Charlotte Ritchie

Charlotte Ritchie interview

Charlotte Ritchie on graduating from Fresh Meat and giving panto season a satirical twist.

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We say a fond farewell and rather a sad goodbye to the students of Manchester Medlock University in the final episode of Fresh Meat. As a massive fan of all four series of the comedy drama I was hoping for a satisfying finale and thankfully I wasn't disappointed. The episode started with all of the gang, bar second year Josie (Kimberley Nixon), learning their final grades for their course. Most got what they were expecting with the exception of Vod (Zawe Ashton) who achieved a 2:1 and Oregon (Charlotte Ritchie) who got a 2:2 despite her feeling that she deserved a better grade. There was also good news for Howard (Greg McHugh) as he achieved his dream of a first and a job at Ordnance Survey however he briefly believed that all of his housemates would be coming with him. Luckily after working at Vod's graduation ball, which was moved to their house, Howard acquired the social skills he needed to live with other people. Elsewhere Josie finally realised that she had feelings for JP (Jack Whitehall) especially after he finally stood up to his brother and rejected an offer of the job at his bank. Instead JP hoped to live his dream of being an estate agent and if he was really being able to drive one of those minis. I do feel that everybody pretty much got what they deserved and the extra scene that was available online saw all of the boys living together whilst Vod and Oregon were in Laos researching the latter's novel. I did worry that writer Tony Roche would have a lot to get through but I think he gave each character an equal amount of time however I felt that this final episode deserved a little more than fifty minutes to wrap everything up. As is always the way with Fresh Meat, the comic moments were incorporated with elements of drama such as JP standing up to Tomothy and Oregon finally revealing her true self to her parents. My favourite revelation of this final episode had to be the fact that Howard actually lived two streets away from the share house and that his annoying parents kept trying to invite the rest of the gang round. Overall I feel that all six of the cast members have benefited from their time on Fresh Meat and most have already gone on to bigger and better things. So while I've enjoyed spending time with the gang over the past four and bit years I feel it's best that we never return to see what these characters are up to again as it would spoil for what has been in my opinion an almost perfect series.

Fresh Meat, Channel 4, TV review

The antics of this larger-than-life lot still appeals way beyond the student realm.

Fresh Meat review

When I first watched Fresh Meat I had no idea what to expect from the show or that over four years on it would still be going strong. However somehow Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong's university-based comedy drama has gone from strength to strength and they've been given the rare opportunity to end the series in the way they want to.

9 questions for the cast of Fresh Meat

JP, Vod, Howard, Oregon, Kingsley and Josie are back for one final series. But is this really the end of the Channel 4 comedy?

Fresh Meat cast interview

Towards the end of last year, I caught up with the cast of Fresh Meat; Zawe Ashton (Vod), Charlotte Ritchie (Oregon), Joe Thomas (Kingsley), Kimberley Nixon (Josie) and Jack Whitehall (JP), ahead of the fourth (and sadly) final series.

Series two continues, with Dan (Tom Stourton) given an enlightening vision of a future without the rule of his maniacal mother, thanks to a visit from his feckless Aunt Leslie (the excellent Sally Phillips), who teaches him that he can get anything he wants from society without giving anything in return. Meanwhile, after the delivery of six unordered pizzas, Hannah (Charlotte Ritchie) believes that she's entered a "golden week", a rarified era when lucky breaks will continue to flow liberally.

Radio Times review

When it's good, this simple-seeming sitcom about brother-and-sister flatmates is very good. The best laughs come from Charlotte Ritchie as Hannah, an amoral, arrogant, self-centred cow who, in spite or because of those qualities, you could happily watch all day long.

The way Hannah blithely takes a pulled pork sandwich into a doctor's appointment or praises her own good looks ("Look at me - I'm a solid nine, nine and a half") is both horrifying and endearing. She shares a flat with her layabout of a brother Dan (Tom Stourton), who is so impressed by the news that employees at Hannah's workplace get free birthday cake, he takes a job as the world's most annoying office cleaner ("Pretend I'm not here").