History Headscratchers / HotFuzz

* How on earth did the N.W.A. explain away the deaths of all those underage kids at the pub? Wouldn't more parents be up in arms and distraught over all of their kids having "accidents" at the same time? I mean, the rest of the movie I absolutely love and I know I shouldn't think about it too hard, but I can't help but wonder how they could dispatch all those teenagers and ''nobody noticed''.
** It's not any more unlikely than the other ''dozens of murders'' the N.W.A. committed.
** Yes but how come the police didn't investigate those "accidents" like they did the others? That's the part that just bugs me, I mean if everyone in town knows about the deaths of Eve Draper, George Merchant, Leslie Tiller, etc, wouldn't the death of all those teenagers at the same time at least be noted by the police?

** It's equally (or even more) likely that [[spoiler:some people in Sandford knew, if not of the whole conspiracy, that something horribly wrong was behind the seemingly idyllic façade, but were too terrified of ending up victims of more "accidents"]]. Proof would be that [[spoiler:N.W.A. members kept hidden firearms ready to use, as we see when the FinalBattle breaks out, to strengthen their silent reign of terror. And, did you notice that on that day, when the judges for the "Best Village" contest were to come, barely anybody beside the N.W.A. was out on the streets?]]

* On a similar note: Why kill the underage drinkers in the first place? The couple owning the pub knew that they were underage and let them in regardless. This was explained as being for the greater good, because at least when they are in the pub they won't loiter around in the streets. The pub is exactly where the N.W.A. ''wanted'' the kids to be, so why kill them for it?

** The way I see it, far from lightening the shade of grey they occupy it actually just further exposes what nasty little hypocrites the N.W.A. fundamentally are. They're quite happy to take the money of people contrary to their vision of a perfect shiny happy community, but when they no longer benefit from it they use their self-righteousness as an excuse to murder them. Those kids would also have been less likely to be causing trouble after being expelled from the pub if they hadn't been drinking in it in the first place. Or alternatively, they're grooming future victims; the pub would have to close and those kids stop drinking and get kicked out sometime even if Angel hadn't been there, and they'd be just as likely to cause trouble that would attract the attention of the N.W.A. later rather than sooner (perhaps more so, since they'd be even drunker). Not to mention that even if we accept the above as true, their annoyance at Angel for making new victims didn't actually stop them from killing those victims; if they were that upset over the prospect of having to murder those kids they could, you know, not murder those kids. It's hardly anything to laud them over. It's more likely (to me, anyway) that they're annoyed because they've lost a good night's income and maybe have a bit more work to do in cleaning up the village and couldn't give a toss about the safety of those kids.
** Another theory is that the pub owners didn't want to kill them and may even have planned to take them home after they closed. It would be a very bad idea if they chased after the kids after Nicholas chased them out though (that would give people a chance to rob them which would look worse than urinating in public or make the owners look like creepers). It's a stretch, but it is possible that the owners weren't the ones who reported the drunken teenagers to the N.W.A. (Nicholas did that for them) and that they didn't want the kids to die. However, their look of anger seems to be disconnected from what they know is going to happen to those kids. They look more annoyed than the "Oh God, kids could die for this" kind of look you would expect. Furthermore, it may be possible that they didn't want to help the kids once Nicholas kicked them out because that would be contrary to what the N.W.A. wants. If N.W.A. members are saving troublemakers from the N.W.A., it would look like a betrayal and the offending members would suffer "accidents." Just look at Tiller. If true, this still makes the pub owners look like selfish sociopaths.
** Alternatively, they could have killed the underage drinkers because they were ''caught.'' Having an epidemic of underage drinking would look bad in the crime statistics, but it wouldn't have to be reported if the perpetrators simply disappeared after being let off with a "warning" rather than being properly processed. For a similar reason, the shoplifter also turns up dead: the N.W.A. don't object to petty criminals, but too many petty crimes making their village seem less than ideal. This also makes Nick Angel indirectly and unknowingly responsible for their deaths, since if he hadn't brought them in they wouldn't have needed to be killed.

