Line #41 Series/TheBrokenwoodMysteries


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bwm_crop.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Kristin, Mike, Sam, and Mike's [[TheAllegedCar Holden Kingswood]]]]
3	New Zealand [[DetectiveDrama Detective Drama]] (2014-) set in the fictional town of [[{{Barsetshire}} Brokenwood]]. Detective Senior Sergeant Mike Shepherd is sent to investigate a mysterious death and decides to take a demotion to settle down in the quiet, rural backwater. Working alongside him on cases are [[ActionGirl Det. Kristin Sims]] and [[ButtMonkey D.C. Sam Breen]], who help piece together the surprisingly frequent (and oftentimes grisly) murders in town. 36 episodes have aired as of 2022.
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5	The show is also shown in the UK on the Drama channel, where, due to the sheer number of murders in a small rural area, it is often compared to ''Series/MidsomerMurders'', as seen by the quote on the page image.
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7	!!Contains examples of
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9	* AbhorrentAdmirer:
10	** KindheartedSimpleton Frodo to Kimberly: "I'm not his girlfriend!" She isn't the only one he's had thoroughly unreciprocated feelings for, and every object of his affections pities his plight.
11	** In one episode, an idiotic embalmer pursues Gina. She rebuffs him until he breaks into her workplace and summons her there under false pretenses by pretending to be a corpse. She panickedly beats him with her clipboard. The next day, Kristin tells him never to contact Gina again.
12	* TheAllegedCar: Mike's beloved [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holden_Kingswood Holden Kingswood]] is an original, which is a distinctly different category from mint condition.
13	* AmoralAttorney: There is no-one Dennis Buchanan will not try to smarm out of the police station.
14	* AnimalThemeNaming: The bars in Brokenwood have paired-animal theme names - The Frog and Cheetah, the Toad and Lion, and the Snake and Tiger.
15	* AssholeVictim: Usually the case. Assholery ranges from being a bully to defrauding the elderly.
16	* BackForTheDead: Tania, the wit-pro woman from the first series, appears again at the end of the seventh because she wants to secure protection for her children [[spoiler:after she dies of cancer.]]
17	* BeAsUnhelpfulAsPossible: Suspects, or even just interviewees who aren't suspects, have a problem with telling the detectives the full story/truth when asked to. Pretty much every interviewee will have to give multiple statements because the original ones weren't accurate.
18	* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: One adrenaline-addicted murderer, upon being confronted by Mike mid-flight, jumps to certain death from the plane instead of being taken into custody.
19	* BritishBrevity: Series 1-6 have four episodes apiece, while 7-8 expand to a whopping six episodes.
20	* CallBack: Many characters who are involved with one case will appear awhile later tied to a completely different one, and the relevant details of their previous appearance(s) will be referenced.
21	* CaughtUpInARobbery: One episode begins with StupidCrooks robbing a bank while {{Recurring\|Character}} BrawnHilda, Trudy Neilson, is waiting in line to deposit her bar's earnings. One of the robbers steals her money bag, only for her to chase him down, break his arm, and get her money back.
22	* ChristmasEpisode: A very Christmas-spirited murder of the mayor, discovered after the annual Christmas parade, occurs in one episode.
23	* CityWithNoName: The city that characters go to on occasion is never given a name. It's only ever "the city."
24	* CozyMystery: Often [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] - despite taking place in a small community, murderers and victims and suspects often have very ... ''interesting'' ... secrets.
25	* CrammingTheCoffin: Rather than two corpses in one coffin, one episode's victim is found in someone else's coffin, with the original body nowhere to be found.
26	* DramaticIncontinence: In "The Power of Steam", Chloe unexpectedly wets herself in the middle of a music festival, just before the BodyOfTheWeek is found. The investigation reveals that [[spoiler:the murderer [[TamperingWithFoodAndDrink drugged her drink]] with a diuretic in hopes of [[CampingACrapper killing her in the toilet]].]]
27	* EagleEyeDetection: Both Mike and Kristin are constantly spotting small, seemingly irrelevant details - he normally spots things, while she is better at spotting people's actions and reactions.
28	* EatTheEvidence: In one episode, recipients of a letter are told to do this. They readily comply, much to the chagrin of the detectives.
29	* EccentricMillionaire: One man who gained his wealth through his family's dog food empire would hire a prostitute to stick her foot in a pile of sand and let him pretend to excavate it like an archaeologist. He also got Cushla to write a whole novel about his nonexistent archaeological expeditions, and during lecture breaks at the Brokenwood Museum would sneak into the ocean-themed room to listen to music while donning their displayed [[CreepyOldFashionedDivingSuit diving suit]]. Though his eccentricities made him seem suspect, he turns out to be harmless.
