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| He's Leaving Home | |
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| Episode information | |
| Episode No. |
6 |
| Series |
1 |
| Original airdate |
Friday, November 3, 2000 |
| Cast and crew information | |
| Writer(s) |
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| Director(s) |
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| Producer(s) |
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| Main cast |
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| Guest stars |
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| Chronology | |
| Previous episode | |
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He's Leaving Home is the sixth episode of the first series of the British sitcom, Black Books. The script was written by Dylan Moran and Graham Linehan, the latter of which also directed the episode.
Plot synopsis[]
Manny Bianco (Bill Bailey) returns from a night out with his friends, only to be caught by Bernard Black (Dylan Moran), who acts in an overly-parenting way, asking about his whereabouts and what he was doing, before sending him to bed. The next morning, Manny gets a phone call, however, Bernard soon grabs the phone from him and tells the person he was talking to that Manny "has to do his chores". Fran Katzenjammer (Tamsin Greig) enters the shop, looking for Manny as she wants to gossip about celebrities. A jealous Bernard insists on talking about something that they're all interested in, however, begins to tell him about his irratible bowel syndrome, much to Manny and Fran's boredom. Bernard throws Fran out of the shop in his annoyance, telling her Manny still has chores to do. After cutting the string on his yo-yo and not allowing him to put on the radio, Bernard bullies Manny to the extent that he decides to leave home.
After Manny writes and calls him, Bernard doesn't think Manny's freedom will last long, however, Fran gets upset at Manny's absence, as she has no one to talk to. She misses him to the extent that she reports him as a missing person to the police, however, as Manny is not her son, the report is not valid. Meanwhile, Manny has met Trebor (Omid Djalili), who invites him into his home. After drinking some wine and talking to each other, Trebor asks to feel Manny's beard. A reluctant Manny, after some persuasion, abliges. Trebor then reveals that he is a photographer, and asks to take some pictures of Manny.
Bernard gets jealous of Fran's love of Manny, and gets annoyed at the fact that she thinks he is the cause of Manny's absence. Despite Bernard trying to entertain Fran by dressing up and offering her cocktail sausages, she still feels the same. However, Manny, after having his picture taken, agrees to unbutton his top, which leads to him being dressed up as Little Bo Peep and a motorcyclist. Trebor starts paying Manny for his pictures, and soon Manny becomes very wealthy, having cocktails, shopping sprees, and wearing a fur skin coat. One day, Manny returns back to Trebor's house to find that he is admiring another man with a beard. A jealous Manny asks what is going on, however, Trebor doesn't answer, and instead introduces Manny to some Japanese business men. He then asks Manny to bring one of the men to a casino, and eventually asks him to sleep with the man. Manny asks how he knows him, and Trebor reveals that he has been putting Manny's pictures in magazines and that he has a beard fetish. A shocked Manny refuses, and decides to leave Trebor.
The next day, Manny returns to Black Books and compremises with Bernard to work in the shop again. However, when Manny reaches into his pocket for a corkscrew, a casino chip fallls out.
Cultural references[]
- When Manny comes out of the shower, he reads the May, 2000, edition of the film magazine, 'Empire'. Fran also reads some editions of 'Hello' magazine.
- Everybody's Talkin' by Henry Nilsson plays when Manny meets Trebor, and Gold by Spandau Ballet plays during a montage of Manny shopping. The disco song playing during the photoshoot is Boogie Takeover (B) by Daryl Runswick; it was also featured in another TV series by Graham Linehan, Father Ted.
- The title of the episode is a reference to the Beatles song, She's Leaving Home, about a girl running away from her home.
- Fran and Bernard mention some celebrities, TV shows and computer games, such as David Beckham, Victoria Beckham, Pokémon and Pacman.
Behind the scenes[]
- Nigel Pinhay (props master on such comedies as Mr. Bean and Red Dwarf), Paul De Csernatory (props master on such comedies as Spaced and Red Dwarf) and Tim Youngman (propsmaster on such comedies as Black Books and Father Ted) are seen on wanted posters in King's Cross Station.
External links[]
[1] 'He's Leaving Home' on IMDb
[2] 'List of Black Books Episodes' on Wikipedia
[3] 'He's Leaving Home' on TV.com