** That's all fine and dandy, but the shoplifter wasn't processed or, if he was, the charges were dropped by Skinner himself. The crime would never had reached the Judicial Branch in that case. The underage drinkers, however, were caught on public property meaning charges would have to be pressed if they were still around. There was little reason for the N.W.A. to kill the shoplifter as everyone knows he was arrested (he run from the police in broad daylight) whereas they had plausible deniability with the kids. The mother, for one, would know her son was arrested from second-hand stories whereas the police and N.W.A. could have simply withheld the fact that the teenagers were arrested. It would seem very suspicious if a known criminal with family just up and disappeared from '''the police station'''. Hell, Skinner hires criminals. He could have put the shoplifter to work for him, albeit with little knowledge of their conspiracy, as "compensation." Not only that, but the shoplifter is Danny's cousin, remember? "Auntie Jackie's sister's brother's boy" according to Danny. How did Frank explain that to his family? They probably weren't involved in the conspiracy. Maybe the shoplifter's parents disowned him or were neglectful or maybe Frank just said he went to jail or that he ran away when he was "released." The major problem with the movie is that it doesn't explore how the killers made people disappear using the bureaucracy. It shows how they caused "accidents," but they don't show how people disappear. Surely someone would eventually just call the police for information on their arrested child and Frank can't be there to answer EVERY phone call and Weaver's busy spying on people. Calls would most likely be handled by the desk-jockeys (i.e., both Sgt. Turners, who would know next to nothing of the missing people [they weren't part of the conspiracy]). Someone would just get so fed by that they would call the British version of the FBI, the judicial system, the prison system, the local town administers like the mayor or governor, or, really, anyone other than the backwater police station that can't seem to get anything done. You could make the argument that the N.W.A. would make these people disappear, but how would they know who was reaching out for help elsewhere? Even if they could discover these people, killing them would just make MORE neighbors and family members suspicious who may then try to get outside help. I like the theory that the townsfolk are scared to speak up in this case. They may not know WHAT or WHO is causing these disappearances, but they would quickly notice that anyone who did talk about it vanished later on and that the police seem oblivious to it or that the police department was the major obstacle for their answer seeking. Or, you know, the movie is a parody and a comedy flick. It might just be that.

* Why did Danny feel the need to fake Nicholas' death if he had no idea the N.W.A. was murdering people? Just what did he think Nicholas was in trouble for? Just what did he think his dad was doing with all those people with clubs and pitchforks trying to kill Nicholas?
** Its pretty obvious that they were, y'know, trying to ''kill'' Angel, what with the knives and pitchforks. He knew he had to fake Angel's death in order to save him. The rest of it was obviously due to Danny being confused and uncertain as to what he should do with the NWA killing everyone; the fact that he immediately took up arms and joined Angel when he returned says he was wanting to stop them but was unable to do so on his own.

** Danny ''didn't'' put the ketchup packet in Nick's pocket ahead of time—just the notebook. He used the ketchup packet by palming it as he "stabbed" Nicholas, squeezing it to make the ketchup squirt out in the right direction. The significance of the notebook was that, because Danny put it in Nick's pocket himself, he knew it would be there to block the knife. (He had the ketchup with him, as he explains in one of the extras, because he usually carried a couple of packets in case he got a chance to perform his "signature trick.")
** I don't think so. I think it was actually the opposite scenario. Danny didn't know there was a conspiracy going on until he saw the mob. While he didn't realize what was going on, it was obvious that his neighbors were trying to kill Nick. I think that he didn't put the notebook there so he could stab it and fake Angel's death, but he stabbed it because he knew it was there from before. That meaning, he wasn't planning ahead when he placed the notebook, but was improvising when things looked to be going South. He gave Nicholas the notebook because it's part of his strict protocol, not because it would be a good shield. We didn't see what happened when Danny first showed up to the lynch attempt. Maybe one of the others called him down, saying Angel was going insane and trying to kill them. And even if that's not the case, simple improvisation was still possible. It just doesn't sink in that this wasn't a simple crime of passion, but a deliberate conspiracy to kill everyone who would stain the community. Who would be crazy enough to have that be their first conclusion? Danny didn't even know about the other victims until he pulled Nicholas out of the trunk and Danny's little show of "loyalty" to the N.W.A. (despite the fact that he had no idea what was going on), probably saved his life. Think of it from the N.W.A.'s point-of-view. The N.W.A. would know Danny would be confused, but from their perspective Danny killed the "outsider" without questioning anything and then volunteered to dump him somewhere. He looked to them as having chosen the community instead of an interloper and any doubts they expressed would surely get Frank pissed off at them (they just killed Tiller, you think Frank gave a crap about a few more bodies?) Frank would defend his son to the last and the rest of the N.W.A. would be smart enough to keep their damn mouths shut or else.

** I understood that Danny knew his father and the N.W.A. were capable of killing Nicholas, but he was trying to justify it because it was his dad. "This is a one time thing," "there's no other way," "he brought this on himself." He tried to tell himself Nicholas Angel was wrong, that his father had nothing to do with the accidents, and his persistence has made him a necessary evil that the N.W.A. had no choice but to kill--even though it would only take a small leap of logic to figure out that the only reason why Nicholas would be under attack from the N.W.A. was if they were involved in the murders he was investigating. In short; Danny is in denial, and trying to think of a way in which nobody he loves is a bad guy; his father is doing what needs to be done, and Nicholas is sadly mistaken.