30	* ElectionDayEpisode: When the long-time mayor is found dead in the lead up to a mayoral election, all the candidates become suspects.
31	* ElectrifiedBathtub: The body of Mike's favorite singer, Holly Collins, is found in her hotel bathtub with her plugged-in electric guitar.
32	* EurekaMoment: Almost every episode, generally by Mike.
33	* EveryoneIsASuspect: Usually many of the episode's cast have means, motive, and opportunity.
34	* FairPlayWhodunnit: All the information is presented (the later series being better at this), but sometimes it's concealed within other clues.
35	* {{Fauxreigner}}: Happens twice.
36	** The first passed himself off as an Irish poet, only to be revealed as a Kiwi who changed his identity to cover up a [[spoiler:statuatory rape]] charge.
37	** The second passed himself off as an EccentricArtist from Spain that turned out to be a Kiwi panelbeater (much to his friend's shock). He'd been doing his Spanish shtick for long enough that phrases slip into his reverted Kiwi self.
38	* FoundFamilyViaWork: Perhaps it's on account of the detectives not having families of their own, but Mike, Kristin, and Sam hang out together off-duty. This includes Kristin being Mike's platonic plus-one to a wedding and the three of them sharing Christmas dinner together at the station.
39	* FrightDeathtrap: Seems the case when a man dies upon exiting a scary ride at the A&P Show. [[spoiler:He was injected with poison during the ride.]]
40	* TheGhost: Breen's girlfriend Roxy always has something else on.
41	* GuiltyUntilSomeoneElseIsGuilty: Every episode has an 'obvious' but incorrect suspect, and usually a few less obvious, but equally incorrect, ones.
42	* HuntingAccident:
43	** [[FirstAppearance The episode that introduces Frodo]] involves a stag do gone wrong, as the groom-to-be is shot to death.
44	** An animal rights activist is shot during the first day of duck hunting season, right in the middle of where everyone is taking their first shot. Unfortunately for Frodo, this is the first time he's picked up a gun since his friend's stag do shooting. He doesn't cope well.
45	* IDidntMeanToKillHim: Is the case sometimes, including the one where recurring character [[spoiler:Trudy]] is the culprit.
46	* ImmoralJournalist: As long as it drives sales of the newspaper, Cushla will print anything. This includes a close-up of a murder victim as the front page photo.
47	* InjuredLimbEpisode: One episode sidelines Mike after he breaks his leg. He does his best to participate anyway.
48	* ItRunsInTheFamily: It turns out that stupidity runs in the Oades family. Compared to his brother and cousin, Frodo is a genius.
49	* TheMainCharactersDoEverything: It's a small town, but the only people who ever do anything on a case are the four main cast members.
50	* MotiveRant: Happens at least once, where the murderer explains his crimes just as he's about to kill who he thinks is the final witness. (It's actually Kristin in disguise.)
51	* MurderByInaction: One victim died in an out-of-control live fire drill. The person who was supposed to save him ultimately decided not to, despite having firefighting gear prepared.
52	* MurderByMistake: One episode's murderer intended to MurderTheHypotenuse, only for his mentor to become the victim by inadvertently entering the prepared death trap instead.
53	* MysteryMagnet: Well, more Murder Magnet. In a town with such a tiny population, there are a LOT of murders - and each conveniently confined to a previously unmentioned niche in Brokenwood's cultural hodgepodge.
54	* MysteryOfTheWeek: Hardly surprising, given the episodic format. There are almost no meta-episode arcs beyond recurring cast members.
55	* NeverOneMurder: About one third of the episodes feature multiple deaths - sometimes historic ones.
56	* NeverSuicide: Not yet, anyway.
57	* NeverTheObviousSuspect: Well, except once, and even then the murderer had a cast-iron alibi, appearing on CCTV in a garage miles away.
58	* OncePerEpisode: Mrs. Marlowe shows up to chat with the detectives, and in doing so offers a useful detail about the people involved in the case.
59	* PreserveYourGays: Rev. Greene gets knocked out by a door and worryingly lands in the hospital. In the following series, his husband Roger avoids a murder attempt that even the doctors are surprised he survived, as the attempted murderer tried to kill him with carbon monoxide.
60	* PrisonEpisode: A prisoner's murder sees a couple of culprits from previous episodes make a return as having lived in the same wing as the victim.
