History Series / WhoPaysTheFerryman

* GoodSamaritan: Haldane is prone to helping out strangers in need, especially outsiders. Tony Viglis and Duncan Neve both get put up in his (actually Babis's) house after sustaining injuries, and he charges neither of them for his hospitality. Neve is decidedly the less grateful of the two; admits to Annika that he only lets him stay because he finds him interesting, being curious as to why an Englishman should have chosen to live in a very remote part of Crete.

* HumbleHero: Haldane does not mention his wartime exploits much, to the point where Elena and Nikos only find out that he was Leandros, a hero whose deeds are still spoken of locally, from a fisherman who refuses to take money for the old ''caique'' because it's Leandros who wants to buy it, and he would not dream of taking money from him. The novelisation takes this further with the detail about him keeping his bravery medal in the bottom of a drawer.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Haldane gives a blistering one to Annika after she does nothing to stop the villagers from attacking Viglis on account of a feud that goes back decades. Ultimately, this causes her to reconsider her actions. In the final episode, Annika tops that by delivers a devastating one to [[spoiler: her mother]] after learning of [[spoiler: the part she played in the deaths of Elena, Nikos and Alexis.]]

* RippedFromTheHeadlines: When Haldane meets Babis, he comments that things cannot have been easy over the past few years. This series was made in 1977; Greece had been ruled by a military dictatorship from 1967 to 1974.

* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: Duncan Neve is [[spoiler: wanted for murdering his wife]] back in England, but it turns out that [[spoiler: she had a terminal illness and he killed her with a drug overdose to end her suffering]]. On learning of this, Haldane is very reluctant to [[spoiler: help Len Cooper and the Major arrest the man, first refusing to tell them where Neve is, and then going to warn him and offer to help him hide somewhere even less conspicuous than the remote village where he lives. Neve refuses, declaring that he always knew that the law would eventually catch up with him]].

* SexAsRiteOfPassage: Downplayed in the case of Jo Hebden, who (despite at least one offer that we know of) had hung into her virginity out of respect for her father. When he is revealed as a PhonyVeteran, she immediately propositions the local who had previously come onto her and been resisted.

* WeHardlyKnewYe: Georgios, a mountain peasant, gets a very brief introduction [[spoiler: before he is killed by Mateos and his brother, who have taken to the mountains after the deaths of Elena, Nikos and Alexis. It turns out that he had helped the ''Andartes'' during the war, which gives Babis the excuse he needs to get his gun and go after the men himself.]]
* WhamEpisode: The seventh one. Having failed to drive Haldane out of Crete, Mateos plots to kill him. To this end, he [[spoiler: sabotages the brakes on Haldane's car]]. The episode ends with [[spoiler: Haldane lending his car to Nikos, who then drives Elena and Alexis home in it. All three are killed when the brakes fail while they are driving on a steep mountain road.]]

* PhonyVeteran: In the second episode, we encounter one of these. William Hebden actually was in Crete during the war, but he was wounded and saw no fighting prior to being evacuated to safety. However, with everyone else in his unit having subsequently been killed in action, he has spent the past three decades telling tall tales about how he led his unit to the evacuation point and fought alongside the resistance on the way. His story unravels when he returns to Crete, with it being claimed that the actual leader of his unit betrayed Greeks to the Germans in return for his own safety, and he is last seen breaking down in public and losing the respect of his daughter Jo, who had believed him to be a hero.

** How much does Annika know (or guess) about Haldane and his wartime relationship with her sister? We do not see all of her conversation with Lorna, who knows it all. She also wonders about why Haldane is so keen to help Elena, and is curious about his inter-generational friendship with Alexis. [[spoiler: She only finds out for sure at the end, but there are hints before then that she may have some suspicions.]]

** Why is William Hebden taken away by the police after being confronted by the peasant who wanted to kill him? He has not committed any crime, although the police may be interested in anything he might have to say about the wartime massacre. Or the Major might be taking him away for his own safety, as he could be deemed to be a suicide risk.

* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: Invoked by Lorna when she points out that, as well as just telling Annika that he loves her, he should also tell her the truth about his being Elena's biological father, and actually should have already done so. He rationalises his decision to keep quiet about this by claiming that she would end things with him, and probably never want to see him again, if she were to learn the truth. [[spoiler: The ending shows that he was wrong, as she wants to continue their relationship after finding out, although by that point Elena and her family are dead.]]

* BloodBrothers: Haldane and Babis, who fought alongside each other during the war.

* TranslationConvention: Although some (unsubtled) Greek is spoken, most of the conversations are in English. Even when two Greek characters are speaking with each other. It is often stated that the likes of Babis, Elena and Annika speak English well. Haldane, on the other hand, can speak Greek, but not very well due to his not having been there since the war. His Greek improves as the show progresses.
* UnseenNoMore: Lorna Matthews is mentioned in the first episode as an acquaintance of Haldane's who is single and may be interested in being set up with him (he having been widowed for several years). She turns up in Crete in the third episode, having been duped into thinking that he wants a RelationshipUpgrade (or rather, a re-upgrade given that it turns out they used to be in a relationship) but Haldane, by this point falling in love with Annika, isn't interested.

* MeaningfulName: Haldane calls the boat he restores ''The Knot'', because it's one of the things that binds him to Crete. Which makes [[spoiler: Mateos setting fire to it]] all the more symbolic, as he wants Haldane gone. Elena's proposal to rename the taverna in honour of her late mother is also this, although she does not know why Haldane is so visibly moved by it, [[spoiler: and she dies before she can find out]].
* MinionWithAnFInEvil: Petros (Annika's brother) in introduced as an antagonist who will do Katerina's bidding and drive Haldane out of Crete, in addition to which, she wants him to endure that the Viglis funeral does not go ahead due to an old family feud. He actually turns out to be one of these as he has no interest in old blood feuds, and [[HeelFaceTurn stops being any sort of antagonist]] when he publicly backs Annika in denouncing the feud against the Viglis family.

* TheMissusAndTheEx. Played with in the case of Annika and Lorna, as Haldane and Annika are not in a relationship at that point. Despite the initial hostility, they get on rather well, although they both realise they can never be friends because, as Lorna puts it, "you have what I want".

** The party atmosphere after the race turns sour when it's revealed that Haldane's ''caique'' is on fire. His subsequent despair turns to happiness the following morning when Xenophon and others arrive with building materials to help him rebuild it.

* NavelDeepNeckline: Haldane appears to be going for a male version of this with some of his shirts, which are at times unbuttoned almost down to his navel. A few of the other men, notably Nikos and Babis when they are not wearing suits, also tend to go for this look.

* OutlivingOnesOffspring: When the show starts, Katerina has already outlived her daughter. By the end, [[spoiler: she has also outlived her grand-daughter and great-grandson. Haldane also ends up outliving his daughter, who he never told ''was'' his daughter.]]

* RacistGrandma: Katerina, whose undying hatred of Haldane stems not so much from the fact that he got her daughter pregnant (which is bad enough, given her very traditional outlook on life) but from the fact that he's a foreigner. She deliberately ensured that none of Haldane's letters reached Melina, who therefore believed that he had abandoned her. She takes this even further with Annika, stating that she disliked her husband because he was from Athens, not Crete. Her disapproval of Petros has a lot to do with the fact that he has left Crete to work in Athens.

* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: Duncan Neve is [[spoiler: wanted for murdering his wife]] back in England, but it turns out that [[spoiler: she had a terminal illness and he killed her with a drug overdose to end her suffering]]. On learning of this, Haldane is very reluctant to [[spoiler: help Len and the Major arrest the man, first refusing to tell them where Neve is, and then going to warn him and offer to help him hide somewhere even less conspicuous than the remote village where he lives. Neve refuses, declaring that he always knew that the law would eventually catch up with him]].
* SecretKeeper: Babis, who knows the truth about Elena's parentage but reluctantly respects Haldane's wish to not tell her. Although he was this before Haldane came along, as he's her godfather and always knew who her real father was, but never told her. He does not know that Katerina also knows this, even though the two interact and often talk of Elena and her family.
* SeriousBusiness: This being Crete, blood feuds are treated thusly. As the Major explains to Haldane, the police are well aware that they go on and are powerless to stop them. If someone does get killed, it will be treated as murder and investigated accordingly, although most if not all of the witnesses will BeAsUnhelpfulAsPossible.

** The title is an allusion to [[TheFerryman Charon]]. When Mateos switches from trying to drive Haldane out of Crete to trying to kill him, he sends him a note with two coins. The note simply reads: "For Charon".

* StayInTheKitchen: Katerina has lived her life by this trope and strongly disapproves of her daughter (Annika) and grand-daughter (Elena) running their own businesses. Changing attitudes towards the role of women are explored in some depth, as the fact that Elena owns the taverna is the main source of tension between her and Nikos, who was raised to believe in this trope but is struggling to accept that reality has changed. Even so, Elena appears to be the one who does most of the cooking in the taverna.

** Thd biggest example is Katerina, who pushes Mateos to kill Haldane, resulting in [[spoiler: the deaths of Elena, Nikos and Alexis]]. Going further back, by ensuring that Melina never received Haldane's letters back during the war, she's the one who kick-starts the whole story.

she and her brother bring an end to it by publicly denouncing it.
** The main one, though, is Katerina's undying hatred of Haldane because he got her daughter pregnant (which has as much if not more to do with him being a foreigner than anything concerning family honour). Since she does not explain this to her surviving children (one of whom is in love with Haldane), neither of them are interested in continuing the feud, dismissing their mother's feelings as a case of irrational hatred.

* {{Filler}}: The second and sixth episodes come across as this due to their focus on one-shot characters, although we do have the development of Haldane's relationship with Annika and his growing friendship with Elena and Nikos occurring in the background. To modern audiences, the dancing sequences (featuring extras recruited locally to add to the atmosphere) may come across as this.

* GoodSamaritan: Haldane is prone to helping out strangers in need, especially outsiders. Tony Viglis and Duncan Neve both get put up in his (actually Babis's) house after sustaining injuries, and he charges neither of them for his hospitality. Neve is decidedly less grateful; Haldane admits to Annika that he only lets him stay because he finds him interesting, being curious as to why an Englishman should have chosen to live in a very remote part of Crete.

* HumbleHero: Haldane does not mention his wartime exploits much, to the point where Elena and Nikos only find out that he was Leandros, a hero whose deeds are still spoken of locally, from a fisherman who refuses to take money for the old ''caique'' because it's Leandros who wants to buy it, and he would not dream of taking money from him.

* InternalReveal: In the final scene, [[spoiler: Annika finally learns the truth about Haldane. What she says implies that she is happy to continue their relationship, and the show ends with a montage of the pair of them enjoying each other's company.]]
* {{Jerkass}}: Mateos, big time. Also Duncan Neve.

** The happy atmosphere between Haldane, Annika, Elena, Nikos and Alexis in the seventh episode [[turns to tragedy when Elena, Nikos and Alexis are killed in a car crash on the way home]].
** As a result of the above, the eighth and final episode has a very different tone.

* RayOfHopeEnding: The series ends with [[spoiler: Elena, Nikos, Alexis dead, Katerina paralysed and Haldane badly injured. Further to that, Mateos and his brother killed a man while on the run before being killed themselves. Additionally, Annika learns that her lover is her niece's biological father — which Haldane had feared would end their relationship if she ever found out. Rather than reject Haldane, though, she makes it clear that she wishes to continue their relationship.]]

