Headline, May03, 2014

''' FRESH MEAT "' : IT'S A STUDENT -

 *^LAUGH^* - RIOT '''

Jesse Armstrong explains why he and his peep show co-writer  Sam Bain turned to    undergraduates   for their  new comedy masterpiece

Sam and I thought about doing a university show for years : !WOW! 

We met as students at Manchester. We've always thought it would be good because you can find archetypes of people we all recognise from life.

Also, it's a sitcom conceit to trap a group of people together, so a shared university house is a good model for that.

"' A common issue at that age is the desire to do something and not quiet being it "'.   There's a comedy in that gap between your sense of yourself and who you actually are.

It's a good for Alan Partridge or a David Brent, and it's good for our characters.

"" Student life is good for portraying people getting together and breaking up"" because there's a lot of that going on. Sam and I have always liked that element of friends or Peep Show-

Where there's an almost soap-opera level of interest in people's personal lives.

""University can be a melancholy period, but with spikes of exhilaration and excitement"". In retrospect, the strength of emotion you felt about things can seem a bit of embarrassing. Maybe it feels healthy to write about it.

*I love the Young Ones so much*. But that's a studio sitcom with a heightened reality and punk aesthetic.

Ours is a comedy drama, so it's realistic in tone and looks nice. And there are no cut aways to talking hamsters.

The Students

3P (Jack Whitehail)

He's a big posh idiot. There are several levels to him as you go on, but at first, he's like the biggest idiot you've ever met.

Kingslay (Joe Thomas)

He's the one I think I most relate to : he's scared and excited in equal measure and wide-eyed at the JP's of this world.

Howard (Greg Mchugh)

A definite oddball. He's the guy who you're not really how long he's been in the house when they move in.

Josie (Kimberly Nixon)

Josie is the sort of person who comes to the university to join every society, she's doing five different degrees, wants to dive in.

Dregon (Charlotte Ritchiel)

She's arrived at university and decided to reinvent herself, Is Oregon her real name?

Vod (Zawe Ashten)

She's been working in a fish factory in Scotland and affects not giving a shit about being there. She's terrifyingly cool.

The Staff

Dan the tutor (Robert Webb)

He's not long after graduating and is needy. Asks how the lectures went and what everybody thinks........

Horrible isn't it?

 With respectful dedication to the Students of the World. See Ya all on !WOW! -the World Students Society Computers-Internet-Wireless:

"' Welcome Freshers "'

Good Night & God Bless!

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless