Spaced
Encyclopedia
Spaced is a British television sitcom written by and starring Simon Pegg
Simon Pegg
Simon Pegg is an English actor, comedian, writer, film producer, and director. He is best known for having co-written and stared in various Edgar Wright features, mainly Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and the comedy series Spaced.He also portrayed Montgomery "Scotty" Scott in the 2009 Star Trek film...

 and Jessica Stevenson, and directed by Edgar Wright
Edgar Wright
Edgar Howard Wright is an English film and television director and writer. He is most famous for his work with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost on the films Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, the TV series Spaced, and for directing the film Scott Pilgrim vs...

. It is noted for its rapid-fire editing, frequent pop culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...

 references and jokes, eclectic music, and occasional displays of surrealism
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....

 and non-sequitur humour. Two series of seven episodes each were broadcast in 1999 and 2001 on Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...

, and were re-aired early in 2011 on both More4
More4
More4 is a digital television channel, run by British broadcaster Channel 4, that launched on 10 October 2005. It is carried on Freeview, on satellite broadcasters Freesat and Sky, UK IPTV broadcaster TalkTalk TV and on UK cable network Virgin Media and in the Republic of Ireland cable networks...

 and Dave. Both series can also currently be viewed in the United Kingdom on 4oD
4oD
4oD is a video on demand service from Channel 4. Launched in November 2006, 4oD stands for "4 on Demand". The service offers a variety of programmes recently shown on Channel 4, E4, More4 or from their archives...

 and in the United States on Hulu
Hulu
Hulu is a website and over-the-top subscription service offering ad-supported on-demand streaming video of TV shows, movies, webisodes and other new media, trailers, clips, and behind-the-scenes footage from NBC, Fox, ABC, and Obstacle on October 20th 2011 Nickelodeon and CBS and many other...

.

Plot

Tim Bisley (Pegg) and Daisy Steiner (Stevenson) are two London twenty-somethings who meet by chance in a café while both are flat
Apartment
An apartment or flat is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building...

-hunting. Despite barely knowing each other, they conspire to pose as a young professional couple in order to meet the requisites of an advertisement for a relatively cheap flat in the distinctive building at 23 Meteor Street, Tufnell Park
Tufnell Park
Tufnell Park is an area of north London, England which straddles the border of the London Borough of Islington and the London Borough of Camden.-Origins:...

, which is owned by and also houses the landlady, Marsha Klein (Julia Deakin
Julia Deakin
-Work:On television, Deakin played Stella Tulley in Side by Side and Marsha, the ageing but lovely divorcée landlady, in the British sitcom Spaced ....

). Also in the building is Brian Topp (Mark Heap
Mark Heap
Mark Heap is an English actor. He began his acting career in the 1980s as a member of the Medieval Players, a touring company performing medieval and early modern theatre, and featuring stilt-walking, juggling and puppetry...

), an eccentric conceptual artist who lives and works on his various pieces in the ground floor flat. Frequent visitors are Tim's best friend, Mike Watt (Nick Frost
Nick Frost
Nicholas John "Nick" Frost is an English actor, comedian and screenwriter. He is best known for his work with Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg in the role of Mike Watt in the television comedy Spaced, as well as the film characters Ed in Shaun of the Dead, PC/Sgt...

), who ends up becoming a lodger after Marsha's daughter Amber Weary "flies the nest", and Daisy's best friend, Twist Morgan (Katy Carmichael
Katy Carmichael
Katy Carmichael is an English actress and a professional entertainer. She has been on stage many times in Liverpool, but is most notably recognised for her role of Lucy Barlow/Richards in the ITV soap Coronation Street, Twist Morgan in the Channel 4 sitcom Spaced and Melissa Ryan in Waterloo...

).

The series largely concerns the colourful and surrealistic adventures of Tim and Daisy as they navigate through life, decide on what they want to do with their lives, come to terms with affairs of the heart, and try to figure out new and largely unproductive ways of killing time. Tim and Daisy repeatedly stress that they are not a couple to everyone but Marsha, but despite (or because of) this, romantic tension develops between them, particularly during the second series.

