, while Woolworths Group
Woolworths Group
Woolworths Group plc was a listed British company that owned the high-street retail chain, Woolworths, as well as other brands such as the entertainment distributor Entertainment UK and book and resource distributor Bertram Books...
own 40%. However, the release was affected by the collapse of Woolworths in the UK and legal arguments and challenges by the BBC Worldwide
BBC Worldwide
BBC Worldwide Limited is the wholly owned commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation, formed out of a restructuring of its predecessor BBC Enterprises in 1995. In the year to 31 March 2010 it made a profit of £145m on a turnover of £1.074bn. The company had made a profit of £106m...
over the ownership of the rights over the recordings owned by 2entertain following the demise of Woolworths Group
Woolworths Group
Woolworths Group plc was a listed British company that owned the high-street retail chain, Woolworths, as well as other brands such as the entertainment distributor Entertainment UK and book and resource distributor Bertram Books...
. The legal dispute centres on whether a licensing agreement between BBC Worldwide
BBC Worldwide
BBC Worldwide Limited is the wholly owned commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation, formed out of a restructuring of its predecessor BBC Enterprises in 1995. In the year to 31 March 2010 it made a profit of £145m on a turnover of £1.074bn. The company had made a profit of £106m...
and 2entertain lapsed when Woolworths Group
Woolworths Group
Woolworths Group plc was a listed British company that owned the high-street retail chain, Woolworths, as well as other brands such as the entertainment distributor Entertainment UK and book and resource distributor Bertram Books...
went into administration.
First Season
- 1. Parents (25.02.2000): Confirmed bachelor Bob is to meet girlfriend Lauren’s parents. He does his best to alienate them which pleases Lauren because to her disgust, every other boyfriend has sucked up to them because they are billionaires. Finding this out, Bob now tries to get back in their good graces while staying friends with Lauren.
- 2. Deadline (03.03.2000): Vaughan has done his share of an important project given to him and Bob a month ago. Bon has not started his share, deciding to leave it to the morning of the day it is due. However, the Marketing Director wants it that morning. Vaughan is mad with fear that he will be sacked with Bob.
- 3. Tarquin (10.03.2000): Bob badly insults a woman who unknown to him is from Head Office and is to judge the staff at Gatehouse on their performance. He invents a twin brother, Tarquin who he intends to blame it all on.
- 4. Charity (17.03.2000): Marketing and Accounts keep raising the stakes on who will raise the most money for Charity Week. After Bob volunteers Vaughan for a Channel swim, Spencer (Accounts) tops this with a raffle for a new car so Bob raffles a home in the country that he does not have.
- 5. Money (24.03.2000): Bob owes Vaughan £200. All his credit cards are maxed out, the bank won’t give him any more money and he has promised Lauren dinner at a very expensive place. Maggie is planning to leave.
- 6. Love (31.03.2000): Vaughan splits up with Briony and is very depressed. Bob tries to make him feel better by telling him that Maggie is in love with him, and Vaughan is on top of the world. Unfortunately Maggie has no interest in Vaughan at all, so Bob has to try and get him and Briony back together again. Lauren leaves Bob.
Second Season
- 7. Revenge (14.05.2001): Maggie tells a chat room Romeo her secrets, but it turns out to be Bob. In revenge, she gets him drunk and makes it look like she has slept with him, then tells the whole office. Meanwhile the Marketing Director decides to try out homosexuality and pursues Vaughan after Bob tells him that he is gay.
- 8. Family Values (21.05.2001): An important client has come from Russia with his attractive daughter whom Bob fancies, but Maggie says she and Bob are married and that she is expecting. This backfires on her when her family from Bombay come to visit and Bob gets his own back.
- 9. Home (28.05.2001): Bob lives with girlfriends and is homeless after being kicked out by his latest. He boasts that he has a large apartment by the river (Thames). The Marketing Director has been kicked out too so Maggie suggests that he stay with Bob. Bob has to steal Vaughan’s keys to use a large apartment he is looking after for a relative.
- 10. Best Man (04.06.2001): Vaughan is getting married to girlfriend Briony and has chosen someone else to be best man, something Bob intends to remedy.
- 11. Fast Track (11.06.2001): Maggie is keeping a diary for a newspaper article. Meanwhile Bob has a lecherous eye on her new assistant and decides she should become his assistant.
- 12. Graduates (18.06.2001): Bob reveals that he has padded out his CV with a Double First (qualifications) from Oxford University. As the Marketing Director wants to encourage more graduates to join Gatehouse, Maggie suggests that Bob gives a talk to them at his old university, to which the DM agrees.
- 13. Mutiny (25.06.2001): Bob returns 3 weeks late from an Hawaiian holiday to find Vaughan has taken over his job and that he is now a junior. Vaughan who has taken an assertive course turns into a bit of a tyrant but Bob plans to bring him down to earth again and get sent to the upcoming Rio conference in his place.
External links
- IMDB article
- DVD Rights owner 2entertain http://www.2entertain.co.uk/
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/articles/p/perfectworld_66602780.shtml (NB: Site no longer available)
- http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/markets/article.html?in_article_id=491186&in_page_id=3