** In terms of how much Danny knew and when, judging from his frantic conversation with Angel after getting him out of his car boot, he almost certainly wasn't aware of (or didn't want to believe) the full scale of what was going on until seeing his dad and the N.W.A. attacking his best friend. But it's possible -- perhaps likely -- that he's had some suspicions that the N.W.A wasn't just a glorified gardening-stroke-busybodies club for at least a little while. It would be much harder for Frank to keep his secret activities from his own son than the other officers simply by virtue of their having a closer relationship, so it's likely that Danny has noticed a few odd things going on with Frank and the N.W.A. -- an overheard conversation, Frank being unavailable at a time when he should be, maybe a glimpse of them in robes, that kind of thing. When Angel is confronting him Danny blurts out that his dad says it's been "just a rap on the knuckles," so it seems that he has been aware enough that things haven't been entirely on the up-and-up with Frank to raise the subject with him at some point, only to be fobbed off with the explanation that they've been acting a little "wild west" and going outside the law a bit to keep Sandford perfect. He just hasn't had the investigative tools or the desire to look deeper into it until Angel came along.
* How did Danny actually make the N.W.A. believe that he killed Nicolas? I understand that Nicolas believes it, he's in shock because he thinks that the Danny he knew was a lie and passed out for some minutes because of that. But wouldn't the N.W.A. make sure that he's ''really'' dead before letting Danny hide his body? At least they should have checked his breathing.

** Same reasons he rides in on a beautiful white horse wearing sunglasses, chewing a toothpick and packing enough heat to fight a small war; not only does it look cooler, it's also sending a pretty big "fuck you, I'm not scared of you tosspots, let's bring this shit ON" message to the N.W.A. members.

* I’m not that familiar with the structure and organization of the English police services, so I might be making a stupid mistake, but how could the London Metropolitan Police transfer Nicholas all the way to Sandford, in Gloucestershire? Wouldn’t that be like the NYPD transferring a police officer to somewhere in Ohio?

** Still doesn't explain from where Arthur Webley got his stash. It could be that the N.W.A. was providing him with the weapons as "gifts" or left them around for him to find. They could simply sneak in and take whatever they needed whenever they wanted. The stash being discovered would make Webley worthless to them and hence why is later found dead. But seriously? A sea mine? How the [[PrecisionFStrike fuck]] did he get that? Are they any where NEAR the ocean? Actually, it's just as likely that Arthur Webley was just that awesome.

* After Angel confronts the NWA at the church, and discovers all the corpses hidden in the catacombs (with enough space to hide a whole CARAVAN and still have room to spare), why does Danny stab Angel, pretending to kill him, and then take the body out of the village? They have no problem with dumping plenty of bodies in the catacombs, and have clearly been doing it for a decade at an absolute minimum. Why didn't they simply dump Angel's body in there with the others? It may simply be a plot-hole for the sake of having Angel leave and return triumphantly, but the N.W.A. believed Angel to be dead, and they opted to have Danny drive the body out of the village to dump it somewhere. Not only is this highly risky, but what is Danny's explanation for his care? The obvious answer is he burned his car with Angel's body in it, a usual tactic for disposing of evidence, but that's still a highly risky thing as anyone, from Sandford or not, could see the burned out car if that was indeed the plan all along.\\

So in short, why did they decide to take Angel's corpse out of the village, when they could have simply left it in the catacombs with the others? Angel is alive, but they don't know that, so Danny took the body out to help his friend escape, but that still doesn't explain why the N.W.A. agreed to this plan.

** [[spoiler:While the rest of the town might not be aware that the N.W.A. is killing everybody, I could still see the N.W.A. "nudging" them all to stay indoors and keep the peace while the judges are there, hence why it's only N.W.A. members outside.]]
** [[spoiler: Chances are, almost everyone not in or with the N.W.A. had already been killed.]]

** Actually, if you look closely during the fight, for most of it Lurch is trying to take on Angel in hand-to-hand, likely trying to subdue him so he can break his neck. It isn't until Angel proves to be a lot more than Lurch can handle with his bare hands that he resorts to the knife. That being said, the N.W.A. could easily have changed their cover story to go from "slipped and broke his neck" to "slipped and broke some glass that stabbed him in the heart."

** You forgot that the doctor that determines cause of death is a member of N.W.A., so he can write whatever cause they need and person who were supposed to find Angel was a member too.

