Spaced

Spaced is a British television situation comedy written by and starring Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson and directed by Edgar Wright[?]. It is notable for its almost constant dropping of pop-culture references. Two series of seven episodes have been broadcast (in autumn 1999 and spring 2001), and a third is planned for late 2003.

Spaced is concerned with the strange adventures of two twenty-somethings sharing a flat in London: Tim Bisley (Pegg), an aspiring comic book artist, and Daisy Steiner (Stevenson), an aspiring writer. In order to secure the (surprisingly cheap) lease of their flat they falsely tell landlady Marsha Klein (Julia Deakin) that they are a couple. Marsha, an aging divorcée rock chick[?], lives upstairs in a haze of cigarette smoke with her teenaged daughter and a regular supply of red wine. Also living in the house is conceptual artist Brian Topp (Mark Heap[?]); regular visitors are Tim's army-reject pal Mike Watt (Pegg's former real-life flatmate Nick Frost[?]) and Daisy's best friend Twist Morgan (Katy Carmichael[?]), who is "something in fashion". The regular cast is completed by Tim and Daisy's dog, Colin, and the characterful north London house known in the series as "23 Meteor Street".

References to popular culture - particularly but not exclusively to science fiction and horror films, comics and video games - abound in Spaced to the extent that the DVD of Series 2 includes the "Homage-o-meter", an alternative set of subtitles listing every reference and homage. The series is also noted for its regular references to recreational drug use, from its title onwards.

Spaced has a distinctive visual style set by director Edgar Wright and shot (unusually for a sitcom) with a single camera. In addition to borrowing liberally from the visual language of horror film, it has particular sylistic mannerisms like the recurring device of scene changes occurring in the middle of a pan. The series' atomsphere is also established by the use of a particular flavour of contemporary electronica on its soundtrack.

External Link

http://www.spaced-out.org.uk/