History Series / BlackBooks

* ProdigalFamily: Manny. Also played with in Fran's case; she doesn't initially know her long-lost family, but once she meets them it becomes difficult to extricate herself from the familial embrace.

* MeaningfulName: Grumpy misanthrope Bernard's surname is "Black", while his cheerful assistant Manny's surname is "Bianco", meaning "white" in Italian. Their dipsomaniac friend and neighbour Fran's surname is "Katzenjammer", German slang for "hangover".

'''Becky:''' '''''Shut up, Tanya.'''''

-->'''Manny''': Do you think I should shave my beard?\\
'''Bernard''': I do think you should shave it, yes. Then nail it to a Frisbee, and fling it over a rainbow.

-->'''Bernard:''' Well, I was there. And she so was she. And so were our friends, the genitals. All six of us were there.

-->'''Bad Cop''': You better start talking Nogsey, or I'll feed you to the sharks...''(nudges Manny to play good cop)''

-->'''Bernard:''' Well, I was there. And she was. And so were our friends, the genitals. All six of us were there.

'''Becky:''' '''''Shut up Tanya.'''''

-->'''Bernard''': Welcome to... the thing. Whatever this is.

** A third episode ends with all three wearing dark glasses due to hangovers, and Manny walking with a stick. A woman then comes in asking for donations for the blind.

'''Bernard''': I think you should shave it, nail it to a Frisbee, and fling it over a rainbow.

%%* DeadpanSnarker: Bernard and Fran.

* {{Flanderization}}: The characters' personalities noticeable degrade over the course of the series, often for RuleOfFunny.

** "Bludge", the drink Fran returns from Rowena's party with. "You don't even have to drink it, just rub it on your hips and it goes straight to your liver."

* GlobalIgnorance: Bernard in A Nice Change:

%%* HardDrinkingPartyGirl: Fran.

* InjuredLimbEpisode: In one episode, Bernard gets his left arm in a cast. It's unknown what happened to the arm but it happened after he got drunk at nighttime.

%%* IWantGrandkids: Manny's parents.

%%* ModelScam: Happens to Manny in "He's Leaving Home", but his audience as a model is niche to say the least.

* OnlyALighter: The first episode has a subplot where Fran is going slowly mad trying to figure out what a bizarre object she's been given as a gift is. At the end of the episode, Manny wanders into her shop and immediately identifies it as a novelty cigarette lighter.

* {{Scotireland}}: An American tourist in Bernard's shop refers to him as a "Scotchman." This earns him a suitably dirty look from Bernard.

* UglyAmericanStereotype: One episode involves the Irish Londoner Bernard having to deal briefly with a married couple of American tourists. The husband is presented as a boorish loudmouth who demands to know if he has any books on armories; when told where the military history books are, he declares that he doesn't care about history, he wants "modern warfare! Infrared! Fallout! Killzones!". He also calls Bernard a "Scotchman" to his face (earning perhaps the deadliest death glare in the whole series). Later in the episode the pair returns; the guy demands a refund for the book he bought.

* WellIntentionedReplacement: Bernard and Manny's attempt to recreate the £5,000 vintage wine they accidentally drank.

* WhatDidIDoLastNight: Bernard frequently gets alcohol-induced memory gaps for comic effect (see the quote below) but this plot was the particular focus of the episode where he tries to work out why his oldest friend blanked him in the street.

* ADateWithRosiePalms: Fran's night with the shipping forecaster.

''Black Books'' is a merrily cynical television comedy by Creator/DylanMoran and Graham Linehan.

** In the series finale of season 2, Bernard, Manny and Fran all end up in an airport with no idea what country they're in, so all three ask a barman a random question in a different language in an attempt to ascertain where they are. Bernard asks (in a vaguely Middle Eastern-sounding accent, no less) "''An bhfuil cead agam dul go dtí an leithreas?''" - an Irish phrase meaning "May I go to the bathroom?", which is probably about the only phrase in the language that every native Irish person could reliably speak.

* BumblingSidekick -- All three of the main characters play the role at at least one point-- they're often all as bad as each other.