* Don't you think that Angel is a bit too much attached to the police law? [[spoiler:During the climax he never shoot to kill. Considering all the monstrous mass murders the N.W.A. committed and their demented reasons don't you think Angel should have gone in a RoaringRampageOfRevenge?]]

** It also serves as a perfect refutation of the methods of the N.W.A., who went outside the law and became monsters; while his methods there are perhaps on the extreme side, Angel stays within the law and manages to bring them to justice, thus demonstrating that the system ultimately works.
** Exactly. Of course he's not shooting to kill--Angel believes in the law above all, and would want to bring the N.W.A. to justice. See his backstory, the bit about believing that upholding the law being something pure. Killing when there's a way to avoid it is exactly the sort of behaviour he would consider himself above.

** Nicholas Angel is basically Supercop. Of ''course'' he's such an awesome shot he knows exactly where and what he's shooting at to minimize the chance of fatalities. It's also worth pointing out that a lot of the time, he's not aiming directly at people; he's aiming at their ''surroundings'', and tactically using the terrain and objects around his targets to disable them as much as possible. In fact, if memory serves most of the actual N.W.A. members who get shot directly are in fact shot by Danny.

** That isn't Hatcher who confronts them at the end, it's the old chap monitoring the CCTV cameras from the N.W.A. office inside the station.

* Even if they had succeeded in killing Angel, how did the N.W.A. expect to explain away the town shot to hell? No way they'd win village of the year if there's people getting into shoot-outs.

* So if Martin Blower and Eve Draper are such godawful actors, then how are they getting these roles in the first place? You would think that whoever was holding the auditions would simply reject them for the parts or instead give them minor roles where their lack of acting skill would be less noticeable. Yet they were both somehow chosen to play the lead roles in Romeo and Juliet?! I know the N.W.A. members are all bonkers, but you would think that the first solution to the problem would be to try and make sure neither of them land any major parts rather than jumping straight to murder.

[[folder:N.W.A.'s Timing]]
* I never understood why the N.W.A. waited until mere days before the Village of the Year judges arrived to, as Frank said, "get everything ready." George Merchant is probably the best example. Presumably, he's been living in that house for a while, and it had become apparent to the N.W.A. a long time ago that he wasn't going to change it. They had a year to take care of him. Why blow up his house so close to the judging, and give themselves minimal time to clean up the smoldering, rubble-filled crater that would surely hurt their chances of winning?
* Similarly, Martin and Eve have had to have been in rehearsal for some time. The N.W.A. could have got word that their acting was terrible, taken them out early and replaced them in the show. Not only would the play have had better reviews, but the N.W.A. wouldn't have risked the judges seeing the wrecked car/sign and Martin and Eve's blood all over the road before they've had time to tidy up.

* Y'know, one thing always bugged me about the N.W.A.'s hypocrisy. They want to kill people in the name of keeping their city prim and proper, right? If so, why did the N.W.A. let Tina the table dancer live? Again, Tina also worked part time as a table dancer. So why was that accepted by the N.W.A.?
** Good question. Maybe Tina did her table dancing in a nearby city rather than the town (Sandford doesn't seem like the type of location for a place called "Flappers"), so the N.W.A. weren't too worried about it affecting the judging.

** The N.W.A. would not be the first nor the last oppressive organisation to make hypocritical exceptions for people within their direct orbit if they are related or otherwise useful; Tina's not exactly in the inner circle, but given how the supermarket employees are clearly demonstrated to act as Skinner's goons in the final battle we can safely assume that they have found some use for her which allows them to make an exception for her more unsavoury side. In any case, the lapdancing club is almost certainly not within Sandford itself (IIRC it's mentioned to be in a different town) so as long as it doesn't happen in the village they're probably willing turn a blind eye.
** Also, it's implied on a couple of occasions that Tina is someone with what the N.W.A. might describe as "[[ReallyGetsAround loose morals]]." It is not completely impossible that at least some of the ways that Tina makes herself "useful" to at least some of the members of the N.W.A are physical, if you catch the drift. They might not approve in public, but in private, well...
** They don't care about their town being prim and proper. They just want it to ''look'' prim and proper so they can get village of the year. They don't give tuppence about anyone's dirty laundry unless it gets aired publicly. A good example is the teenagers getting drunk at the pub. As it was pointed out in an above entry, only the ones who ended up getting booked later, and thus now had a public record, were disappeared by the N.W.A..

** Rule one for most criminals is never kill a cop as other cops tend to come after you. Even if it looks like an accident the county force will insist on an investigation which will expose the N.W.A.. Besides they might be incompetent but they don't do any damage and can't oppose the N.W.A., replacement coppers might not be so easy to subvert or subdue. Like say Sgt Angel who ultimately they have to kill unless they want to do life in prison. This turns out to be easier said than done.
** They are all thick as bricks and seem quite content to just lounge about the office all day, allowing the N.W.A. to basically run the town,if you were a murderous cult, who would you rather have "policing" the town? a bunch of imcompetant idiots or a squad of people like Angel?

