Mind Your Language

Mind Your Language
Title screen
Created by	Vince Powell
Developed by	?
Starring	Barry Evans Zara Nutley Albert Moses George Camiller Jacki Harding Ricardo Montez Robert Lee Pik-Sen Lim Kevork Malikyan Jamila Massey Françoise Pascal Dino Shafeek Anna Bergman
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	42 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Stuart Allen Albert Moses
Running time	30 minutes
Production company	London Weekend Television
Original release
Network	ITV
Release	30 December 1977 (1977-12-30) – 21 April 1986 (1986-04-21)

Mind Your Language is a British comedy television series which premiered on ITV in late-1977. Produced by LWT and directed by Stuart Allen, the show is set in an adult education college in London and focuses on the English as a Foreign Language class taught by Mr Jeremy Brown, portrayed by Barry Evans, who had to deal with a motley crew of foreign students. Three series were made by LWT between 1977–79, and the show was briefly revived in 1986 with six of the original cast.

Production

The programme was cancelled in 1979 by Michael Grade, then-LWT's Deputy Controller of Entertainment, who considered the stereotyping offensive. Despite this, the series was sold to other countries, including Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, India, Malaysia, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana and Singapore. It was also one of the first British TV programmes shown in South Africa after the end of the boycott by the British Actors' Equity Association. It was resurrected briefly for the export market by an independent producer in the mid-1980s, though some ITV companies did not show any of the episodes made in 1986 and only Granada transmitted the final 13 episodes consecutively as a complete series.

Various international television shows based on the premise of Mind Your Language have followed the original series. Among them are What a Country! (US), Zabaan Sambhalke (India), Second Chance! (Nigeria), Raja Kaduwa! (Sri Lanka)and "Classmates" (Kenya)

Recording locations

The majority of recording sessions for the first three series took place on Tuesday evenings in Studio Two at the South Bank Television Centre. The 1986 series was filmed at Uxbridge Technical College in Middlesex.

Episodes

See also: List of Mind Your Language episodes

Transmission details

• Series 1 (13) 30 December 1977 – 24 March 1978 · Friday 7pm (London Weekend Television)
• Series 2 (8) 7 October-25 November 1978 · Saturday mostly 6pm (London Weekend Television)
• Series 3 (8) 27 October-15 December 1979 · Saturday mostly 6.45pm (London Weekend Television)
• Series 4 (13) 4 January-21 April 1986 · Saturday 2:15pm (Granada Television)

DVD releases

The series was released as a boxed set on Region 2 DVD in 2003, and on Region 1 DVD in 2004. However, this set excludes the Series 1 episode Kill Or Cure, the Series 2 episode Don't Forget The Driver, the Series 3 episode Guilty Or Not Guilty? and all of Series 4. An alternate boxed set was released by Network DVD in November 2007 and contained all episodes of Series 1 to 3. The remaining fourth series has yet to be released on DVD.

Cast and characters

Countries Represented in Mind Your Language

School staff

• Mr Jeremy Brown, portrayed by Barry Evans, is the English teacher and focal point of most of the series. He holds a degree from Oxford University. He is hired in the series pilot, in which he is warned that the previous teacher was driven insane by the students. Mr Brown is up to the challenge, however he often has to put up with the students' often literal, creative interpretations of the English language.
• Miss Delores Courtney, portrayed by Zara Nutley, is the Headmistress of the school.

Students

• Giovanni Capello, portrayed by George Camiller, is an Italian chef, the class's loudest student and de facto class monitor. He is best friends with Max, who becomes his flatmate. Giovanni's main English problem is understanding metaphors and large words, though he often answers wrongly on purpose to amuse the class. When shocked or surprised, he often remarks "Santa Maria" or "Holy Ravioli", and also often says "okey-kokey" instead of "okay-dokey". He has an elaborate set of first names: Giovanni Vincenzo Marco Dino Alberto Leonardo etc.

• Anna Schmidt, portrayed by Jacki Harding, is a stereotypical 1970s German and works as an au pair. In her introduction, she refers to "German efficiency", and accordingly Anna is a hard-working student, occasionally asking legitimate questions and as the series progresses, answering Mr Brown's questions correctly. Her main problem is mixing "V"s and "W"s. She also punctuates her sentences with German words. She is shown with exceptional physical strength and she is never reluctant to show it, often punching fellow students such as Max if they try to flirt with her.

• Juan Cervantes, portrayed by Ricardo Montez, is a Spanish bartender with an optimistic streak. Juan is always laughing at himself, confident of his answers even when they are completely wrong. Early in the series Juan speaks almost no English, (apart from episode 2 where he describes Ms Courtney as "Plenty awesome, very good!") and answers everything with "por favor" (please), necessitating Giovanni to translate some key terms for him. His typical catchphrase is "s'alright!" and sometimes when he is corrected he says "Sorry, wrong number". Juan's English improved as the series went on, but he remained one of the worst speakers, often speaking a mix of English and Spanish. He cares a great deal for Mr Brown, whom he considers almost family.

