L-R: Caralyn, Ruth, Charlie, and Leigh
Babes in the Wood is a sitcom from ITV which aired between 1998 and 1999.
Being intended as a British response to Friends, the show is a Roommate Com focused on the lives of three women sharing an apartment - Ruth (Samantha Janus) is the bossy one, Leigh (Denise Van Outen) is the rude but streetwise girl, and Caralyn (Natalie Walter) is the stupid one. Living across them is Charlie (Karl Howman), a one-time owner of video shops who's dealing with an ex-wife and diminished wealth. Charlie quickly befriends the girls, and the series focuses on their misadventures together.
Running for a Christmas Episode and two series, Ruthie was Put on a Bus in the second series, heading off to marry an aging millionaire. She was replaced by Frankie (Madeleine Curtis), a wannabe model.
Tropes in this show:
- Adaptational Name Change: Charlie was known as Martin instead in the original play.
- Affectionate Nickname: Charlie normally calls Ruth "Ruthie", although she herself doesn't like it.
- Ascended Extra: In the original play, the three girls were mentioned, but never appeared in person. They get bigger roles here and actually show up on-screen.
- Ask a Stupid Question...: A one-sided one by Leigh on the subject of Bar Coda's bathrooms whilst she's on the phone in Episode 4:Leigh: Hi, I'd like you to come have a look at our toilet. (Beat as she listens to the phone caller's question). Because we've got a hammerhead shark swimming in it. What do you think!?
- Blackmail: In Series 2 Episode 1, Frankie manages to get a modeling job by threatening to leak the photos of her and the photographer behind the job together to his wife.
- Bottle Episode: Outside of the Cold Open, the action of the final episode is restricted to the apartments of the four, with the only characters showing up being the main four, a policeman, and Henry the Burglar.
- Breakfast in Bed: The series begins when Ruth wakes up to find that she has (seemingly) had sex with Charlie, a fact made clear to her when he barges in happily singing and with a plate of breakfast for bed.
- Cheating with the Milkman: Charlie is divorced after his wife found out about his affair with their 23-year-old au pair from Malmo.
- Christmas Episode: Had one in between Series 1 and 2 focusing on the week between Christmas and New Year.
- Class Reunion: In the third episode of Series 2, Caralyn is invited to a reunion at her old school in Worthing. Caralyn is a bit concerned, as she fears that her old school bully Nicola McGuire would be there, but is convinced by the other girls, who tag along with her to get out of London for a while, to lie about herself. The lies work, with Nichola becoming friendly with Caralyn, and Caralyn ends up protecting Nichola from her spouse Steve when he tries to remove her from the reunion.
- Cool Car: Charlie's Porshe 911, one of the only holdovers from his life of riches and affectionately referred to as the "love-wagon".
- Contrasting Replacement Character: Whilst Ruth was more stick-in-the-mud and more calculated, using spending months allowing a relationship to get to the next level, her replacement Frankie is vapider and has a case of Really Gets Around.
- Convenient Replacement Character: Frankie shows up the same episode Ruthie departs to get married, the other two girls having found her moonlighting as a barmaid and taking her on as a flatmate.
- Credit Card Destruction: Frankie has financial issues in the 6th episode of Series 2, as highlighted when a shopowner cuts the card in half. Frankie tries another credit card, but that just provides an easier cutting experience for the shop-owner.
- Crooked Contractor: Leigh is forced to hire one after the bathrooms go, having to explain to Caralyn that there is a reason that they're called cowboys. The one they do hire (called "Pipe") charges them £90 just for being there even though there wasn't a call-out quote, causing Leigh to kick him out. They're forced to use him again after their own attempts go haywire, when he not only ups the price, but also shows some sexist attitudes.
- Detachable Doorknob: One episode had Leigh and Caralyn dealing with a contractor who has a very Stay in the Kitchen attitude. When he successfully fixes the toilet for them and attempts to leave, the doorknob comes off on both ends of the bathroom door, leaving him trapped. The girls proceed to mock him over his attitude and refuse to fix the door for him until he gives them a discount for fixing the toilets.
- Doom It Yourself: In Episode 4, Leigh and Caralyn try to fix the toilets when they can't find anyone else both cheap and not crooked enough to do the work. It seems to work, until the toilet begins overflowing.
- Drop-In Character: Charlie, the girl's neighbour, is constantly hanging out with them.
- Dumb Blonde: Caralyn is a blonde-haired woman who is quite naive.
- Faint in Shock: Charlie's response in the Christmas Episode when told that he's due to become a father is to faint off his chair.
- The Film of the Play: A TV variant - the show is loosely based on the 1990 play Three Cups of Sugar. When it was adapted for TV, the main character's name was changed from Martin to Charlie and the three attractive but never-seen young neighbors were given a bigger role to play.
- The "Fun" in "Funeral": Caralyn attempts to go to the funeral of a man she seemingly bonked to death to pay her respects. Of course, it doesn't go too well - she goes to the wrong one and tells the wrong woman that she bonked her husband.
- Gold Digger: Ruth is Put on a Bus marrying a rich billionaire which Leigh claims that she did for the purpose of his money. It's emphasized when we see a picture of her new husband, who clearly looks quite elderly.
- Groin Attack: Leigh gives Nick a good kick to the balls when he tries to rekindle their relationship after his actions lead to her in prison.
