THE MANCHESTEr EFFECT Photo by Writer Pictures The casts of Fresh Meat and…
Jesse Armstrong and sam Bain
Is it just us? What is it about student life at e University of Manchester which inspires comedy drama and anarchic sitcom hilarity?
Fresh, young isastrous house parties, lack of money, awkward sexual encounters and unwashed dishes – the comic potential of the student house appears to be as rich a source of comedy material now as it was more than 30 years ago, and the University is again providing the backdrop.
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Jesse and Sam met on a creative-writing course and also shared a student house. At the beginning of their television writing career they wrote for the sketch show Smack the Pony and children's shows including My Parents Are Aliens, and they are the co-creators of Peep Show.
Old and new cult shows The Young Ones and Fresh Meat are both based on the student experience at Manchester, which is hardly surprising since they were created by talented and successful alumni.
In the early 1980s’ alternative comedy scene, The Young Ones followed four undergraduates sharing a house and attending Scumbag College. Violent slapstick mixed with surreal puppetry and musical guests landed the show a massive following and made stars of those involved.
Ben Elton (BA Drama 1980) and the late Rik Mayall (BA Drama 1978) became household names after writing The Young Ones, which also featured Ade Edmonson (BA Drama 1978). Fresh Meat, written by Jesse Armstrong (BA American Studies 1994, MA Novel Writing 1995) and Sam Bain (BA Combined Studies 1993, MA Novel Writing 1995) and featuring alumnus Jack Whitehall (who spent two terms studying History of Art) as JP, has completed three series on Channel 4 and won a clutch of awards. The Times recently claimed Jesse and Sam were responsible for some of the finest comedy writing of the past five years, because of their “unerring knack for perfectly capturing the excruciating awkwardness of human interaction”.
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YOUR MANCHESTER MAGAZINE
“It's such a great time of life, such a ripe area, we were surprised no one had revisited this in comedy form since The Young Ones,” said Sam. “It's just a time when people leave home and start a new life. Often they don't know what the hell they’re doing. That fundamental time of transition is a brilliant area for comedy because of all the heightened emotions between strangers forced together in unfamiliar surroundings. Also, Manchester was a great place for us to set Fresh Meat because you find an interesting mix of people. The city has changed a lot but I guess we've tried to transpose our excitement and confusion from our time in the city to a group of contemporary students.”