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(From left to right) Top: Oregon, Kingsley, JP. Bottom: Vod, Howard and Josie

Fresh Meat is a British comedy series from the creators of Peep Show that aired on Channel 4 for four series between 2011 and 2016. The show centres around 6 students attending university in Manchester who miss out on accommodation in halls and so are forced to share a house together.

Hilarity Ensues.

The main characters are: Kingsley, a Dogged Nice Guy with a crush on Josie, who isn't as innocent as she appears; Howard, a social recluse with only a slight grasp on normal human behaviour; Vod, Deadpan Snarker Lad-ette and self-proclaimed slut; Oregon, a pampered-yet-sweet-but-also-neurotic girl trying to escape her privileged upbringing; and JP - affluent but a bit of an idiot, who tries far too hard to impress those around him.


This show provides examples of:

  • Abusive Parents: Vod’s mother is a cruel, irresponsible and vindictive woman who terrorised Vod throughout her childhood, blaming her for ‘ruining her life’ and saying - in her presence - that she regrets having her. When Vod calls her out for her behaviour, she flies into a violent rage and wrecks much of the kitchen.
  • Aerith and Bob: Eventually revealed to be the case in season 4 with the Pembersley brothers: Tomothy (his mother wanted to call him Tom, his father wanted to call him Timothy) and Jonathan (JP).
  • The Alcoholic: The whole house is this to a degree, and excessive drinking is an essential part of the students' daily routine. In particular, Vod, Josie and JP are considerably more seasoned boozers than the rest.
    • Josie resorts to the six-packs and the wine quite frequently when things aren't going well.
    • Vod's mother Chris, who became an alcoholic because she had Vod at 19 and feels she ruined her life. When she has had too much to drink, she goes into a violent rage and becomes 'The Beast'.
  • All Gays are Promiscuous: JP's reaction when Giles comes out is to assume that he wants to have sex with him. This may actually be because he believes All Men Are Perverts; when Giles tries to explain by asking "Do you want to shag every woman you know?" JP responds "Yes, of course!"
  • All Girls Like Ponies: Oregon is revealed to own one, as part of her former life as a sheltered rich girl.
    • Averted with Josie when she quits her zoology degree; she "just really doesn't give a fuck about any animal".
  • Alpha Bitch: "King" Ralph is a male one, Boy Posse and all.
    • JP tries to establish himself as one with Kingsley and Howard as his wingmen in season 3 ("The good [Kingsley], the bad [JP], and the ugly [Howard]"), but it doesn't really take.
  • Ambiguously Bi: Although JP is only ever explicitly shown being attracted to girls, he can be surprisingly affectionate with Kingsley, and draws oddly detailed cocks on everything.
  • A Party, Also Known as an Orgy: JP fondly likes to imagine that this is going to happen, despite a towering mass of evidence to the contrary.
  • Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Howard's, by his own admission, are said to be "excruciatingly embarrassing" in the final episode.
  • Amusing Injuries: At the university sit-in/protest, Oregon fucks Hasan with so much gusto and force that he snaps the frenulum of his penis (aka the Banjo String). This is also only about half an hour after Oregon declares that sex is banned at the sit-in.
    Paramedic: Severed frenulum, heavy flow, we've got a lot of blood...no, we really do...
  • Anguished Declaration of Love: JP does this in almost every interaction with Sam, from their one-night stand onwards.
  • Annoying Patient: JP comes down with mumps in series 2, and nobody wants to go near him.
  • Armour-Piercing Question: When Oregon is quickly working her way through a table full of shots after discovering that her new "Mr. Perfect" is actually Shales' son, the first question that pops into Vod's head triggers a Vomit Indiscretion Shot;
    Vod: Do they have the same "O" face?
  • Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Oregon's rules for the university sit-in.
    Oregon: No sex, no harassment, no discrimination and no circus skills.
  • Artifact Title: Made more sense when they were actually freshers; as of series 3, most of them are in their second year.
    • Candice still technically counts as Fresh Meat, especially as she becomes taken with Professor Shales just like Oregon did.
    • Also in series 3, Howard starts working at an abattoir, and gets to bring home "spares".
  • Ashes to Crashes: JP takes his father's urn back to the flat with him when his mother sells the house. The next episode it's stolen in the course of a robbery. Feeling guilty, and based on an anecdote she hears, Josie goes rooting through a skip to see if the burglars dumped it. She finds it, intact... and promptly spills the ashes into the skip.
  • Auto Erotica: In one episode, Shales wants to have sex with Oregon in his car before they go to a tapas bar for dinner. She refuses because she doesn't like the idea.
  • Bad Liar: Oregon flat out lies to her parents about her degree and her union presidency, knowing full well it will end in tears.
  • Bait-and-Switch: When JP's dad is dying, Oregon gets a call that someone close to her is dying, and looks at a picture of a man with a horse, leading the viewer to assume that her dad will pass away soon, too. It turns out it's her favourite horse that's dying, and she takes a detour to say goodbye to him, preventing JP from getting his own goodbye.
  • Bait the Dog: Tomothy set up a job for JP after he graduates. Sounds all well and good, right? Actually, no. In fact, Tomothy intends to give the job to his brother whether JP wants it or not (he doesn't, but laments he may not have any other choice). He even attempts to emotionally blackmail JP into taking the job by bringing up their dead father (JP is a "Well Done, Son" Guy, remember?). JP ultimately decides he doesn't want the job and that he also doesn't want his brother interfering with his life.
  • Be Careful What You Wish For: In her bid to become President of the Student Union, Oregon works her arse off day and night on campaigning and canvassing, as well as fending off fierce competition from Vod, almost losing her friendship in the process. Her hard work pays off and she wins the election, only to be immediately saddled with union debts, financial irregularities and active lawsuits.
  • Bedmate Reveal: A bedridden JP acts a bit weird and antisocial towards Kingsley. After K leaves, Vod's mum Chris pops her head out from under the covers.
    • Kingsley discovers Josie is sleeping in the same bed as him and Heather, causing him to splutter, "Why is she in our bed?!"
  • Berserk Button: Few of the main students really have this trait. Howard explodes a couple of times when people infer that, just because he's a nerd, he must like Lord of the Rings. He really, really doesn't. Beyond the main cast, Vod's alcoholic mum does though; she suddenly transforms into the aforementioned 'Beast' when she realizes she forgot to buy the duck for dinner.
  • Betty and Veronica: Josie and Ruth respectively to Kingsley, in series 1. Then in series 2, Heather is the new Betty and Josie has become the Veronica.
  • Be Yourself: Parodied - JP attempts to teach Howard how to be a "real person." Naturally, he doesn't get very far:
    Howard: I'm just being myself...
    JP: Why the fuck would you want to do that?! That is literally the stupidest thing I've ever heard!
  • The Big Board: When Howard turns Amateur Sleuth following a break-in.
  • Big Brother Bully: Tomothy to JP in a downplayed example. He comes across as a Big Brother Mentor to JP and has set up a job for him in London, only to pressure JP into taking the job when JP doesn't want it, talking down to JP, ignoring his advice and even emotionally blackmailing him by bringing up their dead father.
  • Big Brother Mentor: Tomothy takes on this role for JP in season 4, though it eventually becomes clear that Tomothy is trying to force JP to take a job he himself doesn't want.
  • Big Damn Kiss: Josie and Kingsley in the series 2 finale. See I "Uh" You, Too below.
  • Big Fancy House: JP's family has one in Cornwall.
    JP: Welcome to my house — my very big house in the country.
    • Oregon too, somewhere in southern England, although it doesn't seem to be as palatial as JP's.
  • Big "WHAT?!": Tomothy, then Oregon, when Vod tells them she thinks she gave Tomothy a dodgy pill.
    Vod: I sold [Tomothy] a dodgy pill and I'm worried he's gonna die.
    Tomothy: What?!
  • Binge Montage: The "freak out", notably including a shot of red wine to the eyeball and JP hotboxing an antique knight's helmet.
  • Bizarro Universe: Noah and his four mates live in the house next door, and they are all handsome, fashionable, ultra-clean and basically the polar opposite of the main characters. Josie steps into this universe and lives like a queen with them for an episode.
  • Bittersweet Ending: The group (sans Josie) ends their academic careers with varying degrees of success, though it's underscored by overall mediocrity, save for Howard. Still, they end on a (mostly) good note, save for Josie, who closes the series with a sweep of the now-empty house as she's clearly saddened by the prospect of a year alone as she finishes her degree.
    • The song playing during the scenenote  underscores the mood, describing relationships that "should have been forever" but are now just memories from one stage of your life. Anyone who's lost or is losing contact with friends they hung out with daily in college can feel this scene hit hard.
  • Black Comedy: Josie uncovers a picture in JP's room that he drew of himself hanging from a noose. He says he drew it for fun because of the stress of the upcoming finals.
  • Black Comedy Rape: Vod on Riz: "I might rape him."
    • In-universe, Oregon does this a lot when she's trying to demonstrate her edginess.
    "Harvest the men. Rape the men! We're like feminist vikings."
    "I woke up a few times on my year off having had a penis I didn't know about."
    • An early season one plot has JP concerned that he might have assaulted someone after he blacks out drunk during sex. There's a moral message about JP learning to respect women and the vulnerability of university freshmen, but it's mostly played for laughs.
    JP: I really like her. And I'd like to take her out again. Only thing is, if I've raped her, I don't think she'll want to go.
  • Blatant Lies: Most of what Oregon claims she has done.
