History Series / SecretState

* AwesomeByAnalysis: Tony Fossett is able to identify all three of Dawkin's plainclothes bodyguards when he meets him in the pub, given that before he became an alcoholic investigative journalist he worked for MI5.

* BrokenPedestal: Tony Fossett, big time. A former high ranking member of MI5, he was fired by Duchenne (his superior at the time) to cover up her own screw ups in an undercover operation. He now works as a freelance investigator and tabloid phone hacker, and has also descended into intense paranoia and crippling alcoholism.

** Anthony Fosset is a former MI5 officer turned journalist who keeps a handgun in his apartment. However, after his descent into alcoholism it is obvious he has lost his edge, [[spoiler: as when a government operative breaks into his house, he suffers a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown and is unable to fire a single shot, despite anticipating the break in]].

** Laura Duchenne, the head of MI5, uses Londons CCTV to observe the Prime Minister meeting in private with journalist Ellis Kane.

* HonorBeforeReason: Seen with John Hodder, the Chief Whip. Throughout the series he seems to primarily take Dawkins side, dismissing the smear campaign by the MoD and disapproving of Durrell and Yelland's bickering and scheming. However, when it comes to the decision on whether or not to [[spoiler: go to war with Iran]], as chief whip his responsibility is to tow the party line, so he goes against both Dawkins and his own personal views and advises him to go ahead with the plan in order to show strength and solidarity.

A four part BritishConspiracyThriller MiniSeries which ran on Channel 4 in late 2012. It stars Creator/GabrielByrne and Creator/StephenDillane and is based off the Chris Mullen novel ''A Very British Coup''.

* InfantImmortality: Strongly averted. One of the victims of the Scarrow explosion was a two year old girl. When Dawkins is surveying the damage post incident, he picks up her glove which ''still has some of her fingers inside it''.

* DeadpanSnarker: Sergeant Wrigglesworth, Prime Minister Dawkins bodyguard.

* BodyguardBetrayal: Averted. Despite virtually everyone in his personal circle scheming against him, Sgt. Wrigglesworth, Dawkins personal bodyguard, remains loyal to him to the very end. He even holds a group of MI6 officers at gunpoint to buy Dawkins more time to speak to [[spoiler: Agnes Evans before she is arrested]].

* HoldingTheFloor: Sgt. Wrigglesworth holds several MI6 officers ''at gunpoint'' and meticulously checks their ID's to buy the Prime Minister time to talk to [[spoiler: Agnes Evans]] before she is arrested.

* JurisdictionFriction: Sgt. Wrigglesworth (Special Branch) faces down with several MI6 officers in the final episode, assessing them as a threat to the PM (not unjust considering the lead agent is the man who [[spoiler: killed Tony]]). He even briefly holds them at gunpoint to buy the Prime Minister some time.

* NeverSuicide: [[spoiler: It is implied MI6 kills the coroner investigating the bodies of those killed in Scarrow because he discovered the explosion was caused by a volatile new drone fuel being secretly manufactured at the plant. However, as he had been refusing to release the bodies to the families (as he wanted to do more toxicology tests to prove the drone fuel had caused injury to workers prior to the explosion), much to the dismay of the public, they are able to pass it off as the suicide of a man being hounded by the local community]].

* PoliceBrutality: The MI6 officers who arrest [[spoiler: Agnes Evans]] for breaching the Official Secrets Act are very rough with her, much to the Prime Minister's disgust.

* SecretPolice: Both MI6 and GCHQ act like this to a capacity. GCHQ bugs investigative journalist's phones and MI6 acts as the muscle in [[spoiler: supporting factions of the government who want to go to war with Iran]].
** Especially evident when MI6 officers kill [[spoiler: the Teeside coroner, Tony Fossett]] and arrest [[spoiler: GCHQ analyst Agnes Evans]].

* HonorBeforeReason: Seen with John Hodder, the Chief Whip. Throughout the series he seems to primarily take Dawkins side, dismissing the smear campaign by the MoD and disapproving of Durrell and Yelland's bickering and scheming. However, when it comes to the decision on whether or not to [[spoiler: go to war with Iran]], as chief whip his responsibility is to tow the party line, so he goes against Dawkins his own personal views and advises him to go ahead with the plan in order to show strength and solidarity.

* ChaoticNeutral: John Hodder, the Chief Whip. Throughout the series he seems to primarily take Dawkins side, dismissing the smear campaign by the MoD and disapproving of Durrell and Yelland's bickering and scheming. However, when it comes to the decision on whether or not to [[spoiler: go to war with Iran]], as chief whip his responsibility is to tow the party line, so he goes against Dawkins and advises him to go ahead with the plan in order to show what he believes is strength and solidarity.

* GiveMeASign: When [[spoiler: Tony]] has his skull broken by a government operative and is bleeding out, he pleads to [[spoiler: Agnes]], the GCHQ analyst he knows is spying on him, to give him a sign she heard the ordeal and will pass on the information exposing the conspiracy to the Prime Minister. She responds by remotely activating his cell phone to vibrate and light up.

* InfantImmortality: Strongly averted. One of the victims of the Scarrow explosion was a two year old girl.

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: The compassionate Tom Dawkins is removed from power by his own party, and is implied to have been replaced by the corrupt Felix Durrell. Agnes is in prison and Ellis story about the conspiracy is buried. Furthermore, Tony is dead, the war hungry General Munnery (suspended by Dawkins) is brought back to active duty and it is implied that the war with Iran will commence]].

* [[spoiler: MilitaryCoup]]: Elements of this are seen, but it is primarily the military collaborating with the intelligence services, banks, the private sector and members of government to [[spoiler: remove a Prime Minister who goes against their interests]].

