Why Aye, man!Comedy-drama from the writing team of Dick Clement and Ian LaFrenais. Season One (1983-1984) involved seven manual labourers from various parts of the United Kingdom. It was the mid-Eighties and there were
no jobs to be found in this country, so they travelled to Germany to find work, forming themselves into a tight-knit group amid all the
Culture Clash. They even used
The Magnificent Seven title.
Season Two (1986) featured the same seven re-uniting and travelling from Birmingham to the English countryside to Spain on various building projects.
British Brevity was somewhat averted by these first two seasons, which contain 13 episodes each rather than the usual six. A third season was planned but shelved after Gary Holton, one of the seven principal cast members, passed away.
It was eventually revived for a few years in 2002,
Darker and Edgier. With the six remaining members, Timothy Spall (Barry), Christopher Fairbank (Moxey), Jimmy Nail (Oz), Tim Healy (Dennis), Pat Roach (Bomber) and Kevin Whately (Neville) returning and Noel Clarke filling the gap as Wayne's son, Wyman.
The strong accents (especially Geordie), including regional slang terms and the obscure British cultural references, would probably make the series almost completely unintelligible to anyone from outside the United Kingdom.
This programme provides examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Moxey and Oz. Oz is also guilty of being an abusive parent.
- Actor Existence Failure: Gary Holton.
- Anti-Hero: Most of the main characters.
- Artifact Title: Season One was the only one to involve Germany.
- Badass Beard: Bomber and Big Baz.
- Badass Longcoat: Oz in Season Two.
- Bar Brawl.
- British Frozen Rocks With Penguins And Landmines: Where we find Oz and Barry at the beginning of season two.
- Berserk Button: Never harm or threaten one of Oz's friends in front of Oz.
- Big Brother Mentor: Dennis.
- Book Ends: Series One begins with Dennis, Oz and Neville on the ferry on their way to Germany. The second of the hour-long Christmas specials end with the exact same scenario, and Neville gives us a Title Drop.
- Brother-Sister Incest: Possibly. Kadi and Tatiana are probably only pretending to be brother and sister but it's never actually confirmed.
- Bruiser With A Soft Centre: Bomber.
- Butt Monkey: Barry and sometimes Moxey.
- The Casanova: Wayne.
- The Cast Showoff: Jimmy Nail, a former nightclub singer, was given a chance to display his singing in the second series.
- Character Development: Oz did some serious growing up between Season Two and the revival.
- Chekhov's Gun: The videotapes in "A Home from Home".
- Chick Magnet: Wayne again.
- Chivalrous Pervert: Wayne (except to his wife).
- Crazy Jealous Guy: Ally Fraser shows the potential to be this when he warns Wayne off Vicky
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Brenda, in the first season.
- Continuity Nod: In the first episode, Neville acquired an embarrassing tattoo on his arm whilst drunk and couldn't afford to have it removed again. When he briefly appears shirtless in the 2002 revival, it's still there.
- Cloud Cuckoolander: Moxey has his moments.
- Darker and Edgier: The 2002 revival had Bomber suffering from a serious illness and Moxey and Dennis struggling with extreme poverty. Also featured drugs, hitmen, organised crime and an illegal immigrant almost forced into prostitution.
- also the various issues surrounding the use of gangmasters providing East European labour on the Middlesborough Bridge contract
- Deadpan Snarker: Often Wayne.
- Domestic Abuse: Vicky is the target of this from Ally Fraser. Moxy comes from a family with a violent stepfather who molests his sister
- Embarrassing Tattoo: Neville, who is the nicest of the characters and happily married to Brenda, wakes up after a night of drinking to find "Neville Loves Lottie" tattooed on his arm. He doesn't even know anyone called Lottie.
- Fanservice Extra: There was a few of these in the Spanish episodes.
- Fille Fatale: Bomber's daughter Tracey (though this was seemingly an act to get attention).
- Friendless Background: Moxey.
- Fun with Acronyms: DIMNOB!
- Gentle Giant: Bomber.
- Gold Digger: Tatiana and Vicky.
- Happily Married: Neville and Brenda (most of the time).
