They had been away a long time - but finally the boys were back. The long-anticipated third series of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet kicked off 20 years ago on April 28, 2002.
We had first met the motley crew of builders - led by the Geordie trio of Dennis, Oz and Neville - back in late 1983. That wildly successful first series, pulling in millions of viewers on ITV, saw them getting up to all manner of scrapes on a German building site.
In 1986, they returned for series two, causing havoc in the East Midlands before jetting off to sunny Spain, where again they would get mixed up in some hilarious shenanigans. Sixteen years later, the new rebooted series, this time on BBC, was set in a very different Britain and in a new millennium.
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We were able to reacquaint ourselves with older versions of Dennis (played by Tim Healy), Oz (Jimmy Nail), Neville (Kevin Whatley), Barry (Timothy Spall), Moxie (Christopher Fairbank) and Bomber (Pat Roach). But there would be no Wayne. Actor Gary Holton, who played the womanising Cockney cheeky-chap had died back in 1985 during the filming of series two.
The intervening years, we soon found out, had been kinder to some of the Pet lads than others. Barry was now driving a Bentley, and Dennis a taxi, while Neville's building firm was in big trouble. Inevitably, marriages had come and gone.
In fact, all the lads needed a break for one reason or another, which is why they jumped at the chance to join Oz when he came up with a scheme to dismantle the Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge and export it for profit. The action would switch from Tyneside to Teesside to Arizona where the boys - who’d been joined by Wayne’s screen son, Wyman - would work on the reconstruction of the bridge alongside native Americans.
The inspiration for the third series had come from three short scenes penned by the original writers Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais for a Sunday For Sammy charity concert at Newcastle City Hall. Kevin Whatley, who played Neville, recalled in 2002: “We were nervous about doing it, but the reaction from the 2,000-strong audience was unbelievable. They roared so much the roof nearly came off. It was great to be back.”
Shooting the new series came easily said Kevin: “Something clicked when we got behind the camera again. We have all stayed pals for 20 years, and there’s rarely a bad word between us. We became close during the first series. We were a similar age, and the bond seems to have stood the test of time. Our kids have grown up together.”
Tim Healy who played the lads' gaffer, Dennis, described it as being “like a family reunion”. He added: "The first series was hilarious because people could see themselves in it. I’ve always said that if an actor tells me it is brilliant, it doesn’t mean anything - but if an ordinary brickie can say that, or identify something that has happened to him, then that is real praise. It happened after the first series. I’ve just got my fingers crossed it will happen again."
Franc Roddam who had created Auf Wiedersehen, Pet back in 1983 was also behind the decision to return for a third series, even after the show had been away for so long. He said: “People want to see what has happened to these characters who were falling towards the economic edge, how it has affected them getting older, and how they have managed financially. It is a rich drama."
The return of TV’s Auf Wiedersehen, Pet would prove a ratings success for the BBC. The first episode, Bridging The Gap, drew in 11.6 million viewers, trouncing its ITV1 rival the Forsyte Saga, which attracted 6.1 million. The show was also a hit with the critics, winning the Most Popular Drama award at the 2002 National Television Awards.
But despite its success, for some viewers series three lacked just a little of the magic and gritty authenticity of the first two. In 2004, there would be a final fourth series, set in Cuba, and a two-part special, Au Revoir, set in Thailand. And that really would be that for Auf Wiedersehen, Pet.
