History Radio / AbsolutePowerBBC

** Martin's character goes through this between ''In the Red'' and ''Absolute Power''. Martin is shown in the mother series to be a rather attentive, conscientious manager in the BBC hierarchy, though he doesn't share Charles's boundless, bloodthirsty ambition. By ''Absolute Power'', he's quite possibly the laziest man in London.

* TheNicknamer: Charles, who describes Alison and Jamie as "the sixth form girl and the spiv." He has also refered to Jamie as "my office boy".

* OverlyPrepreparedGag: One episode in the TV series is devoted almost entirely to one of these [[spoiler: Nazis trying to get elected to the House of Commons]] This is even more of a cringe moment as [[spoiler: Stephen Fry's character is enthusiastic at the idea of "Putting a spin on the FinalSolution" whereas Stephen Fry's family lost many members to Auschwitz]]

* NaziNobleman: Prentiss McCabe represents a group of them in the fifth episode of the first television series. Charles is excited about this, calling it "the ultimate PR challenge".

* ActorSharedBackground: One episode of the radio series features a journalist blackmailing Charles about a check-forging incident in his past. Stephen Fry spent some time in prison for fraud when he was a very young man. (Martin doesn't mind at all - he thinks it's "quite stylish.")

* SeparatedByACommonLanguage: A meta-example, demonstrating the perennial difficulties of writing dialogue even in other English dialects. The occasional characters from the United States speak in slightly off ways. One uses "nous", British slang, and another claims she spent time "reading" a subject at university and describes Al Gore as "standing" for election, phrases uncommon in mainstream AmericanEnglish. (It's possible that the latter studied in the UK, which would account for the trans-Atlantic phrasing. But it's never mentioned in the episode.)

* NaziNobleman: Prentiss McCabe represents a group of them in the fifth episode of the first television series.

** Martin likes to wend the conversation this way to take the piss out of Charles, usually when Charles is feeling very keen and uptight about some business proposal. There's a particularly triumphant example in "Mayor of London", as Martin articulates his theory as to why there is ''pan''-fried plaice on the menu, while the haddock is only fried...

* MythologyGag: Martin's ex-wife is a crime novelist whose books are based on [[AssholeVictim finding a profession everyone hates]] and then creating a SerialKiller who bumps them off. This bears a certain resemblence to some the novels Charles and Martin first appeared in: ''In The Red'' (bank managers), and ''In The Chair'' (dentists).

* WomanScorned: Gayle in the radio version, whose determined to see Prentiss [=McCabe=] fail because of her former relationship with Charles. (He left her when she told him she was married.)

Absolute Power, a [[TheBBC BBC]] radio comedy about PR firm Prentiss [=McCabe=], began as a SpinOff of an adaptation of a comedy whodunnit. The radio series was subsequently [[SoundToScreenAdaptation adapted for television]]. The two main characters are Charles Prentiss (a man with no scruples whatsoever) and Martin [=McCabe=] (who has scruples, but is usually too lazy to apply them). In the radio series they were assisted by Sandy, a sensible young woman on a training scheme, and later by Clive, a total incompetent.

AbsolutePower, a [[TheBBC BBC]] radio comedy about PR firm Prentiss [=McCabe=], began as a SpinOff of an adaptation of a comedy whodunnit. The radio series was subsequently [[SoundToScreenAdaptation adapted for television]]. The two main characters are Charles Prentiss (a man with no scruples whatsoever) and Martin [=McCabe=] (who has scruples, but is usually too lazy to apply them). In the radio series they were assisted by Sandy, a sensible young woman on a training scheme, and later by Clive, a total incompetent.