The Weekenders (TV pilot)
| The Weekenders | |
|---|---|
Title caption
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| Also known as | 'The Meat Festival' |
| Genre | Surreal sitcom |
| Written by |
Vic Reeves Bob Mortimer |
| Directed by | Sandy Johnson |
| Starring | Vic Reeves Bob Mortimer John Thomson Simon Day Paul Whitehouse Phil Oakey |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | David Liddiment |
| Producer(s) | Mark Robson |
| Running time | 24 minutes 39 seconds |
| Production company(s) | Granada Television |
| Release | |
| Original network | Channel 4 |
| Picture format | 4:3 |
| Original release | 17 June 1992 |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows |
The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer Catterick |
The Weekenders was a one-off comic television pilot starring Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer, produced by Granada Television for Channel 4. Broadcast on Wednesday 17 June 1992 as part of a series of pilots entitled Bunch of Five, it was a surreal sitcom in which two friends, Jim and Bob visit a meat festival taking place in an open field. They are then chased by aliens who want the meat they have brought to feed their queen.
In the sole episode The Meat Festival, Bob visits his friend Jim, who has been going through some hard times. For example, his father has been practising with his ouija board, and brought back his uncle and aunt as a pair of birds. They go down to the local pub (The Farting Dashboard) and discover in the newspaper that there is a meat festival taking place (at St. Prontaprint-in-Arndale). They decide to visit the festival, which consists of two tables in an open field. Jim buys a "speciality meat product" from Phil Oakey. However, some other people try to buy the meat off him. Jim and Bob refuse, but the men keep trying to take the meat away from him.
When Jim goes to the pub toilets, he and Bob discover that the men are in fact alien beings with Geordie accents, who claim they need the meat to feed their queen and keep their race alive. Jim and Bob decide to give them the meat, but the police come and attempt to arrest the aliens for stealing other speciality meat products. Jim, Bob and the aliens fight off the police, run away and are led to a garden shed which is in fact the aliens' space ship. Jim and Bob realise that they have forgotten the meat. The police then arrive, but instead of arresting the aliens, give the meat that Jim and Bob left behind. The aliens take the meat and give Jim a special wish. He asks for his uncle and aunt to return to their normal forms. The aliens leave the meat and leave Earth. When Jim and Bob arrive home, Jim discovers the aliens made his wish come true; his uncle and aunt have returned to their normal forms - as foxes.
The Weekenders' was the first television programme created by Reeves and Mortimer following the end of the hugely popular series Vic Reeves Big Night Out. Reeves co-wrote the show with Mortimer under his real name, Jim Moir, which is also the name given to his character. The show was produced as a pilot for Channel 4's Bunch of Five season - the network's own version of the BBC's Comedy Playhouse, in which new sitcom ideas were tried out. Out of the five pilots that were broadcast, only one - a Frank Skinner sitcom entitled Blue Heaven - was made into a full series.
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