History Series / TheThinBlueLine

* AbuseIsOkayWhenItIsFemaleOnMale: After Patricia discovers the NotWhatItLooksLike example below, she goes for the rolling pin, and when he argues against her idea of having kids, she hits him with a fish.

* WikiWalk: Constable Frank Gladstone is a master of this, often omitting the intervening steps and just announcing his seemingly random conclusions to his perplexed comrades. For example: His theory behind rampant graffiti?...[[InsaneTrollLogic Fridge magnets and the parents who use them to put their toddler's childish drawings on the fridge as adorable mementos, which causes the now teen kids to use graffiti as a method of gaining that familiar adoration from standing around the fridge.]]

** "There's a place for fatuous flippant would-be humorous inanities, and that place is on NoelsHouseParty."
** "There is a place for smutty innuendo, Constable Kray, and that place is on ''BirdsOfAFeather.''"

-->'''Fowler:''' They'll never know the joy a young lad can have sitting alone in his room... with his tool in his hand, tightening his little nuts.

* TriangRelations: An episode uses this plot. Type 2

* WeAllLiveInAmerica: Inspector Fowler, chief of a British Police station, attempts to teach his men the importance or political correctness, and at one point utters, "That would be the pot calling the kettle... errr, African-American."
** Almost certainly intentional, to [[PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad show how over the top he is being.]] "Black" isn't even considered offensive in the UK when applied to people of African descent, isn't offensive ''anywhere'' when used as a purely descriptive adjective to describe the colour of an object, and the correct term if he was being really careful would be "Afro-Caribbean" (since fallen out of use because most British black people now either think of themselves as completely British or skipped the "Caribbean" part).

* WikiWalk: Constable Frank Gladstone is a master of this, often omitting the intervening steps and just announcing his seemingly random conclusions to his perplexed comrades.
** For example: His theory behind rampant graffiti?...[[InsaneTrollLogic Fridge magnets and the parents who use them to put their toddler's childish drawings on the fridge as adorable mementos, which causes the now teen kids to use graffiti as a method of gaining that familiar adoration from standing around the fridge.]]

* BeingPersonalIsntProfessional: Inspector Fowler at times , in one instance pointing out that, as his girlfriend wanted his advice partly as her commanding officer and partly as her boyfriend, he will have to give her one opinion now and one at lunch, as he is not being paid to be her boyfriend.

* SleepingWithTheBoss: Police Inspector Fowler paired with live-in girlfriend Sergeant Dawkins. Although given Fowler's outlook on his duties however this is not a major issue. At one point he offers Dawkins some advice, half now (as her senior officer) and half when he is on break (as her boyfriend, as he is not being paid to advise people as their boyfriends and so cannot do so during work hours.).

* UnequalPairing: Police Inspector Fowler paired with live-in girlfriend Sergeant Dawkins. Although given Fowler's outlook on his duties however this is not a major issue. At one point he offers Dawkins some advice, half now (as her senior officer) and half when he is on break (as her boyfriend, as he is not being paid to advise people as their boyfriends and so cannot do so during work hours.).

* AbuseIsOkayWhenItIsFemaleOnMale
** After Patricia discovers the NotWhatItLooksLike example below, she goes for the rolling pin, and when he argues against her idea of having kids, she hits him with a fish.
* AgainstMyReligion: Raymond uses this excuse to avoid taking off his hat in "Fire and Terror" after a drunk had puked in it.
* AndYouThoughtItWasAGame
** Raymond breaks up a bank robbery in "Rag Week", all the while thinking it's an insane college prank.

* AnnoyingLaugh: DC Kray, very much so.
* AwayInAManger: In "[[ChristmasEpisode Yuletide Spirit]]", a travelling hippie couple arrive in the station on Christmas Eve. Naturally, the woman is heavily pregnant and goes into labor.

* BeingPersonalIsntProfessional: Inspector Fowler at times, in one instance pointing out that, as his girlfriend wanted his advice partly as her comanding officer and partly as her boyfriend, he will have to give her one opinion now and one at lunch, as he is not being paid to be her boyfriend.

* BrotherhoodOfFunnyHats: Grim's group, the Todgers, whose ceremonies involve putting on a dress and kissing a dead turkey's butt.
* CampStraight: Kevin Goody, while supremely camp, is straight (and very surprised that his colleagues might have thought he was gay).

* DoubleEntendre: Fowler and Grim make these all the time, usually [[ThatCameOutWrong unintentionally]]. "My arse is on the line and I don't want a cock up..."
** This phrase is also made as short as it can be while also displaying the importance of punctuation. "Your cock-up, my arse".