*** I was referring to the fact that most of the Sanford police service are incompetent idiots, and I was wondering why that did not ruin the reputation. However, the other tropers do have good points that the N.W.A. wanted the Sanford police service to be incompetent on purpose so that the N.W.A. could literally get away with murder, the fact that replacement coppors might not be so easy to subvert or subdue, and some criminals' have a pragmatic rule to never kill a cop or else other cops typically come after them and the county force will insist on an investigation.

* Angel's supposed to be in great physical condition, and in the intro it even mentions that he won the 100 meter dash. So, how does a drugged up teenager and a group consisting of mostly old people in long black cloaks manage to outrun or catch up with him? I understand Skinner, because the movie flat out explains how. And I get the N.W.A. switched during the chase, but this doesn't explain Angel being outrun when it's a straight path. Nor does it explain how they're able to catch up to him in Sandford Castle.
** A lot of it can probably just come down to the fact that they all know the general area far better than Nicholas does. For the shoplifter, it's highly likely that he knew all the streets he was leading Angel down like the back of his hand whereas Angel was still fairly unfamiliar with the specifics. There's also absolutely nothing to indicate that he's any less fit than Angel is. And as for the N.W.A., if you watch the scene where he's chasing them all after Leslie's murder, you'll notice that Angel actually does come quite close to catching the one he's currently pursuing a few times...but then another takes over some distance away and he stops in confusion for a moment before carrying on. This happens at least twice before he eventually gives up clearly not understanding how he could have almost caught someone but then they've suddenly been able to jump ahead quite a way. Because he's firmly under the impression that he's only ever chasing one person, he never thinks to look around the area close by to see the one that's "tagged out"; as it stands, each individual N.W.A. member seems to have only had to run a couple of hundred metres at best before another took over (they've got at least 20 members to choose from, after all), and some like Skinner and the two actors are at a fitness level that could compensate for the more elderly members. And as for when they're up at the castle...again, they clearly know the layout of that place both above and below ground in a way that Angel just doesn't which would give them a natural advantage. Plus Angel is clearly increasingly in a state of panic from the moment Danny appears, getting worse as he falls into the catacombs and discovers all the bodies (including those of ''children'') and remains panicked until Danny "stabs" him; even if he did know the layout of the castle as well as the N.W.A. does, he'd not be in the best state to be choosing a rational exit route.

[[folder:Why didn't the N.W.A. kill P.I. Staker or the swan?]]

*** There are a number of cities in the UK where swans not only roam free but there are entire flocks of them. Swans are capable of breaking a person's arm; that doesn't mean they will just go into attack mode the instant they see a human being with no provocation. Like most creatures, swans will generally only attack if they perceive themselves to be in danger or else are protecting their young. The swan had no cygnets so that rules out the latter and as for the former...the swan is clearly agitated at several points when Angel and Danny are pursuing it throughout the film but it takes the entire film for it to attack. And why does it attack Frank but not Angel and/or Danny or anyone else? Probably because there's just been a shootout which would have stressed it significantly. It's also illegal to kill a swan in the UK since they're all technically owned by the Queen; given the average age of the N.W.A. members, it's probably fair to say that that fact alone would make them reluctant to kill the swan. Bottom line: the swan wasn't hurting anyone by roaming around and actually wasn't likely to hurt anyone. And besides all that, it gives Angel and Danny something harmless to be getting on with instead of focusing on the "accidents" - in fact, there are several times when an N.W.A. member brings up the swan while Angel is trying to focus on the various deaths.
** It is commonly believed that all swans are owned by the Royal Family, and that to kill a swan is high treason (they're not and it actually isn't, but the popular myth persists). Regardless, if it ''is'' a royal swan, then killing it is actually illegal, albeit punishable more on the "hefty fine" side of the scale than the "locked in the Tower and beheaded" side. Furthermore, doing so would likely be a loss of a feather in the village's cap -- it's almost certainly a mascot of some kind, given how it's "''the'' swan" -- and would in and of itself be beyond the pale to middle-class Little Englander types like the N.W.A., as it's a symbol of royalty and Britain and the like. They're willing to punish humans who bring disrepute to their village with death, but even they are probably willing to make allowances for what is essentially a wild bird. And Staker's just the bloke who tends to it, it's not like he's the one running around quacking and snatching food off people or whatever, it's not his fault if it runs off every so often, so why murder him? So they just let it go.

