Follow TV Tropes

Following

Series / Car Share

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/car_share.png
Car Share (or Peter Kay's Car Share) is a Brit Com which ran for two series and various special episodes from 2015 to 2018. It stars Peter Kay and Sian Gibson as John Redmond and Kayleigh Kitson, two very different co-workers at a local supermarket who take part in a work car sharing scheme. Each episode mainly consists of the two main characters sitting in the car chatting, bickering and singing along to the radio as they drive to work. They form an Odd Friendship, which starts to border on romance.


Tropes featured in Car Share:
  • Alliterative Name: Kayleigh Kitson.
  • Almost Kiss: They almost have one when John drops Kayleigh off after the work fancy dress party, but are interrupted by a phone call from Elsie.
  • Amusing Injuries: John slipping over and hurting his arm whilst sprinting back to the car after posting a letter.
  • Anachronic Order: The unscripted first episode of series three takes before the last episode of series two, when John and Kayleigh fell out and she walked out on him.
  • Artistic Licence – Geography:
    • In Car Share, it has been observed that the journey across Manchester takes anything but the shortest line between two points.note  This is possibly due to the vagaries of shooting and re-shooting dialogue scenes, and a not unreasonable assumption that the vast majority of viewers will not have local knowledge of Greater Manchester streets and landmarks and will in any case be looking at the characters and not the backgrounds. The journey taken in Episode One was observed to go round in circles, double back on itself, meander miles to the north and miles to the south of the assumed destination, leap instantly between locations as if the car was a Tardis, and in one scene it appeared to visit a completely different town sixty miles away from Manchester. Although the show Lampshaded Peter's inability to use a SatNav and his lack of any maps in the car...
    • It has been noticed that over the six episodes, John and Kayleigh never take the same route twice. Episode One touches on Stockport, in the south and east of the conurbation. Episode Three appears to have been shot in Bolton, Swinton and Salford, in the north and west; episode six sees them in Chorlton and Altrincham, to the south and west of Greater Manchester.
    • Apparently Kay is well aware of this aspect having been noticed by observant fans. The new series will include driving scenes shot in Liverpool. Fifty miles away from Manchester. To make it more obvious these will include the line of statues erected on the beach at Waterloo. On the Irish Sea coast.
  • Aside Glance: John does this whenever Kayleigh says something odd.
  • Belated Happy Ending: The series originally ended with Kayleigh and John parting, with everyone involved adamant that there would be no more and if you didn't like the ending, tough. But they did eventually yield to public pressure and made two more episodes which ended the series on a happier note.
  • Bilingual Backfire: Kayleigh insults Stink Ray in Japanese:
    Kayleigh: Kusa debu.
    John: Correct.
    Ray: Who you calling a fat shit?
    Kayleigh: Oh, you speak the Japanese?
  • Bottle Episode: Subverted. It looks like this, because every episode is mostly just two people sitting in a car talking. However while the action may take place in a small space, the series most definitely doesn't, as it's filmed in a huge number of different locations, as well as having to contend with the technical difficulties of filming while on the move.
  • British Brevity: The series consisted of a first series of six episodes, a second series of four episodes, a third series of just two, and a mini special episode.
  • Bus Crash: Ted the trolley pusher, who dies between episodes in a trolley accident.
  • Car Radio Dispute: Averted, despite the amount of time they spend listening to the car radio, although John only listens to Kayleigh's choice of radio station grudgingly at first. In the final episode they argue over turning the volume up and down on a particular song, shortly before Kayleigh walks out on him for the last time.
  • Christmas Episode: Sort of. They spend a mini episode listening to Kayleigh's Now Christmas album in the car. In the middle of summer.
  • Clingy Jealous Girl: Kayleigh shows signs of this when she learns that a female co-worker is interested in John.
  • Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Kayleigh doesn't think dinosaurs existed.
  • Dating Service Disaster: Kayleigh has a few off-screen. One ended with her exiting the restaurant through the window of the ladies' toilet.
  • Deadpan Snarker: John.
  • Death Glare: Kayleigh has a murderous one when she spots a female co-worker flirting with John.
  • Dirty Old Man:
    • Ken Bamber, the local butcher who appears on Forever FM in his innuendo-laden commercials:
    Ken: She'll love our chops, steak, mince, and of course, my famous sausage!
    John: I bet he's being investigated by three counties.
    • John assumes Kayleigh's elderly neighbour Ken is one after she mentions they go dogging together.
