History Series / Fleabag

* AnAesop: People make mistakes. That's why they put rubbers on the end of pencils.
* [[AntiHero Anti-Heroine]]: Fleabag herself, in the ClassicalAntiHero mould.
* ArtifactTitle: The lead character calls herself Fleabag in the original stage play. Although the TV show keeps the title, the character herself is never called anything at all. A [[TruthInTelevision real-life]] artefact no less; Fleabag is [[AppropriatedAppellation Phoebe's childhood family nickname]].

* AdaptedOut: Most of what's in the play survived to the TV series in one form or another, but regular cafe customer Joe[[note]]a salt-of-the-earth type who rejects Fleabag's advances[[/note]] was cut, with some of his dialogue being given to Belinda in Series 2 instead. The play also hints that Boo knew [[spoiler:it was Fleabag who slept with her boyfriend]], which the series doesn't.

* AdaptationExpansion:
** As the series was adapted from a one-hour, one-woman stage play, which concentrates more on the cafe and Fleabag's sexual encounters, and not so much on her family, naturally a lot of extra content was added. In particular:
** Godmother is only mentioned in passing in the play so everything involving her was added for the series, including the statuette subplot and the sexhibition.
** Claire is quite an important character in the play but it's suggested she and Fleabag don't really get along. The TV series softens and expands their relationship considerably.

* RightForTheWrongReasons: We see nothing that would corroborate our narrator's belief that Martin watches extreme porn--he's probably just projecting her faults onto him. And she does have selfish, financial reasons for wanting Claire to take the Finland job. But ultimately she's right about Martin stifling Claire's ambitions.

* AdaptationExpansion: As the series was adpated from a one-hour, one-woman stage play, which concentrates more on the cafe and Fleabag's sexual encounters, and not so much on her family, naturally a lot of extra content was added. In particular:

* AdaptationalNationality: Martin is Scottish (with the implication of being a ViolentGlaswegian) in the play but American in the series.

'''Fleabag''': ''*points to [[ItMakesSenseInContext wall of penises]]*'' Oh, it's on the wall over there. Second from the left.

* BittersweetEnding: To series 1. Although it's a Surprisingly Happy Ending for the protagonist, it's not so much for anyone else. Both Claire and her father are still in relationships with truly horrible people, Claire has turned down her dream job, Martin has turned Claire against her sister, and the FourthWall that went up between us and the protagonist during the final episode is still in place. The last at least is undone by the start of series 2.
** Series 2 ends similarly. [[spoiler: Fleabag and the Priest break up, but say "I love you" first. Fleabag walks away from the audience, showing less reliance on us. Claire chases after Klare. Dad and Godmother get married, but Fleabag's pre-wedding conversation with Dad has brought them closer.]]

* CallBack: Series 2 episode 5 references the first scene of Fleabag: our protagonist waiting at her front door in her black coat, waiting for a booty call to show up, describing the elaborate and insecure preparations she's made so she appears cool to her partner. [[spoiler: Then the Priest turns up before the booty call.]]

* EmotionSuppression: Claire comes out with this corker:
-->'''Claire''': Positive energy takes work! In the last six months I've excelled. I take all the negative emotions and just bottle them and bury them and they never come out.

* FacialDialogue: ''Fleabag'' would be a very different show were it not for Phoebe Waller-Bridge's talent for this.
** Given a disturbing twist in the second episode of season two, when her counsellor challenges her on her claim that she has no friends.

* FunnyBackgroundEvent: A woman at the silent retreat in episode 4 is seen frantically attempting to shoo away a wasp without making any noise.
** Gets a call back in the following scene; someone has written "I've been stung by a wasp!" on the blackboard.
* GagHaircut: Claire gets a bad haircut which leaves her traumatised and leads to Fleabag and Claire marching into the hairdresser's shop to demand compensation. When the hairdresser shows them the reference photo he was working from, it turns out that the style was actually exactly what she asked for - it just looks terrible on ''her''. Subverted when it turns out that the colleagues she was trying to impress actually like it anyway.

* MissingMum: "Dad's way of coping with two motherless daughters was to buy us tickets to feminist lectures, start fucking our godmother and eventually stop calling".

* ParentsAsPeople: Fleabag's dad genuinely tries to do good by her, but her general...Fleabag-ness means that he's struggling to connect with her more often than not.

* RaceForYourLove: Discussed in the S2 finale, ultimately leading to Claire doing this (offscreen) for Klare.

* RightForTheWrongReasons: We see nothing that would corroborate our narrator's belief that Martin watches extreme porn - she's probably just projecting her faults onto him. And she does have selfish, financial reasons for wanting Claire to take the Finland job. But ultimately she's right about Martin stifling Claire's ambitions.

* SoBeautifulItsACurse / DistractedByMyOwnSexy: Arsehole Guy is referred to as either "good-looking", "very good-looking", "''really'' good-looking" or "almost ''too'' good looking" by everyone and is unashamedly aware of the fact. He has a huge photo of himself hanging on his bedroom wall.

* VulgarHumor: Usually of the {{filth}} kind - the very first scene of the show is an anal sex joke.

* BiTheWay: When Belinda asks Fleabag if she's a lesbian, Fleabag replies "Not strictly." [[spoiler: Later, when Belinda has urged her to go and flirt with someone, Fleabag kisses her twice, and is clearly very attracted to her, but Belinda says "[[HasAType I wish you were my type]]."]]

* HumansAreBastards: In finest BritCom tradition, almost all of the people appearing in the show are, to a greater or lesser degree, irredeemably horrible. [[spoiler:Only Boo, Fleabag and the Bank Manager seem to show any sign of having the potential to be good.]]

* DawsonsCasting: Godmother is probably supposed to be somewhat older than Olivia Colman, who is far too young to be the godmother to Fleabag and Claire unless they were non-infant baptisms; though since she was their mother's student, her relationship with Dad is probably still something of a MayDecemberRomance.

* ObliquelyObfuscatedOccupation: What Claire's "job in Finland" entails is so vague that her family all incorrectly assume she's a lawyer, because she's employed by a law firm.

* DestructiveRomance: Between Harry and Fleabag. [[spoiler:Harry's trying to be a kind and oconscientious partner but Fleabag is in the middle of a slow-motion nervous breakdown and ends up treating him as an ExtremeDoormat. Eventually he snaps out of the self-destructive cycle and decides WhyWouldAnyoneTakeHerBack]]

* SexyBacklessOutfit: The first shot of series 2 shows Fleabag wearing one of these, and a front shot shows the same dress also features some AbsoluteCleavage. [[spoiler:The effect is somewhat spoilt by the profusely bloody nose however]].

* OppositesAttract: In S2. Athiest recovering sex maniac, meet celibate priest.

[[caption-width-right:350:Unhappier times.]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/92g3gc39h4c.png]]

* [[spoiler:SurprisinglyHappyEnding]]

-->'''Claire''':"it's not a period [[spoiler: it's a fucking miscarriage, OK?]]"

* ClusterFBomb: The main character's WorldOfCardboardSpeech in the final scene of the first series manages to use the F word as noun, verb, adjective and interjection.

* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler: Fleabag makes a beeline for this towards the end of the final episode of series 1.]]