Mind Your Language

- Season 1

(1978)

Mr Jeremy Brown, an English teacher, meets his class of foreign students for the first time. Things start of well, but...

Before Mr. Brown's second lesson, Ms. Courtney informs him that an education inspector will be arriving, as will a new African student. These two arrivals create a confusing lesson.

Ranjeet plans to kill himself because of a girl he HAS to marry. The girl herself appears at the school looking for Ranjit, which prompts frantic plans to be made.

The student's English is not improving and Mr. Brown decides to detain them after class. However the long evening is made worse when Mr. Brown and the class get locked inside the classroom.

Jamila has been arrested for shoplifting, but it's not entirely her fault. Because of her poor English, she has made the mistake of taking what she thought to be "free" items. After Mr. Brown rescues her from the police station, he learns that she has stolen more than just a few items. Knowing that keeping the stolen goods would be dishonest, he gathers the class and they all set out to return the items to where they belong without getting caught. That'll be a tricky one.

It's Mr. Brown's birthday and everyone in the class has brought him a present. However it's not all happy returns when Ms. Couteney informs Mr. Brown that his trial month is over and she is not satisfied with his teaching.

In order to see how prepared they are for their upcoming exam, the students prepare to take a mock exam. But when the students see that their teacher has no faith in them, they decide to cheat in order to ace the exam.

Ali and Su-Lee surprise the class when they announce that they will be getting married. But they all get a much bigger shock when they find out that Ali is already married and planning to take Su-Lee as his second wife.

Mr. Brown becomes ill and cannot come to class so Ms. Courteney takes charge. However the student's English is not up to her expectations, so she sends them away. They all pay a visit to Mr.Brown, each with their own 'remedy' to make Mr.Brown feel better.

Juan brings a Russian sailor friend to the class who has come to England to escape Russia. Everything seems to be going alright until the captain of a Russian ship comes to the classroom looking for his roaming sailor.

Danielle tells a pestering teacher that she is engaged to Mr. Brown, who soon finds himself running all around the school trying to squash the rumor and avoid a beating from the philandering teacher.

At the beginning of the lesson, Mr.Brown asks the students to speak aloud for one minute on various topics. The class learns that Taro's childhood was very lonely because he never knew his parents. Mr. Brown sympathizes by telling the class the story of how he was left in an orphanage in Jeremy Street when he was a baby 30 years ago, therefore grew up with no parents as well. However, Mr. Brown's mother and father are a lot closer to him than he ever imagined.

The students prepare to take their exams at the end of the first term, but are they ready? And Mr.Brown has an encounter with a couple in the bar which might just come back to haunt him.