There are two types of Boosh fans, divided by whether they prefer the first series or the second (they can also be split by whether they prefer Noel Fielding or Julian Barratt *ahem Julian cough* but we won't concentrate on that).

The first series was heavily based on the Radio 4 show, and so was very wordy - Vince Noir and Howard Moon would just sit on a bench in the zoo for half the episode and chat about nothing much in particular. It didn't, perhaps, make for the most visually exciting show in the world, but it gave free reign to Barratt and Fielding's amazing natural chemistry. The second series was more imaginative, painted on a much broader canvas you might say, but maybe lost something along the way.

Now it seems that Noel and Julian (I can't keep calling them Fielding and Barratt; it makes them sound like solicitors) have made a conscious effort to combine the best elements of both series. By setting the show in a shop, Vince and Howard can have their long, bickering chats, but the show still has the striking retro look of the second series - and they certainly haven't turned down the crazy, but we'll come onto that later. It's a little thing, but I'm also glad that they've brought back the ability to 'break the fourth wall', and talk directly to the audience, which they did away with last series.

So, does it work, bringing together the best of the first two series? Well, yes and no. I for one, was happy for Howard and Vince to spend ten minutes arguing about which would sell better - the Vince's Celebrity Radar or Howard's flint survival elbow patches - but it made for a rather disconcerting shift of tone when the "plot" kicked in. Returning character, the Cockney Hitcher, came bursting into the shop, spurting stories of Elsie and the eels she used to sell there, and suddenly things went a whole lot darker - a whole lot more League of Gentlemen - than the Boosh has ever gone before. Now, I'm a huge Boosh fan, I know what they're like. So for me to be sat there genuinely surprised, and, to be honest, not a little freaked out by what I was seeing is pretty impressive.

The episode, it has to be said, didn't hang together particularly well (which is a shame when you remember that the last episode in series two, The Nightmare of Milky Joe, was their most coherent bit of writing to date) mainly because they tried to pack in too many characters and too many ideas. But let's face it, how many shows these days suffer from having too many ideas? Maybe we shouldn't complain about that one too much. I still laughed - of course I did - I loved the fact that Vince has got his series one childlike quality back, and Julian continues to turn Howard into a truly classic comedy loser.

When I've stopped having nightmares and Elsie and the Hitcher, I'll give this episode another go, and I bet I'll find loads more to enjoy - that's what *always* happens with the Boosh.