Trivia for
"Auf Wiedersehen, Pet" (1983) More at IMDbPro »

• Actor Gary Holton, who played Wayne Norris, died of a drugs overdose in 1985 while filming the second series, leading to a somewhat watered-down appearance in the last few episodes. As they had filmed all of the exterior scenes with Wayne in them but had not started any of the interior scenes, they decided to dress one of the production team in a wig to look like Wayne for backshots during indoor scenes to keep some form of continuity going. For many of the indoor scenes, he was written out entirely, and his presence was accounted for by explaining he was elsewhere at the time.
  
  
• Many of the scenes shown in the second series set in Newcastle, Wolverhampton, Derbyshire and even one in Spain were in fact filmed in Nottingham.
  
  
• A third season was originally planned soon after the second series completed, to be set in Moscow, seeing the lads rebuilding the British Embassy, but it was declared too expensive, and the other actors did not want to carry on without Gary Holton, so the third series did not go ahead until it was picked up by the BBC some 15 years later. The rebuilding of the British Embassy was later used as the premise of the fourth series.
  
  
• The first and second series were broadcast on ITV in 1983 and 1986. Years later, the show was picked up by the BBC and the third and fourth series were shown in 2002 and 2004.
  
  
• Some of the actors' families also starred in the series. Tim Healy's wife Denise Welch appeared as Jean, the new resident of Oz's flat. Kevin Whately (Neville) starred with his daughter Catherine Whately, who played his on-screen daughter Debbie in the second series, and with his wife Madelaine Newton, who played Dennis' girlfriend Christine Chadwick. Jimmy Nail's son Thomas Bradford-Jones also has a small part as Sir James and Celestia Palmer's son Henry in series two, as did his sister Val McLane who played Dennis' sister Norma.
  
  
• Franc Roddam decided to revive the programme after seeing Tim Healy, Kevin Whately and Jimmy Nail performing "Auf Wiedersehen Pet" sketches (written by Ian La Frenais and Dick Clement) on stage in 2000 as part of a charity concert in Newcastle being held as a tribute to Sammy Johnson ("Stick" in "Spender" (1991)). Allan McKeown, executive producer of the two 1980s series, was vigorously opposed to the plans and urged La Frenais and Clement to have nothing to do with the project or, failing that, at least to avoid using the title "Auf Wiedersehen Pet". However the revived series went ahead. As a result, McKeown and La Frenais have not spoken since, despite previously being close friends (La Frenais had been Best Man at McKeown's wedding).
  
  
• The only characters to appear in all 40 episodes are Dennis (Tim Healy), Neville (Kevin Whately), Oz (Jimmy Nail) and Barry (Timothy Spall).
  
  
• Jimmy Nail had done a spell of manual work in Germany himself, before filming the series.
  
  
• Val McLane (Norma) and Jimmy Nail are real life brother and sister.
  
  
• Jimmy Nail's girlfriend Miriam, now his wife, heard about the auditions and suggested that he try out to be an extra.
  
  
• Neville's wife Brenda (Julia Tobin) is the only female character to have appeared in every series.
  
  
• Before shooting in the UK began, the cast were sent on a practical bricklaying course.
  
  
• In order to get the role of Wyman in series three, Noel Clarke had to pass his driving test.
  
  
• Franc Roddam got the idea for the show after he returned to his Teeside home to find that many of his friends were working abroad on German building sites.
  
  
• Jimmy Nail won the part of Oz after auditioning for a walk-on part in the show.
  
  
• Soon after the second series ended, Tyne Tees Television produced an AIDS awareness show in the form of a mini episode. Tim Healy and Jimmy Nail reprised their roles in Educating Oz (1986) (TV), a 25-minute show.
  
  
• Apart from the regular series and the spin-off, Educating Oz (1986) (TV), there was also a special short episode made in 2003 for Comic Relief starring Tim Healy, Kevin Whately, Jimmy Nail and Christopher Fairbank. Three sketches were also acted out on stage in 2000 as part of a charity concert in Newcastle, which starred Tim Healy, Kevin Whately and Jimmy Nail and depicted the events that preceded occurred before, after and between the first two series.
  
  
• In a "The South Bank Show" (1978) documentary in the late '80s, Jimmy Nail said that he wouldn't play Oz again as he thought it was a character that no one nowadays would find funny. He was proved wrong when the series returned in 2002 and Oz continued to be the most popular of the seven main cast members.
  
  
• Oz's grimy underpants actually belonged to Kevin Whately. He was washing his car with them at the set and producers thought that they would be perfect for Oz.
  
  
• The building site, although set in Germany, was actually in Hertfordshire in Elstree studios. It is now the Albert Square set of "EastEnders" (1985).
  
  
• German authorities complained that the show glamorized the hard work that German building sites entailed. To redress the balance, Channel 4 produced The Real Auf Wiedersehen Pet, a documentary that put forward the true facts.
  
  
• The filming in Germany (in the cities of Hamburg and Düsseldorf) for the entire first series only actually lasted for ten days.
  
  
• Soon after the series began transmission, Newcastle United played at home to Liverpool. The fans began to chant "Oz is harder than Yosser!", relating their new icon to Scouse character Yosser Hughes from Alan Bleasdale's _"Boys from the Blackstuff" (1982) (mini)_.
  
  
• When the Berlin wall was pulled down by German citizens, a British journalist found some interesting graffiti. It read "Built by Germans, demolished by Oz".
  
  
• The show was the first drama series to be broadcast under the banner of Central Television as opposed to ATV.
  
  
• Gary Holton (Wayne) wrote and sang a song about the show in 1984 with international artist Casino Steel.
  
  
• Soon after the first series had finished, rumors were rife that the follow-up series would be set in the Falklands. However, this location only played a very small part in the first episode of the second series.
  
  
• The spire-shaped tower we see on Thornley Manor was not part of the original building. This was added by the production crew to make the house look more Victorian. The house in fact dates back to the 16th century.
  
  
• During filming at the house being used as Thornley Manor, a member of the television crew named Colin was pushing some heavy equipment over some undergrowth and had a narrow escape. The ground collapsed beneath him, giving way to an old, and previously unknown well. To this day, the owners of the house refer to it as "Colin's well", although for safety reasons, Central TV (now Carlton) had it professionally sealed off and covered.
  
  
• The scene in which Ally and Kenny are sitting in the tennis club having a discussion and the lads return home in the second series had to be filmed several times. The club is on the main flight path to Malaga airport, and the frequent aircraft noise kept muffling the shot.
  
  
• Although Moxey was a central character, he did not appear until the second episode; he was the only one of the seven original main cast members not to be introduced until the second episode, possibly due to the limitations of introducing so many main cast members in the first episode and still leave room for establishing the story.
  
  
• The novelization of the second series ("Auf Wiedersehen, Pet 2" by Fred Taylor) ended abruptly with Oz winning the Spanish lottery. It went into no details about Barry's wedding and the impending customs chase. This was because the novel was based on an earlier version of the script. This is also apparent as the book covers some of the scenes that Gary Holton would have filmed had he been alive.
  
  
• In all 21 years, the words "Auf Wiedersehen, Pet" have only ever been said in the show in the final episode as the last ever lines.
  
  

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