"It's Outrageous...."
The scene was about as far as one could imagine from a construction site in Germany. In a private room in Marco Pierre White's sumptuous Mirabelle restaurant in London's Mayfair, a group of famous actors sat around the table drinking red wine.....
Oz, Neville, Dennis, Barry, Bomber & Moxey were back!
When Auf Wiedersehen, Pet came to an end in 1986, it seemed to be writers Dick Clement & Ian La Frenais's last word on lovable mixed up Geordie men. Auf Wiedersehen, Pet became the most successful British comedy-drama of it's time. Clement & La Frenais went on to write films such as The Commitments, Vice Versa and Still Crazy, while actor Jimmy Nail who before playing Oz had been working on a building site in Germany for real, found fame in series such as Spender and in the pop charts. Kevin Whately became one of TV's most bankable leading men, and Timothy Spall star of such movies as Mike Leigh's Secrets & Lies.
"The actors have all done pretty well since the old series, so it wasn't like anyone needed the gig.." says Dick Clement "Nor did we.." Yet Clement & La Frenais both agreed to attend the fateful lunch at the Mirabelle with the six leading actors, BBC's then director of arts and entertainment Alan Yentob, and the man who thought up Auf Wiedersehen, Pet in the first place Franc Roddam.
"When I first had the idea (of reviving the series) I asked Jimmy's agent who told me I'd never get him to agree. The next day I bumped into Jimmy in the street. I was coming out of plumbing shop and Jimmy a guitar shop. I said I was thinking of reviving Auf Wiedersehen and he said, in his Geordie accent 'I'll do it' just like that..." says Roddam
"The idea of the lunch was that we would get together and decide whether or not to go ahead.." Roddam says. "But when they all turned up, I knew the decision was already made. The team were back in business..."
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