* EngineeredPublicConfession: Parodied when Raymond tries to record Grim's confession, but after showing the tape recorder at the end he finds out it didn't record anything, since the tape recorder required pressing record and play simultaneously to start.
* FiremenAreHot: [[spoiler:Unfortunately for Habib, this one also fancies Constable Goody.]]

* HoneyTrap: Grim tries pulling one by using Habib, only to have it backfire when the mark drags ''Habib'' in to be charged.
* HypocriticalHumor

* InnocentInnuendo

* JusticeByOtherLegalMeans: When the EngineeredPublicConfession doesn't work, Fowler gets the case thrown out by revealing that Goody was still wearing the prototype uniform that he was modeling when he found the planted evidence.

* {{Malaproper}}: Inspector Grim

* MixedMetaphor: Something Grim is good at.
* MyBiologicalClockIsTicking: Patricia
* NoodleIncident: Several referances are made to Gladstone's marriage, including his objecting at his own ceremony.
* [[NotWhatItLooksLike Not What It Sounds Like]]: After Boyle sets Fowler straight (see EngineeredPublicConfession), the Mayoress comes in, looking for a plea bargin. The conversation, in which she demands that Raymond "give it [the plea bargain] to me" and his assurances that she'll be "more than satisfied" (with the loophole of Goody wearing an unofficial uniform during the bust) [[WeShouldGetAnotherTape gets recorded over Patricia's morning workout]].

* OddCouple: Despite Fowler's page quote above, he has his own OddCouple-style relationship with Grim, based on their respective OldFashionedCopper styles.
* OldFashionedCopper
** Derek Grim and his loathing of modern "fannying about".

* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: One of the many ways Grim mangles the English language.
* SmallNameBigEgo: Derek Grim

** "There's a place for fatuous flippant would-be humourous inanities, and that place is on NoelsHouseParty."

* TitleDrop: In the very first episode.

* UnequalPairing: Fowler and Patricia.

* WikiWalk: Frank Gladstone's thought processes.

* YaoiFangirl: Poor Raymond is flabbergasted at Habib's speculation about what Holmes and Watson got up to between cases ("They chat! They [[InnocentInnuendo smoke their pipes!]]"), or Literature/{{Biggles}}' desire to climb into Ginger's cockpit.

* WomenAreWiser: Habib, and to a lesser extent Patricia, are more sensible and less likely to be the butt of jokes than the male characters.

:: (Goody immediately points out that that means three forces.)

* YaoiFangirl: Poor Raymond is flabbergasted at Habib's speculation about what Holmes and Watson got up to between cases ("They chat! They [[InnocentInnuendo smoke their pipes!]]"), or {{Biggles}}' desire to climb into Ginger's cockpit.

** There's also the scene where Raymond and Kevin upset Patricia and Maggie and are both slapped by their respective women. They didn't even do anything seriously wrong.

1990s BritCom set in a small-town police station, written by BenElton and starring RowanAtkinson as repressed, old-fashioned but basically decent Police Inspector Raymond Fowler. His nemesis in the series was Inspector Grim, a [[Series/LifeOnMars2006 proto-Gene Hunt type]] but without the brains. The other regulars were all fellow police officers, including Raymond's longterm and long-suffering cohab girlfriend Sergeant Patricia Dawkins, elderly Constable Gladstone, junior officers Goody and Habib, and Grim's henchman Kray.

* TakeThat: "There's a place for fatuous flippant would-be humourous inanities, and that place is on NoelsHouseParty."

* DoubleEntendre: Fowler and Grim make these all the time, usually unintentionally. "My arse is on the line and I don't want a cock up..."

->''"What's wrong with policemen on television these days? [[OddCouple They're always complete opposites]]. [[WunzaPlot One's of them fat and poor, the other one's thin and posh.]] One of them's a woman, the other one's a Martian. One of them has four heads, one of them's ''allergic'' to heads."''

->''"What's wrong with policemen on television these days? [[OddCouple They're always complete opposites]]. [[Wunza One's of them fat and poor, the other one's thin and posh.]] One of them's a woman, the other one's a Martian. One of them has four heads, one of them's ''allergic'' to heads."''

->''"What's wrong with policemen on television these days? [[OddCouple They're always complete opposites]]. One's of them fat and poor, the other one's thin and posh. One of them's a woman, the other one's a Martian. One of them has four heads, one of them's ''allergic'' to heads."''

