Watching English TV shows is one of the best ways to learn and improve your English. However, for elementary and intermediate learners, most TV series are quite difficult to understand because of the fast-paced dialogues. Well then, are there any TV shows which are with a slower speaking pace and use easier language? Of course! extr@ (Extra) English is a very good choice!
extr@ (Extra) is a language education television series scripted in the format of a sitcom—similar to the American TV sitcom “Friends”. The TV program was created by Channel 4 Learning (UK) from 2002 to 2004. Four versions were made, each in a different language: English, French, German and Spanish. The English version has 30 episodes, and the other three languages have 13 episodes each. The plot of the 13 episodes is nearly the same in all the language variants.
extr@ (Extra) English is the story of Bridget and Annie, Hector and Nick, four young adults who are thrown together to play out their romances, life crises and contrasting interests in a familiar sitcom setting. The two girls share a flat in London and Nick is their neighbour. When Hector, with only a very basic grasp of English, comes to visit, everything starts to go wrong. Or right! His efforts to get to grips with the language provide the central dynamic for the series and its language learning content. The scripts have been carefully written so that the language is simple and accessible at all levels.
CEFR levels: A2 – B1
| Dialogue Transcript & Translation into multiple languages |
| Episode 1 |
| Episode 2 |
| Episode 3 |
extr@ (Extra) English – Teacher’s Guide to Workbook 1 & 2 pdf
– Teaching notes of episodes with answers
Episode Guide / Summary
Episode 1
Hector’s Arrival
We are introduced to the three main British characters, Bridget and Annie, who share a flat, and Nick, an actor who lives across the hall. During the programme, Hector arrives for the first time. Annie and Bridget are not very impressed with Hector, until they see him without his shirt on. Nick finds out that Hector is very rich, but decides to keep the information secret …
Episode 2
Hector Goes Shopping
They all decide to help Hector improve his style. Annie, Bridget and Nick all buy him some new clothes. By the end of the programme, Hector’s style has improved – and his hair looks better too!
Episode 3
Hector Has a Date
Annie starts the programme trying to find a date on the internet, and the boys decided to do the same thing. The girls sabotage their plan by deleting all the incoming messages and then write their own message to the boys, pretending to be dancers in a West End musical …
Episode 4
Hector Looks for a Job
Hector offers to contribute by getting a job, but eventually he and Nick have to cook for Bridget’s awful boss Howard, when he comes to dinner. Howard is so rude to the boys that Bridget tells him off and then resigns – a rare example of Bridget showing solidarity with her friends!
Episode 5
A Star Is Born
Nick gets a job as a bizarre weatherman, and we learn about Annie’s fixation with advertising …
Episode 6
Bridget Wins the Lottery
Bridget thinks that she has won the lottery, but Hector has managed to lose her lottery ticket …
Episode 7
The Twin
Bridget’s identical twin sister arrives from Australia, causing major confusion, as the two girls decide not to tell the others that she is there. Actress Abby Simpson (Bridget) of course acts both parts, but she does it marvellously, and it is quite clear to the viewer which twin is speaking at any time, despite the fact that they are dressed almost identically. Chrissie finds out that Hector is very rich, and by the end of the episode, everyone knows …
Episode 8
The Landlady’s Cousin
We meet Eunice for the first time, who is the cousin of the landlady. She and Bridget take an instant dislike to each other, and she takes a predatory interest in both the boys …
Episode 9
Jobs for the Boys
Bridget, who works for Channel 9 TV, finds out that Eunice is her new boss. She also tells Hector that the station is looking for a Spanish-speaking reporter and tells him to audition for it. Nick gives Hector some questionable advice about how to succeed at audition, but Bridget thinks that his audition is awful, and thinks she will get into trouble because of it. However, Eunice likes the audition and Hector gets the job.
Meanwhile, Hector has become attracted to Annie …
Episode 10
Annie’s Protest
Annie and her friends protest outside a cosmetics factory, because their products are tested on animals. Unfortunately, the factory is owned by the same person who owns Channel 9. Eunice sends Hector to the scene, and wants him to show the protestors in a poor light. Instead, Hector finds himself interviewing Annie …
Episode 11
Holiday Time
The four friends decide to go on holiday to Spain together, and find themselves in a bar where the waitress is a rather miserable English person. Bridget is attracted to a Spanish boy who is sitting at a nearby table …
Episode 12
Football Crazy
The whole programme centres on the World Cup, where England play (and beat!) both Argentina and Spain. Miguel, the boy that Bridget met in Spain, comes to stay. Bridget has a dramatic new hairstyle in the colours of the Spanish flag …
Episode 13
A Wedding in the Air
Annie and Hector decide to get married! They want to have a quiet wedding, but Hector’s mother has other plans. Things almost get out of control and in the end, Annie and Hector decide to postpone the wedding.
Meanwhile, Nick has got himself a part in a TV drama called London on Fire, and Bridget suddenly decides that she fancies him …
Episode 14
Changes
Bridget and Nick become serious, but Bridget wants to change him. Hector tries to persuade his mother that Annie is the right girl for him, and his mother tells him about a girl from a good family that his father has found for him in Argentina. Annie arrives home after a protest in a farm field, looking rather tired and dirty …
Episode 15
The Bouncer
Nick and Hector get jobs as bouncers at a very fashionable club. Bridget insists that they find a way for Annie and her to get in …
Episode 16
Uncle Nick
Nick agrees to look after an obnoxious child for his friend Victoria, who is going to see a film director called George Ducas in New York. Victoria promises to tell George about Nick but she forgets …
Episode 17
Cyber Stress
Bridget buys a new computer and the boys almost destroy it when they assemble it. Annie is anxious about her exam results.