- Grossout Fakeout: In the sixth episode of Series 2, Caralyn describes how she bought a novelty cock much to the shock of the other girls. It isn't until she displays it on the table that it is revealed that it isn't a reference to the sexual organ but rather a novelty rooster.
- Heartbreak and Ice Cream: When Leigh breaks up with Dave, Caralyn shows up with some stuff to help her get over it, including ice cream.
- The Inspector Is Coming: The plot of the sixth episode of Series 2 has "The Executioner" come to assess Bar Coda. Benito is worried, as the performance of the bar has been going down (clearly thanks to Leigh). It gets even worse when the person turns out to be a bit of an annoying pervert Jerkass teenager. Thankfully, he is fairly thin-skinned, allowing the Bar to remain open.
- Intoxication Ensues: The girls' sub-plot of the fifth episode of Series 2 has them consume Caralyn's Orange Juice and Tequila jellies, allowing them to do nonsense such as doing prank calls and making drunken videos. Caralyn even describes the jellies as being intended to lead to hilarious consequences. To put the icing on top, the drunken videos created end up being sent to the Vicar.
- Lima Syndrome: In the final episode of the series, a burglar busts into the girl's apartment and is captured by them. Whilst they're waiting for the police to show up, they form a bond with the burglar, and they end up outright rooting for him not to be captured by the police at the end.
- Local Hangout: Both the girls and Charlie regularly hang out at Bar Coda. It probably helps that Leigh works as a waitress there.
- Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: In the Christmas Episode, an old girlfriend of Charlie's shows up claiming that he's the father of her unborn baby. Charlie eventually warms up to the idea, but the girls suspect that the baby actually belonged to another guy called Mickey, an idea that is eventually proven true.
- The Man in the Mirror Talks Back: In Series 2 Episode 2, Charlie is preparing to go out with a woman in front of the mirror. Suddenly, the mirror Charlie begins talking back at him, telling him to cast aside his doubts that he'll go Out with a Bang and go for it. This mirror Charlie reappears several episodes later and actually tries to order food for the sick Charlie.
- The Matchmaker: When Leigh breaks up with David, Frankie and Caralyn try to help her get over it by organizing a one-night-stand date for her at Bar Coda. Unfortunately, the person they found for the job is a gibbering idiot. Leigh pegs on very quickly but is convinced to have sex with him in the end.
- Named After Somebody Famous: Caralyn was apparently meant to be named for Marilyn Monroe. However, the vicar had a headache the day they named her.
- "Near and Dear" Baby Naming: In the Christmas Episode, although it turns out that Charlie will not become a father after all, he does get the honor of having the newborn baby named after him by the parents.
- Noodle Incident: According to Episode 1, Caralyn once went into a room filled with other men and all her clothes went off.
- Out with a Bang: Caralyn fears that she bonked a man to death in the second episode of Series 2. Charlie is worried when he finds that this sex partner of Caralyn was the same age as him and fears that he'll befall this fate, whilst Frankie implies that this has happened to her before. At the end of the episode, Caralyn finds that the man had a weak heart and is thus convinced that she didn't do it, whilst it is heavily implied that Charlie killed his own partner in sex.
- Pun-Based Title: The name of the show is a reference to the phrase "Babes in the Wood", featuring a group of women who live in St. John's Wood.
- Put on a Bus: The opening scene of Series 2 sees Ruth move out after she finds an aging millionaire to marry. She isn't seen again and is very quickly replaced by Frankie.
- Scrabble Babble: In the fifth episode of Series 2, Leigh and Caralyn play a game of Scrabble. Leigh plays for the word "Cackyarse", making Caralyn wonder whether it was ever in the dictionary.
- Sex with the Ex: The fifth episode of Series 2 focuses on Charlie and his ex-wife rekindling, up to the point that she suggests sleeping together. Charlie is a bit reluctant, not wanting to cause a situation that they would regret, but he seemingly complies - we later see the two exhausted and with cigarettes. They even consider getting back together again... until the ex-wife finds a picture of a woman during a photo of their honeymoon.
- The Smurfette Principle: Inverted - Charlie is the one male out of the main cast of four, although Benito, the male boss of Bar Coda, does get more screentime as the show progresses.
- Spit Take: Leigh's reaction when Caralyn decides to go to the funeral of the man she seemingly bonked to death is to spit out her drink.
- Treadmill Trauma: In Series 2 Episode 4, Charlie gets a subscription to the fitness Club to be with a woman named Tonya and gets on a treadmill. The trouble is that he presses all of the buttons whilst using it, leading to him going on it at uncomfortable speeds before being sent hurtling.
- Ultimate Job Security: Leigh somehow manages to remain at her job as a waitress of Bar Coda in spite of her general tardiness and apathy. Apparently, they hire her because she's cheap and lives locally.
- Welcome Episode: The series begins with Charlie moving in and being introduced to the other girls.
- What Did I Do Last Night?: The whole series began because Ruth (seemingly, until she is told otherwise) had sex with Charlie whilst completely drunk, but was completely unaware of it until the morning.Ruth: And we know each other?Charlie: Yeah, we met last night in a Mexican restuarant. You were drinking tequilas. That ring any bells?Ruth: No, but it does explain why I feel like somebody's stolen my liver and replaced it with a minibar. I should never drink tequila.
