The long anticpated arrival of the DVDs is upon us and hot from the BBC we have review copies of both discs, so has it been worth the wait? Well, yes and no. It is good to have them all together on DVD and any extra new (or rarely seen) material is always welcome to the die hard fan, but the quality of some of the material leaves a lot to be desired. Both DVDs contain two disc, one with the episodes from the first or second series, and the second disc in each set contains the additional material.

The first DVD contains the six series one episodes, with the usual bonus stuff, a commentary from John Howard Davies (producer and director of the first series) and a choice of subtitles in English, German, French or Dutch. The first negative aspect is the commentary, whilst what JHD has to say is very interesting, full of little snippets of trivia or behind the scenes knowledge, the way it has been done, with no soundtrack playing, means that in the gaps between commentary (which are sometimes quite lengthy) there is no audio but just video, great if you want to act along with the show, but makes the whole thing quite boring in between.

The second disc in the series one DVD contains the usual character profiles for staff and guest (short and not terribly informative), it also has the bonus of interviews with John Cleese (the first part) and Andrew Sachs, and a delightful Torquay Tourist Guide (presented by Robin Powell).

The interviews are quite interesting, the John Cleese interview appears to be the same one from the recent video release, and whilst the Andrew Sachs interview is new and good to watch, it is let down by some rather suspect camerawork and some fairly lame interviewing, who didn't realy seem to have much enthusiasm for the subject, or perhaps it was the editing. Regardless of this minor drawback, it is good to see Andrew Sachs talking about Manuel for the first time in many years.

The Torquay Tourist Guide mainly concerns itself with the story of Donald Sinclair the inspiration for Basil Fawlty, filmed on location in Torquay, it features interviews with local hotel owners and people who knew and worked with Donald Sinclair, including the present owner of Gleneagles Hotel who is quite proud of the hotel's famous connection with the series.

The second DVD does much the same for the second series, it has another commentary, this time from Bob Spiers (director of the second series), which suffers from the same silences as the first DVD. The second disc also has a selection of guest and staff profiles (this time including Brian Hall as Terry the chef) with the added attractions of the rest of the John Cleese interview and a new interview with Prunella Scales, and a selection of out-takes and a "Cheap Tatty Review".

The out-takes are quite funny, although not funny as the laughter track suggests, and many of them seen before on the BBC video 'Aunties Bloomers'. The "Cheap Tatty Review" is a piece of linking material done by John Cleese presumably at the time of the BBC strike, when the filming was cancelled.

The without doubt the highlight of the second disc of the series two DVD and indeed of the complete set, is to be found by clicking on the picture frame in the menu page of the second disc. It contains film of the hotel after the fire which left it in ruins, and ends with a shot of the building of the new housing estate and the quote from The Builders, "Polly! What have you done with my hotel?"

All in all, it is quite a nice collection of new material, sometimes let down by low standards, or perhaps it is just that we as Fawlty Towers fans demand higher standards from our material, as we have come to expect from Fawlty Towers itself. Minor problems aside it is well worth the money, especially in light of the fact that as a true Fawlty Towers fan, your video tapes are probably getting worn out by now.