History Series / FridayNightDinner

* SeriesFauxnale: Series 6's final episode; "The Females", was written to act as one, just in case the show never got renewed by ''Creator/Channel4'' (as of writing, it hasn't). The writer and producer; Robert Popper, went on record that [[https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/11528569/friday-night-dinner-season-7-another-series/ the show might be back,]] but [[AuthorExistenceFailure the surprise death of Paul Ritter]] in April of 2021 probably means it's finished for good.

* RealityEnsues: In "The Au Pair", Jackie and Gibby expect Adam and Jonny to remember Gibby from when she was their au pair. They don't recognise her or remember her at all. Given that Adam was four and Jonny was an infant when they last saw her around twenty years ago, it's understandable.

* GirlfriendInCanada: Jonny's supposed girlfriend does exist... but she's going out with someone else.* HateByAll: Horrible Grandma is always horrible to anyone and everyone she meets, including her family, to the point that she's openly hostile to everything short of Jim's singing in "Christmas". When [[spoiler: she dies in the middle of a magic trick in "Dad's Birthday", Martins mournful crying turns into relieved cries of laughter.]]
* HateSink: Cynthia is called "Horrible Grandma", and is loathed by everyone, insulting their looks, and she keeps pointing out flaws that don't exist, such as making tea "badly" because it was too hot. Even as early as Series 2's "Christmas" Jonny says he's waiting for her death, which Jackie also jokes about.
** [[spoiler: They don't seem hugely bothered when it actually happens.]]

* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Horrible Grandma is always horrible to anyone and everyone she meets, including her family, to the point that she's openly hostile to everything short of Jim's singing in "Christmas". When [[spoiler: she dies in the middle of a magic trick in "Dad's Birthday", Martins mournful crying turns into relieved cries of laughter.]]
* AbusiveParents: Downplayed with Martin, who verbally abuses Adam and Jonny quite a lot. Played very straight with Horrible Grandma, Martin's mother, to the point that she has a ZeroPercentApprovalRating.

* GirlfriendInCanada: Jonny's supposed girlfriend does exist... but she's going out with someone else.

Friday Night Dinner (2011-2020) is a Creator/Channel4 comedy television series. Once a week, the Goodman family meet up for a Sabbath meal on Friday night. The family consists of [[AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents snappy mother Jackie]], half-deaf hoarding [[CloudCuckooLander father Martin]], and twenty-something sons [[SiblingRivalry Adam and Jonny.]] HilarityEnsues as the whole night is filled with the brothers' constant war of attrition, Martin's Oddball nature freaking everyone out, Jackie's constant barking to get everything (and everyone) ready to eat, as well as the regular intrusion of the [[StalkerWithACrush neighbour Jim]]. All this combined into surprisingly elaborate {{Fawlty Towers Plot}}s, which always collapse at the climax of the episode.

Friday Night Dinner (2011-) is a Creator/Channel4 comedy television series. Once a week, the Goodman family meet up for a Sabbath meal on Friday night. The family consists of [[AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents snappy mother Jackie]], half-deaf hoarding [[CloudCuckooLander father Martin]], and twenty-something sons [[SiblingRivalry Adam and Jonny.]] HilarityEnsues as the whole night is filled with the brothers' constant war of attrition, Martin's Oddball nature freaking everyone out, Jackie's constant barking to get everything (and everyone) ready to eat, as well as the regular intrusion of the [[StalkerWithACrush neighbour Jim]]. All this combined into surprisingly elaborate {{Fawlty Towers Plot}}s, which always collapse at the climax of the episode.

The series has had six series so far, [[BritishBrevity of six episodes each.]][[labelnote:*]]except series 2, which has a "Christmas" special that aired around the eponymous holiday.[[/labelnote]]

* AnimalLover: Jim likes Wilson and other animals....but all the animals he's come in contact with don't like him.

* DeadpanSnarker: Adam and Jonny, usually towards their parents.

* EscalatingWar: Between Jonny and Adam. Much of the time, it's adding salt to each other's drinks in increasingly elaborate ways. Generally leads to people getting caught up in the crossfire.

* ItsAllAboutMe: Sheila Bloom, better known as "Bitchface", has some serious vanity problems, and only talks about herself and her lifestyle in conversations with other people.

* BritishBrevity: The show only has six episodes a series, which even by British sitcom standards is quite a low number. The exception is series 2, which has its final episode be a ChristmasEpisode, aptly title "Christmas".

* AbusiveParents: Downplayed with Martin, who verbally abuses Adam and Jonny quite a lot.

* SeriesFauxnale: Series 6's final episode; "The Females", was written to act as one, just in case the show never got renewed by ''Creator/Channel4'' (as of writing, it hasn't). However, the writer and show's producer; Robert Popper, has gone on record that [[https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/11528569/friday-night-dinner-season-7-another-series/ the show may not end.]]

* MoebiusNeighbourhood: Jim is the only recurring neighbor we meet in the show, OnceAnEpisode too. We also get to meet Ralf, a man who has an obsession with chicken in the Series 5 episode "The Surprise".