* When we first see the killings, there's only N.W.A. member present. However, when the N.W.A. are explaining everything to Angel, the flashbacks show multiple hooded N.W.A. members. So, which is it? Was it just one or multiple?
** Multiple. The first time round, we're deliberately only being shown half the picture to keep the red herring of Skinner being the only killer through. When we get to Angel's summary where he has Skinner pegged as the killer, we're seeing it how Angel sees it so there's still only one killer and it's Skinner. Then when we get to the N.W.A.'s explanations, we see things as they actually happened: multiple people were present for the murders of Martin, Eve and George and while only one member was technically present at the scene of Leslie's murder, the rest were waiting in what were presumably planned relay positions since her murder happened in broad daylight and thus could have attracted someone's attention.

* Is she really apart of the N.W.A., or was she just defending her son?

[[folder:Mr. Webley’s guns]]
* Just where did Old Man Webley get all those guns (and a sea mine)? He says he "found them." Were they part of some stash the N.W.A. were keeping or something?

** [[Machinima/FreemansMind That's how democracy works.]]

* How on earth did the NWA explain away the deaths of all those underage kids at the pub? Wouldn't more parents be up in arms and distraught over all of their kids having "accidents" at the same time? I mean, the rest of the movie I absolutely love and I know I shouldn't think about it too hard, but I can't help but wonder how they could dispatch all those teenagers and ''nobody noticed''.
** It's not any more unlikely than the other ''dozens of murders'' the NWA committed.

** With the chief inspector being in on the plot, exactly how is higher authority supposed to notice anything suspicious? That would take either a suspicious anomaly in the annual crime statistics (which isn't going to happen, as this place is an isolated country district that's not going to look too abnormal if it consistently reports nothing serious going on), or if one of their (deliberately) lazy and inept homicide "investigations" is watched over by a more competent investigator from 'outside'. Which is exactly what happened when Sgt. Angel arrived, but not until then, as none of the instances of possible wrongful death were of people important enough to draw special investigators from London and Lord knows that no competent or energetic police detective would ever assign themselves to that district willingly.
** It's just as likely that [[spoiler:the parents were in on it the whole time, and willingly murdered their kids for "The Greater Good"]].
** It's equally (or even more) likely that [[spoiler:some people in Sandford knew, if not of the whole conspiracy, that something horribly wrong was behind the seemingly idyllic façade, but were too terrified of ending up victims of more "accidents"]]. Proof would be that [[spoiler:NWA members kept hidden firearms ready to use, as we see when the FinalBattle breaks out, to strengthen their silent reign of terror. And, did you notice that on that day, when the judges for the "Best Village" contest were to come, barely anybody beside the NWA was out on the streets?]]

* On a similar note: Why kill the underage drinkers in the first place? The couple owning the pub knew that they were underage and let them in regardless. This was explained as being for the greater good, because at least when they are in the pub they won't loiter around in the streets. The pub is exactly where the NWA ''wanted'' the kids to be, so why kill them for it?

** The way I see it, far from lightening the shade of grey they occupy it actually just further exposes what nasty little hypocrites the NWA fundamentally are. They're quite happy to take the money of people contrary to their vision of a perfect shiny happy community, but when they no longer benefit from it they use their self-righteousness as an excuse to murder them. Those kids would also have been less likely to be causing trouble after being expelled from the pub if they hadn't been drinking in it in the first place. Or alternatively, they're grooming future victims; the pub would have to close and those kids stop drinking and get kicked out sometime even if Angel hadn't been there, and they'd be just as likely to cause trouble that would attract the attention of the NWA later rather than sooner (perhaps more so, since they'd be even drunker). Not to mention that even if we accept the above as true, their annoyance at Angel for making new victims didn't actually stop them from killing those victims; if they were that upset over the prospect of having to murder those kids they could, you know, not murder those kids. It's hardly anything to laud them over. It's more likely (to me, anyway) that they're annoyed because they've lost a good night's income and maybe have a bit more work to do in cleaning up the village and couldn't give a toss about the safety of those kids.
** Another theory is that the pub owners didn't want to kill them and may even have planned to take them home after they closed. It would be a very bad idea if they chased after the kids after Nichol as chased them out though (that would give people a chance to rob them which would look worse than urinating in public or make the owners look like creepers). It's a stretch, but it is possible that the owners weren't the ones who reported the drunken teenagers to the NWA (Nicholas did that for them) and that they didn't want the kids to die. However, their look of anger seems to be disconnected from what they know is going to happen to those kids. They look more annoyed than the "Oh God, kids could die for this" kind of look you would expect. Furthermore, it may be possible that they didn't want to help the kids once Nicholas kicked them out because that would be contrary to what the NWA wants. If NWA members are saving troublemakers from the NWA, it would look like a betrayal and the offending members would suffer "accidents". Just look at Tiller. If true, this still makes the pub owners look like selfish sociopaths.
** Alternatively, they could have killed the underage drinkers because they were ''caught.'' Having an epidemic of underage drinking would look bad in the crime statistics, but it wouldn't have to be reported if the perpetrators simply disappeared after being let off with a "warning" rather than being properly processed. For a similar reason, the shoplifter also turns up dead: the NWA don't object to petty criminals, but too many petty crimes making their village seem less than ideal. This also makes Nick Angel indirectly and unknowingly responsible for their deaths, since if he hadn't brought them in they wouldn't have needed to be killed.