* DisproportionateRetribution: Dawkins chastises the head of the Royal Caledonian Bank (the majority shareholder of [=PetroFex=]), for transferring [=PetroFex=]'s assets before the British Government can freeze them. A few days later, underground networks in London, Newcastle and Glasgow go into total shutdown as their bank refuses to sanction Oyster and debit card payments. That bank: Royal Caledonian.

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: The compassionate Tom Dawkins is removed from power by his own party, and is implied to have been replaced by the corrupt Felix Durrell. Agnes is in prison and Ellis story about the conspiracy is buried. Furthermore, Tony is dead, the war hungry General that Dawkins suspended is brought back to active duty and it is implied that the war with Iran will commence]].
* EveryoneHasStandards: PM Dawkins is appalled when a military advisor suggests bombing terrorist suspects whilst they are praying.
* [[spoiler: MilitaryCoup]]: Elements of this are seen, but it is primarily the military collaborating with the intelligence services and members of government to [[spoiler: remove a Prime Minister who goes against their interests]].

* ChekhovsGun: The loading trolley in the background of the photo's taken of the Prime Ministers jet in Texas. [[spoiler: Close analysis by Tony reveals that a cannister of volatile drone fuel fell off the trolley, and was unsuspectingly put back on and loaded into the plane. Due to the damage, it later exploded and destroyed the plane. An unfortunate accident, not an assassination of a world leader by the Iranian government]].

* HoldingTheFloor: Sgt. Wrigglesworth holds several MI5 officers ''at gunpoint'' and meticulously checks their ID's to buy the Prime Minister time to talk to [[spoiler: Agnes Evans]] before she is arrested.

* JurisdictionFriction: Sgt. Wrigglesworth (Special Branch) faces down with several MI5 officers in the final episode, assessing them as a threat to the PM (not unjust considering the lead agent is the man who [[spoiler: killed Tony]]). He even briefly holds them at gunpoint to buy the Prime Minister some time.

* NeverSuicide: [[spoiler: It is implied MI5 kills the coroner investigating the bodies of those killed in Scarrow because he discovered the explosion was caused by a volatile new drone fuel being secretly manufactured at the plant. However, as he had been refusing to release the bodies to the families (as he wanted to do more toxicology tests to prove the drone fuel had caused injury to workers prior to the explosion), much to the dismay of the public, they are able to pass it off as the suicide of a man being hounded by the local community]].

* PoliceBrutality: The MI5 officers who arrest [[spoiler: Agnes Evans]] for breaching the Official Secrets Act are very rough with her, much to the Prime Minister's disgust.

* SecretPolice: Both MI5 and GCHQ act like this to a capacity. GCHQ bugs investigative journalist's phones and MI5 acts as the muscle in [[spoiler: supporting factions of the government who want to go to war with Iran]].
** Especially evident when MI5 officers kill [[spoiler: the Teeside coroner, Tony Fossett]] and arrest [[spoiler: GCHQ analyst Agnes Evans]].

-->'''Felix Durrell MP:''' "Nationalising a bank?! He's acting like some sort of crude pseudo-Marxist!".

* JurisdictionFriction: Sgt. Wrigglesworth (Special Branch) faces down with several MI5 officers in the final episode, assessing them as a threat to the PM (not unjust considering the lead agent is the man who [[spoiler: killed Tony]]. He even briefly holds them at gunpoint to buy the Prime Minister some time.

* JurisdictionFriction: Sgt. Wrigglesworth (Special Branch) faces down with several MI5 officers in the final episode, assessing them as a threat to the PM. He even briefly holds them at gunpoint to buy the Prime Minister some time.

* RemoveTheRival: Both the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Foreign Secretary want to [[spoiler: remove Tom Dawkins from power]] so they can compete for the office of the Prime Minister.

* WithUsOrAgainstUs: The majority of the government towards Prime Minister Tom Dawkins. Made explicit during a discussion with Felix, his Chancellor of the Exchequer.

** The New York Sentinel, a tabloid press website Tony is seen reading during his investigation, stands in for the New York Post.

* DisproportionateRetribution: Dawkins chastises Sir Michael Rix, head of the Royal Caledonian Bank (the majority shareholder of [=PetroFex=], for transferring [=PetroFex=]'s assets before the British Government can freeze them. A few days later, underground networks in London, Newcastle and Glasgow go into total shutdown as their bank refuses to sanction Oyster and debit card payments. That bank: Royal Caledonian.

* DisproportionateRetriubtion: Dawkins chastises Sir Michael Rix, head of the Royal Caledonian Bank (the majority shareholder of [=PetroFex=], for transferring [=PetroFex=]'s assets before the British Government can freeze them. A few days later, underground networks in London, Newcastle and Glasgow go into total shutdown as their bank refuses to sanction Oyster and debit card payments. That bank: Royal Caledonian.

* NeverSuicide: [[spoiler: It is implied MI5 kills the coroner investigating the bodies of those killed in Teeside because he discovered the explosion was caused by a volatile new drone fuel being secretly manufactured at the plant. It is simply passed off as a suicide of a man being hounded by the local community for not releasing the bodies to their families]].

* ArcWords: "Tommy's trampoline". Tony says it once in a drunken quip at Dawkins when the latter is leaving his flat ("Not allowed on little Tommy's trampoline!". When Agnes Evans later leaves Tony information with a message at his local pub reading "This might help you get back on Tommy's trampoline", Tony immediately realises he is being bugged, and proceeds to trash his flat to try and find a listening device.