History Series / NightAndDay

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.
* GrimReaper: Charlie is repeatedly stalked in vision sequences by a Grim Reaper, in the form of an old man in a hooded black cloak, complete with scythe and a pair of dice which he tells Charlie he must roll. Footage of the Reaper is frequently juxtaposed with that of Charlie's son Django until, at the climax of the storyline when Django almost murders Charlie, the Reaper's face actually morphs into Django's own and back again.
* HappilyEverAfter: It took them eighteen months (in real-world time) to get there - but after an unfortunate DemonicPossession, a foray into vampirism and a 'crap, we're siblings' moment which later proved a false alarm, Josh and Della finally got their happy ending – and even some adopted kids for good measure. Fans were kept hanging until the very last episode, though.

** Natalie and Duncan have moved out of the neighbourhood, but are still apparently together
** Ryan is now a transvestite going by the name of Beverly, and still with Celeste
** Della and Josh are living HappilyEverAfter at St Vincent's, with their own adopted children and £1m in the bank after Josh hit the jackpot on a TV gameshow
** Alex has moved back to his hometown of Liverpool, while Roxanne is now a social worker, still living in Thornton Street - but there are hints that they may now reunite
** Dennis is now a firefighter; he and Fiona have a son named Gabriel, and are cohabiting with Mike and his partner Jeremy
** Tom has become a renowned pornographer, and lives with a partner and son, Bjorn, in Amsterdam
** Jimmy and Begonia are expecting again, while Charlie and Dona bring up their first child, Fidel
** Sam is training to be a rabbi, and announces his engagement to girlfriend Zoe
** Lucy appears to be living happily with Rachel
** Kate and Frankie continue to command the Virgin Army, with help from robotically resurrected Will
** Steph has died, and Josh is seen visiting her gravestone
** Holly is conspicuously absent - but on the videotape message Tom sends his parents, does the voice of his partner - who is curiously both pixellated ''and'' obscured from our view by Dennis's foot - sound familiar?
** Jane arrives for the celebrations, claiming to have been granted day release from a secure psychiatric unit, where she's been serving a sentence for Danny and Malcolm's murders. But her family later learns that she died in her cell earlier that morning - leaving us to conclude that it was in fact her ghost, having come to say her goodbyes before disappearing for the final time.

* AnythingThatMoves: Sam Armstrong, until his parents die in a car-crash and he’s forced to take responsibility for his younger siblings Lucy and Ben. This also arguably applies to most other main characters, who seem to take soap promiscuity to new heights, including with several intergenerational liaisons.

* TheyDo: It took them eighteen months (in real-world time) to get there - but after an unfortunate DemonicPossession, a foray into vampirism and a 'crap, we're siblings' moment which later proved a false alarm, Josh and Della finally got their happy ending – and even some adopted kids for good measure. Fans were kept hanging until the very last episode, though.

The show has often been described as ‘experimental’ and 'a British ''Series/TwinPeaks''' - not least due to its trippy [[DreamSequence dream]] and [[FantasySequence fantasy sequences]]; an [[EccentricTownsfolk eccentric cast of locals]], including resident WickedStepmother-figure Rachel Culgrin (extravagantly portrayed by UK TV veteran [[Series/BirdsOfAFeather Lesley Joseph]]); and a central storyline which revolved around the [[DrivingQuestion disappearance of the enigmatic Jane Harper]] on her sixteenth birthday.

* AdultFear: Jane Harper’s disappearance, and subsequent prostitution – as well as the revelation during the denouement that she (inadvertently) slept with her own biological father, Alex Wells. Child abduction is also repeatedly touched upon; Jane and Della Wells are swapped at birth by Danny Dexter, who also later shows up at a zoo when the girls are seven years old, and uses balloons and ice-cream to temporarily lure them away with him.

* DemotedToExtra: Towards the end of the series, Will appears to take on a much reduced role – often appearing in a background or supporting capacity – until he’s unceremoniously killed off when, during an argument with her virginity fairy (don’t ask), Kate accidentally drops the ''Complete Works of Shakespeare'' on his head.
* DamselInDistress: Jane's mysterious disappearance forms the backbone of the show, although the irony is that her dysfunctional friends and family need saving just as much as she does.

* ThemeTuneCameo: Della and Josh sing ‘Always and Forever’, the show’s theme tune, to one another during the final episode.

* [[{{Hermaphrodite}} Intersex Characters:]] Alex and Roxanne's baby, Alex Jr, is born intersex, leading to a disagreement between the couple over whether to subject the baby to an operation. An adult intersex character, Patrice, is also briefly featured as part of the storyline, when Roxanne attends an intersex support group.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: The daytime episodes always seemed far more suggestive once you’d seen the night-time omnibus, which peppered what was essentially a condensed version of the same show with more adult scenes, language and themes. Although the existence of the latter meant that the writers perhaps didn’t feel the need to sneak so much risqué stuff through during the teatime slot.

* SuddenlySexuality: Della and Josh's foster-sister Holly Curran. Although their short-lived 'relationship' was largely a ploy by the girls to make Josh Alexander jealous and want to be with Della, there were several ambiguous moments, including when Della told Holly that she was in love with her.