** Tony Viglis's main problem is that by [[DueToTheDead trying to respect his late grandfather's dying wish]], he unknowingly walks straight into one. As this particular feud involves Annika's family, she and her brother bring an end to it by publicly denouncing it.

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: The Major comes across as this, especially in the eighth episode. Babis, in his capacity as a lawyer, also counts as one of these.

* ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules: Annika and her brother Petros angrily denounce the blood feud that's preventing Tony Viglis from burying his grandfather, thereby ending the feud. This is despite the fact that their mother had threatened to disinherit them if they did so.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Haldane gives a blistering one to Annika after she does nothing to stop the villagers from attacking Viglis on account of a feud that goes back decades. Ultimately, this causes her to reconsider her actions. In the final episode, Annika tops that by delivers a devastating one to [[spoiler: her mother]] after learning of [[spoiler: the part she played in the deaths of Elena, Nikos and Alexis.\\
-->'''Annika''': You are a wicked, evil woman! A murderess! A stench in the nostrils of God! Remember that when you stand before Him!]]

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Haldane gives a blistering one to Annika after she does nothing to stop the villagers from attacking Viglis on account of a feud that goes back decades. Ultimately, this causes her to reconsider her actions. In the final episode, Annika tops that by delivers a devastating one to [[spoiler: her mother]] after learning of [[spoiler: the part she played in the deaths of Elena, Nikos and Alexis.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Haldane gives a blistering one to Annika after she does nothing to stop the villagers from attacking Viglis on account of a feud that goes back decades. Ultimately, this causes her to reconsider her actions.
** In the final episode, Annika tops that by delivers a devastating one to [[spoiler: her mother]] after learning of [[spoiler: the part she played in the deaths of Elena, Nikos and Alexis.]]
[[spoiler:-->'''Annika''': You are a wicked, evil woman! A murderess! A stench in the nostrils of God! Remember that when you stand before Him!]]

[[spoiler:--->'''Annika''': You are a wicked, evil woman! A murderess! A stench in the nostrils of God! Remember that when you stand before Him!]]

-->'''Haldane''': The scars we made are healed.\\
-->'''Annika''': Some of them, perhaps.

** In the final episode, Annika tops that by delivers a devastating one to [[spoiler: her mother]] after learning of [[spoiler: the part she played in the deaths of Elena, Nikos and Alexis.\\
--->'''Annika''': You are a wicked, evil woman! A murderess! A stench in the nostrils of God! Remember that when you stand before Him!]]

-->'''Annika''': Men have died in battle a lot on Crete. Women and children too. This is an island of slaughter.
''[slightly later]''
-->'''Haldane''': The scars we made are healed.

* EvilMatriarch: Katerina Matakis, the elderly mother of Melina and Annika, who can never forgive Leandros for getting the former pregnant. She intercepted his letters to Melina and let her believe that he had abandoned her. Although she acts in a very controlling way towards her two surviving children, Annika and Petros, it's clear that she doesn't have as much power over them as she used to. Having failed to turn Annika against Haldane after he returns, she co-opts Mateos into her schemes and manipulates him into trying to kill Haldane.

* FeudingFamilies: Plenty, what with much of the series being set in rural Crete, where blood feuds used to be fairly common.

** The main one, though, is Katerina's undying hatred of Haldane because he got her daughter pregnant. Since she does not explain this to her surviving children (one of whom is in love with Haldane), neither of them are interested in continuing the feud, dismissing their mother's feelings as a case of irrational hatred.

* {{Filler}}: The second and sixth episodes come across as this due to their focus on one-shot characters, although we do have the development of Haldane's relationship with Annika and his growing friendship with Elena and Nikos occurring in the background.

** Later, in a more downplayed example, we see Haldane visiting Melina's grave and leaving his wartime photo of her there. At the end, [[spoiler, he and Annika visit Melina's grave]].