Farewell, Fresh Meat – and good luck in the real world. It's terrible out there
As Fresh Meat draws to a close tonight, it’s time to say goodbye and good luck to the Manchester houseshare we’ve been following for four series of debauched drunkenness, pill-popping and frantic last-minute studying.
If you don’t recognise at least a part of yourself in the Fresh Meat characters, then I’m afraid you’re in denial. There’s rich, idiotic JP with a heart of gold and a mouth full of top-drawer bants. Howard, the logical pedant, who once declared himself “a reality queen”. Josie, with her small-town eagerness to be supercool, and her burgeoning alcoholism. Vod, the ultimate agent of chaos, who wants to be either a genius or a dropout. Oregon, a born politician if she could just get over her need to be liked. And Kingsley, the sort of pretentious arse who loses interest in his Italian girlfriend when he realises she has been Swiss all along.
JP (Jack Whitehall) ... rich and idiotic, with a heart of gold.
The characters breezed through uni with admirably little regard for their future (or even their present). Sure, they got kettled by police during a tuition fees protest, but they were more concerned with drug tests and breaking penises than the state of the job market. This demonstrates an impressive amount of denial on their part, because Fresh Meat has spanned a period of higher education crisis.
Vod (Zawe Ashton) ... the greatest poster-girl for hedonism the world has ever seen.
When it started, Fresh Meat was the daft and brilliant uni comedy. It wasn’t there to make any cutting political comments about the changing face of student life. It was supposed to be a celebration of those halcyon days – not an elegy for them.
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However, in its fourth and final series, Fresh Meat stepped up its political game. In episode two, 18-year-old Luka – sent to the students’ house by his mother in a bid to convince him to apply for university – brutally and astutely explained why higher education is completely useless. “You’re putting all this time and money into a system that might have nothing for you,” he told the housemates. “The number of unemployed graduates is going up; starting salaries are going down; UK industries are outsourcing and downsizing. They reckon it’ll take 30 years for the average student to pay off their student loan. And that’s if you even get a job.”
Supercool ... Josie (Kimberley Nixon).
The final series saw Zawe Ashton’s scene-stealing Vod – possibly the greatest poster-girl for hedonism the world has ever seen – trapped in crippling debt, and Kingsley trying to come up with any strategy that wouldn’t force him to move back home. He also faced humiliating rejection at a 6 Music job interview, finally realising that being a pretentious music snob with a geology degree is no guarantee of a career.
On top of that, all the housemates have been forced to face that they will have to sacrifice their dreams for money. Even Jack Whitehall’s JP, who has no need to worry about his financial situation, was devastated to realise that his goal of being a cartoonist-cum-sashimi master will never come true.
‘Reality queen’ ... Howard (Greg McHugh).
After hearing those home truths about the pointlessness of uni today, the housemates dealt with their crisis by filling the bathtub with stolen beer and getting pissed. Because if you’re already screwed, you may as well have fun while you’re at it.
Fresh Meat may have spent its final series drilling into the financial and career problems faced by the current generation of students, but it has also posed a powerful argument for the necessity of keeping university as accessible and affordable as possible. Sure, their career prospects might not have improved, but the Manchester housesharers have grown and evolved. Howard learned social skills; JP gained a perspective beyond his narrow class background; Josie shook off her small-town prejudices; Vod learned to take responsibility. Kingsley and Oregon are still tits but, hey, university doesn’t change everyone.
JP (Jack Whitehall) and Kingsley (Joe Thomas). Photograph: Channel 4
What Fresh Meat did best was remind us that higher education isn’t just about getting a piece of paper with your degree written on it. A silly comedy with a stellar cast became a funny, insightful and surprisingly moving argument for the importance of university.
Vod, JP, Howard, Josie, Kingsley and Oregon – good luck out there in the real world. We’ll miss you.