Too cool for Uni? - JP and Kingsley
With numerous examples from Man About The House to The Young Ones, the shared house is a kind of sitcom default option but it continues for the simple reason that it’s a formula that works.
Channel 4’s Fresh Meat is the latest proof that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel to make good comedy. All you need is scriptwriters who can engineer storylines that help us laugh at familiar fears and anxieties.
The series revolves around five freshmen and women plus one (Howard) who is not so fresh at a fictional university in Manchester. Being away from the protective home environment brings the promise of freedom but it comes with the dread of not fitting in, not being cool and not getting laid. (It all made me relieved that I got my degree through the Open University!)
When the prudes at the BBC issue a warning about bad language it often indicates the mild, and infrequent use of the F-word. The epic effing and blinding of Fresh Meat gives new credibility the parental advisory that precedes its broadcast.
JP (Jack Whitehall) as the posh kid with, what the show’s press release describes as, an “inflated sense of entitlement” is probably the best character but the whole cast is great. On the literature course the fearless and feisty Vod doesn’t have to pretend not to be scholarly while Oregon is a swot who wants to be streetwise. Howard is smart but socially inept while Josie and Kingsley are naive fish out of water looking for a shallow pool to feel safe in.
As the series progresses the themes get bolder with gags about sex and studying interspersed with intelligent black/bleak humour about loyalty, death, overdosing, and prof-student liaisons.
Roll on the second series
