Fresh Meat
A British comedy series from the creators of Peep Show currently airing on Channel 4. 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.
The main characters are: Kingsley, a Dogged Nice Guy with a crush on Josie, an upbeat and slightly naive girl who struggles to adapt to university life; Howard, a social recluse with only a slight grasp on normal human behaviour; Vod, Deadpan Snarker and self-proclaimed slut; Oregon, who copies everything Vod does and JP - affluent but a bit of an idiot, who tries far too hard to impress those around him.
Tropes used in Fresh Meat include:
- Actor Allusion: When JP is knocked over during a demo in London he mentions that he’s okay because he’s with BUPA, referencing an opening line used in some of Jack Whitehall's stand-up shows.
- Alpha Bitch: "King" Ralf is a male one, Boy Posse and all.
- Anything That Moves: Vod.
- Betty and Veronica: Josie and Ruth respectively to Kingsley.
- Bi the Way: Vod.
- Book Ends: Howard blow-drying duck carcasses.
- British Unis: The University of Manchester (with the serial numbers filed off).
- Blatant Lies: Most of what Oregon claims she has done.
- Cringe Comedy
- Dawson Casting
- Erotic Eating: Vod tries this towards 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...
- Fictional Counterpart: While clearly set and filmed around Mancunian universities, the students themselves attend the fictional Manchester Medlock University.
- Foreign Queasine: Josie’s speciality dish of “Munge.”
- Friendship Moment: The gang driving JP up to his Dad's funeral and sticking up for him at the party.
- Genre Savvy: JP: "Am I the posh one you all secretly hate?"
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Dave.
- Head-Tiltingly Kinky: The "Rafael Nadal backhand" in the secret camera footage the guys see of Paul's... private time gets a synchronised three-man head-tilt.
- Hey, It's That Guy!:
- It's Simon!
- ...and Gary:Tank Commander!
- Dan the Geology Man is what Jez would become if he ever got a real job.
- The Slutty Professor is Dan Miller MP!
- Ummm JP's dad is Wickham!
- Hidden Depths: Pretty much everyone - at least, hidden from each other.
- Hufflepuff House: Kingsley refers to the gang in this way.
- I Am Spartacus: Howard claiming responsibility for Paul's "Rafael Nadal backhand"
- Lonely Rich Kid: JP has shades of this. His Hooray-Henry rich "friends" treat him like shit and he pretends not to notice, while his housemates are all initially put off by the elitist persona he's presumably created to fit in with the former.
- Loners Are Freaks: Howard. Brian even more so.
- Long-Distance Relationship: Josie and Dave. Dave is somewhat more committed to it than Josie is.
- May-December Romance: Oregon and Tony Shales, her English professor.
- 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.
- Manipulative Bastard: "King" Ralf, 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.
- National Stereotypes: Oregon (admiringly) on Jean Shales calmly accepting her husband's affair: "That is so French".
- The Renfield: Ralf'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".
- Upper Class Twit: JP, his so-called friends 'King' Ralf and Tobes even more so.
- Odd Friendship: Vod and Howard. Also JP and Kingsley, JP and Josie... JP and anyone really.
- Only Known by Their Nickname:
- JP, though in episode 6 his father calls him Jonathan.
- Oregon. She's not overly keen on anyone finding out her name is actually Melissa.
- Vod: Violet Nordstrom
- 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".
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits
- Rape Is Ok When It Is Female On Male: Vod on Riz: "I might rape him."
- The Resenter: Professor Tony Shales bitterly resents his more successful (and seemingly more talented) wife, Professor (Jean) Shales.
- Shout-Out:
- Vod refers to Shales as "the slutty professor".
- 'King' Ralf.
- Spoiled Sweet: Oregon, though she tries to hide her upbringing.
- Stalker with a Crush: Barry's pursuit of Howard definitely has shades of this.
- Teacher-Student Romance: Oregon and Professor Tony Shales.
- The Ghost: Paul Lamb the invisible man - also the only housemate whose full name is given in the first episode.
- Deconstructed (albeit For Laughs) in the finale: apparently Paul's 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.
- Will They or Won't They? / Unresolved Sexual Tension: Kingsley and Josie. Wonderfully subverted in the final episode.
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- Your Cheating Heart: Josie.