Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18868 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-05-27
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Number of discs: 4
• Formats: Box set, PAL, Subtitled
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 4
• Running time: 650 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review

First broadcast in 1983, Auf Wiedersehen Pet was an unlikely comedy hit about a group of British labourers forced to work in Germany during the recession. Scripted by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, (previously responsible for Porridge and The Likely Lads) its main players are likeable stereotypes from all over England: there’s Wayne (the late Gary Holton), a cockney charmer and womaniser; Barry (Timothy Spall), the bumbling, haplessly pretentious Brummie; gentle West Country giant Bomber (Pat Roach); amiable Scouse Moxey (Christopher Fairbank); and the three Geordies; nervous Neville (Kevin Whately), loudmouth xenophobic lummox Oz (Jimmy Nail) and put-upon Dennis (Tim Healy), the reluctant gaffer of the mob. The show spawned a second series in 1986 then a belated follow-up in 2002.

The plotlines were entertaining--capers usually involving misunderstandings or hangovers or both: Oz eating rat poison, Oz attempting to smuggle porn, Neville waking up after a large night out with a German girl’s name mysteriously tattooed on his arm; Dennis’s tentative relationship with a German woman named Dagmar while on the rebound from his recent divorce.

However, the real meat of Auf Wiedersehen Pet was in the interplay of the characters--who were confined in prison camp-style conditions--and Clement and Le Frenais’ rueful sense of the comedy of men in crisis. Tim Healy’s Dennis in particular was a classic example of the indignity of the traditional grafter who suddenly finds himself struggling in mid-life, a condition exacerbated at having to "wet nurse" a bunch of wayward geezers, as he frequently complains. --David Stubbs

Synopsis

Auf Wiedersehen Pet is the classic British comic drama that encapsulated the spirit of Britain under Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s. Featuring a great ensemble cast, this four-disc box set follows a likeable bunch of unemployed builders who are forced to start working in Germany as a last option. Led by foreman Dennis (Tim Healy) and the mercurial Oz (Jimmy Nail), the seven strong crew attempt to get by in a foreign country and end up in plenty of scrapes. Auf Wiedersehen Pet - The Complete Series 1 contains the entire first season. On their way to a building site in Dusseldorf--and excited about bier Kellers, frauleins, high wages and no taxes--Dennis (Tim Healy), Neville (Kevin Whately) and Oz (Jimmy Nail) leave Newcastle and meet up with fellow ex-pats Wayne (Gary Holton), Bomber (Pat Roach), Barry (Timothy Spall) and Moxey (Christopher Fairback).

Customer Reviews

Sheer Brilliance!!
I remember this show from the first day it was aired on terrestrial T.V. and always made sure I was in to watch it, no matter what I was doing.
The actors are cast perfectly, no luvvie duvvies here mate, genuine accents abound, not some pretentious prig trying to sound like a Geordie or Cockney, even Londoner Barry's Brummie was spot on.
This was social history at it's best during a period in time when there seemed to be little hope for so many.
"Get on your bike" was a phrase coined by the politicians, these guys did and what spawned from the series is still relevant today.
I always found that I was left with the feel-good factor after every episode (as I still do now), you laughed with them, cried, felt everything they did, it was almost as if 'you were there'.
Coming from 'Up North' as they say, it is easy to see what the writers were striving for, we were all going through it and these lads played it out on screen for all to see and also, as a remminder to future generations.
Every epidode contained so much sheer brilliance it is impossible to pick anything out that stands above anything else, even the co-stars and the actors who made cameo appearances were just right.
5 stars is not enough for this brilliant piece of work, the writers must be congratulated.
Buy every series, you will not be disappointed.
RIP. Wayne & Bomber.

Almost Reality TV
~This series (and the 2nd) is so well acted it's almost like watching a new fangled reality TV show. The acting is by far amazing; with Jimmy Nail's Oz portraying a very genuine Geordie which other TV shows have failed miserably to archieve (Byker Grove and even Nail's own Spender). All the Geordies' dialog doesn't sound scripted in any way and it's nice to see characters like the neurotic Neville and Brenda being portrayed as "normal" people rather than oafish Geordies. Oz's character~~ never ceases to amaze, with his ignorant (yet often hilarious) banter and occationally suprising bursts of intellect (due to his avid reading of WWII spy books no doubt) and humility.
But it's Tim Healy as the troubled Dennis who often steals the show. His performance as a working class, so to be divorcee/single father is often heartbreaking, as you share his journey through his troubled chapter in life.~

Absolutely brilliant, this will appeal to everyone.
This programme is brilliant. It brings together some of the best humour of England from Liverpool, Birmingham, London, Somerset and the North East.

It shows how far some people will go to get away from the dole queue (and their wifes) and you can't help wanting to know what they're going to get up to next.

As the series progresses you get every scenario possible and you see the characters pull together through it all which strengthens their friendship. It's always got something or someone you can relate to and is constantly going from comedy to drama. A big thumbs up to the writers.

Completely addictive, I love it.