Robert Webb

Shipping up as freshers at their shared house are: JP, public school boy with good teeth and an inflated sense of entitlement; Kingsley, charming and crushingly insecure; Josie, determined to experience 'new things'; socially-awkward know-it-all Howard, hard-living Vod; and Oregon, desperate to be cool and terrified of being boring. One by one, the six new students destined to be housemates congregate before term begins - although second year Howard has of course already been in solitary residence for some unspecified time.

Richard Ayoade holt mit Robert Webb das Maximum aus einer zweitägigen Madeira-Reise heraus. Sie sind auf der Suche nach mehr als nur dem berühmten gleichnamigen Wein und Kuchen der portugiesischen Insel, obwohl sie es sich nicht nehmen lassen, beide Spezialitäten unterwegs zu verkosten. Außerdem probieren die beiden Madeiras berühmte Bananen mit Schwarzem Degenfisch als Beilage und erleben bei einer Wanderung entlang der Levadas die Natur hautnah. Sie legen eine Pause ein, um sich eine Stärkung und ein Glas Madeira-Wein zu gönnen, und kehren dann nach Funchal zurück, wo sie an einem Stickkurs teilnehmen und bei einem Nachmittagstee auf der Terrasse über die Vorteile eines Kurzurlaubs auf Madeira sinnieren.

The housemates are in social Siberia so they decide to throw a party, spearheaded by Josie in the hope that she and Kingsley will get together - a plan scuppered when Josie's boyfriend Dave turns up unxpectedly. Josie is saved from further embarrassment when Kingsley steps in to prevent one of JP's 'nobhead' friends revealing that she slept with him. Meanwhile, Oregon continues to cultivate her 'alternative' image, dented slightly by the revelation that she has a car.

Kingsley is forced to confess to Josie that he's a virgin, and she offers to 'cure' him. But the deal is undercut when Kingsley unexpectedly winds up having sex with drama queen Ruth. Unable to fess up to Josie, Kingsley nevertheless goes ahead with the plan. Oregon is unimpressed with Shales' cheap efforts at romanticism at a Travelodge, while Vod is forced to actually do some work and has an epiphany - enjoying the book she was meant to read. JP takes Howard under his wing in an attempt to 'humanise' him, but becomes increasingly dependent on him when they go on an expedition to acquire illegal substances.

During a student protest march in London, Vod and Oregon's friendship is threatened when Vod finds out about Oregon's secret affair with Shales. Kingsley pursues Ruth at the demo, but when they both get kettled with Josie, Kingsley's two-timing of the girls is revealed, and Kingsley and Josie fall out explosively. JP's initial plans to use the demo as a free trip to meet up with his mates in a London bar is scuppered as he gets caught up in the demo and radicalised. Meanwhile, Howard and his new best friend Brian have a 'man-date'.