  • Book Ends:
    • Howard using a hairdryer to air-dry Peking ducks at the beginning of series 1, and to defrost a frozen Christmas turkey at the end.
    • One episode opens with Vod frantically cleaning the living room in preparation for her mother's arrival. It ends with everyone else cleaning up the living room after her mother smashes it up in a drunken fury.
  • Boyish Short Hair: Vod throughout most of her stint at Manchester Medlock, a summation of her outrageously ladette personality.
    • Averted when she dons some hair extensions in one episode, when she falls in love with Al the Handyman.
    • In Season 4 she finally grows long, feminine hair, although she keeps one side shaven and retains her boyish punk clothes.
  • Boy Posse: The Stowe-aways, a group of hugely entitled posh boys and JP's fellow Stowe School graduates who engage in cruel hazing, bizarre sexual games and look down on anyone who isn't them. JP is desperate for their approval.
  • Break-Up Bonfire: Non-romantic variation, after Vod falls out with her mother, she burns anything that reminds her of her on the barbecue.
  • British Accents: The show has a lot of different ones. In many cases this is due to Actor-Shared Background, but it also serves to underscore the cosmopolitan nature of the larger UK universities.
    • Josie comes from the Welsh valleys, and she sounds like it.
    • Kingsley, being an Essex boy, speaks with an Estuary accent.
    • Vod appears to speak Multicultural London English (MLE), though she grew up in a number of areas due to being a military brat.
    • Howard is clearly Scottish (more specifically Glaswegian).
    • Candice has an extremely prominent Yorkshire accent.
    • JP and Oregon are the only major characters who don't sound "regional," though this is justified since they are the posh ones in the house.
  • British Unis: Manchester Metropolitan University with the serial numbers filed off.
  • Brick Joke: Vod gets the idea to get Al the handyman to come back to the house by attempting to flush a pair of jeans down the toilet. At the end, Howard answers the door to a different handyman (as Oregon reported Al for the burglary offscreen) who was called out to remove said jeans from the toilet.
  • Brits Love Tea: Britishness is showing. With tea-drinking.
    • Vod drinks tea, despite being the opposite of the stereotypical tea drinker.
    • Candice starts making daily cups of tea for Howard for seemingly no reason; the faint sparks of their romance to come, in spite of Howard's paranoia and geek logic.
  • Broken Pedestal: Averted. While staying in JP's house, Vod finds a series of letters from JP's father to a lover he had. Knowing that it would result in this trope if JP found out, Vod burns the letters.
  • Brotherhood of Funny Hats: The Stowe-Aways, embarrasing Initiation Ceremony included.
    Tobes: There's a bit more to being a Stowe-Away than banter.
    Ralph: Yeah, it's not just about going to a Chinese restaurant and doing a shit in a pint glass.
    Tobes: It is partly about that...
  • Buttmonkey: Oregon. Throughout the series, most of her endeavours wind up failing in one way or another, and her few successes are revealed to have been orchestrated by her ex-lover Tony Shales. Meanwhile, her romantic relationships fail more spectacularly than those of any of the other characters.
  • Cabin Fever: When Vod first enters the house and catches a pant-less Howard drying Peking ducks with a hairdryer, he "explains" that he hasn't spoken to another human being "for some time".
  • Call-Back: Several to the pilot episode alone;
    • "Hump me with your mega-cock!", called back in series 3 with "Hump me with your PowerPoint!"
    • JP objecting to someone using "his" bathroom while he's in the shower.
    • Kingsley's first impression of JP is that he's the kind of public school boy who's into communal masturbation. It later emerges that that's exactly what he used to do in his Stowe days.
  • Calling Shotgun: King Ralph does this when he and JP meet Tobes' sexy French cousin, and calls JP getting friendly with her "infringing on his copyright".
  • Calling the Old Man Out: Vod's "You're a shit mother." It doesn't go down well.
  • Captain Oblivious: Oregon's "Insufficient funds? What does that mean? Is it the bank? Does the bank have insufficient funds to pay me?"
  • Captain Obvious: When Oregon stops having sex with Hasan and sees blood on her hand from his penis, she remarks, "That can't be good."
  • Casanova Wannabe: Although JP does have a healthy enough sex life, he has only a lukewarm success rate with picking up girls, and gets fobbed off and rejected many, many times throughout the show. Compares badly to Kingsley who casually sleeps with almost every girl or woman he talks to.
    • JP's older brother Tomothy when he tries to cheat on his wife with Josie.
  • The Cast Show Off: Oregon's impromptu rendition of "Black Velvet", especially after Kingsley's attempts at singing. Both play the guitar, too.
  • Caught with Your Pants Down: Almost everybody in the opening scene of the penultimate episode. The day before finals Josie goes around the house trying to bring her friends morning cups of tea, only to walk in on, in turn, Kingsley (trousers round his ankles), Vod (eating Nutella off a knife with her other hand) and Oregon (using a riding crop as an aid. "Oh my god. Don't look at me!") all going at it. When she comes to the cellar door she at least pauses long enough for Howard to warn her off ("I'm masturbating, and no, I do not have time to stop."), but she's still fool enough to walk in on JP (who, luckily, is having a depression spiral instead of a wank).
  • Cheaters Never Prosper:
    • JP tries to get out of his geology exam in the first series, but decides to sit it after bribing Dan to reveal the questions to him. When he finally sits the exam, he finds that Dan had lied about what the questions were.
    • At the pub quiz final, JP buzzes in with the correct answer... to the next question, having missed a line when he was reading the answer sheet. Sam is not impressed.
    JP: I just didn't want to look stupid!
    Sam: You didn't even cheat properly, that's how stupid you are!
  • Chekhov's Gun: The "freak out" episode has JP fish out a couple of shotguns when he's planning to defend the house against the people his mother intends to sell it to. Not only do he and Vod proceed to wave them around in a decidedly irresponsible manner for the rest of the episode while everyone gets steadily drunk, but JP then reveals he once shot a man accidentally on a pheasant hunt. In the end, the trope is subverted — nobody gets shot.
    • In the burglary episode, Al the handyman gives JP advice that JP gives to the second handyman at the end, involving bolts, screw blades and socket heads.
    • From the same episode, Sabine suggests that they could look for their stolen possessions in a skip. Josie is seen doing this in the final scene and find's JP's father's urn, much to her relief, before accidentally spilling the ashes out of it.
  • Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Only a minor example, but Dan the Geology Man disappears after season two and is never mentioned again by any of his students.
    • Brian, a fairly pivotal side character in the later episodes of Season 1, and set up to be a sort of Arch-Nemesis to Howard, completely vanishes after Season 1 Episode 7 with absolutely no explanation.
  • Citizenship Marriage: Vod and Javier. In a subversion, Vod only wants him to be a citizen so he can get a job and make enough money to catch a plane back to Venezuela... Javier, on the other hand, is genuinely in love with her and thinks it's for real.
  • Continuity Nod:
    • Many, but a notable one is JP continuing to call Kingsley "Knutsford" well into the third season, based on a brief gag in the opening minutes of the pilot. Similarly, all the housemates disparagingly refer to Kingsley as "The Pussy Man" intermittently throughout the series after a similar entirely erroneous admission in the same scene of the pilot.
    • The penultimate episode of series three sees tensions boiling over, and everything everyone has done to piss the others off gets dragged out into the open.
  • Corrupt the Cutie: Candice joins the house as a frumpy, mousy, sheltered girl from a religious family, wearing almost Amish-like clothes. Over the course of season 3, as she experiences life in the house, she becomes a radical feminist, then latterly a goth, and then begins a relationship with Howard.
    • Dylan Shales is a happy, laid-back, friendly gentleman with a zest for life, and he is made up when he begins dating Oregon. By the end of season 2, his relationship with his father is destroyed, and he sets his mattress on fire and gets drunk on hard liquor, before telling Oregon to do one.
  • Cringe Comedy: Kingsley's interpretive dance for his Drama class is met with a horribly awkward silence.
    • JP hyping his DJ set in the Series 1 finale: "DJ Rape is gonna rock them whether they like it or not".
  • Deadpan Snarker: JP, Vod and Howard are the biggest offenders, but all of the housemates do this from time to time too, such as Kingsley in the burglary episode.
  • Death Glare: Oregon gives Vod one after suggesting in the final episode they go for a masters. In fact it's because Oregon got a lower grade that Vod did. Oregon got a 2:2, while Vod got a 2:1.
  • Defensive "What?": Josie to Heather and Kingsley after they stare at her taking a bottle of vodka out of the freezer.
  • Description Cut: Kingsley, JP and Howard are about to head out for a boys' night out, with no girls allowed, and they start dancing, singing and getting rowdy. One cut later, they're quietly drinking in a deserted pub with Vod and Oregon.
    Vod: I haven't been on a boys' night out for ages, cheers Kingsley!
  • Desperately Craves Affection: Desperate Dan the Geology Tutor Man.
  • Did Not Get the Girl: JP and Howard are both crushingly rejected by Sam, despite both thinking they had a big chance of scoring.
    • Howard almost dates Lauren the Geology Girl, but is left devastated when she rejects him (thanks to Brian freaking her out).
    Howard: All relationships are doomed. If you emotionally undress in front of someone, they will pour acid on your shivering skin, and leave you, to die.
  • Didn't Think This Through: Kingsley drops out of Geology only weeks in, and transfers to Drama, based on nothing other than a) lots of hot girls being in the Drama class, and b) JP verbally committing to do the same. When JP naturally flakes out, he's left studying for a course he hates, with no friends and nothing in common with any of his classmates.