- The Hedonist: Wayne, and in some ways Oz.
- House Husband: Neville at the beginning of Series 2.
- I Have No Son: Oz in series three.
- Intrepid Reporter: Nikki Miles.
- Jerkass: Ally Fraser, Geoffrey Granger, Arthur Pringle and MacGowan.
- Not to mention Tarquin Pearce.
- Jerk Ass With A Heart Of Gold: Oz (sometimes).
- Lady Killer In Love: Wayne with Christa.
- Last Name Basis: Moxey. His first name is Albert, but he rarely uses it.
- Lovable Rogue: Oz, Moxey and Wayne.
- Lovable Sex Maniac: Wayne.
- Misplaced Nationalism: Addressed by Dennis in "Who Won the War, Anyway?"
Dennis: After a week they've lost their passports, they've got pissed, lost most of their money, and become ridiculously nationalistic for the country that can't even bloody employ them in the first place!
- much parodied in the Cuban Bridge On The River Kwai scenes, especially Barry's "Colenel Nicholson" act while locked in the metal hut.
- Mooks: Ali Fraser and Mickey Startup both have them. Big Baz could be considered a dragon.
- Mysterious Past: Moxey and Colin.
- Naked People Are Funny: The skinny dip in Spain.
- Native American Casino: The revival series had a plot involving our heroes demolishing a historic bridge in England, and rebuilding it across a canyon in Arizona to provide access to a Native American casino.
- a Shout Out to an urban legend relating to the sale of the old London Bridge and its re-erection in Arizona as a tourist attraction
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Oz and Bomber.
- Only Sane Employee: Dennis, frequently.
- Oop North: Not Derbyshire though, which is the South as far as Dennis is concerned.
- Pink is for Sissies: Bomber's response when Neville wants to paint the hut pink.
- Porn Stash: 'Last Rites'.
- Prison Rape: Apparently almost happened to Geoffrey Granger. Luckily for him, Oz was around to help.
- Protagonist Centred Morality: When Oz mistreats people he's an anti-hero that you root for. When a character like Herr Grimwald or Arthur Pringle mistreat the group then they are a villain deserving of humiliation.
- Really Gets Around: Wayne.
- Replaced the Theme Tune: It deliberately changed its opening and closing themes for each new series or special.
- Right in Front of Me: Barry with Terry Leather.
- Second Episode Introduction: Moxey.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Wayne and Barry.
- Sexy Secretary: Dagmar and Christa.
- Neville has one to lust over in series three, Annie Cartwright no less.
- averted in several directions by Dagmar, who seems to be developing a genuine relationship with the unhappily-divorced Dennis - until their night in a hotel is spoilt when the rest of the Brits turn up, having burnt down their hut in a drunken prank gone drastically wrong
- Sexy Stewardess: Wayne and Barry try to pull two sexy stewardesses in Series One.
- Sitcom Character Archetypes:
- The Big Mouth: Oz.
- The Dork: Barry.
- The Sage: Dennis.
- Neville is both the Square and the Stick.
- The Wisecracker: Oz and Wayne.
- Sleazy Politician: Geoffrey Granger.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Wyman.
- Sympathetic Adulterer: Bomber who frequently visits brothels despite being married with 5 children
- Sympathetic Criminal: Moxey.
- Third-Person Person: Bomber.
- Title Drop: In the closing scene of the final episode, courtesy of Neville.
- Took a Level in Badass: Between seasons two and three Brenda goes from a simpering housewife to a hard-nosed businesswoman.
- Trash the Set: Takes place at the end of season one when Wayne inadvertently burns the hut down.
- Smug Snake: Ali Fraser. And Geoffrey Granger even more so.
- Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Barry and Tatiana.
- The Unintelligible: Oz with his strong accent in the first two seasons.
- Lamp Shaded by Moxey: "Nobody understands a tossing word you're saying."
- The Vamp: Tatiana.
- Villains Out Shopping: "He was only going for a Tandori chicken!"
- What Did I Do Last Night?: How Neville ends up with the aforementioned Embarrassing Tattoo.
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