Written by writer-creators Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong and produced by Objective for Channel 4, the award-winning series Fresh Meat depicts university life in an unforgivably comedic yet cordially honest way. Actors Jack Whitehall (Jonathan “J.P.” Pembersley), Zawe Ashton (Violet “Vod” Nordstrom), Joe Thomas (Kingsley Owen), Kimberley Nixon (Josephine “Josie” Jones), Greg McHugh (Howard McGregor) and Charlotte Ritchie (Melissa “Oregon” Shawcross) came together, in conversation with Beth Webb, to celebrate the show ten years on.
Four series of Fresh Meat were made; the first episode aired on 21 September 2011 and the last on the 28 March 2016. The series explores the chaos of university life: the hedonism, the class divide, the awkward sex and tortured relationships, as well as the exam pressure, the partying and the financial issues. It is clear that the popularity of the show, not to mention it being inherently funny, can be attributed most to how relatable it is.
The 10th-anniversary celebrations were held at BFI Southbank in London on 15 January 2022. Having always been a fan of the show, I felt lucky that I could attend. Whilst lots of laughter was a given, I was pleasantly surprised by how reflective the discussions were.
Both Bain and Armstrong attended the University of Manchester in the 1990s. They drew on their personal experiences when creating the show, which they wrote five years after leaving university — it is no surprise that Fresh Meat resonates with student life so much. Described by Bain as a “melting pot city for students”, Manchester brought different people together, like themselves, where an intense experience was shared. The infamous glory hole between Josie and Kingsley’s bedrooms in the show was based on Bain’s time at university when he shared a room with a dividing wall, a physical representation of the deep emotional bonds formed at university.
Bain claims that “everyone knew a Howard at uni, or some oddball, and a lot of JP’s.” Armstrong backed this by saying that, when writing, they were “building on people we met at uni and messing them all up.” This meant that they could keep the characters young. They get up to terrible stuff, like when Josie breaks Heather’s arm in a martial arts class. Yet, because of their age, you forgive them. You remember the innocence and stupidity that comes with being young – and you still love them.
Whitehall and Ashton completed their degrees in Manchester, so they were mortified by some of the filming locations. Whitehall was only four years out of university when they began shooting. He had horrific flashbacks when they went into a bar that the last time he had been in he had “done poppers and then chundered in a bin.” Ashton also shared a similar fate when filming a scene in the student union, remembering that she had stolen a plant from a corner of it as a student. Their collective honesty in a professional setting was shocking, but hilarious nonetheless.
The fun did not end, even after they had graduated in real life. Ashton shared that she was so hungover from one of the cast’s many nights out when filming Vod’s overdose scene that an actual patient from the hospital that they were filming in, asked if she was going to be okay. She was grateful for the Chinese buffet scene with McHugh, which was filmed early in the morning after another night out. I couldn’t agree more with Ashton when she said that it was “heaven.”
Despite the overwhelming talent of the cast and the quality of writing, the actors felt intimidated by some of their scenes. This is because some came from a drama background, and others from comedy. Whitehall had been criticised by Jonathan Ross at the British Comedy Awards, after Fresh Meat had won an award, for having acting skills that “had the range of a North Korean missile.” Despite the fact that all of his work prior to the show had been comedic, Whitehall also showcased his dramatic talent through his character’s emotional scenes – like the death of J.P.’s dad and Oregon’s horse. His groundbreaking success in blending comedy and emotion was noted by fellow cast member Ashton, who thought after the death of Oregon’s horse scene: “Fucking hell, he can do drama.” Perhaps it only right that Whitehall then shouted, “F*** you, Jonathan Ross.”
Nixon described Fresh Meat as her university experience, given that she went to drama school where the lifestyle is very different. She loved her array of hump days, and getting the crimpers out to become ‘JoBo.’ However, her personal stand-out moment of the show was when Josie let Kingsley go at the end – she did the “right thing.” She said it was a pivotal moment for her because Josie had made many mistakes and had always gone for the easy option. The progression of maturity depicted in Josie’s character arc throughout the show mirrors to an extent the journey many students take; in the end, we all feel that we have grown up as we reach the end of our time at university.
Reflecting on the past does not always induce the positivity you would expect it to, though, and looking back on things that are so successful isn’t always an easy task. Despite the cheery reflections voiced by the Fresh Meat alumni that night, Nixon, Ashton and Ritchie all respectively shared their sadness regarding the show’s conclusion. Ritchie, whilst acknowledging just how “special” the show was, also unveiled how “gut-wrenching” it was to talk about it that night. Ashton spoke of the show as if it were a chapter in the book of her life; she explained how unexpectedly “transformative” and “meaningful” the bonds were that she formed with everyone. She explicitly stated that she knew that, when she walked away, she would never meet that self again. Nixon’s painfully honest claim that she has never watched the final series shows how in denial she is about the show coming to an end.
In a world that is so fast-paced, I believe this celebration reinforced the importance of coming together and reflecting on the past. Not only as an excuse to laugh, cry and perhaps drink a copious amount of prosecco, but to help understand how formative it is on the person you become. I am fond of the way in which the cast and creatives of this show, which is internationally acclaimed for being very amusing, chose to be more earnest in their thoughts. They managed to find meanings in their character’s absurd lines and ridiculous behaviour. This completely subverted my expectations of what a 21st-century comedy is capable of achieving, beyond any obvious giggles.
Words by Emily Bell