Review 18 – Fresh Meat

Fresh Meat, Wednesdays 10pm, Channel 4

My last experience of a university-based comedy was 2009’s forgettable BBC Three sitcom, Off the Hook. It left a sour taste in my mouth, so I was wary about tucking into Fresh Meat on Channel 4 earlier this week.

I needn’t have been worried of course. Comparing the comedy output of BBC Three with that of virtually any other channel is like comparing Dan Brown and Charles Dickens; a waste of time.

Off the Hook started well enough, after all, university is fertile ground for creating laughs. The series began with a group of freshers arriving at their shared accomodation to discover they were a long way from Kansas.

However after an enjoyable first episode, the series inexplicably toned down the crudity and dumbed down the wit to the point it began to resemble something that would be more at home on BBC Three’s sister channel, CBBC. Unsurprisingly, Off the Hook is not well documented online and so I can only assume that the first episode was in fact a pilot that bore little resemblence to the commissioned series.

I dwell on Off the Hook because it shares a number of similarities with Fresh Meat. Aside from the obvious, they both have near idential first episode plots and feature an ‘Inbetweener’. Whereas James Buckley (Jay) blotted his copy book on the BBC series, Joe Thomas (Simon) puts in a sterling effort in Channel 4’s new show.

Thomas is one of seven housemates sharing digs at Manchester University. Ensemble casts usually mean a roll call of clearly defined, stereotyped characters: the nerd, the jock, the babe, the rich one etc… Fresh Meat is far more subtle than that and all the better for it. Nearly all of the characters introduced to date are erring on the side of awkward geek and the viewer can look forward to watching them develop as the series progresses.

Whether or not you’ve been to university, the show treads fairly familiar territory (sex, booze, assignments) but still manages to feel, well, fresh. This is largely due to the writing skills of Jess Armstrong and Sam Baines (the creators of Peep Show) who peppered the script with an equal measure of wit and crudity.

For those that want to find out what happened when The Inbetweeners went to university, Fresh Meat could be just for you.

For more teenage kicks…

Please, please, please watch Freaks and Geeks

Karl’s cryptic clue: beneath Blair’s?

For the record… my university days bore no more resemblance to Fresh Meat than my schooldays did to Skins.

Review 2: The Inbetweeners Movie

Everyone’s favourite potty-mouthed, sex-obsessed teenagers hit the silver screen last week. Watching the original E4 series, I laughed just about as hard as it is possible to laugh without falling victim to the sort of trouser-wetting embarrassment that might feature in the show itself, so I simply had to watch this film.

However, I entered the cinema with a real sense of trepidation, and not just because I’d forgotten how much it costs to see a film in WC1. Would this film sully my memories of the series? Would it live up to the hype? Would I get my £12.75’s worth?

Thinking back, I arrived at the screening already a little disillusioned thanks to series 3 of The Inbetweeners which felt like it achieved a lower standard than the first two, but I was willing to give it a go.

It’s fair to say the film isn’t a return to form of the earlier episodes. Unfortunately, some of the charm of the show is lost on a screen the size of a double-decker bus and my biggest problem was that the ‘pull back – reveal’ jokes which just didn’t work as well as they do on my trust 21 incher. You know, the ones where we’re led to believe something for a minute, then the screen fades to black, and we cut to what has actually happened; our expectations are confounded and thus we laugh. Perhaps it’s the fact the jokes aren’t up to scratch and this is exposed all the more on a large screen. Or perhaps it is because the faux naivety this joke requires isn’t earned when the scene involves lush locations and dozens of extras. Either way, I felt the film was let down by this and I hope I’ve explained that better than I did to my girlfriend when we left the cinema.

That said, the reason The Inbetweeners made such and impression on me in the first place was that the characters are incredibly likable. Sure they are offensive and self-obsessed at times but their faults are there for everyone to see and I simply cannot dislike them. So, given the opportunity to spend 90 minutes on holiday with a bunch of people whose company you enjoy, how could I not have a good time?

For a bit more Inbetweener fun, check out:

Jay, Neil, Simon and Will smash up some records – HERE

Watch the original show (UK only) – HERE

 

And let’s not forget Louise Werner et al – HERE

*For the record, my favourite sitcom turned movie is Porridge.