* {{Adorkable}}: Tom Brake, for the most part. Introduced to viewers by his cousin Jane with the line: "Still a virgin, Tom?", he's a sweet, sensitive boy who fits many of the traditional geeky stereotypes - social awkwardness, academic brightness, braces, and a camcorder perpetually glued to his palm. Subverted later in the series once he loses his virginity, and turns into a bit of a player.

%%* HateSink: Frankie spent most of the show's run self-righteously berating father Will and anyone else who'd indulge her for having the temerity to be sexually active, culminating in the foundation of the Virgin Army - a militant hyperfeminist sect dedicated to misandry and book-burning. In truth though, even ''Frankie'' was a relatively complex character as far as soap opera goes, and it's easy to sympathise with her when you see her tearfully clutching her stuffed panda; she's simply a young girl who's absolutely terrified of losing her dad, and of growing up.

* SoaplandChristmas: Averted. Since the show progressed at a slower pace than real life and therefore hadn’t actually reached Christmas by real-time December 2001, it used the episodes that aired over that period to explore the events of the ''previous'' Christmas in Thornton Street, through the power of flashback. A refreshing change from the usual festive soap misery, which also provided an opportunity to bring more depth to many of the characters and storylines.

* BookEnds: Both the first and last weeks of the show end with Jane walking through a graveyard before disappearing – in the final episode, forever.

Played by acting newcomer Georgina Walker, Jane frequently cropped up in [[{{Surrealism}} flashbacks, daydreams and visions]] - sometimes comic, sometimes chilling - to haunt the family, friends and lovers she had left behind.

''Night and Day''’s second key gimmick, embodied in its title, was that three 25-minute-long ‘day’ episodes aired on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday teatimes, while[[{{Recut}} a re-cut, hour-long omnibus]] aired on Thursday nights. This ‘night’ edition introduced new and alternate scenes which didn’t appear in the daytime versions - [[{{Watershed}} usually featuring sexual references, violence or other adult themes]] - whilst condensing or excising many others.

''Night and Day''’s second key gimmick, embodied in its title, was that three 25-minute-long ‘day’ episodes aired on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday teatimes, while [[{{Recut}}a re-cut, hour-long omnibus]] aired on Thursday nights. This ‘night’ edition introduced new and alternate scenes which didn’t appear in the daytime versions - [[{{Watershed}} usually featuring sexual references, violence or other adult themes]] - whilst condensing or excising many others.

The show has often been described as ‘experimental’ and 'a British ''Series/TwinPeaks''' - not least due to its trippy [[DreamSequence dream]] and [[FantasySequence fantasy sequences]]; an [[EccentricTownsfolk eccentric cast of locals]], including resident WickedStepmother-figure Rachel Culgrin (extravagantly portrayed by UK TV veteran [[Series/BirdsOfAFeather Lesley Joseph]]); and a central storyline which revolved around the disappearance of the enigmatic Jane Harper on her sixteenth birthday.

Oft-revisited footage of Jane walking in slow motion through a cemetery before literally vanishing became a visual touchpoint for the show. The image was also invoked in the soap’s infuriatingly catchy theme tune ‘Always and Forever’ - performed by former soap icon Music/KylieMinogue - with the haunting lyrics: ‘Night and day, say goodbye then slowly fade away...’

A second visual touchpoint (pictured above), which was also the final image of the show, featured Jane embracing the mysterious Josh Alexander, then turning to the FourthWall with a finger to her lips.

Complemented by a raft of secondary, more traditional soap opera plots (albeit frequently played out in a way that lampooned the genre), the primary narrative explored - often at glacial pace - [[MythArc which of Thornton Street’s residents might have been responsible for Jane’s vanishing act, and possibly, her murder.]]

''Night and Day''’s second key gimmick, embodied in its title, was that three 25-minute-long ‘day’ episodes aired on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday teatimes, while an hour-long omnibus aired on Thursday nights. This ‘night’ edition introduced new and alternate scenes which didn’t appear in the daytime versions - [[{{Watershed}} usually featuring sexual references, violence or other adult themes]] - whilst condensing or excising many others.

A stylised and frequently bonkers SoapOpera that ran on the [[BritishSeries UK’s]] {{Creator/ITV}} network between 2001 and 2003. Aiming to recapture a youth audience lost to the channel with the poaching of Australian import ''Series/HomeAndAway'' by the rival [[{{Creator/Channel5}} Channel 5]], ''Night and Day'' revolved around six dysfunctional families living in and around the fictional Thornton Street in Greenwich, south-east London.

The show has often been described as ‘experimental’ and 'a British ''Series/TwinPeaks''' - not least due to its trippy dream and fantasy sequences; an eccentric cast of locals, including resident wicked stepmother-figure Rachel Culgrin (extravagantly portrayed by UK TV veteran [[Series/BirdsOfAFeather Lesley Joseph]]); and a central storyline which revolved around the disappearance of the enigmatic Jane Harper on her sixteenth birthday.

A stylised and frequently bonkers soap opera that ran on the [[BritishSeries UK’s]] {{Creator/ITV}} network between 2001 and 2003. Aiming to recapture a youth audience lost to the channel with the poaching of Australian import ''Series/HomeAndAway'' by the rival [[{{Creator/Channel5}} Channel 5]], ''Night and Day'' revolved around six dysfunctional families living in and around the fictional Thornton Street in Greenwich, south-east London.

* PromotionToOpeningTitles: Kate and Steph were the only characters to be added at a later date to the original title sequence, having arrived three months into the show.