Main characters

  • Tim Bisley (Pegg): Tim, often seen with his skateboard, his chocolate-coloured beanie
    Beanie
    A beanie is a head-hugging brimless cap with or without a visor that was once popular among school boys.-Description:In the United States of America, beanies are made by triangular sections of cloth joined by a button at the crown and seamed together around the sides.They can also be made from...

    , or his PlayStation
    PlayStation
    The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...

     controller, is an aspiring comic book
    Comic book
    A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...

     artist (his surname is an homage to real life comic artist Simon Bisley
    Simon Bisley
    Simon Bisley is a British comics artist best known for his 1990s work on ABC Warriors, Lobo and Sláine. His style, reliant on paints, acrylics, inks and multiple-mediums, is strongly influenced by Frank Frazetta, Bill Sienkiewicz, Gustav Klimt, Salvador Dalí, Egon Schiele, and Richard Corben...

    ), amateur skateboarder, and passionate follower of cult fiction
    Cult Fiction
    -Personel:* Matt Beck - guitar* Chris Raines - drums* Jon Spencer - vocals* Dan Tulloh - guitar...

     in many forms, including video games, science fiction
    Science fiction
    Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

    , and especially — at least initially — the original Star Wars
    Star Wars
    Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...

    trilogy. He is a rather grumpy and short-tempered soul, quick to irritation at the slightest provocation, mostly because his girlfriend, Sarah (Anna Wilson-Jones
    Anna Wilson-Jones
    Anna Wilson-Jones is a British actress. She is probably best known for her role as Juliet Miller in Hotel Babylon.-Background:...

    ), broke his heart and dumped him after an affair with Tim's friend, Duane Benzie (Peter Serafinowicz
    Peter Serafinowicz
    Peter Szymon Serafinowicz is an English actor, comedian, writer, composer, voice artist and occasional director.-Early life:Serafinowicz was born in Liverpool, England. He attended Our Lady of the Assumption Roman Catholic Primary School and St Francis Xavier Secondary School...

    ). He is currently writing and illustrating a graphic novel
    Graphic novel
    A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...

     about an orphaned boy who has been inadvertently transformed into a giant mutant bear by an "oxypheromalkahyde" steroid created by the experiments of the crazed Doktor Mandrake, who now is trying to find this bear so that he can replicate the results. Tim has not actually tried selling his work, because he is afraid that people will laugh at both it and him, as shown by flashbacks in-show of an evil-looking man (who is later found to be Damien Knox, editor of Darkstar Comics) laughing at Tim's work. A traumatic incident in his childhood when attempting to cure a fear of dogs
    Fear of dogs
    Cynophobia is the abnormal fear of dogs. Cynophobia is classified as a specific phobia, under the subtype "animal phobias". According to Dr. Timothy O. Rentz of the Laboratory for the Study of Anxiety Disorders at the University of Texas, animal phobias are among the most common of the specific...

     merely left him terrified of dog
    Dog
    The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...

    s, lightning
    Lightning
    Lightning is an atmospheric electrostatic discharge accompanied by thunder, which typically occurs during thunderstorms, and sometimes during volcanic eruptions or dust storms...

    , and bamboo
    Bamboo
    Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....

     instead. He initially works as an assistant manager at a comic book shop, Fantasy Bazaar, alongside its manager-owner, Bilbo Bagshot (Bill Bailey
    Bill Bailey
    Bill Bailey is an English comedian, musician and actor. As well as his extensive stand-up work, Bailey is well known for his appearances on Black Books, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Have I Got News for You, and QI.Bailey was listed by The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy in...

    ). In the second series, he lands his dream job as a graphic artist at Dark Star Comics. Tim consistently demonstrates more of a work ethic
    Work ethic
    Work ethic is a set of values based on hard work and diligence. It is also a belief in the moral benefit of work and its ability to enhance character. An example would be the Protestant work ethic...

     than Daisy, although his adverse reaction to Twiglets
    Twiglets
    Twiglets are a wheat-based crisp snack shaped like small twigs, originating in the United Kingdom. The taste of Twiglets has been compared to Marmite.- Manufacture and marketing :...

     makes him violent.


