< Dis

Dis/Connected

Dis/Connected is a 2008 BBC drama pilot about a group of diverse teenagers studying at the same sixth form college in London who are drawn together when mutual friend Jenny commits suicide. Through the funeral and the aftermath, they begin to form new friendships.

The story jumps back and forth between the day of the funeral and the night of the suicide. It's revealed in the opening scenes that Jenny emailed a suicide note out to her close friends, but they all claim not to have seen it until it was too late to act. It then goes on to show what each of them was doing that night and what prevented them from replying, in the process showing that they each had their own issues. The storylines overlap and intermingle before coming together at the funeral.

The characters include Sophie, who was Jenny's childhood best friend, but left her when she fell in with the popular crowd; Anthony, a lower-class boy who is trying to get out of the violent lifestyle he's been drawn into; Josh, who's having trouble dealing with the death of his mother; Emily, who was experiment with ecstasy for the first time that night; Ben, Jenny's cheating ex-boyfriend; and Paula, a new girl at the college who refuses to talk about her past.

It was never picked up for a full series, which was probably for the best - while effective as a one-off drama it probably wouldn't have stood up for long.

Contains examples of the following tropes:

  • Alpha Bitch: Sophie and her friends.
  • Bittersweet Ending: Jenny's dead, but the characters seem to be coping with it and their own issues better as a result, plus they form friendships that they would never have had an opportunity for either.
  • Caught with Your Pants Down: Josh's dad.
  • A Date with Rosie Palms: Josh catches his dad at it, though it's not portrayed negatively - Josh is initially appalled, then amused and his father is otherwise just a regular dad.
  • Follow the Leader: This is often seen as the BBC's answer to Skins. It was not nearly as successful.
  • The Fun in Funeral: Though it's a fairly mild example (the funeral is otherwise portrayed very realistically), the best-known scene is probably Ben having sex with Natasha in the toilets during Jenny's funeral.

Ben: That was so... wrong.

  • Gayngst: Kez, who reacts violently to anyone questioning his heterosexuality... but has a boyfriend who he seems very close to.
  • Hey, It's That Guy!: Bradley James (Arthur Pendragon), Daniel Anthony (Clyde Langer) and Holliday Grainger (Sophie the sidhe of Merlin and Meg from Robin Hood).
  • Left Hanging: The details of Paula's situation are never fully explained. Suffice to say it's not pleasant.
  • Really Gets Around: Ben is an unusual male example. The other characters treat this with exasperation bordering on disgust (he cheated on Jenny with two different girls).
  • Invisible to Gaydar: Kez.
  • Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Sophie claims that a boy she's been seeing tried to molest her.
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