History Series / WhodunnitUK

** In "Which Eye Jack", the foppish pirate captain Captain Ginger uses a quizzing glass.

* OneSteveLimit: Used as a RedHerring in "All Part of the Service" where the suspects include a woman named Leslie and and another named Lesley.

* TheKillerWasLeftHanded: The killer being left-handed is an important clue in [[spoiler:"Pop Goes the Weasel"]]. In an ironic twist, several of the panelists picked up the fact that the killer must be left-handed, but then completely failed to identify which characters were left-handed, resulting in three of them naming a completely innocent ''right-handed'' suspect as the murderer, because they all thought he was left-handed, except one who chose them '' despite'' knowing they were right-handed, to the bafflement of host Jon Pertwee.

* BluffTheImpostor: The panellists sometimes bait suspects by asking them questions that a ''real'' member of [Profession X] could answer immediately, forgetting that they're just actors ''playing'' members of [Profession X]. For example, in "The Art of Theft", Kingsley Amis asks art experts Pierre Legrand and Royce Turner if [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesco_Guardi Francesco Guardi]] is considered a member of the Tuscan or Umbrian school. As Conrad Phillips and Sydney Bromley, the actors playing Legrand and Turner, visibly have no idea who Guardi was, they claim that he absorbed elements of both; Amis then says the correct answer is neither (he was from the Venetian school) and lists this among his reasons for suspecting Legrand of being the thief. [[spoiler:Which he is, but not for the reasons Amis claims.]]

** In "The Rajah's Ruby", we see [[spoiler:StageMagician the Great Maestro appear to accidentally-on-purpose drop the ruby and then, with a bit of sleight of hand, replace it with a fake while he slips the real ruby into his jacket pocket; meanwhile, his fellow music hall performer Jillian Hampshire appears to use her compact to watch the Maharajah select the new combination for the safe in which he is storing the ruby]]. They are among the moments the panel ask to see again, but they only ''look'' suspicious; neither one has anything to do with the solution.

* TheCameo: "A Piece of Cake" features two special guest appearances: ''This Is Your Life'' presenter Eamonn Andrews as a drunk, inept waiter, and ''Opportunity Knocks'' emcee Hughie Green as a nightclub bandleader. Jon Pertwee says at the end of the film that neither of them had anything to do with the murder.

* EveryoneIsASuspect: In every episode every character in the episode apart from the VictimOfTheWeek and (sometimes) the investigators is a viable suspect. Subverted in [[spoiler: "Fly Me, I'm Dead"]] where the investigator was the murderer.

* GetIntoJailFree: [[spoiler:In "Diamonds Are Almost Forever", one of thieves arranges to be caught red-handed stealing the diamonds so he will spend the night in jail. This is part of the plan to destroy the remaining evidence when the diamonds disappear from the police safe overnight.]]

* OhWaitThisIsMyGroceryList: Done (apparently as a spur-of-the-moment gag) on "Too Many Cooks". When Creator/JonPertwee is collecting the cards from the panelists, he takes Anouska Hempel's and starts to read "Take two teaspoons of sugar...? This is a recipe!" and playfully baffs her on the back of the head with it. A giggling Anouska then hands him the card with her real guess on it.

* PoliticallyIncorrectHero: "Nothing to Declare" features both a black panellist and black cast member, who are made the subject of puns about their ethnicity by '' Love Thy Neighbour'' actor Jack Smethurst, to their obvious discomfort.

* RunningGag: Patrick Mower, who during his years on the show starred in two different police procedural tv shows (''Special Branch'' and ''Target''), calling out actors playing the police in the ShowWithinAShow about obvious errors in police procedure or evidence handling. This became a plot point in [[spoiler: "Fly Me, I'm Dead", when his knowledge of prisoner transport helped him work out that the police detective was actually a criminal who'd killed his police escort in order to temporarily steal his identity and escape.]]

* VideoWills: In "No Happy Returns", the VictimOfTheWeek of the makes a film stating that if dies, he will have been murdered by one of the members of his board. The film is not found until 25 years after his murder.

Each week it featured a short murder-mystery drama enacted in front of a panel of celebrity guests who then had to establish who the murderer was. Anouska Hempel and Patrick Mower became permanent panelists from series 3 onwards, with two guest celebrities each episode. In series 5, Liza Goddard replaced Anouska Hempel as a permanent panelist. The panel members could interview the remaining characters, with the only clue being that only the murderer could lie. Each panelist could also request to see a short replay of one section of the initial drama, which would often include events as they occurred and flashbacks as seen and narrated by individual suspects. (The video technology used at the time meant that it usually took a few minutes to set up each replay.)

** In "Beware Wet Paint!", ''everyone'' including the investigator stands up, to the audible surprise of regular Anoushka Hempel, only for the innocent parties to sit down a few moments later.