  • Daisy Steiner (Stevenson): Daisy is an aspiring writer, although she tends to spend most of her time actively avoiding doing any writing – or any other actual work for that matter. Whereas Tim is often grouchy and sour, Daisy is sunny, enthusiastic and cheerful, and at times overwhelmingly so. She can also be aggressive and confrontational at times, as demonstrated when she joined an employment agency
    Employment agency
    An employment agency is an organization which matches employers to employees. In all developed countries there is a publicly funded employment agency and multiple private businesses which also act as employment agencies.-Public employment agencies:...

     only to lose most of the jobs she was assigned through her negative attitudes (including snapping "Fuck you!" to customers when presented with reasonable requests). She considers herself to be quite intellectual, even though she only graduated from Kingston University
    Kingston University
    Kingston University is a public research university located in Kingston upon Thames, southwest London, United Kingdom. It was originally founded in 1899 as Kingston Technical Institute, a polytechnic, and became a university in 1992....

     with a third class degree in Humanities. She has a tendency to babble in conversation, making social interactions rather more difficult to navigate than they necessarily have to be. She also has a tendency to interfere in other people's problems or lives as a way of avoiding focusing on her work or her own problems. Daisy bestows most of her love in a shockingly high pitch upon her dog Colin, a miniature schnauzer
    Miniature Schnauzer
    The Miniature Schnauzer is a breed of small dog of the Schnauzer type that originated in Germany in the mid-to-late 19th century. Miniature Schnauzers developed from crosses between the Standard Schnauzer and one or more smaller breeds such as the Poodle and Affenpinscher.The breed remains one of...

    , whom she rescues from being put down. (Colin grows upon everyone, so much so that they rescue him from a dognapping; Tim jokingly refers to him as his and Daisy's "baby" in the second series premiere.) Daisy also possesses an innate knack for martial arts
    Martial arts
    Martial arts are extensive systems of codified practices and traditions of combat, practiced for a variety of reasons, including self-defense, competition, physical health and fitness, as well as mental and spiritual development....

    , although this is seldom called into use. Her greatest desire was to go to India
    India
    India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

     and see the Taj Mahal
    Taj Mahal
    The Taj Mahal is a white Marble mausoleum located in Agra, India. It was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal...

    , a goal which she accomplished between series one and two after having actually published some articles for a change (her trip was also aided by inheritance money from her deceased aunt).

  • Marsha Klein (Deakin): Marsha, the permanently sozzled
    Drunkenness
    Alcohol intoxication is a physiological state that occurs when a person has a high level of ethanol in his or her blood....

     landlady, is never seen without a lit cigarette in one hand, and a glass of red wine in the other. Once a promising young athlete, she retired from athletics after receiving a leg injury and became a groupie
    Groupie
    A groupie is a person who seeks emotional and sexual intimacy with a musician or other celebrity. "Groupie" is derived from group in reference to a musical group, but the word is also used in a more general sense, especially in casual conversation....

     instead, resulting in several marriages that ended bitterly and a teenage daughter, Amber Weary, with whom she is near-constantly arguing. She passionately lusts after neighbour Brian, an attraction which stems from a hazy, torrid incident in the past where rent negotiations became somewhat more sensual than usual as a result of Brian's sheer poverty. She is utterly delighted to have new, young friends, which is slightly awkward, as she is the only one who does not know that Tim and Daisy are not actually a couple.