** Also, the plot of the first season finale has Manny leaving the bookshop and the whole thing is treated as if he was a teenage girl who's run away from home (picked up by a skeezy dude who takes creepy pictures of him, almost sold into, [[spoiler: in line with the rest of the show's weirdness, the kind of prostitution where men pay to feel his beard]]).

** Bernard is a bitter, angry slob who becomes outright abusive and downright filthy ([[spoiler: one gag reveals his trademark black suit is just a very, very dirty white suit]]).

* TheGamblingAddict: Bernard becomes addicted to horse racing after Manny places a Grand National bet for him. He goes on to lose £20,000 - underwritten by the shop - in a poker game. Fortunately Fran and Manny, posing as American tourists, win it back.

* OnlySaneMan: All three take turns at this role, but none of them can ever make it stick - they end up as the sane one [[DamnedByFaintPraise solely by process of elimination]].

* OutOfCharacterMoment: In the last episode, after [[spoiler: revealing his FreudianExcuse, Bernard not only refuses a drink, but walks off to make the others a cuppa, one of the rare times he lifts a finger to help anyone. Later, he helps Manny get together with a girl and drapes his coat over Fran.]]
* PestEpisode: One episode has a sub-plot about the bookshop being infested with a strange species of pest which are never named, never appear on-screen and which Bernard and Manny keep killing in increasingly inventive ways. The episode ends with Manny trapping on of the pests in a jug and steaming it to death with a coffee machine, then declaring proudly "I've done it! I got the queen!"

* PricelessMingVase: Freddie has tw- one.

'''Manny''': (laughs)\\

'''Fran''': ''[looks at picture]'' Look at them. Wankers.

* ShoutOut: Most of the names Bernard calls Manny are pop culture references, among them [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings "Lord of the Rings" and "Gandalf"]], [[Franchise/FlashGordon "Ming the Merciless"]], and [[Music/{{Hawkwind}} "Hawkwind"]].

* WhamLine: In the last episode, Bernard: [[spoiler: I had a girlfriend actually, she died.]] It even cuts of a drunken Manny ranting about his coldness.

* WhoWouldWantToWatchUs: When considering going to the cinema, Bernard reads out a review of a film whose premise is practically identical to the show's - to groans from all.

%%* RightBehindMe

'''Fran''': [looks at picture] Look at them. Wankers.

* AluminiumChristmasTrees: ''The Little Book of Calm'' is a real book, and the tips Manny quotes from it are all in there too. (In the DVDCommentary, it's noted that it isn't as little as Manny's copy, which was made as a prop.)

* AlienLunch: Bernard has lost so much of his sense of taste due to his cigarette habit that he mistakes a coaster for "some kind of delicious biscuit." He's also capable of consuming slug pellets and oven cleaner without complaining, and thinks that wall moulding and oven knobs would make good ingredients for a fancy meal.
* AlliterativeName: Bernard Black.

* BottleEpisode: "Party" is close enough.

* DeadpanSnarker: Bernard and Fran.

* ExplainExplainOhCrap: The episode ''The Big Lock-Out'' has an example of this.
* ExtremeOmnivore: Bernard eats just about anything due to his sense of taste being destroyed by years of chain-smoking. Once, when extremely aggravated, he even ate most of a porcelain tea cup!
* FawltyTowersPlot

* HardDrinkingPartyGirl: Fran.

* IWantGrandkids: Manny's parents.
* {{Jerkass}}: Bernard & Fran.

* NietzscheWannabe: Bernard.

* RightBehindMe

* ASimplePlan

* TwiceShy: Manny and Rowena.

* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist

* VitriolicBestBuds: Bernard and Manny.

* WithAFriendAndAStranger

'''Bernard'': I think you should shave it, nail it to a Frisbee, and fling it over a rainbow.

** Fran starts as the OnlySaneMan (comparatively) but even she is a heavy drinker, man-hungry, and utterly negligent as a friend, and by the end of season two her horniness is cranked UpToEleven while her OnlySaneMan-ness has completely vanished.