** That's all fine and dandy, but the shoplifter wasn't processed or, if he was, the charges were dropped by Skinner himself. The crime would never had reached the Judicial Branch in that case. The underage drinkers, however, were caught on public property meaning charges would have to be pressed if they were still around. There was little reason for the NWA to kill the shoplifter as everyone knows he was arrested (he run from the police in broad daylight) whereas they had plausible deniability with the kids. The mother, for one, would know her son was arrested from second-hand stories whereas the police and NWA could have simply withheld the fact that the teenagers were arrested. It would seem very suspicious if a known criminal with family just up and disappeared from '''the police station'''. Hell, Skinner hires criminals. He could have put the shoplifter to work for him, albeit with little knowledge of their conspiracy, as "compensation". Not only that, but the shoplifter is Danny's cousin, remember? "Auntie Jackie's sister's brother's boy" according to Danny. How did Frank explain that to his family? They probably weren't involved in the conspiracy. Maybe the shoplifter's parents disowned him or were neglectful or maybe Frank just said he went to jail or that he ran away when he was "released". The major problem with the movie is that it doesn't explore how the killers made people disappear using the bureaucracy. It shows how they caused "accidents", but they don't show how people disappear. Surely someone would eventually just call the police for information on their arrested child and Frank can't be there to answer EVERY phone call and Weaver's busy spying on people. Calls would most likely be handled by the deskjockies, ie. both Sgt. Turners, who would know next to nothing of the missing people (they weren't part of the conspiracy). Someone would just get so fed by that they would call the British version of the FBI, the judicial system, the prison system, the local town administers like the mayor or governor, or, really, anyone other than the backwater police station that can't seem to get anything done. You could make the argument that the NWA would make these people disappear, but how would they know who was reaching out for help elsewhere? Even if they could discover these people, killing them would just make MORE neighbors and family members suspicious who may then try to get outside help. I like the theory that the townsfolk are scared to speak up in this case. They may not know WHAT or WHO is causing these disappearances, but they would quickly notice that anyone who did talk about it vanished later on and that the police seem oblivious to it or that the police department was the major obstacle for their answer seeking. Or, you know, the movie is a parody and a comedy flick. It might just be that.

* Why did Danny feel the need to fake Nicholas' death if he had no idea the NWA was murdering people? Just what did he think Nicholas was in trouble for? Just what did he think his dad was doing with all those people with clubs and pitchforks trying to kill Nicholas?

** I don't think so. I think it was actually the opposite scenario. Danny didn't know there was a conspiracy going on until he saw the mob. While he didn't realize what was going on, it was obvious that his neighbors were trying to kill Nick. I think that he didn't put the notebook there so he could stab it and fake Angel's death, but he stabbed it because he knew it was there from before. That meaning, he wasn't planning ahead when he placed the notebook, but was improvising when things looked to be going South. He gave Nicholas the notebook because it's part of his strict protocol, not because it would be a good shield. We didn't see what happened when Danny first showed up to the lynch attempt. Maybe one of the others called him down, saying Angel was going insane and trying to kill them. And even if that's not the case, simple improvisation was still possible. It just doesn't sink in that this wasn't a simple crime of passion, but a deliberate conspiracy to kill everyone who would stain the community. Who would be crazy enough to have that be their first conclusion? Danny didn't even know about the other victims until he pulled Nicholas out of the trunk and Danny's little show of "loyalty" to the NWA (despite the fact that he had no idea what was going on), probably saved his life. Think of it from the NWA's point-of-view. The NWA would know Danny would be confused, but from their perspective Danny killed the "outsider" without questioning anything and then volunteered to dump him somewhere. He looked to them as having chosen the community instead of an interloper and any doubts they expressed would surely get Frank pissed off at them (they just killed Tiller, you think Frank gave a crap about a few more bodies?) Frank would defend his son to the last and the rest of the NWA would be smart enough to keep their damn mouths shut or else.