  • Brian Topp (Heap): The lodger in the flat below Tim and Daisy's, Brian is a rather bizarre and somewhat angst-ridden and pretentious artist. Quietly spoken and intense, Brian gives the impression of being almost psychotic and sociopathic; in fact, he is just very shy and timid. His main artistic drives are anger, pain, fear and aggression, and his art is, according to him, 'a bit more complex' than watercolours. Both his artistic drives and his social maladjustment can be traced to the death of his childhood pet dog Pom Pom, run over by a truck when playing with Brian (who used to dress him up in period costumes and photograph him). He frequently behaves in a tormented fashion, particularly when Marsha is lusting after him. He is in love with Twist, and embarked on a torrid relationship with her before they broke up towards the end of series two. Despite this, his sexuality is quite complex and frequently alluded to throughout the series, as he seems quite undecided at times. When directly asked if he is gay he replies that he is not, but in a manner that suggests he thinks he ought to be. At the start of the first series, he has a strong dislike of contemporary art
    Contemporary art
    Contemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced...

    , but is quite talented in its use, and by the end of the second series he overcomes his disregard and proudly displays his abstract
    Abstract art
    Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th century, underpinned by the logic of perspective and an...

     portrait of Twist in public. The character of Brian was originally written for Julian Barratt
    Julian Barratt
    Julian Barratt is an English comedian, musician, music producer and actor. Barratt is best known for playing the character of Howard Moon in the cult comedy The Mighty Boosh, which he also co-writes with comedy partner, Noel Fielding.-The Mighty Boosh:Barratt stars as the character Howard Moon...

    , who had previously worked with Wright, Pegg, and Stevenson in their previous series, Asylum
    Asylum (TV series)
    Asylum is a British comedy series which was shown on Paramount Comedy Channel in 1996. Set in a mental asylum, it ran for one series of six episodes. Unlike traditional sitcoms or comedy television shows, it was to some extent an opportunity for stand-up routines by various comedians, mixed with an...

    . Barratt was unable to play the role so Mark Heap was cast instead.

  • Mike Watt (Frost): Mike is Tim's best friend. He wishes dearly that he could join the British Army
    British Army
    The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

    , but unfortunately is ineligible owing to the detached retinas he received following a painful childhood accident when jumping from a tree after being egged on by Tim, and as such, must console himself with membership in the Territorial Army instead. Mike had been thrown out of the TA because he stole a chieftain tank
    Chieftain tank
    The FV 4201 Chieftain was the main battle tank of the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s. It was one of the most advanced tanks of its era, and at the time of its introduction in 1966 had the most powerful main gun and heaviest armour of any tank in the world...

     and tried to invade Paris
    Paris
    Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

     with it while on weekend manoeuvres in France. At a re-admission hearing, it is revealed that Mike's invasion plan failed because he stopped at Euro Disney and was apprehended on Space Mountain
    Space Mountain (Disneyland, Paris)
    Space Mountain: Mission 2 is a steel roller coaster-type attraction in Discoveryland at Disneyland Park in Disneyland Paris themed around a journey into space. The attraction opened on June 1, 1995, three years after the opening of the park, as a revival of interest to draw more guests to the...

    . Mike is granted readmission, however, and even advanced to the rank of sergeant
    Sergeant
    Sergeant is a rank used in some form by most militaries, police forces, and other uniformed organizations around the world. Its origins are the Latin serviens, "one who serves", through the French term Sergent....

    . Mike is very protective of Tim, and subtle suggestions (such as Tim and Mike holding hands at the start of some scenes) over the course of the series indicate that Mike may have a slight crush on him. Despite his military pretensions, Mike is a sweet and caring individual who is deeply hurt by being put aside in favour of Tim's growing relationship with Sophie (Lucy Akhurst
    Lucy Akhurst
    Lucy Akhurst is an English actress, writer and director who has been working mainly in television since the 1990s...

    ). The character was based on a recurring joke character
    Recurring character
    A recurring character is a fictional character, usually in a prime time TV series, who appears from time to time during the series' run. Recurring characters often play major roles in an episode, sometimes being the main focus...

     between Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (who are best friends outside of the series). When writing Spaced, Pegg included the character and persuaded Edgar Wright to cast Frost.