• Ranjeet Singh, portrayed by Albert Moses, is a London Underground worker from Punjab in India and a devout Sikh. He was mistaken to be Pakistani when Mr Brown asked him to sit next to his "fellow countryman" Ali Nadim in the first episode. He constantly argues with Ali, who is a Pakistani Muslim. He has a good vocabulary but tends to mix up his general knowledge, and upon being corrected he always puts his hands together and says "a thousand apologies". When angered by people, he usually threatens them with his kirpan.

• Chung Su-Lee, portrayed by Pik-Sen Lim (Series 1–3), is a secretary at the Chinese Embassy. She is never seen without her little red book of quotations from Mao, which she often quotes from. She constantly mixes up her "R"s and "L"s. Early in the series, she had a fierce ideological rivalry with Taro, her Japanese classmate, but later on the series, he often springs to defend her when a character insults her or China.

• Tarō Nagazumi, portrayed by Robert Lee (Series 1–3) is a Japanese electronics representative. He has a reasonable command of English, but has a habit of adding "-o" to every word he says and always replies "Aa, sou!" and bows whenever he is called upon. Early in the series he is at odds with Su-Lee due to Japan and China's own political differences in the 1970s, but becomes a close friend of hers later on. He is never seen without his camera.

• Maximillian Andrea Archimedes Papandrious, portrayed by Kevork Malikyan (Series 1–3), is a Greek shipping office worker from Athens, and is often paired with Giovanni. He is attracted to Danielle, but as the show progresses the three become friends. Max tends to misunderstand metaphors and large words. He also has a heavy accent, which causes him to add "H" to almost every word he says. Later, he shares his flat with Giovanni, with whom he is a close friend; these two characters are the characters have the best command of the English language of all the students in the series.

• Danielle Favre, portrayed by Françoise Pascal (Series 1–3), is an amorous French au pair who instantly grabs the attention of all men, including Mr Brown. Her good looks often distract Giovanni and Max from their answers, while Mr Brown is often found in seemingly incriminating positions with her, and she seems to have a crush on him. She is annoyed when Ingrid Svenson joins the class, instigating a rivalry for Mr Brown's attention.

• Ali Nadeem, portrayed by Dino Shafeek (Series 1–3), is an unemployed Pakistani and the first student to make his appearance. He is originally from Lahore, Pakistan, although he once stated he grew up in Delhi (probably making him a Muhajir – the people who migrated from India to Pakistan after the independence of both the countries in 1947). Never seen without his Jinnah cap, he is the most vocal of the students and often literally misinterprets everything said by others. As a Pakistani Muslim, he has a vocal and occasionally physical rivalry with Ranjeet, who is an Indian Sikh. By the middle of series 2, although they continue to argue, Ali's rivalry with Ranjeet becomes less malicious and they are on occasion able to work together without complaint. Ali's typical catchphrases are "yes please" (in situations where he should say "yes, thank you"), "oh blimey!", "squeeze me please" (which is how he pronounces "excuse me please") and "jolly good."

• Jameela Ranjha, portrayed by Jamila Massey (Series 1–3), is an Indian housewife from Simla. When she first joins the class she can barely speak English, and needs Ali to translate her Urdu, but by series 3 she has become one of the better English speakers. She often calls Mr Brown "Masterjee", and her catchphrase early in the series is "gud havening" (which is how she pronounces "good evening"). During class, she is often found knitting. She is shown as a Christian in the episode "Guilty or not Guilty?", when she swears over the bible to tell the truth. Moreover, she wears a cross around her neck from the 11th episode of the first season. But in an episode called "A Point Of Honour", she says the true religion is "Buddha".

• Ingrid Svenson, portrayed by Anna Bergman (Series 2 and 4), is a Swedish au pair who joins the class at the beginning of series 2. She is attractive and straightforward about her attraction to Mr Brown, sparking a rivalry between her and Danielle. Her main problem with English is word order, often getting words mixed up, such as "you for I question answer". She transfers schools at the end of Series 2, but returns in the independently-produced Series 4.

• Zoltán Szabó, portrayed by Gabor Vernon (Series 2), is a Hungarian student who only appears during series 2. He has a very basic level of English and requires a phrasebook for everything. He picks up slang quickly, most of which comes from Giovanni and Juan. At the end of series 2, he goes back to Hungary. His typical catchphrase is to say "Bocsánat?" (pronounced "bochanot", the Hungarian word for "sorry" or "excuse me") to everything said to him in English.

In the fourth series, Mr Brown and Miss Courtney are still at the school, as are Anna, Giovanni, Ingrid, Juan and Ranjeet. New students in series 4 include:'

• Maria Papandrious, portrayed by Jenny Lee-Wright
• Michelle Dumas portrayed by Marie-Elise Grepne
• Farrukh Azzam portrayed by Raj Patel
• Fu Wong Chang portrayed by Vincent Wong
• Rita portrayed by Sue Bond
• Henshawe portrayed by Harry Littlewood

External links

• Mind Your Language at British Comedy Guide
• Mind Your Language at IMDb
• Tributes to Mind Your Language