It was created and written by comic actor Lance Percival and writer Jeremy Lloyd (author of Series/ItAintHalfHotMum, Series/AlloAllo and so on) so there was a fair amount of comedy leveaning the murders.

It was created and written by comic actor Lance Percival and producer John Lloyd (later to produce Series/{{Blackadder}}, Series/{{QI}} and so on) so there was a fair amount of comedy leveaning the murders.

** In "Adieu Monsieur Chips", the primary investigator is the bungling head of security for the Monte Carlo casino who has more than a touch of [[Franchise/ThePinkPanther Inspector Clouseau]] about him. Host Creator/JonPertwee notes that he is still clueless about the killer's identity even after it has been revealed.

* ItIsPronouncedTroPAY: "Death at the Top" features a suspect named Ian Cockburn, pronounced 'Coburn'. Host Creator/JonPertwee gets some humour out of panelist Patrick Mower pronouncing the surname as it is spelled.

* EpisodeOnAPlane: "Nothing to Declare". While all of the questioning takes place in the airport, all of the flashbacks are set on the airliner.

* EveryoneIsASuspect: In every episode every character in the episode apart from the VictimOfTheWeek and (sometimes) the investigators is a viable suspect.
** Subverted in [[spoiler: "Fly Me, I'm Dead"]] where the investigator was the murderer.

** In "The Art of Theft", the inspector is handed a portrait of a nude woman and promptly rotates it, [[spoiler: possibly as a clue to the viewers that the painting's orientation was key- the genuine painting was inserted into a bag one way, but was removed differently, indicating that it was switched with another bag containing a forgery.]]

* INeverSaidItWasPoison: One of the ways a murderer can give themselves away. For example, in "Portrait in Black", the killer knew the subject of the photo the VictimOfTheWeek had been developing in his darkroom when he was murdered, despite the photo being completely overexposed when the body was found.
** In "Beware Wet Paint!", [[spoiler: one of the two cameramen]] says "only one man hated [the victim] enough to put a dagger in him", but the head of security interrogating them had never mentioned the murder weapon was a dagger. Only he and the floor manager saw the body in full- thus indicating [[spoiler: said cameraman]] was involved in the murder.

* ShoutOut: When ''Series/LoveThyNeighbour'' castmates Nina Baden-Semper and Jack Smethurst were on the panel for "Nothing to Declare", Jack, having already said that he was sure he'd seen porter Sam Austin (Edward Sinclair) in ''Series/DadsArmy'' (as Mr Yeatman, the Verger) for the past seven years, then followed the revelation that young Sally Gray was possibly the product of an extramarital affair involving fellow suspect Mr Campbell by quipping, "The moral of that incident appears to be: Love thy neighbour, but don't get caught."
** Later in the same episode, in response to Patrick Mower's request for one final question, Jon Pertwee asks Frank Thornton, here playing inspector Gerald Harvey, "are you free, Mr Harvey?", in reference to his catchphrase as Captain Peacock in '' Series/AreYouBeingServed''.

* HeadTiltinglyKinky: In "A Bad Sign", a photographer hands the inspector a bundle of photos being used to blackmail one of the suspects. The inspector looks at the first photo and turns it almost completely around before the photographer reaches out and turns it back the way he originally had it.

* YouMightRememberMeFrom: Jon Pertwee opens his first episode as host with "Welcome to a new series of Whodunnit? Or, if you prefer it, Doctor Whodunnit?", alluding to his role as the Third Doctor in '' Doctor Who''.

* ValuesDissonance: "Nothing to Declare" features both a black panellist and black cast member, who are made the subject of puns about their ethnicity by '' Love Thy Neighbour'' actor Jack Smethurst, to their obvious discomfort.

* TheKillerWasLeftHanded: The killer being left-handed is an important clue in [[spoiler:"Pop Goes the Weasel"]]. In an ironic twist, several of the panelists picked up the fact that the killer must be left-handed, but then completely failed to identify which characters were left-handed, resulting in three of them naming a completely innocent ''right-handed'' suspect as the murderer, because they all thought he was left-handed.

An American adaptation briefly ran on Creator/{{NBC}} in 1979.

* BitterAlmonds: In "Dead Ball", the detective detects the smell of bitter almonds on the lips of the VictimOfTheWeek and declares him a victim of cyanide poisoning.

* BaitAndSwitch: There were several episodes in which TheReveal of whodunnit involved one or more characters moving as if to stand up, or even actually standing up, only to either be told to sit down again by the true culprit or gesture to the true culprit to stand up. Just to five a few examples:

* BaitAndSwitch: There were several episodes in which TheReveal of whodunnit involved one or more characters moving as if to stand up, or even actually standing up, only to either be told to sit down again by the true culprit or gesture to the true culprit to stand up. For example, in "A Piece of Cake", when Jon Pertwee tells the real whodunnit to make themselves known, [[spoiler:James]] begins to stand up, but is told to sit down again by [[spoiler:Eric]], who is revealed to be the real murderer.