  • Twist Morgan (Carmichael): Twist, Daisy's best friend, is (in the words of Tim) either "sweet and stupid, or an evil genius". She claims to "work in fashion" but is actually a dry cleaner and is an atrociously superficial 'fashion fascist'. She is prone to giving backhanded compliment
    Backhanded compliment
    A backhanded compliment, also known as a left handed compliment, or asteism is an insult that is disguised as a compliment. Sometimes, a backhanded compliment may be inadvertent. However, the term usually connotes an intent to belittle or condescend...

    s to Daisy, particularly about her size, weight, or clothing choices. It is never mentioned in the series how Daisy and Twist met, though various extras on the "Definitive Collectors Edition" boxed set
    Boxed set
    A box set is a compilation of various musical recordings, films, television programs, or other collection of related items that are contained in a box.-Music box sets:...

     state that they met at university. Although she and Brian are social opposites with apparently incompatible fashion sense, they did have an intense love affair, mainly based on sex, which ended badly. It is alluded though that they both still love each other. Tim has said she is like "Cordelia
    Cordelia Chase
    Cordelia Chase is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer; she also appeared on Buffy's spin-off series Angel...

     out of Buffy the Vampire Slayer".

Production

The show has a distinctive cinematic style set by Wright and is shot with a single camera. In addition to borrowing liberally from the visual language of film (in particular genre films), it has particular stylistic mannerisms, such as the recurring device of scene changes occurring in the middle of a pan. The series' atmosphere is also established by the use of a particular flavour of contemporary dance music
Dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...

 on its soundtrack.

Northern Exposure
Northern Exposure
Northern Exposure is an American television series that ran on CBS from 1990 to 1995, with a total of 110 episodes.-Overview:The series was given a pair of consecutive Peabody Awards: in 1991–92 for the show's "depict[ion] in a comedic and often poetic way, [of] the cultural clash between a...

's frequent use of fantasy sequences was "one of the key influences" in the creation of the show, and Pegg and Stevenson pitched the show to LWT as "a cross between The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...

, The X-Files
The X-Files
The X-Files is an American science fiction television series and a part of The X-Files franchise, created by screenwriter Chris Carter. The program originally aired from to . The show was a hit for the Fox network, and its characters and slogans became popular culture touchstones in the 1990s...

and Northern Exposure."

The series is dense with references to popular culture, including but not limited to science fiction and horror films, comic books, and video games. The Series 2 DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

 release introduced the "Homage-o-meter", an alternative set of subtitles listing every reference and homage; the "Definitive Collectors Edition" boxed set introduced a similar subtitle track for Series 1. 2000 AD
2000 AD (comic)
2000 AD is a weekly British science fiction-oriented comic. As a comics anthology it serialises a number of separate stories each issue and was first published by IPC Magazines in 1977, the first issue dated 26 February. IPC then shifted the title to its Fleetway comics subsidiary which was sold...

artists Jim Murray and Jason Brashill
Jason Brashill
-Biography:He has worked for 2000 AD, mainly on cover work and the lead strip Judge Dredd, as well as some British small press comics, like The End Is Nigh....

 provided the artwork for Tim's comic The Bear, as well as other incidental artwork for the show. Tim's boss Bilbo wears a 2000 AD comic T-shirt whilst lecturing Tim about The Phantom Menace.

The series is also noted for its regular recreational drug use
Recreational drug use
Recreational drug use is the use of a drug, usually psychoactive, with the intention of creating or enhancing recreational experience. Such use is controversial, however, often being considered to be also drug abuse, and it is often illegal...

 references, from its title onwards. Tim and Daisy smoke cannabis
Cannabis (drug)
Cannabis, also known as marijuana among many other names, refers to any number of preparations of the Cannabis plant intended for use as a psychoactive drug or for medicinal purposes. The English term marijuana comes from the Mexican Spanish word marihuana...

 on a number of occasions, one episode centering on its use. Tim and Mike take speed on one occasion, and Tim, Mike, Daisy, Twist and Brian take ecstasy
Methylenedioxymethamphetamine
MDMA is an entactogenic drug of the phenethylamine and amphetamine class of drugs. In popular culture, MDMA has become widely known as "ecstasy" , usually referring to its street pill form, although this term may also include the presence of possible adulterants...

 while clubbing.

