Bernard Black (Dylan Moran) hates his job, his life, and his friends. In fact, there's not much Bernard doesn't hate, except for a glass of red wine and the chance to torment his coworker Mani (Bill Bailey). Bernard runs Black Books, a dusty secondhand bookstore whose customers he loathes; Mani is employed in the first episode to help Bernard relinquish himself of the interminable duties that clutter up his day. Fran (Tamsyn Grieg) works in a new age shop next door and frequently pops in for a glass of wine and a chat. This first series of the show provides six half-hour episodes that deserve to rub shoulders with the very best U.K. sitcoms to have emerged over the years. Moran and Bailey make a great double act, delivering the tightly written script (by Moran and FATHER TED co-writer Graham Linehan) with consummate ease, while Grieg does an admirable job of diffusing the tensions that rise between Bernard and Mani. Three series' of the show were shot, but this is the best of the lot, and a great place to witness some of the U.K.'s finest comic talents.