Five stars

THE word genius is coined far too often these days but this is comedy of the highest order which will have the Daily Mail contingent rabid with disgust.

Unabashed by the media outcry over his spoof paedophile documentary, Chris Morris is back with a vengeance with a series of the most perfectly crafted surreal comedy.

The darkest, some would say sickest, sketches are played to a backdrop of unnerving soundtracks and experimental camera techniques and almost every sketch hits the spot.

Morris succeeds where Python failed, the groundbreaking Python team's work, like that of Spike Milligan, was similarly off-the-wall with the result some of the pieces were too 'out there.'

But Jam rarely fails to deliver as Morris takes a swipe at taboo subjects including rape, murder and miscarriage together with a slew of sexual depravities.

This is not for the faint-hearted but its creator knows his audience and pitches it perfectly as the two scenes left with their original audience noises testify.

The whole package is hilarious with extras which are the product of real time and effort - each episode of the Channel 4 series is replayed in full in a suitably bizarre form - the first one for instance is replayed in full on a screen an inch square!

And this is all on just the first disc of a two disc set. The second disc...well I'd hate to spoil the surprise. Buy it.

MH