Gavin and Stacey Seasons - Region Free?

[superpac]

Well I'm in the US and have a US PS3 (which doesn't play 50hz content) and I bought the just-released Gavin & Stacey Complete Series box. When I put the Series 1 disc in, it gives me nothing but a black screen. I don't know if this is to do with the PS3 being unable to play 50hz PAL content or if that means the disc is region locked and I just flushed some money down the drain.

I would imagine if the disc was region-locked some kind of message would come up. Instead it stays on a black screen and when I push Top Menu it says the function isn't allowed here. So what do ya reckon?