Episode 18
Just the Ticket
Hector gets the chance to present the Miss Eurobabe competition. Annie gets a job as a traffic warden – and accidentally wins the competition as well. Hector and Nick get lots of opportunities to dress up as women in this episode! There is a series of imaginary situations where Hector tries to explain why he has parked illegally.
Episode 19
Kung Fu Fighting
Annie decides that she and Hector should see other people. Hector doesn’t really understand what this means, and it has to be explained that ‘seeing other people’ is not the same as ‘seeing the postman’ in the morning. Annie meets someone called Richard at an animal rights protest meeting. She is clearly attracted to him so, for a while, her relationship with Hector looks to be over.
Meanwhile, Nick auditions for a part in a kung fu film, starring a martial arts actor called Ricky Chung. He finishes up in hospital, where the friends visit him. Ricky Chung also visits him, and we discover that he is in fact Richard, the man that Annie met. She is unhappy that he is involved in making violent films. At the end of the programme, she and Hector are reunited …
Episode 20
Every Dog has its Day
Nick sees a dog show programme on TV and decides to try to win a prize using Charley, Annie’s dog. Unfortunately, Annie doesn’t approve of dog shows, so they have to train Charley in private. Meanwhile, Bridget has a new boyfriend called Philip, who turns about to be a kleptomaniac and steals things from Bridget’s apartment.
Episode 21
The Entertainers
After Bridget presents an item on Channel 9 about the amount of money rich people spend on children’s parties, Nick thinks it would be a good idea to get work doing this. His first job is at a party for Victoria’s step daughter, Daisy, and Nick persuades Hector to help him, and Bridget agrees to do it too, because she wants to meet some of the famous people who have been invited to the party.
Meanwhile, Annie has been learning about hypnosis, and accidentally hypnotises the boys before they go to the party. The party ends in disaster, and it is only Annie’s intervention as a traffic warden that saves the boys getting into real trouble …
Episode 22
Haunting at Halloween
It’s Halloween, 31st October, and the friends are due to go to parties to celebrate this pagan feast time. Unfortunately, Hector tells them a scary ghost story, which means that Nick, and eventually Hector too, are too scared to move.
They also use a Ouija board, which makes Nick even more afraid.
Meanwhile, their hapless neighbour Bernard has lost his cat, Marbles.
Episode 23
Truth or Dare
After playing a game of Truth or Dare, the friends decide to tell the truth for 24 hours, which results in Nick losing a chance to be in a commercial (a TV advertisement), and almost costs Bridget her job at Channel 9. Annie and Hector nearly split up because of it, too.
Episode 24
Pilot Nick
Due to a misunderstanding, Bridget accidentally orders builders to start work in Eunice’s flat, with the result that Eunice comes to live with them, and make impossible demands on Bridget as a host.
Meanwhile, Nick has a part as a pilot in a play which is taking place in Paris, and has to persuade Hector to come with him and play the part of an air stewardess …
Episode 25
Art
Bridget fancies Marty Ross, a presenter at Channel 9. He tells her he will take her out to dinner if she can get him tickets for an art exhibition by the fashionable new artist, Damian Pollasco. He also tells her that he judges a woman by the way her home looks, which leads Bridget to force the rest of them to make her home more ‘arty.’
Meanwhile, Annie is expecting the arrival of eco-warriors Boggy and Moss from Manchester. Hector is home when they arrive. They don’t say anything, eat all the ‘nibbles’ he has bought for Marty, and spread graffiti over all the walls.
Marty is very impressed by the results and wants to buy the wall!
Episode 26
Alibi
Annie decides to do a sponsored silence, and just after she starts, a detective arrives, investigating the theft of Bernard’s clothes. In fact, as it turns out, Bernard’s clothes haven’t been stolen at all.
Meanwhile, Nick is suffering from toothache, but has a pathological fear of the word dentist …
Episode 27
Can You Live Without …?
Marty Ross is the presenter of a reality TV programme called Can You Live Without …? in which people try to go without things that they like in order to win a prize. Nick persuades the others that they should go in for the competition, and Bridget persuades Marty to get them on the show by showing him some compromising photos of himself. At the end of the show, we get to see one of them …
Episode 28
Christmas
It’s Christmas and Bridget has been invited to a series of parties, but can’t go when she breaks her leg falling over a Christmas sleigh that Nick has been using in his temporary job in Santa’s Grotto (a place – usually in a department store -where English children go to meet Father Christmas and tell him what presents they want).
Episode 29
Camping
The programme starts with Hector and Eunice presenting a programme from a camping exhibition. It ends with the four friends deciding to go camping.
Episode 30
Love Hurts
Things don’t look very promising for Annie and Hector at the beginning of the programme; they are out having a meal, but Annie is consumed with jealousy, and convinced that Hector is having an affair with someone at the TV station. Hector protests his innocence, but a mysterious woman called Lola keeps calling him.
Meanwhile, Annie meets a good-looking boy called Zeus (actually, she gives him a parking ticket!). It is only after she brings him to the flat that they discover that Hector has been offered a TV job at home in Argentina. Will he take it? Or will he stay in England?
