Posted on: June 13, 2011 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

I am pretty surprised that I missed out on Party Animals when it first aired, on BBC Two in 2007. The show, which featured Matt Smith, Andrew Buchan and Shelley Conn, was only greenlit for the course of one season. However, BFS Entertainment has found it and has given it a new lease on life with this DVD set release. Party Animals showcases the sometimes hard to believe lives of members of the United Kingdom parliament, lobbyists, researchers, and the like.

Party Animals is a compelling show as it showcases how individuals that represent us act just like us. The show’s title may point toward a more drunk and drugs type of comparison, but it is truly the tooth and nail fighting between (and inside of) the parties in the United Kingdom’s situation that rings true to me. The cutthroat actions taken by practically everyone on camera in Party Animals showcases a certain baseness to humanity but may ultimately be the reason why the show only made it one season.

The narrative here does not try to make a more rosy retelling of reality, and very few of the characters seem to be looking out for anyone else but themselves. However, this does not and should not decrease the amount of enjoyment that individuals have in watching the show. Party Animals does have a spot-on way of telling viewers how the system is, and actions taken by the characters parallel quite well what was happening in the real United Kingdom at the time. The show may only be a few years old, but BFS has done a great job in ensuring that it has a second life outside of its original airing.

Rating: 8.0/10

Party Animals (DVD Set) / 2011 BFS Entertainment / 380 Minutes / http://www.bfsent.com

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