Awards

Spaced was nominated in 2000 and 2002 for a British Academy Television Award for situation comedy. Jessica Stevenson won the British Comedy Award in 1999 and 2001 for best TV Comedy Actress. Simon Pegg
Simon Pegg
Simon Pegg is an English actor, comedian, writer, film producer, and director. He is best known for having co-written and stared in various Edgar Wright features, mainly Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and the comedy series Spaced.He also portrayed Montgomery "Scotty" Scott in the 2009 Star Trek film...

 was nominated in 1999 for the British Comedy Award for Best Male Comedy Newcomer, and the series was nominated that same year for the British Comedy Award for Best TV Sitcom. The show's second series was nominated for an International Emmy Award in 2001 for Popular Arts.

DVD releases

Spaced Series 1 and 2 were both released on DVD in the United Kingdom. These were followed by a boxed set which collects the previously released single-series DVDs, adding a bonus disc with a feature-length documentary, Skip to the End, behind the scenes of the show, as well as a music video by Osymyso
Osymyso
Osymyso is a musician and DJ from the United Kingdom who specializes in the genres of bastard pop and breakbeat. He has been making music since 1994, but he released his first album, Welcome to the Pailindrome, in 1999...

.

Music rights issues long prevented the release of Spaced in Region 1 (U.S. and Canada). Despite the raised profile resulting from Shaun of the Dead
Shaun of the Dead
Shaun of the Dead is a 2004 British zombie comedy directed by Edgar Wright, starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, and written by Pegg and Wright. Pegg plays Shaun, a man attempting to get some kind of focus in his life as he deals with his girlfriend, his mother and stepfather...

and Hot Fuzz
Hot Fuzz
Hot Fuzz is a 2007 British action dark comedy film written by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright, and starring Pegg and Nick Frost. The three had previously worked together on the 2004 film Shaun of the Dead as well as the television series Spaced...

(film collaborations between Pegg and Wright that performed well in the Region 1 countries), no DVDs surfaced between 2004 and 2007. In an interview, it was suggested a deal with Anchor Bay Entertainment failed to come to fruition over the music rights.

Wright announced the release of a Region 1 Spaced DVD release on July 22, 2008, which included an all-new commentary with Wright, Pegg, and Stevenson, as well as special guests Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...

, Kevin Smith
Kevin Smith
Kevin Patrick Smith is an American screenwriter, actor, film producer, and director, as well as a popular comic book writer, author, comedian/raconteur, and internet radio personality best recognized by viewers as Silent Bob...

, Bill Hader
Bill Hader
William "Bill" Hader is an American actor, comedian, producer and writer. He is best known for his work as a creative consultant on the hit show South Park and as a cast member on Saturday Night Live and for his supporting roles in comedy films such as Superbad, Hot Rod, Tropic Thunder,...

, Matt Stone
Matt Stone
Matthew Richard "Matt" Stone is an American screenwriter, producer, voice artist, musician and actor, best known for being the co-creator of South Park along with creative partner and best friend, Trey Parker....

, and Patton Oswalt
Patton Oswalt
Patton Oswalt is an American stand-up comedian, writer, actor and voice actor. He is best known for portraying Spencer Olchin in the popular sitcom The King of Queens, voicing Remy from the film Ratatouille and Thrasher from the Cartoon Network original series Robotomy.-Early life:Oswalt was born...

. Supplemental features included the original commentaries, the Skip to the End documentary, outtakes, deleted scenes, and raw footage.

Music

Individual tracks that were particularly featured in an episode included "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby
Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby
"Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby" is a 1944 Louis Jordan song, released as the B-side of single with "G.I. Jive". "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby" reached #1 on the US folk/country charts. The Louis Jordan recording also peaked at number two for three weeks on the pop chart and peaked at...

