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Friday Night Dinner Actor Baffled By One Of The Show's Biggest Catchphrases

Friday Night Dinner Actor Baffled By One Of The Show's Biggest Catchphrases

It turns out Jim doesn't say 'Shalom Jackie' as much as our endless quoting would imply

Jess Hardiman

Jess Hardiman

Offbeat Channel 4 sitcom Friday Night Dinner has earned an incredibly loyal fanbase over the course of its five-season run, giving it a cult following to be proud of.

Few of us can sit down to dinner without smirking to ourselves about a 'lovely bit of squirrel', while no toe-stubbing drama would be anything without an enthusiastic exclamation of 'S*** ON IT!'

However, it turns out that the cast and crew are a bit baffled by one of the show's biggest catchphrases, which isn't used as widely in the show as many of us might assume.

Channel 4

We caught up with writer-creator Robert Popper and stars Tamsin Greig, Paul Ritter, Simon Bird and Tom Rosenthal at the premiere of season six, where they discussed what it was like to have their most famous lines shouted at them from across playgrounds or in supermarkets.

Greig, who plays mum Jackie, said: "There are catchphrases that are never in the show. You know 'Shalom Jackie' never existed - there are people screaming it at me in Sainsbury's and I wanted to say, 'What are you doing?'"

Channel 4

Referring to a recent news story about a holidaymaker who got a dodgy henna tattoo while in Zante, Greig continued: "And people getting henna tattoos - that are burning people's skin, so now they've got 'Shalom Jackie' forever..."

It was at this point that Rosenthal, who plays youngest son Jonny, unzipped his silver puffa jacket (it'll make sense soon) to reveal the the word 'Shalom', which he'd helpfully had printed on his t-shirt.

You see, the Goodmans' eccentric neighbour Jim often says 'Shalom' to the family, and regularly addresses Jackie directly by name, but the term 'Shalom Jackie' perhaps doesn't crop up as often as our endless quoting would imply.

In fact, as far as we can tell, Jim has only ever said it once, in an episode of series two called 'The Mouse'.

So while he may have uttered the iconic phrase once (let us know if you've seen Jim say it in another episode, yeah?), it seems Popper and the cast are a bit confused as to how it's become so legendary.

Channel 4

When asked if he'd ever slip the line in somewhere to appease fans, Popper replied: "No I'm not."

Popper also said that when he first wrote the Martins' now-famous 'S*** on it' line, he never imagined it would become a catchphrase - despite the fact that Ritter admitted it's the quote everyone asks him to say.

In fact, Ritter's not the only cast member often haunted by Martin's rude tagline in public; his on-screen wife has had her fair share of it, too.

Greig recalled: "I had a five-year-old come up to me in the playground and she said, 'S*** on it, Jackie!'"

He jokingly added: "I thought that was quite bad parenting."

Friday Night Dinner returns to Channel 4 on 27 March, airing each Friday at 10pm.

Featured Image Credit: Channel 4

Topics: Entertainment, TV and Film, UK Entertainment