Mind Your Language

Mind Your Language
Title screen
Format	Comedy
Created by	Vince Powell
Starring	Barry Evans Albert Moses George Camiller Kevork Malikyan Zara Nutley Robert Lee Dino Shafeek Pik-Sen Lim Tommy Godfrey Iris Sadler Françoise Pascal Ricardo Montez Jacki Harding Jamila Massey Anna Bergman Gabor Vernon Jenny Lee-Wright Marie-Elise Grepne Raju Patel Vincent Wong Sue Bond Harry Littlewood
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	42 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Stuart Allen Albert Moses
Running time	30 minutes
Production company(s)	London Weekend Television
Broadcast
Original channel	ITV
Picture format	4:3
Original run	30 December 1977 (1977-12-30) – 21 April 1986 (1986-04-21)

Mind Your Language is a British comedy television series, that premiered on ITV in late 1977. Produced by LWT and directed by Stuart Allen, it 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.

Premise

The series focuses on the adult students of an English foreign language class in a London college. The classes take place in the early evening, and are taught by Mr. Brown, though on occasion other individuals take over the class if he is not available. The class consists of foreign students with varying degrees of English proficiency and much of the humour of the show is derived from the students misunderstanding English words or terminology and plays heavily on the cultural stereotype of their individual nation of origin.

Series 1 takes place over a full school year, starting with Mr. Brown being hired by the Headmistress Ms. Courtney and ending with the students sitting their Lower Cambridge Certificate. Series 2 begins at the start of the next school year, with all ten previous students having failed their exams and returning, joined by two new students. Series 1 and 2 primarily took place in the classroom but the later series explored settings outside the school.

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), Zaban Sambhal Kai (Pakistan) and Second Chance! (Nigeria).

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, 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-April 21, 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

• Jeremy Brown, portrayed by Barry Evans, is the English teacher and focal point of most of the series. He holds a B.A. Hons from the University of Oxford. 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, and often has to put up with the students' often literal, creative interpretations of the English language. He was left at an orphanage on Jeremy Street 30 years ago and grew up without parents, a possible reference to Evans' own childhood. When he heard that Sidney left his baby at the same orphanage at about the same time, he suspected that Sidney was his father. Later, it is learnt that the baby turned out to be a girl, disproving that it could be Mr. Brown.

• Ms Dolores Courtney, portrayed by Zara Nutley, is the school's pompous and tight-fisted principal. She thinks poorly of Mr. Brown and his abilities as a teacher and often drops in unannounced into his class to check on the students' progress. She is a feminist and believes that women can do better than men at anything. Over time she grows fond of Mr. Brown as well as his students.

• Sidney, portrayed by Tommy Godfrey (Series 1 - 3), also known as Sid, is the caretaker of the school and the last of the main characters in Series 1 to appear. He is a London Cockney who frequently speaks in rhyming slang. He is hard-of-hearing, which causes frequent misunderstandings. He becomes a father figure and friend to Mr. Brown and the male students of his class. One episode even briefly presents the possibility that Sidney is Mr Brown's real father.

• Gladys, portrayed by Iris Sadler (Series 1 - 3), is the old lady in charge of the school's tea room. Unlike Miss Courtney, she is affable and friendly towards Sidney, Mr. Brown, and the students. She takes Miss Courtney's domineering attitude in stride, and gets along well with everyone. However, much of the comedy surrounding her stems from her tendency to gossip, reveal things before the intended person has been officially informed, and misinterpret information.

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". 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 hardworking 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 also 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.

• 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 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. 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.

• Jamila 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". During class, she is mostly found knitting. She is either shown as a Hindu or Christian but the same is not clear, as she is able to communicate in Urdu, when she writes her name in Episode 1.

• 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.

• 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, and answers everything with "por favor" (please), necessitating Giovanni to translate some key terms for him. Juan's English improves 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 for "a thousand apologies". When angered by people, he usually threatens them with his kirpan.

• 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 Svensson 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. 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!", "oh blimey!", "squeeze me please!" and "jolly good."

• 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", Hungarian word for 'Sorry', 'Excuse me'] to everything said to him in English.

• In the fourth series, Mr. Brown and Miss Courtney were still at the school, as were Anna, Giovanni, Ingrid, Juan and Ranjeet. New students included:

• 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 the Internet Movie Database
• Tributes to Mind Your Language