History Series / TheComicStripPresents

* TheWoobie: The bridegroom in ''Les Dogs''. He's left wandering about aimlessly, heartbroken, shut out of his hotel room on his wedding night while the doctor is seducing his bride.

* DyingDream: ''Les Dogs'' has a man crashing his car at the very start of the episode; he then goes to a surreal wedding where he seduces the bride. Just as they are about to have sex, her eyes turn into headlights - there is a screeching sound and the film cuts to black.

* DoubleStandardRapeMaleOnMale: In ''South Atlantic Raiders'', one of the characters is trapped in a prison cell with a huge prisoner who says, threateningly, "Oh dear, you're going to get a ''very'' sore botty." (In the original broadcast version the hero takes one look at the big guy's genitalia and cries "oh, ''God'', no!", but the line appears to have been cut from the DVD release.) However, our hero escapes before he can be raped.

* SerialKiller: ''Gregory: Diary of a Nutcase'' features a Literature/HannibalLecter parody called Dr. Genghis. The titular Desmond tries to be one, but fails miserably.

* SerialKiller: ''Gregory: Diary of a Nutcase'' features a Literature/HannibalLechter parody called Dr. Genghis. The titular Desmond tries to be one, but fails miserably.

* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''Series/RippingYarns'' - a British anthology comedy series where each episode is a different story featuring (mostly) the same cast.

** While ''Detectives on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown'' is more of an AffectionateParody to the 1970s cop show it riffs on, it's less affectionate towards the 1990s cop shows it spoofs. In particular, the dour [[OopNorth Northern]] copper who's constantly {{Wangst}}ing about the fact that "there's no more ships on the Tyne" is an overt piss-take of ''Series/{{Spender}}'', a contemporary cop show which starred Jimmy Nail pretty much doing exactly the same thing, except played entirely seriously. His fate at the end is to be transformed from a headlining detective to an anonymous uniformed officer who is apparently an extra on ''Series/TheBill'', which is treated by all as a FateWorseThanDeath ("Shoot me!" "Oh, you will be, mate... on ''tape''.")

** ''Detectives on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown'' is a mostly loving parody of the various cliches of 1970s detective shows (mainly the meandering plots interspersed with lots of pointless car chases, shooting and people shouting "Guv!" at each other). Specifically, the main detectives are basically loving rip-offs of Series/TheProfessionals (The Bullshitters), Jack Regan from ''Series/TheSweeney'' (Shouting George from "The Weeny"), and Series/JasonKing (Jason Bentley). It's less affectionate towards 1990s detective shows; the 1970s shows might be hokey, but they don't put people to sleep.

* SpecialGuest: Among those who made guest appearances were Music/KateBush, Creator/PeterCapaldi, Creator/PeterCook, Music/ElvisCostello, Music/{{Lemmy}}, Creator/LennyHenry, Music/PaulMcCartney, Music/OzzyOsborne, Creator/LesliePhillips, Creator/MirandaRichardson and Creator/PeterWyngarde.

** While ''Detectives on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown'' is more of an AffectionateParody to the 1970s cop show it riffs on, it's less affectionate towards the 1990s cop shows it spoofs. In particular, the dour [[OopNorth Northern]] copper who's constantly {{Wangst}}ing about the fact that "there's no more ships on the Tyne" is an overt piss-take of ''Series/{{Spender}}'', a contemporary cop show which starred Jimmy Nail pretty much doing exactly the same thing, except played entirely seriously.

** ''Detectives on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown'' is a mostly loving parody of the various cliches of 1970s detective shows (mainly the meandering plots interspersed with lots of pointless car chases, shooting and people shouting "Guv!" at each other). It's less affectionate towards 1990s detective shows; the 1970s shows might be hokey, but they don't put people to sleep.

* ParodyEpisode: ''Five Go Mad in Dorset'' and its sequels parody ''Literature/TheFamousFive''; ''The Bullshitters - Roll Out the Gunbarrel'' is a parody of ''Series/TheProfessionals''; ''Consuela, (or The New Mrs Saunders'') is a parody of ''Film/{{Rebecca}}''; ''The Yob'' is a parody of ''Film/TheFly1986''; and ''Gregory: Diary of a Nutcase'' is a parody of ''Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs''.

* TheOner: ''Wild Turkey'' opens with an uninterrupted take lasting just shy of two minutes, which starts as a close-up of Sue hanging up Christmas decorations and nicely develops as Jim returns home. The first cut only comes when we see that Turkey is alive.

** ''The Beat Generation'' is shot this way in keeping with the FrenchNewWave style, complete with jazz score.

* ObfuscatingDisability: In ''Dirty Movie'', the cinema managager Terry Toadstool has his wife push him out of the house in a wheelchair to the car and to the cinema, all the while he shouts "Ow, I'm disabled".

** In ''Detectives on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown'' the most effective detective turns out to be the Series/JasonKing expy, whose technique is to drive around at random sipping claret, yet always manages to end up in exactly the right place to solve the mystery.
* CrossCastRoles: Creator/RobbieColtrane appears in ''Five Go Mad in Dorset'' as a female shopkeeper.

* FootballHooligans: ''The Yob'' sees a pretentious music producer and football hooligan swap places through science.

* MarsNeedsWomen -- The premise behind ''Space Virgins From The Planet Sex'' is that the last man on an alien world is too old to procreate but they have been lucky enough to find the voyager probe with its illustration of what naked human look like and it seems their men will suffice.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: The comedian Steve Wild in ''Oxford'' was based on Creator/SteveMartin, whom Peter Richardson and Pete Richens met. They liked him, but were surprised by how seriously he took life and his work.

-->'''[[Series/{{Spender}} Spanker]]:''' What are you going to do about it, old man?\\

* MysteryMagnet: Lamented by one of the five in ''Five Go Mad in Dorset''. This greatly upsets one of the others, who lives for their adventures.

* BlackmailIsSuchAnUglyWord: In ''Space Virgins From The Planet Sex'' the kidnapped earthmen are informed that they will not be referred to as sex slaves, although until every woman aboard the ship is pregnant they will be forced to have sex with those who have yet to conceive.

* CensorshipBySpelling: In ''The Beat Generation'':

%%* HotAsHell

* ImprobableAimingSkills: Spoofed in ''Detectives on the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown'', when the Seventies TV detective's aiming skills stop working because he's shooting at a Nineties TV detective who uses different conventions.

** In ''Detectives on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown'', the most effective detective turns out to be the Series/JasonKing {{expy}}, whose technique is to drive around at random sipping claret, yet always manages to end up in exactly the right place to solve the mystery.

** ''Detectives on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown'' brings back Bonehead and Foyle from ''The Bullshitters: Roll Out the Gunbarrel''.

* AuthorAppeal: Several episodes written by Adrian Edmondson feature his long-term work partner Rik Mayall in various stages of makeup and femininity, a trope often seen in their other works.

A series of 39 short British TV comedy films, mostly produced in the 1980s and early 1990s but running intermittently until 2016. A retrospective was produced in 2005. The programmes were originally shown on Channel 4 (the first aired on the channel's opening night), though one season aired on Creator/TheBBC and the most recent episode appeared on Gold.

* FruitOfTheLoon -- Jennifer Saunders as "Creator/MerylStreep" as Mrs. Scargill in ''The Strike'' is never seen without an orange. Why? No reason, it's just... part of her character.

* LondonGangster: ''Didn't You Kill My Brother?'' stars Alexi Sayle as Carl and Sterling Moss, gangster twins loosely modeled on the Kray twins. During TheSeventies, they masterminded a string of protection rackets, gambling clubs and dress hire shops.