Summary[]
's Out is the sixth episode of the second series. Intended for broadcast on 5 November 1992, the episode was pulled and eventually broadcast over two and a half years later on 10 April 1995. See trivia section for reasons why. Richie and Eddie go camping on Wimbledon Common but forget to bring any food. The solution? Hobnobs and hedgehogs of course!
Plot[]
Richie and Eddie arrive on Wimbledon Common. Richie is ready to bed down for the night, but Eddie complains that he can still see the bus stop the got off at from where he is standing, so the journey could not have been that arduous. Richie drops the news that due to a bet he made with Mad Ken Starling they are going to have to rough it on the common for a week. Both are oblivious to the fact that they have chosen a designated dog's toilet area to set up camp (marked with a small sign which neither notice), and go about putting the tent up, which to Eddie's horror looks a bit too snug to hold two people. Then there is the problem of food. Eddie has thought to bring the tin opener, but Richie forgot to bring any tins. Eddie however has secreted a packet of chocolate Hobnobs in his carrier bag and soon a fight ensues over how to divide them, resulting in the packet getting accidentally slung into a nearby pond.
A short time later the pair are sat around a small campfire drying off the biscuits over the camp fire on a makeshift washing line, and discuss such matters as the film Deep Throat and how much meat you can get on a Womble. Eddie spots a hedgehog amongst some long grass and suggests they catch it and kill it. Eddie fashions a blow pipe out of a tent pole and a dart, but only succeeds in shooting Richie in the back of the head. In removing the dart Richie falls head first into the camp fire and puts his head out in the pond, spotting a fish in there in the process. Richie is once again shot with the dart and demands the weapon from Eddie, who obliges for purposes of fair game. Richie accidentally inhales the dart requiring immediate, and very violent, help to dislodge it from his throat. Richie chucks the dart away in resignation, but miraculously manages to spear the fish in doing so. They cook up the fish on the camp fire, but it turns out to be disgusting and Eddie refuses to eat it and downs a bottle of scotch instead, and passes out. As they both languish by the fire, a flasher exposes himself in front of them and then runs off.
After nightfall, both are tucked up in the tent and whittle away the evening with idle chatter. Eddie, whilst attempting to read an unknown book, passes out leaving Richie to put the oil lamp out, but his sleeping bag drawstring is pulled so tight that he ends up burning his face on the lamp when he tries to extinguish it by blowing on the flame. He then becomes alarmed at the sound of thunder and an owl cooing somewhere outside, and wakes Eddie up. In his drunken state, he has no idea where he is and goes into a panic and then becomes very philosophical. Both discuss what could be lurking outside, and theorise that there could be Wombles waiting to kill them. Eddie makes a small fire inside the tent to ward them off, with explosive results. The explosion draws the attention of the flasher, who sticks his genitals through the tent flap. Eddie pulls the zip down on him and he runs off into the night screaming in agony with the tent attached to his penis, leaving both exposed in the pouring rain. Richie is still stuck in his sleeping bag, and Eddie, with weary resignation, knocks him out with a mallet.
Guest Stars[]
Rupert Bates as The Wimbledon Streaker aka 'Mr Tent'
Quotes[]
Scene 2. The Common[]
- Eddie: Right, well that's the toilet tent. Where do we sleep?
- Richie: Oh, ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Look out everybody, I'm about to blow my trousers off in merriment at Eddie's sarcasm.
- Eddie: What, you mean that's the whole tent?
- Richie: Eddie, this isn't just a tent. This is a World Ranger Storm-Buster Four. You could go anywhere in that.
- Eddie: Yeah, and we probably will as soon as the breeze gets up.
- Richie: Hey, hey, don't knock it. You'll be glad of this when the bomb drops.
- Eddie: What, you think that's going to withstand a twenty-megaton nuclear blast?
- Richie: Well you'll be sleeping in it tonight so we'll find out, won't we?
- Eddie: Wait a minute -- we're both going to sleep in this?
- Richie: Yes.
- Eddie: [inspects it] We'll be very close, won't we?
Trivia[]
- The episode was pulled by the BBC out of respect for Rachel Nickell, who was sexually assaulted and murdered on Wimbledon Common shortly after the episode was filmed. It was finally broadcast after the conclusion of the third series over two and a half years later.
- It is the only episode across the three series not to end on a freeze frame.
- Neither Richie nor Eddie notice the 'Dog Toilet' sign on the ground at any point through the episode.
- Deep Throat, which the characters discuss whilst drying out the biscuits over the camp fire, is a pornographic American film made in 1972. The film enjoyed notoriety for its high-production values despite being a pornographic film, and ingrained itself into pop culture. However, in recent years the film has garnered controversy after its lead actress, Linda Lovelace, revealed that many of the sexual acts she performed in the film were done under duress.
- The actor who played the flasher, Rupert Bates, appeared as a peasant in an episode of The Young Ones, and as a milkman in Filthy, Rich & Catflap. As a voice actor, he has also appeared in a number of episodes of the science fiction sitcom Red Dwarf as the voices of various computers and sentient vending machines.
- The Wombles references refer to the fictional characters of the Wombles series of children's books by Elizabeth Beresford. The books were adapted as a TV show in 1973. The Wombles resemble hedgehogs, however are quite self-aware and reside on Wimbledon Common according to the books and TV show, hence Richie and Eddie's remarks during their outing on the common.
Fluffs (read before adding to this section)[]
- There are four chocolate Hobnobs drying over the fire, however when Eddie takes them off to entice the hedgehog, there are five.