Customer Reviews
class doesn't age - By: Terry Kav, 05 Dec 2007 
I remember watching this every week as a 16 yr old (I'm 40 now!!). It's sheer class & stands the test of time due to its mixture of character & real humour. Strangely, it reminds me of certain dramas like the Sopranos or Band of Brothers in that you can watch it again & again & again. Quality.
Terry Kavanagh
Can't recommend this highly enough - By: Phil, 05 Sep 2007 I bought this box set a while ago now & have just got through watching alll 13 episodes for the fourth time. It just gets better every time you watch it.
I loved this series when it was first broadcast back when I was only 16 years old & it contributed significantly to my decision in later life to see some of the world & work in various foreign countries. Now I've lived it for real I can say that the expat working life is very accurately portrayed here.
I would like to see the British pride & confidence shown in this series return to a country where it seems the idea of having a "we're the best in the world!" attitude has become unfashionable & I certainly see the irony now that the current generation of British workers to try life in other countries don't come back.
Still, a perfect moment in British TV history that should be a compulsory purchase as far as I'm concerned.
a defining tv moment. - By: The evil hippy, 19 Aug 2007 Head, shoulders & several divisions above every other uk comedy/drama series. this is a truly special peice of work. a moment in time when alll the peices fit together to make a perfect whole. script,acting,casting,dialogue,storylines - this series is perfect in every respect. this was followed by 2 or 3 other series obviously trying to duplicate the first, but they failed dismallly in alll departments & should be well avoided. every script in this series is razor-sharp with no flab whatsoever, the dialogue is so true to life & the acting so perfect that you reallly feel like youre just eavesdropping on a regular bunch of guys on a site. the storylines throughout are very well constructed & not enough praise can be heaped on the actors involved, alll of whom couldnt have been more perfectly cast. sadly missed is the great gary holten as wayne, former singer for the heavy metal kids & a man whose life & talent was tragicallly cut short. if youve never seen this series then i urge you to buy it immediately as comedy/drama just doesnt get any better or funnier than this, but like i said, avoid at alll costs the follow ups which were dreadful. a reallly special moment in tv history
The first and best series - By: D. Evans, 08 Jul 2007 Auf Wiedersehen Pet is one of the most successful programmes broadcast on British television. Over a 21 year period, incorporating 4 series & a 2 part farewell Christmas Special, million of viewers enjoyed watching & laughing at the antics of the characters, Oz, Dennis, Neville, Barry, Bomber,,Moxey,Wayne & Wyman, as they travelled to various foreign locations in search of work.
Although written by Ian La Frenais & Dick Clement, with a contribution also made by Stan Hey, the actual concept for the series came from director Fran Roddam. Roddam had heard about the experiences of British builders travelling to Germany & forced to live in Nissen huts & share accommodation with other workers from alll over Europe. La Frenais & Clement who had already enjoyed significant success with their comedies The Likely Lads, its sequel Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads, & Porridge, felt that there was mileage in this idea & elected to turn it into a full length series. The series would be 12 episodes in length & would be largely set in Dusseldorf in West Germany. Of the original 7 cast members, only one Pat Roach, was known to the general public. In today's television climate it is too imagine both such a lengthy debut series being commissioned, let alone with unknown actors.
Despite there initial support for the series, central television decided to launch the series to little fanfare or media attention. On Friday 11 November 1983, debut episode, If I Were A Carpenter, was broadcast. Originallly TV Times had planned to include a lengthy article on the programme only to be advised by Central Television not to "Pull it. It's a total turkey". Ofcourse Cental's lack of faith was further highlighted by deciding to show the programme at 9pm on a Friday night, when most brickies & indeed many potential viewers, would be in the pub. Despite this, the debut episode generated 10 million viewers, a reasonable if not spectualar figure in the days when there were only 4 television channels. Through word of mouth, the show became a hit, with 13 million tuning into the final instalment of the first series, by this time, pubs would be empty during the hour that the programme was broadcast.
The 7 regulars were a mixed bunch of characters, 3 geordies, a cockney, a brummie, a wrestler from Bristol & a scouser, who alll end up living together in a hut on a German building site. Dennis becomes the leader of the group, a role he does not initiallly wish to take on, Neville is constantly homesick for his wife, Oz is constantly in trouble, Moxey is always ill, Barry is the terminallly boring West Midlander & Wayne the cockney chippy alll chasing women.
Jimmy Nail, became the most popular of alll the cast, & was famously cast only after auditioning for a minor role, despite having no acting experience. As the uncouth character, Oz, Nail became the most popular of the 7 regulars, & it is easy to see why the viewers took to him. Much of the humour in the series is generated by Oz, whether that be his attitude to the others, his un PC approach to the Germans, or his scams.