  • Digging Yourself Deeper: When Dylan finds out about the affair that Oregon had with Shales (Dylan's father), Oregon blurts that she also had a bit of a crush on his mother, too.
  • Disproportionate Retribution: Dan is very angry about Kingsley issuing an official complaint about the quality of his teaching, so at the end of a field trip, he forces Kingsley to chase after the van and then drives off without him, leaving him stranded in the Pennines. The kicker (no pun intended)? Kingsley had a broken leg (after JP fell on him when he escaped off a ledge he was previously trapped on).
  • Doesn't Know Her Own Strength: Josie, annoyed at Heather constantly gushing about her new relationship with Kingsley, takes their self-defence class with Sabine a little too seriously and breaks Heather's arm.
  • Do Not Call Me "Paul": Oregon.
  • Don't Come A-Knockin': Various objects in the house are shown falling over as Howard and Sabine "make fuck buddies."
  • Dresses the Same: For a while in the first series, Oregon begins copying Vod's fashion and buying the same clothes, much to Vod's chagrin.
    • Josie then does the exact same thing in series four, with her new "Jobbo" persona. Vod is even less pleased with this than with Oregon.
  • Drowning My Sorrows: After Josie is kicked off her dentistry course, she turns to the alcohol for comfort. This was also after she had accidentally caused the burglary earlier in the same episode. She is seen getting a bottle of vodka out of the freezer and Heather remarks to Kingsley on how fragile Josie is.
    • Vod's mother does this, being The Alcoholic, and becomes "The Beast" when she drinks too much, which amounts to flying into a drunken rage and caused Vod to have to hide under her bed until her mother passed out. This happened a lot.
  • Drunk Driver: When a paralytic Josie decides to drive from Cornwall to Wales to gatecrash her ex's wedding, the less-drunk-but-still-a-bit-drunk Kingsley ends up driving her instead.
    Kingsley: [after Josie trips up trying to get to her car] You're too drunk to drunk-drive! That's pretty drunk!
  • Dude Magnet: New fresher Sam becomes the object of desire for JP, Howard and Kingsley in season 3, even when the latter is in a fully committed relationship with Josie. She sleeps with JP once, but ultimately rejects all three of them.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness: In Ralph and Tobes' first appearance, they barely recognise JP. At the beginning of series three, Ralph implies their mothers are friends, suggesting he has known JP reasonably well for quite some time.
  • Embarrassing Nickname:
    • Kingsley briefly tries to reinvent himself as "The Pussyman", and J.P. never lets him forget it.
    JP: Kingsley's a virgin? No, wait...The Pussyman is a virgin?!?
    • Vod (real name Violet)'s mother calls her "Milly", to her friends' confusion. It later becomes apparent that it's because she was born when her mother was a teenager and was her "little Milly millstone round my neck". More of a Painfully Cruel Nickname, really.
    • JP is referred to variously as "J-Penis" or "J-Paedo" by his friends from Stowe.
    • JP calls Howard "Preparation H" at one point in the third series, in front of his crush Sam no less.
  • Erotic Eating:
    • Vod does this to a colleague of Shales' to piss off Oregon. It's not entirely clear if she's trying to make it disgusting or if she's just really bad at it...
    • When JP tries to take a break from masturbating, he gets extremely flustered at seeing Oregon eat a banana.
  • "Eureka!" Moment: Howard has one in the burglary episode when recalling Josie's comment about Oregon accusing the housemates of doing it.
    Howard: [[imitating Josie]] "To start accusing your own housemates of robbery. Housemates. Housemates...
  • Europeans Are Kinky: Sabine is extremely pragmatic about sex and very up-front about having a fuckbuddy. When her usual guy doesn't show up on time, she matter-of-factly invites Howard to fill in. He obliges. "Jumanji!".
  • Even Nerds Have Standards: Howard thinks Brian is a weirdo. Everyone else thinks Howard is a weirdo.
  • Even the Guys Want Him: Javier, who is an object of lust for the entire flat. He is oblivious to this.
  • Everybody Has Lots of Sex: Pretty much every single character is incredibly sexually active and few act otherwise. Even socially awkward house loner Howard unexpectedly gets in on the action with multiple girls.
  • Every Man Has His Price: How JP secures the nicest room in the house in the first episode.
  • Everyone Has Standards: While each of the housemates has done their share of nasty and selfish things, they're all visibly horrified when they realize what an awful, abusive person Vod's mom is, and how terrible her childhood must've been.
  • Everyone Looks Sexier if French: JP falls for the French cousin of one of the Stowe-aways.
  • Everyone Meets Everyone: The six housemates all hail from completely different areas of the UK, as well as different social classes, and all meet each other for the first time in episode 1. A key part of the show's earlier series was capturing that horrifying first year awkwardness, that most British university students often throw themselves into.
  • Evil Matriarch: Chris, Vod's mother. She is a huge Jerkass who says, in Vod's presence, that she wanted an abortion but was too late, and has regretted it every day since, and she does this while laughing about it. She is also The Alcoholic, insults her daughter to her face, calls her "Milly" (for "millstone") and goes on huge drunken tirades blaming other people for her own mistakes.
  • Exact Eavesdropping: Josie wakes up to overhear Kingsley's Anguished Declaration of Love while they're alone in a car, and feigns still being asleep. What she can't see is that he's on the phone to Heather.
  • Exact Words: This happened as part of an event in Vod's childhood, where Vod told her mother not to get drunk on one of her sports days. She didn't get drunk. She took acid instead, mistook another child (a boy, no less) for Vod, tried to take him home, and the police got involved. According to Vod, this was normal for her.
  • Experimented in College: "Dorm rules" in JP's public school. Paraphrased;
    Giles: Come on, all the "power showers"... when you think about it, it was pretty gay.
    JP: What's gay about it?
    Giles: What, two men wanking each other off?
    JP: Don't call it that!
    • At one point, Oregon decides she needs to do this in order to prove she's not homophobic. See Test Kiss below.
  • Expository Hairstyle Change:
    • Oregon's frequent hairstyle changes as she tries out new personas.
    • Kingsley's post-heartbreak soul patch.
  • Face Doodling: JP draws a massive cock on Howard's forehead in the very first episode.
    Kingsley: So, dick-drawing on a fellow housemate. Was that cool?
    JP: Pen-cocks are going to happen, mate. It's just part of living together.
  • Faking and Entering: Josie and Heather, when they try to cover up their being responsible for the burglary.
  • False Rape Accusation: Not exactly, but Josie tells Dave that Kingsley "molested her mind" to get her to have sex with him.
  • False Start: Kingsley and Josie. Repeatedly.
  • The Fellowship Has Ended: The final episode, where most of the housemates finish their degrees and part ways, though downplayed in that some of the group do stay paired up. Howard lands an internship that requires him living in London, Vod and Oregon are off to Laos to teach and write a book respectively, and JP and Kingsley are planning on living together, with the former planning on using his connections to get employment and the latter living rent-free with an unpaid internship. Only Josie is left behind and alone to finish her degree, a prospect she isn't looking forward to.
  • Femininity Failure: When Vod dresses up for Al the handyman, she actually looks quite nice, except she ruins it with her obvious self-consciousness, her weird infatuation-induced sweatiness, and the fact she awkwardly removes everything including her hair extensions and false eyelashes before shagging him.
  • Fictional Counterpart: While clearly set and filmed around Mancunian universities, the students themselves attend the fictional Manchester Medlock University.
  • Fingore: Vod tells the others of a break-in where someone got tied to a chair and his fingers were cut off one by one until his gave up his PIN.
  • Fish out of Water: Kingsley is shown to be a loner and an outcast in his Drama course, with only the promiscuous, manipulative Ruth acknowledging his existence. During an animal dancing session, he is made to stand in place as a single quiet sheep, while the entire rest of the class bounces around pretending to be loud monkeys.
  • Five-Token Band: Each member of the cast is from a different part of the UK, and from a different social class. A lot of the humour is from the Values Dissonance between them all. Very much Truth in Television for British unis.
  • Foreign Queasine: Josie’s speciality dish of “Munge.”
  • The Friend Nobody Likes:
    • JP in series one, but they get used to him. It even gets Lampshaded by him.
    • Sabine, who became a new room-mate at the start of series two due to a misunderstanding everyone was too socially awkward to sort out. She knows she's disliked in the house, and this is not helped by the fact she dislikes the housemates and gives up attempting to talk to them after a few episodes. She's got a friend in Howard though, after they become "fuck buddies" at least.
    • Howard tends to be better-received than JP is, but even the other housemates are often put off by his occasionally bizarre behavior, and Josie admits near the end of Season 4 that she can usually only tolerate him for a few minutes at a time. Also, nobody is interested in his suggestion of living together in London.
  • Friendship Moment: The gang driving JP up to his Dad's funeral and sticking up for him at the party.
    • When Kingsley gives Howard his invite to the BP 'promising students' dinner.
    • Vod and JP have one at his family's home when he talks about his two "crying steps". It even ends with Vod hesitantly lying her head on his shoulder to comfort him.
    • Vod and Oregon share many such moments throughout the series. Their friendship is by far the most volatile, and is really put to the test on many occasions. However, no matter how bitter or spiteful they become to each other, they always warmly embrace and make up with each other in the end.
  • Friend Versus Lover: Kingsley and Josie, over Heather. They form up a custody agreement as to who gets to have her on different nights of the week.
  • The Friends Who Never Hang: Howard and Oregon have almost no scenes together without the other members of the group present.