61	* PrivateProfitPrison: Brokenwood Women's is shown to be this. Corners are cut regarding security measures so that shareholders save money.
62	* ProfoundByPopSong: Mrs. Marlowe offers words of encouragement to Trudy [[spoiler:after her release from prison.]] While it makes sense for Trudy to expect a little old lady to be quoting Literature/TheBible, Mrs. Marlowe is a CoolOldLady with a love of classic rock.
63	-->'''Trudy Neilson:''' But wild horses couldn't drag me back to that place.\
64	'''Mrs. Marlowe:''' That's the attitude. And to paraphrase a favorite verse of mine, "Walking side by side with temptation, the Devil mocks their every step."\
65	'''Trudy Neilson:''' Is that the Old Testament?\
66	'''Mrs. Marlowe:''' No. Music/LedZeppelin. True poets of the golden age of hard rock.
67	* PsychoLesbian: Revealed to be the murderer in two different episodes, the second of which features the first psycho lesbian as a returning character.
68	* PutOnAPrisonBus: With very few exceptions. Notable for combining this with TheBusCameBack for a case that takes place in the local women's prison.
69	* PuzzleThriller: Most episodes require the actual sequence of events to be carefully unpicked by the detectives.
70	* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Area Commander Hughes is always ready to assist or let Mike have his head during investigations.
71	* RedHerring: More than you'd find in a communist fishmonger's.
72	* {{Retirony}}: One episode's victim is a bank manager who is killed not just on the day of his retirement, but in the room where his staff had been preparing a party for him.
73	* RunningGag: Kristin's inability to make a decent cup of coffee. Breen's parting words [[PutOnABus to his replacement]] were not to let her ever make the coffee.
74	* SecretlyDying: The detective whose position Mike takes over had not revealed his terminal diagnosis to his colleagues.
75	* SerialSpouse: Mike, and his (at least) three ex-wives. Recurring character Jools Fahey is always married to or seeing someone new each time she appears.
76	* SickbedSlaying: Attempted on [[spoiler:Jared]] after the initial murder attempt failed. Happens again with [[spoiler:Roger Plummer]] in the eighth season, which is luckily interrupted by a nurse. Both attempts involve a VorpalPillow.
77	* StarCrossedLovers: One victim is discovered to have been in a decades-long relationship with the son of [[FeudingFamilies her family's hated enemy]], though they kept up appearances outwardly.
78	* StupidCrooks: The bank robbery episode features a group of bumbling robbers who manage to be recognized and tracked down quite quickly.
79	* TheSummation: Frequently takes place in the police station interview room as a pile of damning evidence is dumped in front of the murderer.
80	* SummationGathering: At least once per series.
81	* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: When young, good-looking, Māori Jared is not around in Series 4, he is replaced by young, good-looking Māori Kahu, who just so happens to be Jared's cousin.
82	* SympatheticMurderer: Happens in a couple episodes, such as one where the murderer killed her sexual predator husband to protect her female employees.
83	* TakenOffTheCase: Breen is sidelined for a case where the victim is his own rugby coach. When Mike and Kristin pay him a visit at his house, they discover that his time away has been taken up by gaming and Roxy's insistence that he repaint their house. Mike calls in Hughes to interview Breen and confirm that there is no conflict of interest before he's allowed back on the case (finally letting him escape doing more home improvement).
84	* TakingTheHeat: Suspects covering for each other (like a daughter for her mother, or three sisters all confessing to a one-person crime) happens with some degree of regularity.
85	* TalkingToTheDead: Mike will almost always ask questions of the corpse when he first encounters it. This habit seems odd to Sims the first time she sees it, but she gets used to it.
86	* {{Tontine}}: The plot of one episode, as members of the tontine start dying under suspicious circumstances.
87	* TransatlanticEquivalent: To ''Series/MidsomerMurders''.
88	* {{Troll}}: A Māori man is part of an otherwise all-white golf advisory board. He joined for the sole purpose causing grief when they vote on things and has no actual interest in golf.
89	* WeDoNotKnowEachOther: Mike and Tania pretend to be strangers so as not to blow her witness-protection cover. Others realize that something's up but never figure out what.
90	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Gloria Ginsberg was introduced in S2E1 and developed further in S2E3 and S2E4 as a potential love interest for Mike, sharing his interest in theatre and love of country and western music, but vanished part way through her last episode and was never seen again. Unless [[AbhorrentAdmirer Gina Kandinsky]] knows otherwise ...

Context Series / TheBrokenwoodMysteries