?" by Louis Jordan, "Smash It" by Fuzz Townshend, and "The Staunton Lick" by Lemon Jelly
Lemon Jelly
Lemon Jelly is a British electronic music duo from London, formed in 1998. Since their inception, the band's line-up has included Fred Deakin and Nick Franglen. Lemon Jelly has been nominated for the Mercury Music Prize and BRIT Awards....

.Fred Deakin, who is one half of Lemon Jelly, also runs design studio Airside, who produced limited edition Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz t-shirts upon the release of the films. A Guy Pratt
Guy Pratt
Guy Pratt is a session bassist and also a songwriter, actor and comedian. He is the son of actor Mike Pratt. In Kensington and Chelsea, London, in 1996, Pratt married Gala Wright, the daughter of Pink Floyd keyboardist Richard Wright...

 remix of the A-Team
The A-Team
The A-Team is an American action adventure television series about a fictional group of ex-United States Army Special Forces personnel who work as soldiers of fortune, while on the run from the Army after being branded as war criminals for a "crime they didn't commit". The A-Team was created by...

theme song, featured at the conclusion of "Epiphanies
Epiphanies (Spaced)
"Epiphanies" is the sixth and penultimate episode of Series 1 of English television series Spaced. It aired on 29 October 1999 and was written by Jessica Stevenson and Simon Pegg and directed by Edgar Wright.-Plot:...

", was a fan favourite, but was never made commercially available.

In 2001, a soundtrack to the first series
Spaced: Soundtrack to the TV Series
Spaced: Soundtrack to the TV Series is a 2001 soundtrack accompanying the first series of the Channel 4 situation comedy Spaced. It was released in tandem with the first series on DVD and VHS...

 was released in tandem with the first series' release on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

 and videotape
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....

. A second soundtrack was not released, although the series' official fan website has an episode-by-episode list of music featured in the second series.

Series future

Since the show's end, cast and crew associated with Spaced have been quoted with differing opinions as to whether a third series of "Spaced" would be produced, with their most recent statements reflecting a consensus that the show has concluded and will not see a third series.

Soon after series 2 had aired on television, the official Spaced fan website announced that, "despite what certain national newspapers might have said, series 2 is not the last series of Spaced. There will be a third series of Spaced - we just don't know when."

Edgar Wright initially was "torn" about making more Spaced, saying "we have genuinely talked about it and have some neat ideas that could work in a Before Sunset
Before Sunset
Before Sunset is a 2004 American romantic drama film and the sequel to Before Sunrise . Like its predecessor, the film was directed by Richard Linklater. However, this time Linklater shares screenplay credit with both actors from the movies, Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy...

/Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?
Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?
Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? is a 1970s British sitcom broadcast between 9 January 1973 and 9 April 1974 on BBC1. It is the colour sequel to the mid-1960s hit The Likely Lads. It was created and written, as was its predecessor, by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais...

kind of way". However, in April 2007, Wright confirmed that the show no longer had any possibility of returning in any form, as the actors were all now "too old", and he and Pegg feared it would ruin a good thing. In August of that same year, Wright told Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...

 that "there's not going to be a third season, it would be silly now" but that they could "do something that sort of like catches our heroes ten years later."

In 2006, Pegg stated in a Chain Reaction
Chain Reaction (radio)
Chain Reaction is a hostless chat show first broadcast on BBC Radio 5 in 1991, and then revived on BBC Radio 4 in 2005. Each week an individual from the world of entertainment selects someone that they would like to interview...

interview (conducted by co-star Bill Bailey, who had played Tim's boss, Bilbo) that he would like to bring back Spaced for a one-hour special to "tie up all the loose ends." In a March 2007 interview on a New Zealand radio station, Pegg was asked by the interviewer if Spaced was "an ongoing production" and responded, "No, I think that's done." In May 2008, Pegg said, "We have never categorically ruled out the possibility of more. Tim, Daisy, Mike, Brian, Twist, Marsha, and Colin all have destinies locked in mine and Jess's collective grey matter, who's to say they won't some day be played out." However, Pegg stated in December 2009 that if he was given the chance to continue Spaced, he would decline. Pegg had joked that a hypothetical third series would end with a Blake's 7
Blake's 7
Blake's 7 is a British science fiction television series produced by the BBC for its BBC1 channel. The series was created by Terry Nation, a prolific television writer and creator of the Daleks for the television series Doctor Who. Four series of Blake's 7 were produced and broadcast between 1978...

style shoot-out.