  • Full-Name Basis: When someone refers to Paul Lamb the Invisible Man as "Paul", JP has no idea who they're talking about. Despite the fact he lives in the same house.
  • Full-Name Ultimatum: Josie gets this in a text message when she's summoned to a disciplinary hearing after getting kicked off her dentistry course, as it refers to her as "Josephine Jones".
  • The "Fun" in "Funeral": The students attend JP's dad's funeral in 1x8, partly as a show of support to JP, partly for other reasons.
    Vod: Seriously, if I knew the food was going to be this good at my dad's funeral, I'd kill the fucker tomorrow!
  • Gay Bravado: JP's is put to the test when he discovers one of his old public school mates is actually gay. Also, due to this trope (plus a dash of Selective Obliviousness from JP), Giles' attempts to explain this fact to him turn into an Overly Long Gag.
  • Gaydar: Vod can tell Oregon isn't gay "because of your shoulders. I don't know, it's something about your shoulders."]]
  • Gender-Equal Ensemble: Played straight with the six leads, with three guys (JP, Kingsley and Howard) and three girls (Oregon, Vod and Josie).
    • Subverted when you include the other housemates they've had: Paul Lamb, Sabine, Candace and Javier.
  • Genre Savvy:
    JP: "Am I the posh one you all secretly hate?"
    Howard: "I've seen enough rom coms to know... if you 'hate' her, you must like her."
  • Get Out!: Chris yells at everyone to fuck off when she flips out and starts tearing the place apart.
    • In the final episode, JP tells Tomothy to fuck off after having had enough of him.
    • Also in the final episode, Vod orders everyone out of the house party when the house starts cracking up (no, really, cracks start appearing in the walls and plaster is shaken down from the ceiling!) due to the sheer amount of people inside.
  • The Ghost: Paul Lamb the Invisible Man - also the only housemate whose full name is given in the first episode (and used thereafter every time he's mentioned).
    • Deconstructed (albeit For Laughs) in the finale: apparently Paul Lamb the Invisible Man has been around the whole time, but the housemates have just been completely oblivious to him. He moved out after (understandably) having a nervous breakdown, and no-one noticed.
  • Girl on Girl Is Hot: When the possibility arises of a curious Oregon snogging a drunk Josie, JP is delighted. When they tell them they'll only do it if JP kisses Kingsley first, he goes for it. (While Kingsley has to be convinced. At shotgun-point.)
  • Guy on Guy Is Hot: Vod’s response to seeing JP kiss Kingsley is an approving “Hot.”
  • Graduation for Everyone: Averted; at the finale, Josie still has a year left for her degree, which, sadly, leaves her the only one left behind as everyone else moves on to the next stage of their lives. Not that it's an instant happy ending for all: Howard received the highest marks, with most of the other group receiving realistically mediocre or poor marks due to their academic habits.
  • Gratuitous Spanish: Vod had a summer fling with Javier while she and Oregon were travelling in South America, but since Vod can't speak Spanish, Oregon had to translate for her.
  • Gross-Up Close-Up: Sabine rubbing an ice cube on her bruised face (and sucking on it) that both the viewer and the housemates think is made from JP's frozen spunk. It isn't. JP unknowingly downs them at the end of the episode to the rest of the house's horror/delight.
  • Hair-Trigger Temper: Dave.
  • Happy Ending Override: In the final episode of season 3, after a lengthy period of Unresolved Sexual Tension, Candace and Howard finally hook up. But by the first episode of season 4 Candace has been Put on a Bus, so she breaks up with him over the phone.
  • Harp of Femininity: Ruth has a Harp of Femininity in her dorm room, apparently for decorative purposes. Kingsley is utterly amazed by it.
    Josie: She is such a dick.
    Kingsley: Yeah, she's a bit of a...she's kind of, she's interesting, isn't she?
    Josie: No, not really.
    Kingsley: No, but she's, she's sort of intense. She's got a harp!
  • Has a Type: Kingsley falls for two girls of East Asian descent.
  • Headphones Equal Isolation: Vod, occasionally. At one point she fails to realise that the hoover she's using is turned off. Kingsley also has some, they are stolen when the house gets burgled in the second season.
  • Head-Tiltingly Kinky: A "Rafael Nadal backhand" is witnessed in Paul Lamb the Invisible Man's secretly filmed moment of masturbation. It gets a synchronised three-man head-tilt from the Stowe-Aways.
    • ...as does the photo of JP's dad and his lover: "We don't know if they were doing it... oh yeah, they were definitely doing it"
  • Heel Realization: More or less forced upon Josie by Kingsley in the episode where the house gets burgled. Josie had left her key in the door by accident while heading out and Sabine got the blame from Howard because of Howard nursing a spite against her. Kingsley got the truth out of Heather and decided to keep quiet, but when Howard pointed the finger of blame at Sabine, Kingsley confronted her and chewed her out outside, and in the next scene, so did everyone else after Josie revealed the truth. Includes Tears of Remorse.
    Josie: [sobbing] "I'm a really terrible person. I've done really, really terrible things."
  • Her Codename Was Mary Sue: Oregon writes a play ("We Had to Kill Her") in which a girl called Delphine puts up with a cavalcade of idiots like Gwen, a Welsh simpleton who has sex with anyone and wears a sack, her boyfriend "Ainsley" (also in love with Delphine, as is everyone), a pair of villains who are described as "a posh twat and a Scottish slob", and the main villain, Hilda, who deceives a guy called Alfonso into marrying her for selfish reasons and ends up getting smothered to death by Delphine. The housemates find out about it... and, self-serving as it is, it actually serves as a pretty effective What the Hell, Hero? to several of them, including Oregon.
  • Heroes Gone Fishing: Obviously, every time the group is seen in the pub.
    • At the start of the second series, JP is shopping with Giles and taking selfies of him.
    • Kingsley is seen practising his guitar a few times.
  • Hidden Depths: Pretty much everyone - at least, hidden from each other.
  • Hilariously Abusive Childhood: Deconstructed with Vod: the revelations of how her Hard-Drinking Party Girl mother brought her up are initially played like this, with even Vod herself trying to laugh them off ("Mums eh? You know what mums are like.") But it gradually becomes clear just how awful her mum is, and just how much it affected Vod.
  • Hipster: Heather is the biggest example. She wears trendy clothes, has an unusual haircut, and speaks almost entirely in sarcasm and irony. The housemates actually take the piss out of her behind her back for it.
    JP: Mate, she's a sarcastronaut and she rides an ironocycle!
    • Kingsley sheds his dorkiness after season 1 and adopts a fedora, a soul patch, a guitar and a massive dose of pretentiousness.
    Kingsley: Heh. Oregon, you want to bring back The Vicar of Dibley? Start a petition. You want to change the world? Write a song.
    • Oregon is fond of oversized glasses and bureaucratic haircuts.
  • Hot Librarian: Dylan is a male example, and Oregon falls for him in the burglary episode, so much so she introduces herself to him using her real name. Unfortunately, it turns out he's the son of Tony Shales, giving Oregon an Oh, Crap! when she finds out.
  • Hufflepuff House: Kingsley refers to the gang in this way at the beginning of the show, arguing that JP is more of a Slytherin.
  • Humiliation Conga:
    • Series 2 as a whole is a very long conga for Josie, as her love life, her friendships and her career all rapidly start to fall apart.
    • Oregon in the last episode. She's forced to explain to her mother that she was removed from her post as President of the Student Union, under-performed everybody except JP in her exams, had affairs with Tony Shales and his son, and accidentally broke another student's dick (and got him deported in the process). To make matters worse, her acceptance into a master's degree course in Creative Writing is revealed to have been masterminded by Shales, who switched out Oregon's writing sample with one of his own.
  • Hypocrite: Among many other examples, J.P. has a go at Kingsley for pursuing Sam when J.P. "had dibs". He's getting confused; the only "dibs" arrangement was when he offered to play wingman to Howard but asked Sam out for himself because she was too good for him.
  • Hypocritical Humor: Soon after Sabine arrives, Josie remarks early on that they should probably talk to Sabine. No one can actually bring themselves to do so when Sabine enters the room.
  • I Am Spartacus: Howard claiming responsibility for Paul Lamb the Invisible Man's "Rafael Nadal backhand"
  • Idle Rich: Proud, flamboyant posho JP has a seemingly limitless supply of cash from his rich parents and brother, and often just buys his way out of any problem that may arise. He is shown to possess zero appreciation for the value of money.
    • Fellow posho Oregon is very similar, but tries desperately to suppress and obscure her richness.
  • I Have My Ways: How Howard lost his virginity, "technically speaking."
    Howard: I have my own... methods. We can get into it if you insist, but I may need some graph paper and a medical encyclopedia.
  • I Just Shot Marvin in the Face: JP reveals he once shot a beater (and the father of their current gardener) during a pheasant hunt. The guy died, but it was "a couple of years later when he rejected an organ" (implied to have been required because of the injury), so it's not like it's JP's fault. Most worryingly, it doesn't seem to have taught him any lessons about Gun Safety.
  • I Need a Freaking Drink: After Oregon finds out her perfect boyfriend Dylan is Shales' son, she returns to the house and immediately starts knocking back tequila and whisky miniatures in very short order.
    • Later on, Dylan himself reacts in the same way when he finds out Oregon had sex with his father.
  • I Need to Go Iron My Dog: Vod and JP do this after Josie reveals she opened Oregon's letter and just told Oregon she has been rejected from her Fulbright scholarship (Oregon said she wanted to wait until after her finals to open it). Knowing the situation has just gone very bad, Vod says she needs to open a window, while JP says he is going to hide behind the box he's sitting against. Neither actually do it, as Oregon starts sobbing and they all hug her.
