Show/series 1 Intro: Auf Wiedersehen, Pet

     
     Britain, 1983: amid massive unemployment (over 3 million out of a total population of around 56 million) in several sectors of British industry, many Britons leave Britain to work overseas.  One particularly popular destination for those in the construction industry is West Germany, which was at the time undergoing a construction boom.  The dramedy Auf Wiedersehen, Pet follows the adventures (and misadventures) of a group of 7 British expat construction workers, in order of introduction:

• Dennis Patterson (Tim Healy):  A "Geordie" (from Newcastle) bricklayer.  Somewhat short-tempered; considered the leader of the bunch (often against his own wishes).  As of series 1, he's going through a divorce, and so starts dating Dagmar, the site's German secretary.  When we first see him, he's traveling on a Sealink ferry from England to Holland together with Neville and Oz.
  

• Neville Hope (Kevin Whately):  Another bricklayer from Newcastle.  The youngest of the 3 Geordie bricklayers; deeply in love with and missing his wife Brenda (Julia Tobin), he regrets having to go overseas and leaving her, and is constantly writing and calling her.  In fact, the first words heard in the show are from a voice-over of Neville writing a postcard or letter to Brenda.
  
• Leonard Jeffery "Oz" Osbourne (Jimmy Nail):  The third Geordie bricklayer.  Loud, jingoistic, violent, sarcastic, and obnoxious, with such a heavy Geordie accent that it on occasion borders on the incomprehensible (even to other Britons).  Of course he'd end up being the show's best-known character and a fan favorite...
  
• Barry Taylor (Timothy Spall):  An electrician from the Midlands (he mentions both West Bromwich and Wolverhampton; presumably he lived in both places over the years).  Boring and nerdy, given to long-winded monologues in which he demonstrates his vast knowledge of useless trivia (I must confess, he's probably the character I relate to the most...)  Barry's also the only one of the 7 who regularly has access to his own transport, as he has a red motorcycle.  When we first see him, he's in a bar in Holland that Dennis, Neville and, Oz go into to find job openings in Germany (he recognizes Dennis, having worked with him previously).  They're on their way to Düsseldorf while he's heading to Mönchengladbach.
  
• Brian "Bomber" Busbridge (Pat Roach):  A bricklayer from the West Country (he mentions being a fan of Bristol City at one point, and at another point mentions a song by The Wurzels).  The tallest and most physically imposing of the bunch, with a bushy beard, muscular build, and several tattoos, he's nonetheless a gentle giant in personality and probably the most soft spoken of the 7.  He often refers to himself in the third person.  When we first see him, he's already been working and living at the hut at the Düsseldorf construction site, and is getting ready to go back home to England.
  
• Wayne Norris (Gary Holton):  A carpenter from London.  A (successful) skirt-chaser and music enthusiast (something of an inside joke, as Gary Holton was in real life a singer and musician in several bands in addition to his acting career).  When we first see him, he's at the same bar as Dennis, Neville, Oz, and Barry.  On overhearing that Dennis, Oz, and Neville are headed to Düsseldorf he asks them for a lift but they turn him down.
  
• Albert Moxey (Christopher Fairbank): A Scouse (from Liverpool) plasterer with a slight stutter and a criminal past.  He doesn't join the group until episode 2; at first the other 6 don't want him in their hut, but they let him stay when they find out he has brought a dartboard with him.  Evidently the German food and climate doesn't agree with him, as he can often be seen either on the toilet or sick with a cold in the hut.
  

     In series 1 the seven meet up in Düsseldorf, sharing a hut on the construction site as a home-away-from-home.  At the site, they encounter:

Herr Ulrich (Peter Birch):  German site manager in charge of personnel.

Herr Grunwald (Michael Sheard):  Senior German site manager.

Dagmar (Brigitte Kahn):  German secretary.  Dennis begins (secretly, at first) dating her while his divorce is in progress.

Christa (Lysette Anthony): German secretary.  Appears in the last episodes of Series 1; Wayne decides to marry her and stay in Germany.

Magowan (Michael Elphick):  Possibly Scouse or Irish bricklayer.  A heavy drinker and highly prone to violence (drunk or sober), even other construction workers live in fear of him.  When we first see him, he's living at the hostel in Düsseldorf (as opposed to the hut the 7 are staying in).

Helmut Fischer (Lex Van Delden):  German carpenter.  Befriends Neville and invites him to his home in one episode, and helps Neville out with his legal troubles in another episode.  Apparently he lives at home with his wife and (possibly) parents in Düsseldorf.

     Back home in England, there are:

Brenda (Julia Tobin):  Neville's wife.  She and Neville have been married for about 5 years as of series 1, and is supportive of Neville's going overseas to work.

Vera (Caroline Hutchinson):  Dennis' wife.  Is getting divorced from Dennis.

