Scripted by Dawn French, this standalone comedy film was produced for the series The Comic Strip Presents… and first aired on 31 January 1983.
Meek Peter (Adrian Edmondson) and his nervous wife Liz (Jennifer Saunders) have chosen to take part in a university experiment in which a group of people will live unassisted in a recreation of an Iron Age village – consisting of just three small structures and an enclosure – for the whole summer.
The group will have to be totally self-sufficient – with no technology, no electricity, no supplies, and no help from the outside world.
Unfortunately, the Iron Age village is not a remote, rural encampment. It is situated slap-bang in the middle of a modern university campus, surrounded by concrete and brutalist architecture (filming took place at Brunel University in Uxbridge, whose distinctly ugly buildings are also seen in Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange).
The university students wander through the Iron Age village on their way to the cafeteria.
Other members of the group are married couple Beth (Lois Baxter) and Jake (Gerard Ryder) Forester, Desmond (Robbie Coltrane), Nick (Peter Richardson), Ursula (Dawn French), Tarquin (Rik Mayall), Simon (Rupert Frazer), a pair of mute characters (played by Martin Potter and Elaine Ashley and referred to in the credits as Tarzan and Jane) who secretly sneak off to a caravan at night, and a Japanese girl (Megumi Shimanuki) Nick incorrectly thinks is called ‘Margaret’ and spends most of his time trying to cop off with her.
Desmond arrives at the university in a buttoned-up suit, but his repression soon gives way to a primal power, and he ‘goes native’, referring to himself as ‘Lugg’.
We later see him sculpting a large, phallic idol, and he offers to show Peter how his “magic staff” works.
“Yes, that’ll be nice,” says Peter, not understanding what Desmond means.
Ursula is a highly sexed young woman who also takes a shine to Peter (“Is your seed plenteous?” she asks him) and later has a bath to prepare for some free-love hedonism within the group.
Tarquin – who goes by ‘Tark’ – is extremely confrontational by nature and had taken part in the previous year’s experiment too, where he wore a loose-fitting outfit and his bollocks kept falling out.
This time, he advocates killing any outsiders who threaten their new community and suggests a democratic approach to pairings (“shag the girls in rotation”).
Julian (Nigel Planer) is the overly cheerful, clipboard-wielding teacher who is running the experiment and pops back occasionally to check on the team.
Events take a surreal turn when Jake is found dead after a night of passion. Before long, everyone is chanting and dancing, wearing Lord of the Flies-style warpaint, and building a funeral pyre.
Peter
Adrian Edmondson Liz
Jennifer Saunders Tarquin (“Tark”)
Rik Mayall Beth Forester
Lois Baxter Jake Forester
Gerard Ryder Julian
Nigel Planer Ursula
Dawn French Nick
Peter Richardson Simon
Rupert Frazer Tarzan
Martin Potter Jane
Elaine Ashley Desmond
Robbie Coltrane Japanese Girl (“Megumi”)
Megumi Shimanuki
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Unfortunately, the Iron Age village is not a remote, rural encampment. It is situated slap-bang in the middle of a modern university campus, surrounded by concrete and brutalist architecture (filming took place at Brunel University in Uxbridge, whose distinctly ugly buildings are also seen in Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange).
Desmond arrives at the university in a buttoned-up suit, but his repression soon gives way to a primal power, and he ‘goes native’, referring to himself as ‘Lugg’.
This time, he advocates killing any outsiders who threaten their new community and suggests a democratic approach to pairings (“shag the girls in rotation”).
