Product Description

The foul tempered and wildly eccentric bookshop owner Bernard Black (Dylan Moran) is back for a third season. Black Books concerns the musings, doings and time-frittering techniques of raddled proprietor Bernard Black (Dylan Moran), his shy, multi-challenged assistant, Manny Bianco (Bill Bailey) and their under achieving friend, Fran Katzenjammer (Tamsin Greig). This dubious trio form a family of sorts to protect each other from the realities of modern London, but nothing can protect them from each other.

DVD Features:
Deleted Scenes
Other
Outtakes
Photo gallery

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #25314 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2007-11-13
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 147 minutes

Amazon.com
The lovably misanthropic Britcom Black Books wrings its laughs out of characters as cynical and crabby as they come. The third series continues to follow the adventures, such as they are, of Bernard Black (Dylan Moran), a bilious bookstore owner who dislikes books and dislikes customers more. The deep-black comedy of the series is built on satire and sarcasm (Moran created the series and is also its chief writer), and no depth is too low to go.

In "Manny Comes Home," Black Books' sole employee, the clueless aging hippie Manny, finally has had enough of Bernard's unappreciation, and takes a job at the swanky Goliath Books next door. The episode gets as many chuckles for Manny's fish-out-of-water experience (honestly, Black Books is the only place he can work, probably in all of the British Isles) as for Bernard's flailing and resentment without him. "Up he goes with that little wiggle of his," Bernard sneers as he spies on Manny shelving Gotham books on a ladder, "the wiggle of Judas!" Meanwhile, the sight gags of the deplorable conditions of both Bernard and the shop (mushrooms growing in Bernard's hair; mollusks on a drink glass) are good for that singularly pleasurable combination of cringing and belly-laughing.

The extras include deleted scenes (the cat who plays Mr. Benson is a true rising star); a moody black-and-white short called "Bernard's Letter," in which Bernard composes a snarky response to a manuscript rejection; and loads of great deleted scenes, showing that the cast has as much fun on the set as the viewer does watching them. --A.T. Hurley

Customer Reviews

Sublime Comedy
This third series is as good the first two series if not better.
The opening episode is one of the best of all. A competitor bookshop 'Goliath Books' has opened next door and Manny (Bill Bailey) is now working there. He left 'Black Books' after his hand was burnt by Bernard. Simon Pegg plays the Manager of Goliath books and really adds another dimension to the show. Shame he couldn't have done more. This episode is absolutely brilliant and I must have watched 8 or 9 time now.

The episode 'Moo-Ma and Moo-Pa' contains perhaps the most surreal moment of the entire series when Bernard and Fran go a under a dinner table in a restaurant to pick up a piece of cutlery and there is a whole bar under the table! In case you hadn't worked it out Moo-Ma and Moo-Pa are Manny's parents who come down to visit, much to Bernards disgust.

Sadly there is no commentary on the series 3 disc. The commentaries on series 1 & 2 were almost as good as the shows themselves. However the out-takes and deleted scenes are good, and as whole the DVD easily merits 5 stars.

not as good as the other 2.
Sadly, it is the last season of Black Books available. Sadder still, it was also the worst of the 3. The shop seemed uncharacteristically clean..... The characters too seemed tamed and eager to finish up the show. The writing was a bit too lagged and the comedy just wasn't the same. Worth a watch, but maybe better to watch in reverse succession.

Great ending to the series!
I love Black Books! My gf got me into this BBC Comedy series. Wonderful episode with Simon Pegg from Shaun of the dead! Probably my favorite one!