  • Inferiority Superiority Complex: There are many instances of JP flip-flopping between cocky, alpha male dickhead and sorrowful, depressed, insecure sadact, often within the same episode.
  • Informed Poverty: Kingsley can come across as being this. JP refers to him as "poor" but in Series 2 he arrives back on campus with a completely new wardrobe and two guitars. It's more likely that he's working-class but is considered poor by the absurdly-rich JP.
  • Interclass Romance: Josie and JP end the series as an Official Couple even though she has made plenty of derisive jabs about his posh status.
  • I "Uh" You, Too: In the Series 2 finale:
    Kingsley: I love trumpets. I fucking love them.
    Josie: I fucking love them too.
  • I Resemble That Remark!: Sabine accuses Josie of deliberately breaking Heather's arm, and when Josie denies it, Sabine says she thinks Josie isn't a nice person. Josie's response: "Fuck you."
  • Ironic Nickname: Kingsley has two, both stemming from the first episode: "Knutsford" (after he tries to get away from JP by claiming he's attending a different university) and "The Pussy Man". He has only himself to blame for either of them.
    • The Pussy Man falls out of use somewhere around season 3, but he continues to be called Knutsford through to the very end, including subtle variations like Knutsack.
  • It's All About Me: JP is usually entitled, selfish and largely oblivious of anyone else's needs. Though all the housemates are guilty of this from time to time, especially Josie.
  • It's All Junk: JP burning his childhood possessions when he finds out his mother is selling their Big Fancy House.
  • Jerkass: Chris, Vod's mum, is a big one. She nicknames Vod "Milly" (for millstone, which she sees Vod as), is The Alcoholic, attempts to get off with JP even though he wants no part of it, tells Kingsley and Josie their relationship is doomed, and wishes Vod was aborted, voicing this out loud within earshot of Vod and laughing about it, and blowing up at other people for her own mistakes. Vod's attempt to call her out on it ("You're a shit mother." - she really is) results in Chris flying into a drunken rage and wrecking half the house. Who can blame Vod for burning everything that reminds her of her mum or her childhood afterwards?
    • Tomothy, JP's older brother. He cheats on his wife with Oregon and later tries to do the same with Josie, who isn't interested, mocks JP's (admittedly ridiculous) career ambitions and attempts to emotionally blackmail him when JP refuses the job Tomothy set up for him. By the way, all of that is basically emotional abuse. After said blackmail, JP decides he's had enough of Tomothy.
    • The Stowe-aways, JP's posh acquaintances, are unrepentant assholes with basically no redeeming qualities whatsoever.
  • Jerkass Has a Point: This happens a few times, especially with JP.
    • During the burglary episode, Oregon firmly suspects that Al the handyman is responsible, after an observation from Howard. JP points out the outrageousness and unprecedented nature of her claims, especially as Oregon has no evidence, which he also later points out.
    Oregon: I'm not being prejudiced, but how does a normal guy afford a place like this?
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Arguably all six main characters, though JP and Vod are probably the most obvious examples. All of them think It's All About Me from time to time (particularly JP and Josie), have done their fair share of stupid, selfish, heartless, and nasty things (sometimes all four at once), but they're good people inside and are clearly capable of acts of kindness. See Everyone Has Standards and the Heartwarming page for examples. JP even gets called this when Kingsley agrees with Josie that "[JP] is a dick, but for a dick he's surprisingly all right."
  • Juggling Loaded Guns: All through the episode at JP's house, after he digs out a pair of shotguns (while everyone's already drunk). Chekhov would be spinning in his grave: they never go off.
  • Karma Houdini: Thoroughly averted. If a character does something idiotic, expect them to suffer the full consequences.
  • Kissing Under the Influence: A wasted Vod yanks singer Riz by the shoulder and gives him a massive snog, only to find out to her horror that it's actually drummer Mark.
    Vod: We've got to go! I've snogged the wrong guy!
    Oregon: What?
    Vod: It must be because they were wearing the same jacket...
  • Ladykiller in Love:
    • Gender flipped with Vod when she falls in Love at First Sight with the handyman.
    • J.P., for Sam:
      "I know you guys think I'm this lovable rogue, this happy-go-lucky sex machine, and I'm sorry to disappoint you all, but I think... I think I've got a broken heart."
  • Last-Minute Hookup: Howard and Candice in the Season 3 finale, but it doesn't survive into the fourth season.
  • Last-Name Basis: At his Summation Gathering in the burglary episode, Howard insists on using everyone's surnames, which is the first time we learn several of them.
  • Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: Josie is light, Vod is dark, and Oregon is somewhere in between. Deconstructed in that Josie isn't as nice as she seems, while Vod is the opposite.
  • Limited Social Circle: Justified with the six main characters, as they've all moved to Manchester from other parts of Britain, so they wouldn't have any friends there beyond their uni mates.
  • Literally Loving Thy Neighbor: Kingsley and Josie, with adjoining bedrooms.
  • Locked in the Bathroom: In S1 Ep 7, when Dave finds out that Kingsley and JP both slept with Josie, they both panic and lock themselves in the bathroom to get away from him.
  • Loners Are Freaks: Howard. Brian even more so.
  • Long-Distance Relationship: Josie and Dave. Dave is somewhat more committed to it than Josie is.
    • Josie has a year left of her degree at the end of the series, while JP graduates and starts a job elsewhere, meaning they'll have to do this. The likelihood of them actually accomplishing this is probably dubious at best, given her track record with Dave...
  • Love Dodecahedron: Howard's birthday party sees one come to a head: Josie is dating Kingsley, whose ex Heather has just turned up to find out that they dated for a while before she and Kingsley broke up; in front of both of them, J.P. accuses Kingsley of having an (emotional) affair with Sam, who J.P. believes he has "dibs" on. Much face-slapping ensues.
  • Love Father, Love Son: Oregon is appalled to discover that when she finally falls in Love at First Sight with a guy (enough that she introduces herself by her real name), and who's so generally lovely that even a suspicious Vod signs off as "Mr. Perfect"... he turns out to be the son of none other than her old flame, Tony Shales.
  • Manchild: JP.
  • Manipulative Bastard: "King" Ralph, who among other things successfully manipulates JP out of several thousand pounds of his inheritance from his late father, and at a time when he's feeling particularly vulnerable.
  • May–December Romance: Several examples (see Age-Gap Romance above) but the most significant one is Oregon and her affair with her English tutor, the married, middle-aged father Professor Tony Shales. It comes back to haunt her, again and again, all the way through to the series' finale.
  • Meaningful Name: Lampshaded by Oregon with a character in her play having a very unsubtle example of this.
    Oregon: As a matter of fact, Gwen is a metaphor for the demise of feminism, hence why her surname is Feminism.
  • Meaningful Rename: Oregon.
  • Meet Cute: Kingsley and Josie, through the glory hole.
  • The Millstone: Vod's mother firmly believes Vod is this, as she claims Vod ruined her life by being born, and even nicknames her "Milly".
  • Mistaken for Murderer: Vod, by Howard.
    Vod: It's not a human head. It's the weight and shape of a human head, but it's not a human head.
  • Mistaken for Racist: Vod for kissing Mark after spending all night trying to pull his friend Riz. When she tries to explain that this was only because they were both wearing identical jackets and definitely wasn't because they're both Asian, she just ends up digging herself deeper.
  • Mood Whiplash:
    • Dylan tells Oregon that he's come to terms with the fact that she slept with his father, and they kiss each other. He instantly pulls back and states that nope, it's still "too weird" after all and abruptly walks away.
    • JP's awkward reaction ("That woman is clearly delusional") after Vod's mum spills his inability to, erm, lift the drawbridge turns pretty quickly to her flying into a drunken rage, destroying both the kitchen and her relationship with her daughter.
  • Morton's Fork: Kingsley gives Josie one at the end of the burglary episode: either she confesses to accidentally causing the burglary by leaving her keys in the front door and thus making her look bad in front of everyone, or Kingsley will do it for her and make Josie look worse for not confessing. Josie has a Heel Realization moment and chooses to confess.
  • Murder the Hypotenuse: J.P., towards Kingsley, when the latter seems to be moving in on his crush Sam. He drops an iron off the staircase that almost hits him, serves him a bowl of risotto with shards of glass in it, and ultimately threatens him with a breadknife. Played for Laughs... at least at first.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: Josie at the end of the burglary episode. When it looks like Sabine will be blamed for it, Kingsley calls Josie out. Josie breaks down in tears.
    • Josie gets one in series 4 in the truth tent when she gets angry at Vod and smacks her in the face. She immediately regrets it and fearfully apologises, only for Vod to lose her temper and try to attack her.
  • My Local: The local boozer that the students hang out at is the real-life The Kings Arms in Salford.
  • Mystery Meat: The stuff Howard gets free as surplus from his job at the abbatoir.
    JP: [looking askance at a clear plastic bag full of bloody chunks] What's that?
    Howard: It's spare meat. From the loose meat bin. Don't worry, there's some animals in that.
    JP: Yes, but... which?
    Howard: Hark at the gourmand.
  • My Beloved Smother: Kingsley's mother, who he suspects frequently exaggerates her ails in order to keep him near.
  • Naked First Impression: Vod first meets Howard as he's standing in the living room, drying duck carcasses, wearing a woolly sweater and nothing below the waist. He claims he's got used to wearing "trousers of the mind."
  • National Stereotypes: Oregon (admiringly) on Jean Shales calmly accepting her husband's affair: "That is so French".