* AbusiveParents: Downplayed with Martin, who verbally abuses Adam and Jonny quite a bit.

* YourCheatingHeart: Parodied in "The Loft". Throughout the whole episode, Jackie seems to be holding a grudge against Martin, and Val lends her moral support. The dialogue throughout the episode gives off the implication that Martin had an affair with someone else. [[spoiler:It turns out that all that happened was that Martin had a dream that he was in a milk bath with Diana, Princess of Wales.]]

** In "The Other Jackie", [[IsThatWhatTheyAreCallingItNow "nippy nippy"]] gets mentioned, and is used by the boys as a name for Wilson as proof it isn't Jim's in front of "other Jackie".

[[caption-width-right:350:It's only friday night dinner! [[WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong What could go wrong?]]]]

Friday Night Dinner (2011-) is a Creator/Channel4 comedy television series. Once a week, the Goodman family meet up for a Sabbath meal on the Friday night. The family consists of [[AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents snappy mother Jackie]], half-deaf hoarding [[CloudCuckooLander father Martin]], and twenty-something sons [[SiblingRivalry Adam and Jonny.]] HilarityEnsues as the whole night is filled with the brothers' constant war of attrition, Martin's Oddball nature freaking everyone out, Jackie's constant barking to get everything (and everyone) ready to eat, as well as the regular intrusion of the [[StalkerWithACrush neighbour Jim]]. All this combined into surprisingly elaborate {{Fawlty Towers Plot}}s, which always collapse at the climax of the episode.

* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Horrible Grandma is always horrible to anyone and everyone she meets, including her family, to the point that she's openly hostile to everything short of Jim's Singing in "Christmas". When [[spoiler: she dies in the middle of a Magic Trick in "Dad's Birthday", Martins mournful crying turns into relieved cries of laughter.]]

* AccidentalMarriage: Jonny in "Celebrations" gets married to an american girl while away in Vegas, and that episode deals with his family coming to terms with it, and Jackie being angry at not being informed of said marriage.

* AnimalsHateHim: Wilson seems to despise Jim, his owner, completely ignoring his commands and growling ominously whenever he touches him. Similarly, a cat Jim cat-sits in series 5 has him take the cat on a walk, while very visibly struggling to make it walk (a problem he also has with Wilson and Milson). Milson seems to be ignorant of Jims' commands as of writing.

** In "The New Car", Adam buys something for Adam, and Martin tells him to hide it. The audience only sees a non-descript package that's wrapped in a plastic bag, and are lead to believe it's something illegal. A few moments later, it's revealed that Martin is on a low-calorie diet, and the package in question is ''cheese'' (with Jonny bringing cakes later). Martin's behaviour mirrors [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything exactly that of a drug addict.]] This is lampshaded by Jonny a minute later.

* BirthdayEpisode: "Dads Birthday" is all about Martin being grumpy because an online medical survey told him the exact day they die.

** In "Christmas", everyone hates Jackie's turkey because it's dry, and Adam, Jonny and Martin spend a good portion of the episode mouthwatering over Turkey "Horrible Grandma" brought over.

** In “The Other Jackie” one is built around both Jackie's having names for their private parts; Nip Nips and Fu Fu respectively.

--> ''"Hello, Jackie, you look nice..."'' or variations thereof, also ''"That Smells Nice"'', when he turns up just before dinner and then peers expectantly down the hallway as if expecting to be invited in.

* CaptainObvious: Martin often says words like this, replacing certain words, such as "girlfriend", with "females".

** Martin’s tendency to have small but annoying eccentricities, to the point of Flanderization in later series'.

* ComicallyMissingThePoint: In "The Plastic Bag", Martin hurts his back after falling over when trying to climb on bins to get a plastic bag down from a tree. As punishment for this stupidity, Jackie not only won't let him back inside, but he won't get any crumble, the latter of which he's really not happy with.

* DistinctionWithoutADifference: Jims new dog in Series 6 is called Milson, a one-letter difference from his previous dog Wilson. Jim claims they are two totally separate names because the genders associated with both names are the opposite.

* {{Fanservice}}: An In-universe example. Adam looks away from his mother in Lingerie in "The Anniversary".

* HateSink: Cynthia is called "Horrible Grandma", and is loathed by everyone, insulting their looks, and she keeps pointing out flaws that don't exist, such as making tea "badly" because it was too hot. Even as early as Series 2's "Christmas" Jonny says he waits for her death, which Jackie also jokes about.

** Jim apparently knows Chinese, which he learned while in Japan. He is also quite a good singer, singing some Christmas carols in Series 2's "Christmas" episode. He's such a nice singer everyone in the room are in tears by the end of it (even "Horrible Grandma!").

* IdiotBall: Martin holds the ball the most, in once case he somehow made apple crumble, but forgot to put the apples in.

** Mr. Morris, Grandma's terrifying 84 year old boyfriend.

* ItsAllAboutMe: Sheila Bloom, better known as "Bitchface", has some serious vanity problems, and only talk about herself and her lifestyle in conversations with other people.