Marjorie (Su Elliot): Oz's wife.  In many ways the female counterpart to Oz, Oz apparently went to Germany without telling her (not only that, but this isn't the first time he's done so)!

     While later series would take the 7 both back to England and further overseas (including Spain and the US), most of this series takes place in and around Düsseldorf with the occasional trip elsewhere.

     One thing to note about this series is the authenticity and attention to detail.  While most of the scenes taking place indoors or on the Düsseldorf construction site were actually filmed at Elstree Studios in England, the set designers went as far as ordering bricks from Germany to make sure they were the right size, as German and British standard-sized bricks have slightly different dimensions.  Several extras playing German construction workers wear authentic German guild clothing (particularly the pants with 2 zippers and the 8-button double-breasted guild vest; the 8 buttons are said to represent the 8 hours of a work day), and instead of German-sounding gibberish accurate German dialogue is spoken by German characters.  There seems to be a 2:1 ratio of German characters being played by British (or in the case of Lex van Delden, Dutch) instead of German actors; at times this leads to 2 British actors speaking to each other in German!

     On a technical note, this was one of the first TV shows to use lightweight video cameras for all interior and exterior shots, doing away with the Video Outside, Film Inside effect.  These new lightweight video cameras also made it easier and cheaper to film on location.  In this show, "on location" usually meant Hamburg rather than Düsseldorf (hence most German cars in "on location" footage having the HH [Hanseastadt Hamburg*] prefix on their license plates).

     Next up: If I were a Carpenter, the first episode of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet.

* Hanseatic City

An Intro to this Blog

     Hello, everyone!

     Let me introduce myself: my name is Luke Barber, and although I've lived my whole life in the Northeastern U.S., most of my favorite TV shows are from Britain.  Why is this the case?  Well, I'll get into that later on, but for now I'm going to outline the general nature of this blog.

     I plan on viewing and commenting on several different British TV shows (although shows from elsewhere in the Anglosphere such as Australia, Ireland, or Canada may also at some points find their way into this blog).  The general setup for this blog will be for each show I comment on:

• Intro to the show: when it was made, overall description of the plot (if any), etc.
• Episode posts: I recap an episode, note my own thoughts and observations on it, and explain any obscure jokes/references (and if I'm stumped as well I'll ask for help).  If it's for a show I've seen before, I'll probably note down any early installment weirdness in the pilot episode or first few episodes.  Mike Amato's terrific (though now dormant) blog about The Simpsons called Me Blog Write Good will definitely be an influence on these posts.
• Series recap: When I finish all the episodes of a series (season for American viewers*), I'll post a recap and review of that series.  If it's the last series for that show, I'll also write about the entire show in that recap as well.
• American remake comparison: If the show's been successfully** remade into a US version,I'll give my overall thoughts on the remake vs the original.

     So, why Britcoms?  Well, there are several reasons.  For me, the main one is quality.  American shows are usually written by groups of writers, resulting in (traditionally) at least 65-100 episodes being made (these were the traditional "magic numbers" for syndication).  Even with the best teams of writers, it's difficult to keep a show consistently good over that many episodes; furthermore, such a show will often have a written by committee quality to it.  In comparison, British shows will most often be written by just one or two writers with far fewer total episodes, usually 6-12 per series and often less than 30 in total.  This often produces a very concentrated quality to the show, with each episode usually having a consistently high quality***.  Also, British shows tend to have a more consistently funny setup; they're often about a group of unpleasant people being stuck together in close confines when they'd all rather be thousands of miles away from each other, which is more guaranteed to bring in consistent laughter than, say, a show about a bunch of people who generally like each other and get along well <cough> Friends <cough>.  Finally, I was introduced to them at the right time: just as The Simpsons was declining in quality, I started watching shows like Keeping up Appearances and Mr. Bean PBS or Channel 13, and the rest is history.

     The first show I'll be watching and writing about will be the dramedy Auf Wiedersehen, Pet.


-P.S.  Unless otherwise noted, any images here are screenshots I made myself and am using here under "fair use" provisions.
-P.P.S.  Consider this whole blog a giant spoiler; spoiler warnings will not be given with regards to revealing the plots of the shows and episodes discussed here.

*Note: other than using the term "series" to refer to a collection of episodes of a British show (I'll still use the term "season" to describe any American shows I'll be discussing here), this blog will primarily use American spelling and vocabulary unless otherwise noted.
**By "successful" I mean the American show aired (even if it did ultimately get cancelled); this means that while I may comment on the American versions of The Inbetweeners, Life on Mars, or The Office, I will probably not be commenting on the American versions of Red Dwarf or The Young Ones.
***This can be a double-edged sword; shows like The Simpsons or Star Trek: The Next Generation which had a poor first season but improved in quality in subsequent seasons would have probably been cancelled after the first series if they were produced in Britain.  Also, having 2 sub-par or filler episodes in an American sitcom might not be too bad, but on a 6-episode series that's 1/3rd of that series down the drain.