Chickens
Chickens is the title of a British sitcom set during the First World War, written by and starring Simon Bird, Jonny Sweet and Joe Thomas, which aired from 22 August to 26 September 2013 on Sky 1. The television pilot was broadcast on Channel 4 in 2011. The series comprises six 30-minute episodes.
Plot
The sitcom is about three young men living in the village of Rittle-on-Sea at the beginning of the war in 1914. With the rest of the male world fighting for King and Country, Cecil, George and Bert are left behind in a world full of women who take every possible opportunity to mock and humiliate the three cowards.
Main Cast and Characters
Simon Bird as Cecil – pro-war but rejected from the army due to his flat feet
Joe Thomas as George – anti-war as a pacifist teacher and conscientious objector
Jonny Sweet as Bert – a clueless scaredy-cat who is more concerned with amorous relationships than with the ongoing war
Historical Background
Although situations in the series are often exaggerated due to the intended comical effect, the general story of women mocking men for not going to war, however, is based on actual events. At a time when propaganda messages by authorities and the press were thriving, every man not wearing a uniform was considered “a shirker, a slacker and a coward.”[2] As part of the white feather campaign, women gave white feathers to any man lacking a uniform, symbolising their cowardice. This public measure of humiliating the non-combatant men quickly spread across the country. Occasionally, this practice had severe consequences. Men who received a white feather and consequently enlisted suffered from severe war trauma.
The white feather is even directly featured in the series. At the end of the title sequence, scores of white feather are falling on Cecil, George and Bert. [3]
Intention
Despite the truth content of Chickens, the writers did not primarily strive for historical accuracy. According to Simon Bird, one of the writers and starring as Cecil, Chickens is intended as "a quasi-feminist sitcom."[4], celebrating the role of women during the First World War. The intended reaction of the audience is outlined by Joe Thomas, who stars as George: "They are three pathetic men in a village full of people that all hate them, […] hopefully, you end up empathising with them, because their social prospects are impossible, really. People throw things at them in the street."[4]
Criticism
Although the truth content of the series is acknowledged, topic and genre choices are criticised: “The show is essentially a series of set pieces in which the three men […] are shamed, laughed at and humiliated by scores of women.” [1]
“Now this comedy series, one of the few occasions when the vicious practice of shaming men for cowardice is remembered at all, chooses to humiliate and mock those men once again. I’m sorry, but I don’t find that very funny.” [1]
References
Bell, Dan. “Why Does Sky’s Comedy Series ‘Chickens’ Think It’s Funny to Humiliate Men who Didn’t Fight in WW1?” InsideMAN. 18 Aug 2014. Web. 11 May 2015. <http://www.inside-man.co.uk/2014/08/18/why-does-skys-comedy-series-chickens-think-its-funny-to-humiliate-men-who-dont-go-to-war/>.
Burnham, Karyn. The Courage of Cowards: The Untold Stories of First World War Conscientious Objectors. Barnsley: Pen & Sword, 2014. 20-21.
Chickens. Dir. Ben Palmer. Perf. Simon Bird, Jonny Sweet, Joe Thomas. Big Talk Productions, 2013. DVD.
Lobb, Adrian. “Chickens: What the Inbetweeners Did Next.” The Guardian. 22 Aug 2011. Web. 11 May 2015. <http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2011/aug/29/chickens-the-inbetweeners>.