  • Never Lend to a Friend: In the series 2 opener Oregon starts getting annoyed at Vod not paying her back all the money she's borrowed... and soon she discovers all the housemates (except JP) have been lending her money, so they have a house meeting.
    Vod: I didn't realise I was living with a bunch of bean counters!
    Kingsley: Yeah, we've counted them, and we've got no beans. You've taken all our beans!
  • Never My Fault:
    • Josie regarding kicking Heather so hard in a self-defence lesson that she breaks her arm. First it's Sabine's fault for not teaching her the move properly, then it's Heather's fault for... some reason.
    • Josie also blamed her breakup with Dave on Kingsley even though she was the one who committed the infidelity — Kingsley thought she and Dave had already split up.
    • JP regarding the time he accidentally shot a guy, who later died from donor-organ complications that are implied to be connected to the original injury. It'd be alright if he was at least regretful, but he's totally blasé about the whole thing...
    • Hasan blames Oregon for snapping the banjo string of his penis. Oregon points out that it's not the time to start pointing fingers.
    • Chris forgot to buy the duck for dinner and blames Vod for not reminding her to do so. Vod points out that it was Chris's fault, and that she did remember to get cocaine and eight bottles of wine.
    • In a far worse example, Chris firmly blames Vod for ruining her life by being born. Howard tells Vod that she didn't choose to be born, because no one does. This causes Vod to call her out on her actions and give her a "The Reason You Suck" Speech. Unfortunately, it causes Chris to completely flip out at all of them.
  • Nobody Poops: Thoroughly averted, to the point that some men's room scenes open with a closeup of a stream of wee hitting a urinal.
    • Oregon remarks in season 4 when they're all trapped in the cellar that she really needs the loo after eating a bag of dried cranberries, but refuses to do it in a bucket.
  • "Not So Different" Remark: JP suggests that he and Oregon are this when he learns that she owns a horse: "You're one of me!".
  • Odd Friendship: Vod and Howard. Also JP and Kingsley, JP and Josie... JP and anyone really.
  • Oh, Crap!: A domino chain of them in S1 Ep 7 when Dave finds out from Brian that Josie's slept with Kingsley. From Howard, Josie herself, then Kingsley and JP (the two had both previously slept with Josie and barricade themselves in the bathroom to keep away from Dave).
    Howard: Abort, Brian, abort!
    • Josie has one when she realises she left her keys in the door of the house, then she and Heather have one after they rush back and find the door open.
    • Josie three times in quick succession when, in her dentistry practical, she accidentally drills through a patient's cheek, then the bit comes off the drill, and she finds the bit is stuck in the girl's cheek and she can't remove it. Uh-oh...
    • Josie again after she receives a text message summoning her to a disciplinary hearing thanks to the above incident.
    • Oregon has one when she learns that Tony Shales is the father of the boy she has fallen in love with, Dylan. She panics and throws his phone into a lake when Dylan gets a call from him.
    • Shales has one when Oregon tells him that Jean is going to tell Dylan about the affair they had.
    • Oregon and Hasan when they realise Hasan is bleeding because Oregon snapped the banjo string of his penis by riding him too hard.
    • Tomothy has one when Vod tells him that she might have given him a dodgy pill and is worrying he might die. Sabine shows up later in the scene and, much to his relief, tells him the pills are safe.
    • Everybody when Chris flips out at Vod after Vod gives her a "The Reason You Suck" Speech. Vod tries to get everyone out of the kitchen before they get injured. Howard gets another one after almost getting hit by a bottle thrown by Chris before he is able to get out.
    • In the Skype call after the final episode, Oregon has one when Vod tells her she thinks she is in Vietnam and has Oregon's passport.
  • Official Couple: The series teases Josie and Kingsley from the first episode, but they end up not working out. Ultimately the Official Couple is Josie and JP, though the latter's graduation means that they'll be forced to try a long-distance relationship, with a dubious outlook.
  • Only Known by Their Nickname: Three of the housemates have very distinct nicknames.
    • JP: Jonathan Pembersley.
    • Oregon: Melissa Shawcross. She's not keen on people knowing her plain, boring actual first name.
    • Vod: Violet Nordstrom. Though her full first name is given as Voderika at some point in the first series.
  • Ominously Open Door: This is what greets Josie and Heather after Josie leaves her keys in the door when they rush back to get them.
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
    • Vod, when she briefly becomes infatuated with Al the Handyman. She begins wearing hair extensions and Oregon's clothing, and is generally reduced to a nervous wreck. She gets over it by the end of the episode, though.
    • Oregon introduces herself to Dylan using her real name, Melissa. Shame it doesn't last...
    • After walking in on everyone masturbating when bringing them tea, Josie walks in on JP and she expresses surprise that he isn't masturbating too. He remarks that he's tired of it, and the tiredness in his voice implies he's serious.
  • Oop North: While set in Manchester, none of the main characters are actually Mancunians, or even northerners in general.
    • New fresher Candice, in series 3, is the first main character to be a local, with a particularly harsh accent to boot.
    • Oregon especially harbours suspicious prejudices against the locals; she reports Al the Handyman to the police for burglary, purely because of his Mancunian accent.
  • Pet the Dog: When everyone is trapped in the cellar in season 4, JP jumps to Josie's defence when Kingsley starts laying into her. This causes him to realise the two were having sex, and he is quite hurt to discover he was the only one who didn't previously know.
    • Everyone (bar Kingsley, who is suffering from an ocular migraine) hugging Oregon who's crying over the rejection of her Fulbright scholarship.
    • JP also gets very concerned when Kingsley's condition worsens later, and orders Vod to give up the money so not only can they make it to their finals in the morning, but also because it looks like Kingsley is about to suffer a stroke. He's genuinely concerned for his friend.
    • Vod sticking up for Oregon in front of Oregon's overbearing mother.
  • Politically Incorrect Hero: JP takes this trope up to eleven. Among other things, he claims that he could have ruled India had he been born a century earlier, dresses as Hitler for Halloween, and asks if anyone would be offended if he "deployed the n-word."
  • Politically Incorrect Villain: Ralph, who amongst other things believes the problem with modern politics is that no-one is racist or homophobic enough.
  • Pop-Star Composer: Graham Coxon from Blur and Dot Allison wrote two songs performed by Kingsley and Oregon respectively.
  • Portmanteau Couple Name: An in-universe example. A jealous Josie disparagingly refers to Heather and Kingsley as "Heathsley" behind their backs.
  • Promotion to Opening Titles: Jelka van Houten (Sabine) and Tony Gardner (Professor Shales), as of series three, replacing the spot normally reserved for Robert Webb (Dan).
    • Strangely enough, Jelka van Houten only gets this promotion after being demoted from the seventh housemate to an infrequent guest. Faye Marsay (Candice), who replaces van Houten as the seventh housemate and main character, is never listed on the titles and ultimately treated as a guest.
  • Proud to Be a Geek: Howard. Oregon has to come to terms with it.
  • Pronoun Trouble: Oregon knocks on her tutor's door, a woman answers it and she asks for Professor Shales, only to be told "I'm Professor Shales." She meant Tony, "the other Professor Shales". This is then subverted in the second series, when Oregon goes to see "Shales" (looking "sexy as hell" according to JP), who turns out to be Jean Shales.
  • Put on a Bus: "Cunty" Sykes, one of Ralph's Evil Minions, is apparently struck down with M.E. offscreen in Series Two, and is 'signed off' for the rest of the year.
    • Candice joins the house in season 3 as a regular, main character, then totally vanishes in season 4. The only explanations we get are some scrappy text messages from her, terminating her relationship with Howard.
  • Quit Your Whining: While trapped in the cellar with everyone else and suffering from an ocular migraine, Kingsley loudly laments how he is blind, single, has a low libido, and can't revise for his geology finals the following morning. Josie shouts at him to stop it. He points out he has reason to be unhappy.
  • Rage Breaking Point: JP reaches his when Tomothy not only tries to pressure him into taking a job in London he doesn't want, but also makes unwelcome advances towards Josie while drunk (remember, Josie was in a relationship with JP earlier in the series) and also tries to emotionally blackmail JP into taking the job by bringing up their dead father, most likely knowing JP was a "Well Done, Son" Guy who Never Got to Say Goodbye to their father before he died. After that, JP decides he has had enough of Tomothy and shouts at him to fuck off.
  • Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: A bunch of poshos, geeks and Vod.
  • Real Vehicle Reveal: Inverted. Oregon has a brand new car purchased by her posh, well-to-do parents. She spends the first few episodes of season 1 denying its existence and pretending she walks everywhere. She's crudely exposed when Vod accidentally presses the key fob while holding Oregon's handbag.
    Oregon: My god! I totally forgot I had a car! How cool is that! I feel like I've just won a car!
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Vod gives one to her mother, with a voice full of tears, which basically amounts to Calling the Old Man Out. She calls Chris a shit mother who made Vod feel like she was nothing, and blaming her for the way Vod turned out.
  • Rich in Dollars, Poor in Sense: JP, who is easily manipulated out of money by his frenemies, King Ralph and the Stowe-Aways.
    • Oregon is so sheltered and spoiled, that when a cash machine displays "Insufficient Funds", she thinks it means the bank does not have sufficient funds to pay her.
  • Ridiculously Long Phone Hold: In one episode, Howard is on hold for 48 hours while everyone else is at JP's Big Fancy House. When they finally pick up, Howard is busy hooking up with Sabine.