  • Downer Ending: In the final episode of series two, Kayleigh declares her love for John, but he doesn't reciprocate, so she jumps out of the car and gets into a nearby taxi. John daydreams about vaulting over the cars in front and pulling her out of the taxi and kissing her, but in reality he just stays where he is. In a phone call with his nan, he tells her: "I'm done." Later subverted in that they made more episodes in which they hesitantly make-up and start a relationship - but the trope still counts considering that the season two finale was intended as the series finale.
  • Dream Sequence: Both characters (but mainly Kayleigh) daydream about being in a music video.
  • The Extremist Was Right: Extremist is going too far, but John comes off as a massive jobsworth in episode 1 for his criticism of Ted 1 pushing too many trolleys - with Kayleigh clearly thinking that he is overreacting. Then in episode 2, not only is he is proven completely right, but he is the man the store turns to when they need their trolley safety policy rewritten. In fairness however, Kayleigh does acknowledge this.
  • Freezeframe Bonus: The are lots of blink-and-you'll-miss-it visual gags at they drive around, like graffiti on a dented car ("never lend your car to a woman!") and a poster: "Missing husband: last seen inside a whore!"
  • The Friend Nobody Likes: Ray the fishmonger.
  • Funny Background Event: Now and again they pass signs like "One for the price of two" or "Brazilian wax while you wait."
  • The Ghost: Diane from non-foods, Dave Thompson.
  • The Grinch: John hates Christmas. Kayleigh, on the other hand, is The Anti-Grinch.
  • Happy Ending: In the really final episode, John presents Kayleigh with a song he has written especially for her. This heals their friendship and enables them to establish with each other where they really stand. The last we see of them is the them travelling on a bus together, and listening to the song, hand in hand.
  • Hypocritical Humor: Kayleigh lusts after the store's Chippendale trolley pusher whenever she sees him, but gets angry when she thinks John is interested in a female co-worker..
  • I Drank WHAT?!: Kayleigh accidentally spills a bottle of what John assumes to be a sports drink over him, and some goes in his mouth. She then reveals that it was actually a urine sample.
  • Improv: The first of the two 2018 episodes was completely unscripted.
  • Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Kayleigh is a lesser example than many but she still very much fills this role for John. Episode 3 of Series 2 where she pulls a sickie to go on a day trip is probably the height of this.
  • Minimalist Cast: Only the two main characters appear in every episode. In total, seven named characters appear in the show.
  • Mistaken for Gay: Kayleigh thought John was gay because "you're always on your own" and he danced along to "I am what I am" a bit too enthusiastically at the last Christmas party.
  • Mr Fan Service: Ted 2. His successor is Fan Disservice.
  • My Biological Clock Is Ticking: Mid-30s Kayleigh mentions this:
    Kayleigh: My eggs are already past their use-by date, if I don't get a spurt on soon, they'll be whoopsed.
  • Nobody Poops:
    • While driving back from the office party, they have to stop so Elsie can relieve herself in the road.
    • They also drive past a squatting dog in the act of pooping.
  • Non Sequitur: Kayleigh does a lot of these.
  • No Theme Tune: The only music in the show is what they're listening to on the radio.
  • Odd Friendship: John and Kayleigh.
  • Once an Episode: Most episodes have an Imagine Spot in which Kayleigh imagines herself in a pop video.
  • One Dialogue, Two Conversations:
    • John and Kayleigh's conversation about dogging. Kayleigh thinks it means dog walking. It doesn't.
    • There is another later in the episode when they ask a random man walking his dog to settle the argument. It takes Kayleigh a while to realise he's actually talking about dogging.
  • Oop North: The setting.
  • Overly Narrow Superlative: Forever FM boasts that it is "the fourth biggest radio station in the North West".
  • Playing Sick: Kayleigh adeptly phones in to work and pulls a sickie so she and John can go to the zoo.
  • Shout-Out: In one episode they pass a shop called Phoenix Bites.
  • Show Within a Show: John and Kayleigh listen to the fictional radio station Forever FM.
  • Sleeping Their Way to the Top: John and Kayleigh discuss a coworker who is said to be doing this.
  • Speech-Centric Work: Very much so, as it's almost entirely based on two characters (and the occasional passenger) talking in a car, plus whatever they're listening to on the radio.
  • Take That!: In the first episode, a Northern Rail Sprinter (a mainstay of Northern English commuter lines with a not entirely undeserved reputation as an Alleged Train) appears on screen just as the radio plays an advert for Lancashire Scrap Metal.
  • Title-Only Opening: The title just appears over the opening shot.
  • Trademark Favourite Food: In one episode, they visit Wigan - naturally, every background gag and sign they drive past involves pies.
  • Voice Clip Song: John is mortified (and Kayleigh amused) to discover that his angry rant at a cyclist has been edited and autotuned to Jump (For My Love) and put online.
  • Women's Mysteries: Kayleigh says she just mentions "lady problems" to her male manager whenever she phones in sick. She admits this excuse doesn't work as well on her female manager.

Top