->'''Fowler''': What's wrong with policemen on television these days? [[OddCouple They're always complete opposites]]. One's of them fat and poor, the other one's thin and posh. One of them's a woman, the other one's a Martian. One of them has four heads, one of them's ''allergic'' to heads.

1990s BritCom set in a small-town police station, written by BenElton and starring RowanAtkinson as repressed, old-fashioned but basically decent Police Inspector Raymond Fowler. His nemesis in the series was Inspector Grim, a [[LifeOnMars proto-Gene Hunt type]] but without the brains. The other regulars were all fellow police officers, including Raymond's longterm and long-suffering cohab girlfriend Sergeant Patricia Dawkins, elderly Constable Gladstone, junior officers Goody and Habib, and Grim's henchman Kray.

The series was apparently modelled on the classic World War II-themed show ''[[Series/DadsArmy Dad's Army]]'', an ambitious target to live up to. The BBC's website sums up the show as [[http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/thethinblueline/ "Should've worked. Didn't."]]

Not to be confused with the ErrolMorris [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096257/ documentary]] about Dallas police and prosecutors framing a man for murder, nor ''TheThinRedLine''.

!!This show provides examples of:
* AbuseIsOkayWhenItIsFemaleOnMale: After Patricia discovers the NotWhatItLooksLike example below, she goes for the rolling pin, and when he argues against her idea of having kids, she hits him with a fish.

* AndYouThoughtItWasAGame: Raymond breaks up a bank robbery in "Rag Week", all the while thinking it's an insane college prank. Inverted in "Fly on the Wall" - after Fowler talks down the old man with the gun, it turns out that he was going to turn it in to the weapons amnesty program and possibly get on television.

* BritishBrevity: Only two series of 7 episodes each were made.

* FiremenAreHot: [[spoiler: Unfortunately for Habib, this one also fancies Constable Goody.]]
* FreudianSlip: After the sex therapist Fowler and Patricia are seeing starts ''stripping'' - "Thank you, Constable Nipple."
* HeyItsThatGuy: American viewers might recognize Mark Addy (third from right in the picture) from ''StillStanding'', ''AKnightsTale'', ''GameOfThrones'' and/or ''TheFullMonty''.

* HypocriticalHumor: At one point, Grim is needling Raymond about his divorce and slightly distant relationship with his son, whom Raymond is worried is turning a bit wild. Grim makes a lot of hay about how he's a devoted family man who is always there for his sons. On an unrelated matter, guess who's loutish son just got arrested for disturbing the peace...?
** Raymond's son, incidentally, turns out to be studying to try and get into university; turns out Raymond's worries were a bit hyperactive anyway.

* {{Malaproper}}: Inspector Grim.

* MistakenForRacist: When the Mayoress orders Raymond to arrest an illegal immigrant, she forgets to give him a description of what the man looks like, so he and his officers just arrest the man who opened the door. Unfortunately, he not only ''isn't'' the illegal alien, he's also black ''and'' the European Commissioner for Human Rights.
** Learning of the man's real identity, Raymond is horrified: "A ''[[AcceptableTargets Frenchman]]''? In ''my'' station?!"

* MyBiologicalClockIsTicking: Patricia.

* ObstructiveBureaucrat: To be fair, Fowler's rigid adherence to proper procedure is rooted in a heartfelt belief in things like due process, rule of law, work ethics and other [[BoringButPractical unglamourous but socially beneficial principles]]. He just has a tendency to take it a ''teensy'' bit too far at times...

* OldFashionedCopper: Derek Grim and his loathing of modern "fannying about".
** Fowler's an even more old-fashioned cop; he, however, is old fashioned in the 'Dixon of Dock Green' fashion.

* OneWePreparedEarlier

* StrictlyFormula.

* TedBaxter: Derek Grim.

** (Goody immediately points out that that means three forces.)

* NotDistractedByTheSexy: Patricia tries to improve her sex life with Raymond by coming to bed in a silk nightie. Unfortunately, it doesn't get his attention until she mentions how much it cost...

* ObstructiveBureaucrat: Inspector Fowler at times, in one instance pointing out that, as his girlfriend wanted his advice partly as her comanding officer and partly as her boyfriend, he will have to give her one opinion now and one at lunch, as he is not being paid to be her boyfriend.
** To be fair, Fowler's rigid adherence to proper procedure is rooted in a heartfelt belief in things like due process, rule of law, work ethics and other [[BoringButPractical unglamourous but socially beneficial principles]]. He just has a tendency to take it a ''teensy'' bit too far at times...