  • Right Through the Wall: The wall between Kingsley and Josie's rooms is particularly devoid of soundproofing. It clearly used to be a single room that has been cheaply divided in two, and there's a conspicuous "glory hole" between them. Kingsley is rather annoyed at hearing Josie with her boyfriend Dave. Later, when Kingsley starts dating Heather, Josie swaps rooms with Sabine to get away from the noise.
    Sabine: I used to live in Japan, where the walls are made of paper.
  • Romantic False Lead: Candice's on-off boyfriend Goth Gary, who she only seems to hang out with to get a reaction out of Howard.
  • Room Full of Crazy: JP, under stress from the upcoming finals, wrote the word "igneous" on thousands of bits of card and put them up all over his wall.
  • Running Gag: Howard's frustration at everyone's blanket assumption that he's a The Lord of the Rings fan.
    Howard: I've not seen it! I don't watch films about wizards and magical fucking jewelry!
    • Josie and JP clumsily having drunk sex with each other starts off as a running, throwaway gag, especially as Josie goes on to regret it and pretend it never happened, every single time. However, it eventually becomes a main storyline in the final season.
  • Sarcasm-Blind: Howard has a moment of this. After Oregon fails to come up with any other suspects other than Al, Kingsley sarcastically remarks that it might be quicker to look him in a dark room and torture him until he confesses. Howard takes it seriously and writes it down.
  • The Schlub Pub Seduction Deduction: Howard warns Kingsley about this when he pulls a beautiful blonde girl on their first night at the pub ("This does not happen! It's a trap! When you wake up missing a kidney, don't say I didn't warn you.") Turns out she's not an organ thief... she's an evangelical Christian, who talks Kingsley into setting up a standing order.
  • School of No Studying: Count how many times you see anyone study. You won't need to use your other hand. No wonder Vod fails first year. This is taken up to eleven in seasons 3 and 4, where education takes such a backseat that you'd be forgiven for forgetting what the protagonists are even studying, and the character arcs almost never intersect with anything education-related. Then again, eventually most of the group's final grades are pretty mediocre.
  • Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: A long-running gag throughout the series with proud posho JP.
    • In the first episode, JP is the last housemate to arrive at Hartnell, and so gets the worst room... until he offers to pay Vod £20 a week to switch.
    Kingsley: Hang on, you can't do that! I have strong moral objections!
    JP: Alright, how about I also pay for Sky+HD, with movies and sport?
    Kingsley: [beat] ...My moral objections have largely been addressed.
    • In series two, he loses out on an invite to the BP dinner with Howard and Vod, but turns up anyway and actually gets in:
    JP: Here's my invite...
    Bouncer: No sir, that's fifty pounds. Which is half an invite.
    • Inverted in series three. After destroying Sam's charity fundraising efforts, he tries to placate her with money, but is flatly rebuffed:
    Sam: You can't just trash things and then wave 50-quid notes at people like a one-man Bullingdon Club!
  • Selective Obliviousness: Josie when she gets kicked off her dentistry course for drilling through a patient's cheek. She attempts to go to class as though nothing has happened, until her professor tells her in no uncertain terms that he will call security if she shows up again.
  • Sex Equals Love: Inverted. Vod falls in love with Al, goes out with him and they have sex. When she wakes up the following morning, she's lost interest in him, claiming to Oregon, "Love is a poison. Sex is a cure.".
  • She Cleans Up Nicely:
    • Vod gets dolled up in a pink dress and heels (belonging to Oregon) when Howard takes her to a swanky party hosted by BP. Turns out to be a set-up for a protest.
    JP: You're fit! I can't deal with you being fit! Stop it!
    • Subverted, though, when she falls in love with Al the handyman, and dresses up mentally.
    • Kingsley and Josie, early on.
    Kingsley: Oh, hi, wow, you look.. that.. fits.. that totally fits you. You've got.. fitting clothes.
  • Shout-Out:
    • Vod refers to Shales as "the slutty professor".
    • 'King' Ralph.
    • Discussing whether JP's Big Fancy House might have a gardener, Oregon remarks "Excellent... bit of Mellors action!"
    • Howard's climactic ejaculation: "Jumanjiiiiii!"
    • Vod does her makeup exactly like Ziggy Stardust to attend a poetry reading. For bonus points, the music playing in the scene is "Panic in Detroit" from Aladdin Sane.
    • One of the band names Oregon comes up with is "Time Bandits".
    • Kingsley reads The Game (2005) at one point. His new trilby, facial hair and (attempted) dismissive attitude towards women are also references to the pick-up artist subculture.
    • While Vod is being counselled she gets angry at the therapist, which leads her to say this; "Are you not getting this? I mean, I'm giving you everything! This is fucking 'We Need to Talk About Vod'!
    • Many shout outs in season 3, episode 7. Howard mentions Minecraft when talking about hosting a LAN party, and many famous characters are costume-referenced at Candice's H' character' party, almost none of them explained (except for Kingsley, who is obviously'' George Harrison. Obviously!)
    • Vod explaining why she wants Howard to pretend to be her boyfriend: "I put my hand down The Wrong Trousers, Gromit!"
    • The chorus of Kingsley's protest song, about a lonely military drone over Tunisia: "Well if androids dream of electric sheep....do drones dream of electric peeps?"
    • In a moment of anger after taking what is presumed to be a dodgy pill made by Sabine, Tomothy refers to Howard as Stig of the Dump. Only afterwards does he get clarification from Sabine herself that the pill is safe.
  • Shower of Awkward: Played with a couple of times.
    • In the first episode, JP tries to claim first dibs on the upstairs bathroom, but Howard refuses to be bought off. This leads to a game of chicken where JP uses the shower while Howard sits on the toilet, each waiting to see who'll break first. It's JP; "you're using my humanity against me, you beast!"
    • In a callback in series 2, Heather starts brushing her teeth while JP is in the shower, and he yells at her to get out. Instead she pulls the curtain aside to take a peek, and her complimentary comments on his... endowment make him entirely forget his annoyance.
  • Show Within a Show: Oregon's play with characters who are obviously based on her housemates.
  • Sixth Ranger: The house has seven bedrooms; one too many for the six students who form the main cast. The last room is occupied by different guest characters in different series:
    • Series 1: Paul Lamb the Invisible Man, who the viewers never see and the housemates claim not to. Revealed in the first season finale that he was around the whole time and had a mental breakdown because nobody ever noticed him, hence him leaving the house.
    • Series 2: Ph.D student Sabine, who is older, foreign, and more introverted than the rest. Only Howard forms any kind of relationship with her (although Josie becomes her friend in the next series) and she moves out before the series' end.
    Kingsley: What do you think about her? I don't know what I think about her. I don't not like her... but I also don't like her...
    • Series 3: New fresher Candice moves in and, unlike Paul and Sabine, she becomes a true Seventh Ranger, joining the group on various clubbing nights, house parties and pub crawls.
      • Vod's temporary husband Javier also becomes the Eighth Ranger for a while at the same time!
    • In series 4, Candice is Put on a Bus, the room is finally left vacant and the group returns to the original group of series 1.
  • Sliding Scale of Shiny Versus Gritty: Under JP's ownership, the house rapidly begins to become a derelict, slug-infested shithole, leading Josie to take asylum in Noah's clean, tidy, shiny, perfect house next door. Also there's clean-shaven, professional Series 1 Tony Shales, compared to stubbly, smelly, homeless Series 3 Tony Shales.
  • Slut-Shaming: Josie's "Pope Kingsley" rant is against this, as she assumes he thinks she's a slut for having sex with JP despite him being a stranger to her at the time. Subverted, as Kingsley's only really upset because he had feelings for her. And her rant does lose a lot of its thunder when it's revealed that she has a boyfriend she's been cheating on (before and after the audience knows of his existence).
  • Smart People Wear Glasses: Howards wears them. He's Proud to Be a Geek and in the final episode, he gets the highest grade of all the graduating housemates.
  • Spiritual Successor:
    • To The Inbetweeners. Joe Thomas plays more or less the same character in both shows, at different stages of higher education. Fresh Meat can easily be thought of as "Simon's adventures at uni" (whereas Will has gone into writing advertising jingles.)
    • In terms of premise and characters, the show has a lot of similarities to Community, in that it's an ensemble cast comedy set at an institution of higher learning, featuring a Deadpan Snarker who puts in as little effort as possible most of the time (Vod & Jeff), a somewhat robotic introvert with possible Autism Spectrum Disorder (Howard & Abed), a Team Mom who doesn't understand the difference between being sweet and being nice (Josie & Shirley), a deeply neurotic overachiever who wants to make a difference but goes about in unproductive ways (Oregon & Annie), and a clueless rich guy who just wants to be included (JP & Pierce).
    • Functions as a spiritual predecessor to Bad Education, which some fans see as JP becoming—of all things—a schoolteacher.
  • Springtime for Hitler: During the Student Union presidential elections, Vod realizes how much her successful campaign as a joke candidate is hurting Oregon, who's running for real. To make amends, Vod tries to sabotage her own campaign at the last minute, with increasingly stupid and offensive policies, which all just make people cheer even louder for her. Oregon tells Vod to announce the one thing that would really make her a hate target, which overwhemingly succeeds in doing so:
    Oregon: Two words...homophobic rant!
  • Stalker with a Crush:
    • Brian's (platonic) pursuit of Howard definitely has shades of stalking.
    • Zig-zagged: Howard convinces Kingsley that Heather is stalking him, which causes him to investigate her "stalking" in a way that strongly resembles stalking. Then Kingsley decides she isn't stalking him, and they start going out... but by then Josie has decided she was, aided partly by a touch of Green-Eyed Monster. The whole time this is going on, Shales is actually stalking Oregon.