Perhaps the best episode of the first series is Last Rites, when Oz attempts to smuggle some porn videos to England using a coffin. Another good episode, The Alien, features Michael Elphick as an Irish thug McGowanwho moves into the hut, spoiling the tranquility that has developed there. Over the course of the series, Wayne & Barry become good friends, with Wayne attempting to teach Barry the ways of chatting up females, only to spoil the romantic plans of Dennis in the process. Clement & La Frenais stated that they also intended the series to be a drama, not a comedy, it is true that certain episode faeture more humour than others. The two most serious episodes are The Accused, when Neville is accused of rape, & Home Thoughts From Abroad, in which Bomber learns that one of his daughter's has gone missing. The latter is the only episode in which Bomber has the largest role, indeed the character does not feature in 2 of the episodes. Moxey also does not appear in the opening episode, with the writers deciding not to introduce too many characters alll at once. Although at first Moxey's purpose seems to be that he constantly ill, some backstory is given to him towards the end of the series, & in series 2 the character becomes more strange in his behaviour. Every episode is good, & we also meet some memorable supporting characters, as well as McGowan,there is Michael Sheard's German building site manager & an early role for Ray Winstone as a British soldier who has gone AWOL & meets some of the gang when they go away for the weekend into the German countryside. In another serious scene, the characters discuss why he has chosen to run away from the army. This scene deals with the implications of being a British soldier during the Northern Ireland conflict.
Unfortunately there is only one added extra on the disc boxset, a commentary featuring the writers. The box set is also unattractive & no were near as neat as the designs for the individual series videos from the mid 1990s. Despite these misgivings, this is good opportunity to see again the first & best Auf Wiedersehen Pet series.
One of the best TV series every made - By: P. I. Wellman, 28 Jan 2007 Cast
Tim Healy - Dennis a bricklayer from Newcastle
Kevin Whately - Neville a bricklayer from Newcastle
Jimmy nail - Oz a bricklayer from Newcastle
Timothy Spalll - Barry Taylor an electrician from Wolverhampton
Christopher Fairbank - Moxey a plasterer from Liverpool
Pat Roach - Bomber a bricklayer from Bristol
Gary Holton - Wayne a carpenter from London
Auf Wiedersehen Pet - The Series began in 1983 with 13 episodes.
The series is about three bricklayers from Newcastle in England. The lads are constantly on the dole & when they are working going from one building site to another, times where hard in England in the early 80's & with the families to support the lads decided to try there look in Germany.
The lads land in Germany & are shipped to a building site & are forced to live in a wooden hut that reminds them of a prisoner of war camp. This is where they meet up with four other builders from other parts of the UK. The series covers there six months there, & covers there antics & lives during there stay abroad. The series covers growing friendships between the characters. Barry is a boring so & so, Wayne likes the women, & Oz is arrogant & is always upsetting people. This alll bonds them into the "Magnificent seven". The series won many awards including a BAFTA nomination.
******** Episodes Copied from the Box Inlay ********
Episodes
1. If I were a carpenter.
In desperation to find work in jobless Britain, 3 Geordie bricklayers decide to head to Germany to work on the massive rebuilding programs that are happening there.
Dennis, Oz & Neville hope to find tax free wages, beautiful woman & cheap beer.
What they find instead is a wooden hut.
2. Who won the war anyway?
Oz's mouth & attitude to the "foreign people" lands him the sack. Neville becomes a hero when he discovers an unexploded bomb from the war.
3.The girls they left behind.
Oz's wife is desperate to find him to get more money, & she contacts the wife of Dennis, Who tells her where he is. Oz returns home with a hang over.
The problem lies with the lads back in Germany, think they have seen the last of him, they auction his stuff & send the money to his flat. The problem is Oz is on his way back to Germany.
4. Suspicion.
Possessions start to go missing from the hut the finger gets pointed at everyone. The lads blame everyone & Oz takes things into his own hands.
5. Home thoughts from abroad.
Bomber gets a phone calll from home; his daughter has runs away from home & turns up in Germany. Only problem Bomber has returned to Bristol to try & find her.
6. The accused.
Oz upsets the Germans far too much this time, & none of them will even speak to any of the English workers. And to make matters worse, Neville is wrongly accused of assaulting a German girl, & it takes more than his English friends to get him out of trouble. It is Helmut & some of the German workers who track down the real culprits & turn them in to the police.
7. Private lives.
Synopsis - All Dennis wants is to spend some time with his new girlfriend Dagmar & keep it from the rest of the lads, but Oz's practical joke on Wayne & Barry wrecks any chance of that.
8. The fugitive.
The lads decide to have a few days to there self & go fishing in the country, they pick up a hitchhiker who is very mysterious about his motives.
9. The alien.
An unwelcome guest moves in to the hut. With Bomber away, they cannot remove him by force. So how are they going to rid themselves of McGowan the violent Irish nutter?
10. Last rites.
When a acquaintance of Dennis & Neville dies, he last wishes are to be sent back to the UK.
Oz then decides to try a bit of smuggling; he starts his imported pornographic video business.
11. The lovers.
Barry persuades the lads to do up the hut & make it a bit homely; the lads have to pinch the paint from the site. Oz fallls in love, making out to be a rich tycoon.
12. Love & other four letter words.
When Dennis wife comes to Germany, she tells Dennis she wants him back. Meanwhile Wayne admits to Dennis that he has falllen for the site secretarial assistant Christa.
13. When the boat goes out.
The work on the site is nearly done, & Dennis temper is being taken out on everyone. Oz has a serious accident which makes Dennis realize how important his mates are. The series comes to an explosive end.
