Auf Wiedersehen, Pet (TV Series) The Girls They Left Behind (1983) User Reviews

She heard it on the grapevine

[ygwerin1 · 8/10 · 8 September 2021]

While Dennis and Neville send home money regularly to their missus, Oz never bothered with his spouse Marjorie.

Indeed he'd rather she didn't know where he was so he wasn't bothered by her.

But stupidly he did send a postcard to the local social club, and the wives grapevine gets the news around.

Dennis and Oz go to a football match in Bruge with Sunderland, and Oz ended up back in the arms of his ever loving wife.

Neville may have traveled a few miles from his family but he may as well have stayed home, with all the earache he gets from his spouse.

Dennis is beginning to get the hump at being treated as the de facto gaffer, and carry the can for the others.

Best episode of this series

[glenn-aylett · 10/10 · 29 April 2017]

Perhaps the best episode of the first series, where we find out more about the partners of Dennis, Neville and Oz. Dennis is going through a divorce with his with Vera, who is seeing a supermarket manager, " dearest Brenda" that Neville always rings and sends letter to is prim and proper, but as for Marjorie, played excellently by Sue Elliott, well think of her as the female equivalent of Oz.

While Oz is a boorish, drunken oaf with little regard for his family, he only ends up back at his wife's flat when he gets on a plane by accident( drink fulled) after a football match in Belgium, Marjorie is no shrinking violet either. A single parent on benefits who proudly shows off her " genuine fake ocelot boots from Binns" and embarrasses Vera and Brenda on a night out by trying to pull every available male in a restaurant and her loud behaviour, she ends up taking home someone from the restaurant who passes Oz on the stairway of the flat and she has to hide the man's tie from him.

The scenes between Oz and Marjorie in the flat are comedy gold as a broke, unwashed Oz initially delights Marjorie by turning up to see her and their young son( not seen in this episode), but soon change when Oz tries to steal his wife's emergency savings from an old teapot and gets his hand stuck and Marjorie gets a letter in the post from Oz's hut in Germany with " not known at this address" and a fight breaks out and Oz is forced to return to Germany, fearing for his job and on the run from Marjorie.

Also of interest, we find out how much the men are making in Germany, as Dennis sends Oz's wages for three days to Marjorie during his absence( £ 240 for three days tax free, which was very good in the early 80s),and this has always perplexed die-hard Sunderland fans, Oz, a massive Newcastle fan, going to watch Sunderland in the UEFA Cup. All I can surmise from this is it's a night out on the drink and a break from the hut and the chance to do something else than play darts and go to the local bar.

All in all, a great episode made better by the minor characters and a brilliant performance from Sue Elliott, who looks very much like a female Rod Stewart( we learn Oz's son is called Rod after his wife's favourite singer) and plays the tarty, loud Marjorie brilliantly.

The Girls They Left Behind

[Prismark10 · 6/10 · 12 August 2020]

I noticed just how clever the producers were when it came to filming in Germany. There are only a few shots that seems to have been shot on location. Most of it is studio work.

The emphasis is on the wives Oz, Dennis and Neville left behind. The latter two at least send money back to their families. Oz's wife does not even know that he is Germany.

A trip to a football match in Belgium sees Oz accidentally arriving back in Newcastle on a chartered plane with some Sunderland fans. It brings him face to face with his wife and a letter that has just dropped with Not Known at This Address.

Dennis has to deal with Oz's absence and the things he has left behind. The lads in the hut do not expect him back.

It was goof to see the wives are not left behind although they were far from impressed with Oz rather brassy wife.

There are a few scenes with a new character called Magawan played by Michael Elphick. You can sense he is a bit rough who beat up the agent who was late arriving with the wages. He will be more prominent in the next episode.