In 2007, Nick Frost called the series "dead", saying that Pegg was holding out the possibility only to not disappoint the fans and keep them happy, but that Frost could declare it dead as he had no emotional attachment. Frost said Pegg and Stevenson decided that series 2 would be the end whilst writing episode 7.

A brief in-character epilogue at the end of the documentary feature Skip to the End reveals that Daisy and Tim formed a romantic relationship and had a daughter (whom Tim professes a wish to call "Luke
Luke Skywalker
Luke Skywalker is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the original film trilogy of the Star Wars franchise, where he is portrayed by Mark Hamill. He is introduced in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, in which he is forced to leave home, and finds himself apprenticed to the Jedi master...

"). As one of the show's writers, Pegg noted that Tim and Daisy were always going to end up together from the beginning, and described a moment he envisioned for the show where they both realize they love each other. In the same instance, he outlined the futures considered for other characters: Brian has a long and happy life with Twist, and after his death, his works become incredibly popular and sell for millions. Twist, however, ends up in suspended animation
Suspended animation
Suspended animation is the slowing of life processes by external means without termination. Breathing, heartbeat, and other involuntary functions may still occur, but they can only be detected by artificial means. Extreme cold can be used to precipitate the slowing of an individual's functions; use...

 and awakes in the future, to find everyone, to her disgust, is wearing silver. Mike ends up with Dexter and moves to South London
South London
South London is the southern part of London, England, United Kingdom.According to the 2011 official Boundary Commission for England definition, South London includes the London boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Greenwich, Kingston, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Southwark, Sutton and...

.

American remake

Fox announced on October 29, 2007 that it would commission a pilot for an American version of Spaced, a project they then scuttled in May 2008 following a generally negative reaction from the series' creators and fans of the original show.

Wright was initially approached about an American version after the first series was broadcast in 1999, and felt an American remake was impossible due to the series' fundamental theme. "Same reason it couldn't be a film," Wright said. "Part of the charm of 'Spaced' is it's people in north London acting out stuff from American films ... you know, Hollywood in, kind of, suburbia. [...] American TV is much more glamorous. It doesn't make any sense. I remember that the producer at the time said, 'Yeah, we'd have to change a few things. We'd have to take out the drugs and the swearing, and obviously, Mike can't have guns.'"

Neither Wright, Pegg, nor Stevenson were at any point approached regarding the proposed American remake, which Wright had dubbed "McSpaced", due to the involvement of film director McG
McG
Joseph McGinty Nichol , better known as McG, is an American director and producer of film and television, as well as a former record producer....

. Wright was upset that "they would a) never bother to get in touch but still b) splash my and Simon's names all over the trade announcements and imply that we're involved in the same way Ricky
Ricky Gervais
Ricky Dene Gervais is an English comedian, actor, director, radio presenter, producer, musician, and writer.Gervais achieved mainstream fame with his television series The Office and the subsequent series Extras, both of which he co-wrote and co-directed with friend and frequent collaborator...

 & Steve
Stephen Merchant
Stephen James Merchant is an English writer, director, radio presenter, comedian, and actor. He is best known for his collaborations with Ricky Gervais, as the co-writer and co-director of the popular British sitcom The Office, as the co-writer, co-director and a co-star of Extras, and as the...

 were with The Office". Pegg and Stevenson also complained of the "lack of respect" demonstrated by the creators of the proposed American series, who left them out of discussions as well.

Wright was also angry at the media for what he felt was their overlooking of Stevenson's role in the creation of Spaced by connecting the series to Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz in news articles.

Episodes

External links

(show's official yet fan-operated website)
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