Beaver Falls (TV series)
| Beaver Falls | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Comedy-drama |
| Created by | Iain Hollands |
| Starring | Sam Robertson John Dagleish Arsher Ali Natasha Loring Kristen Gutoskie Jon Cor Todd Boyce Alison Doody |
| Opening theme | "Billionaires" by Your Twenties |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 12 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | George Faber Charles Pattinson |
| Producer | Mat Chaplin |
| Production location | South Africa |
| Camera setup | Single camera |
| Running time | 44-48 minutes |
| Production company | Company Pictures |
| Original release | |
| Network | E4 |
| Release | 27 July 2011 – present |
Beaver Falls is a British comedy-drama that follows a trio of Oxford Brookes University graduates who managed to deceitfully get jobs at Beaver Falls, an elitist American summer camp for the beautiful teenage offspring of California's rich and powerful.
Season 2 aired on Monday 6th August on E4. [1]
Plot
Series One
Flynn, Barry and Adil (A-Rab) fly out to a summer camp in California hoping for two months of sun, booze, and gorgeous (quite often young) horny women. But their dream turns into what seems to be a nightmare when they're appointed to look after a cabin full of social misfits. Generally known as the 'Chunk Bunk' their cabin is terrorized by the jock cabin. Flynn's mission is to sleep with every woman that he can without getting caught, A-Rab wants to get over the girl of his dreams, and Barry just wants to meet a girl. Unbeknownst to A-Rab and Barry, Flynn is actually in America because he has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (the same disease that Stephen Hawking has) and is aware that he may not have long to live. Things are further complicated when Barry falls for Kimberley, the beautiful lifeguard at the camp as she is dating Jake who looks after the jock cabin. A-Rab has another problem, his sleep walking causes him to wake up completely naked in compromising places.
At the series' conclusion, A-Rab has successfully left his ex-girlfriend in the past, and instead fallen for Rachael, the camp's guidance counsellor, but is let down regardless after discovering that she sympathetically slept with Flynn after he confessed his condition to her. Kimberley leaves Jake in Barry's favour, and has sex with him during the last night at the camp. Flynn contemplates suicide when he realises that he has betrayed A-Rab, and because he is afraid of how far his condition will take him, but ultimately chooses to face up to his future, and reconciles with A-Rab (after accepting a punch in the face).
Series Two
The trio return to Beaver Falls, hoping for another relaxed summer as Flynn's time ticks by, having now lost the use of his right arm to his condition. Flynn begins to fall for PJ, the camp-owners' daughter, Barry is thrilled to find that Kimberley is looking for a full relationship with him as long as he is in the country, and A-Rab attempts to reconcile with Rachael, only to learn that she is now married to the bumbling but well-meaning Mac. A rift is formed between the trio when A-Rab challenges Barry over his unreliable nature after Barry drunkenly rats A-Rab out to the police in the wake of a petty crime, and A-Rab instead comes to rely on Hope, a lively and cheerful - but completely untrustworthy - girl who only worsens the matter when she reveals Flynn's condition to the entire camp.
Cast and characters
Main cast
| Actor | Character | Series |
|---|---|---|
| Sam Robertson | Flynn/Andrew Spencer | Series 1-Present |
| John Dagleish | Barry/David Fletcher | Series 1-Present |
| Arsher Ali | A-Rab/Adil Hussain | Series 1-Present |
| Natasha Loring | Kimberley | Series 1-Present |
| Kristen Gutoskie | Rachael | Series 1-Present |
| Jon Cor | Jake | Series 1-Present |
| Todd Boyce | Bobby | Series 1-Present |
| Alison Doody | Pam | Series 1-Present |
| Alex Wall | Thurston | Series 1-Present |
| Jacob Chapman | Brandon | Series 1-Present |
| Joshua Warner-Campbell | Smallie/Hilary | Series 1-Present |
| Tom Austen | Mac | Series 2-Present |
| Emer Kenny | Hope | Series 2-Present |
| Scarlett Alice Johnson | PJ | Series 2-Present |
| Kamogelo Legote | Clarissa | Series 2-Present |
| Nathan Robert | Gus | Series 1-Present |
| Clive Holloway | Maurice | Series 2-Present |
| Andrei Damane | Buzz | Series 1-Present |
Recurring cast
| Actor | Character | Season(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Scarlett Rose Patterson | Lily | Series 1 |
| Anjli Mohindra | Saima | Series 1 |
| Bianca Meyer | Penn | Series 1 |
Productions
Filming began in February 2011 on location in South Africa.[2] John Dagleish stated that Beaver Falls was like The O.C. but with British humour. He also talked about fellow E4 show The Inbetweeners, "The Inbetweeners is great and it was a massive success so if we can replicate that we'll be really happy. If we can get half the success they get we'll be chuffed."[3] A second series was confirmed in October 2011.[4]
Broadcast
The first series underperformed only averaging 400,000 viewers an episode.[5] However, it was the third most popular title on 4oD in August 2011 with 1.4m views.[5] The second series premiered to 281,000 viewers, failing to match E4’s slot average of 355k (1.94%), in the face of stiff competition from the BBC’s Olympics coverage.[6]
| Series | Timeslot (GMT) | # Ep. | Premiered | Ended | Viewers (in thousands) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Premiere Viewers (in thousands) |
Date | Finale Viewers (in thousands) | ||||
| 1 | 6 | 740,000 | 430,000 | 400,000 | |||
| 2 | 6 | 281,000 | TBA | TBA | |||
Reception
Critical reception has been mixed, with critics comparing Beaver Falls to The Inbetweeners, but stating that it falls some way short of comical brilliance.[7] Christopher Hooton of Metro felt that it was the usual teen comedy; the irresistible ladies man, the awkward virgin, the high school jock, the fat kid, the hot woman. Hooton also added "Beaver Falls is essentially a textbook covered in pencil-drawn penises, it was funny once upon a time but that time has passed."[8] Rachel Tarley of Metro stated: "Beaver Falls is shaping up to be a silly, lewd and pretty juvenile series, but with so much heart at its core, it's hard not to warm to these hapless characters and their stories."[9]
DVD release
| Name | Region 1 | Region 2 | Region 4 | Discs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The First Season | — | August 13, 2012[10] | — | 1 |
| The Second Season | — | — | — | — |
References
- ^ "Beaver Falls series 2 E4 air date". Retrieved 26 July 2012.
- ^ Friday, February 11, 2011, 13:03 GMT (2011-02-11). "E4 announces new drama 'Beaver Falls' - TV News". Digital Spy. Retrieved 2011-09-15.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "Newsbeat - Beaver Falls stars set for show debut on TV channel E4". BBC. 2011-07-28. Retrieved 2011-09-15.
- ^ "'Fresh Meat', 'Beaver Falls' renewed by Channel 4". Retrieved 4 July 2012.
- ^ a b "Channel 4's 4oD sees August usage increase". Retrieved 7 August 2012.
- ^ "Beaver Falls struggles on E4 return". Retrieved 14 August 2012.
- ^ "Beaver Falls - Falls Short". TV Pixie. Retrieved 2011-09-15.
- ^ "Beaver Falls - season 1 - episode 1 - TV review". Metro.co.uk. 2011-07-27. Retrieved 2011-09-15.
- ^ "Beaver Falls, series 1, episode 2: TV review". Metro.co.uk. 2011-08-03. Retrieved 2011-09-15.
- ^ "TV comedy DVDs coming soon". Retrieved August 2, 2012.