DVD Review: Sarah Millican Live - Thoroughly Modern Millican

As the marketing spiel for this DVD helpfully reminds us, it's been quite a year for South Shields comic Sarah Millican. This time in 2011 she released her first DVD, Chatterbox Live, which quickly became the best-selling British DVD from a female comedian with an astonishing 150,000 copies sold in the first month alone. By public vote she was crowned Queen of Comedy at the British Comedy Awards in December 2011, and in March this year, Sarah launched her own stand-up series on BBC Two, The Sarah Millican Television Programme - a second run of which starts early next year.

Amidst that popular success, and testament to her widespread appeal, Sarah has spent close to 18 months touring Thoroughly Modern Millican the length and breadth of the country, often playing to sold-out audiences. And so, for such a successful production, comes the inevitable DVD release.

In case any one of her myriad of television and radio fans are still unaware, it becomes clear quite quickly that Sarah's mouth can be as filthy as her mind; unlike the Television Programme, for example, this show is definitely not suitable for whole family viewing. The tone is set before she even opens her mouth, with a cheeky - and perhaps slightly nervous - giggle at the audience's warm response to her presence.

Aside from a few extra 'blue' words and frankness, the rest of the show is very much the Sarah you'll know from the telly: self-deprecating and realistic in revealing the life of a modern woman. It's true that the crux of her topics - food, sex and relationships - are often stereotyped as 'female comedian material', but there's certainly nothing predictable or stereotypical about Millican's brutally honest approach, nor is there the tired undercurrent message of "I hate men", as is the case with certain other performers.

One of the real highlights of a Millican performance is not the prepared routine, but her seemingly effortless charm, sharp wit and instinct as she interacts with the audience, making each show truly unique and often bursting into joyous laughter herself. She has a finely attuned ear for a great comedy story, and knows exactly where to push for more detail, and when to move on, and back onto the script. And so is the case with Thoroughly Modern Millican. There is no reliance on the audience for material, but at the top of her craft, Sarah knows exactly how to use every item at her disposal with very funny results.

The DVD's bonus features are a curious mix: there's Sarah's 15 minute 2011 Comic Fringes radio play Stairlift Us Up Where We Belong, and the first episode of the Radio 2 series that her Television Programme is loosely inspired by, 2010's sketch and stand-up crossover, Sarah Millican's Support Group, plus an interview and a sketch dubbed 'Diva Sarah'.

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