    • JP, after Sam has made it clear on several occasions she thinks he's a dick, seems to see himself as the Dogged Nice Guy in a rom-com who just has to win her over.
  • Sticky Fingers: At the start of S2 E3, JP is seen pocketing free pens.
    • Vod has a habit of borrowing Oregon's things without permission, including a dress, a skirt, and even her passport.
  • Stylistic Suck: Kingsley's venture into being a singer/songwriter.
  • Summation Gathering: The house meeting Howard calls after working out who in the house staged a burglary. He wrongly accuses Sabine.
  • Suspiciously Specific Denial: "It's not a human head. It's the same shape and weight as a human head, but it's not one."
  • Sycophantic Servant: Ralph's "mates". He treats them more like slaves, barking orders for them to do his bidding, but they are unquestioningly loyal to him. Even the one he insists on referring to as "Cunty".
  • Take Our Word for It: The homophobic rant Vod gives at a student union hustings in order to sabotage her campaign. All we see is "Here's what I think about the gays..." and "...And that's what I think we should do with the gays. Any questions?"
  • Tantrum Throwing:
    • Vod's mum. Played for Drama.
    • Then J.P. smashes up the kitchen again after Howard's party.
  • Teacher/Student Romance: Oregon and Professor Tony Shales.
  • Team Mom: Josie takes on this role in S4 E5, so as to try and help the others prepare for their finals, considering herself this. It's also because she wants to try and get at least one of them to stay after they graduate, as she doesn't want to spend another year in the house on her own. Oregon points out that it was more like trying to poke her beak into everyone else's business rather than worrying about her own life.
  • Tears of Remorse: Josie when she has her Heel Realization after the house is burgled and she can lie about it no longer.
  • Teen Pregnancy: Grimly deconstructed. Vod's Hard-Drinking Party Girl mum had her at nineteen, and Vod describes their relationship as being more like sisters. Except she's resentful of having Vod, and tells her so frequently, even making a jokey nickname out of it. She admits to Vod's face that she went to get an abortion but was told she was too late. When Vod wasn't being the grown-up in the relationship she was hiding under the bed from "The Beast's" violent rages.
  • Test Kiss: Oregon starts getting accused of homophobia on Twitter after she gets a competing magazine shut down which happened to be about LGBT issues. Worried they might be right, she decides that the best way to prove she's not a homophobe is to kiss another girl. Vod is dead against it (she can tell Oregon's straight "because of your shoulders"), but Josie is just drunk enough to be convinced. The boys are delighted, but when it's pointed out that "kissing for the benefit of straight men isn't gay", they decide to do it in private.
    • Oregon also kisses Kingsley in the series finale to see if there's any chemistry they may have missed during the time they lived together. There isn't.
  • Those Two Guys: JP and Kingsley. Gender-flipped with Vod and Oregon.
  • Throw the Dog a Bone: Sabine's talent at martial arts, her promiscuity, and her suggestion that stolen goods are often found in skips, make her temporarily popular with the housemates.
    • Also, Howard is the only housemate to get a super happy ending at the end of series 3, finally finding love with Candice.
    • In the final episode, JP decides to become an estate agent. During the Skype call he ends a call that obviously went well for him.
  • Time Skip: Each season is analogous to one semester at university. However, the show abruptly skips from year 2, semester 1 (season 3) to the final semester of year 3 (season 4), leaving a whole year of Fresh Meat lost to the imagination.
    • The creators intended for the show to run a full six seasons and cover three full years, however it was likely Screwed by the Network (plus difficulties with cast availability meant over two years passed between the third and fourth seasons).
  • Title Drop: Professor Shales in the first episode, during his introductory class:
    Tony Shales: Meat for the grinder, this way. Send in the fresh meat for the grinder...
  • Training Montage: Parodied and conversed when Howard is challenged to a fight over a library book and tries to prepare for it. We see him boxing with a beanbag tied to the ceiling, and he says "now I know why in the movies they always train in a montage — it's exhausting."
  • Twice Shy: Howard and Candice. Finally get together in the third series finale.
  • Typecasting: Joe Thomas as a Dogged Nice Guy, similar to Simon in The Inbetweeners, Martin in White Gold, and Nick in The Festival.
  • Uncomfortable Elevator Moment: Josie and Kingsley get into an elevator after Oregon's play, seconds after a) Kingsley reveals he didn't dump Heather for weeks after he started dating Josie, and b) Josie reveals she had sex with Baz a few weeks after she started dating Kingsley. To say their faces look awkward in the elevator is an understatement.
  • Unstoppable Rage: Chris flies into one after Vod gives her a "The Reason You Suck" Speech. It even freaks Vod out to such an extent that she orders the others to get out before anyone gets hurt.
  • Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: The housemates seem to take turns in this role.
  • Upper-Class Twit: JP, his so-called friends 'King' Ralph and Tobes even more so.
  • Vague Age: Howard is older than the others (he's been in the house for several years when they start their first year), and presumably younger than Sabine. When Candice asks him how old he is, he whispers in her ear.
    Candice: ...Wow. How is that possible?
    Howard: There are numerous factors, the passage of time being not insignificant among them.
  • Verbal Tic:
    • JP's posh-boy slang, which, among other things, consists of him adding adding "-ers" on the end of absolutely anything. At one point he refers to his dad's heart attack as a "hearters."
    • Howard likes the word "classic" a lot.
    • The Stowe-aways seem to use the word "rape" to mean "cool" or "awesome."
  • Virgin-Shaming: When Kingsley admits to Josie that he's actually a virgin, she's shocked and tries to suggest ways for him to fix it, like it's a mistake. Though her surprise is at least somewhat understandable as the average age of losing virginity in the UK is about 15.
  • Visual Pun: When Howard decides to go to the pub as "a wolf in sheep's clothing" to learn about normal human behaviour, he is wearing a jumper with a sheep pattern on it.
  • Vulgar Humor: Double Subverted with the "spunk ice cubes". At first everyone thinks Sabine is chilling her bruise with them, but then she reveals she emptied the other ice cube tray into a glass because it looked "mouldy", and she's using her own ice. Then Vod happily gives said glass to JP as revenge for making her put the stuff in the freezer to begin with.
  • Walk-In Chime-In: All the housemates come back from the hospital together, and while Josie tries to explain to Kingsley what happened to Heather in a way that absolves her of as much responsibility as possible, they walk in one by one, always just in time to correct her story; "No, you broke her arm".
  • "Well Done, Son" Guy: JP has a distant relationship with his father, which never gets a chance to improve because his father dies.
    • It is implied Ralph has a similar problem. He says he wishes to go into politics as "it keeps the old man happy."
    • Gender-Inverted with Oregon and her mother, which makes it particularly sweet when Vod sticks up for Oregon in front of Oregon's overbearing mother.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Towards the end of both the first two series, the seventh housemate leaves as a direct result of the others being frankly horrible people. Towards the end of the third, they all call each other out on the horrible things they've been doing to each other.
  • Will They or Won't They? / Unresolved Sexual Tension: Kingsley and Josie in series 1. Subverted in the final episode, but hints of the UST remain in the second series while Kingsley is dating Heather.
    • In Series 3, they finally end up together... but Kingsley hasn't technically broken up with Heather, who is staying with family in Hong Kong for an indeterminate amount of time. Ultimately their relationship deteriorates and they break up for good.
    • JP and Josie hook up frequently over the course of Season 4, but both are reluctant to start a real relationship. They're an Official Couple during the finale, but are fated to a long distance relationship thanks to their different circumstances.
  • Wimp Fight:
    • Howard gets into an argument with a big, tough-looking bloke over a library geology textbook. He agrees to meet outside the library for to fight it out, but manages to get it put off a week... and spends the week desperately trying to learn how to fight, beginning with finding out whether you keep your thumb in or out when making a fist. The fight finally comes along... and it's over in five seconds when the other bloke dislocates his thumb, and Howard takes him to hospital. Turns out he didn't know how to make a fist either.
    • Howard's birthday ends in a massive scrap between Kingsley (dressed as George Harrison) and JP (dressed as a Hooters girl). At one point, George pins the Hooters girl down and tries to smother him with his own foam boob.
    JP: You can't hurt me with boobs, Kingsley! I thrive on boobs!!
  • With Friends Like These...: JP's old Stowe buddies are absolutely horrible to him, but he still considers them to be some of his best friends.
  • Yank the Dog's Chain: At his birthday party, Howard is almost about to break-through with Candice, but Sabine calls him over, and proposes they rekindle their fuckbuddy relationship. Howard politely declines and returns to Candice, only to find her suddenly dating Goth Gary out of nowhere. A bewildered Howard then backflips and returns to Sabine again, only to find she has now also got a date - with a Howard impersonator, no less.
    Howard: Oh, fucking perfect! Even the fake me's better than the real me!
    • Oregon falls for Dylan in the burglary episode, so much so that she uses her real name when she introduces herself to him. In the next episode, she finds out that he is the son of Tony Shales, who she had an affair with in the previous season. Understandably, she panics, and the relationship does not survive past the end of the season.
    • Despite her pretty awful final grades, Oregon is determined to get a Masters in creative writing, and is ecstatic to get accepted into a program in Manchester. Only to find out that Tony Shales submitted his own work instead of hers in order to guarantee her a spot in the program, all so that she can be in his class. Needless to say, she declines.
  • You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Shales when he gets surrounded by hoodies and ends up getting mugged.

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