* LiterallyLovingThyNeighbor: In Series one and two, Jim has a poorly disguised crush on Jackie, and turns up constantly at their door, always giving a weak excuse to see her. This aspect of his personality is toned down in later series', but said excuses get increasingly ''more'' bizarre as the show goes on.
* LoveAtFirstSight: Jim and Gibby. Jim is infatuated with Gibby, to the point of barging into the Goodmans' residence just to see her, something he notably never did with Jackie. When Gibby [[ItMakesSenseInContext frisks Jims legs]], Jackie is horrified to learn that are in love.

* MoodWhiplash: In "Wilson", both Jonny and Adam stop fighting as soon as they hear that [[spoiler: Wilson isn't moving and declares him dead.]] The entire episode after that point is taken dead seriously.

* PricelessMingVase: As part of the shows' ChekhovsArmoury, any object that is established to be of significance to someone will likely either end up damaged or destroyed by the end of the episode. See; the Dress, the Mercedes, "Buggy" the toy rabbit, the apple crumble, the caravan...

* RunningGag: Much of the show's humour comes from the quantity of running gags and {{Chekhovs Gun}}s any given episode has going on at any given time, a fair few below showing up OnceAnEpisode, in increasingly humorous and roundabout ways:

** Either Adam or Jonny (usually the latter) putting salt into the other's glass of water (In one case, a water bottle, which Adam was '''not''' pleased about)

** Jim can't tell Adam and Jonny apart, though this trait of Jim is dropped after the third series.
** Martin's mother; "Horrible Grandma", insulting Jackie's hair.

** In "Wilson", Jonny keeps using various people's phones to prank call Adam, who is patiently waiting for a call from an american client who may want to use one of his songs.
** In "The Dress", Val looks and dresses exactly like Jackie, but neither never notice this, but it's constantly lampshaded by everyone else, to the point [[TooDumbToFool Martin was the person to notice it.]]
** In "The Funeral", Jonny wants to watch the Monoco Grand Prix after the funeral, and everyone replies with "who's playing?", much to his increasing irritation.
** In "The Other Jackie", [[IsThatWhatTheyAreCallingItNow "nippy nippy"]] gets mentioned, and is used by the boys as a name for Wilson as proof it isn't Jims in front of "other Jackie".
** In "The Plastic Bag" Jim, Martin and Val all get distracted by a Plastic Bag in a tree near their house, while Martin attempts to remove it. Jim postulates doing so, but doesn't.
** In "The Au Pair", Gibby (pronounced Jibby) keeps asking for Cream Tea, something she used to have when she was the boy's Au pair twenty years ago.
** In "The Cage", the "Womans Procedure" Jackie has had has Adam, Valorie and Jonny guess if it was a "Higher or Lower" job. Even Jim, [[CloudCuckoolander of all people]], says the phrase when he learns of it.
*** The episode also had Blue masking tape being used to tape various thing around the house.
** In "The Females", Martin has managed to get glass shards in both the soup and chicken. The former is explained as Martin broke the ventilator light on top of the oven, while the latter is never explained at all, with the driving conflict of the episode being that nobody should tell Jackie, and keep making distractions to keep her from eating her food.

* SpoilerTitle: PlayedWith: The title of an episode generally correlates to the primary RunningGag of said episode, such as in "The Mercedes", where there it was that Sheila "Bitchface" Bloom's adores her Mercedes.
* StatusQuoIsGod: None of the romantic interests or prospects on the series seem to last beyond an episode or two.

* TechnologicallyBlindElders: Martin is a bit younger than most examples of this trope, but he still qualifies. He can't get the computer mouse to work, until it is pointed out to him that it is actually a stapler. In another episode he gives up the computer to buy a fax machine, which he believes is "the future". Similarly, he also tried online shopping for the first time and had bought items in quantities of 30 (100 tomato's, 100 bleach bottles, 100 ketchup bottles)

** Jim calls Wilson's dog excrement "Dollops" in "Wilson".
** Valorie, Adam, Jonny and Martin call Jackie's delicate surgery a "Womans Procedure".
* VocalEvolution: Jim has a more ditzy tone of voice from series 2 onwards, generally being more higher-pitched. In series one, he actually speaks quite normally to everyone except Wilson.

** Jackie: ''"MARTIN!"'' whenever Martin says or does something particularly annoying.

--> ''"Hello, Jackie, you look nice..."'' or variations thereof

* JewishMother: Jackie fits the stereotype.

** In "The Caravan", Jonny and Adam are both dating separate girls called Lucy. (Adam and Jonny are not particularly pleased about this coincidence.)

The series is still ongoing, having completed five series so far [[BritishBrevity of six episodes each.]][[labelnote:*]]except series 2, which has a seventh episode called "Christmas" that aired around the eponymous holiday.[[/labelnote]] A sixth season began on Creator/Channel4 on 27th March[[labelnote:*]]Yes, it's on a Friday night[[/labelnote]] 2020.

* InMemoriam: The last episode of Series 6: "The Females", has the final few seconds be dedicated to Frances Cuka, who played Jackie's Mother on the show.