** I understood that Danny knew his father and the NWA were capable of killing Nicholas, but he was trying to justify it because it was his dad. "This is a one time thing", "there's no other way", "he brought this on himself". He tried to tell himself Nicholas Angel was wrong, that his father had nothing to do with the accidents, and his persistence has made him a necessary evil that the NWA had no choice but to kill--even though it would only take a small leap of logic to figure out that the only reason why Nicholas would be under attack from the NWA was if they were involved in the murders he was investigating. In short; Danny is in denial, and trying to think of a way in which nobody he loves is a bad guy; his father is doing what needs to be done, and Nicholas is sadly mistaken.

** In terms of how much Danny knew and when, judging from his frantic conversation with Angel after getting him out of his car boot, he almost certainly wasn't aware of (or didn't want to believe) the full scale of what was going on until seeing his dad and the N.W.A attacking his best friend. But it's possible -- perhaps likely -- that he's had some suspicions that the N.W.A wasn't just a glorified gardening-stroke-busybodies club for at least a little while. It would be much harder for Frank to keep his secret activities from his own son than the other officers simply by virtue of their having a closer relationship, so it's likely that Danny has noticed a few odd things going on with Frank and the N.W.A -- an overheard conversation, Frank being unavailable at a time when he should be, maybe a glimpse of them in robes, that kind of thing. When Angel is confronting him Danny blurts out that his dad says it's been "just a rap on the knuckles", so it seems that he has been aware enough that things haven't been entirely on the up-and-up with Frank to raise the subject with him at some point, only to be fobbed off with the explanation that they've been acting a little "wild west" and going outside the law a bit to keep Sandford perfect. He just hasn't had the investigative tools or the desire to look deeper into it until Angel came along.
* How did Danny actually make the NWA believe that he killed Nicolas? I understand that Nicolas believes it, he's in shock because he thinks that the Danny he knew was a lie and passed out for some minutes because of that. But wouldn't the NWA make sure that he's ''really'' dead before letting Danny hide his body? At least they should have checked his breathing.

** Same reasons he rides in on a beautiful white horse wearing sunglasses, chewing a toothpick and packing enough heat to fight a small war; not only does it look cooler, it's also sending a pretty big "fuck you, I'm not scared of you tosspots, let's bring this shit ON" message to the NWA.

** Met officers can be (and regularly are) seconded out to other forces--er, services--but normally when they have particular expertise (e.g. anti-terrorist officers going to other big cities), and again it can't really be done against their will. It's also not unheard of for diagonal promotions to happen between services but it's normally at much higher levels (e.g. Bernard Hogan-Howe started in Yorkshire, and moved to Liverpool and then to London to chase promotions), so it could be that Angel wanted to be a Sergeant more than he wanted to stay in London--blocking his promotion would certainly be within their power.

** The heated political discussion in the US (sometimes on both sides, even) seems to imply that "gun control" is the same as "gun ban". That's not true. It's more like how there is ''control'' over who gets to drive a car but that doesn't mean that driving a car is illegal. It just means you have to be over a certain age and acquire a license for it.

** The OP specifies 'farmers', not 'villagers in general'. In any case, similar point--guns aren't unheard of in the UK. It would be harder for the villagers to acquire their guns, but it's certainly not impossible. There's the black market, there's weapons people have stored from the war, and so forth.
** There's a brilliant explanation in "Fridge". To sum up, there were several large firearms amnesties in the '80s and '90s, during which large amounts of illegal firearms, mostly war souvenirs, were collected. In Sandford, the chief of police siphoned off the cream of the crop and stashed it, just in case.
** Still doesn't explain from where Arthur Webley got his stash. It could be that the NWA was providing him with the weapons as "gifts" or left them around for him to find. They could simply sneak in and take whatever they needed whenever they wanted. The stash being discovered would make Webley worthless to them and hence why is later found dead. But seriously? A sea mine? How the [[PrecisionFStrike fuck]] did he get that? Are they any where NEAR the ocean? Actually, it's just as likely that Arthur Webley was just that awesome.

** Or Webley was in on the conspiracy, and was storing the guns and covering for the others. As for "up-to-date", there is nothing in there which is later than 80's vintage, which could mean war souvenirs from The Falklands. As for the sea mine... I got nothing.

** Agreed. Nicholas asks Webley if he has a license for his gun to which he responds that he has one for "this one". He then willingly and casually shows off his collection. Even Danny is shocked. It's clear that Webley is just an old coot with a collection hobby. Nicholas has to point out just how dangerous the collection is to which Webley responds with ''hitting a sea mine with the butt of his gun''. Of course, maybe he had paid or asked someone to bring him the mine and never really handled it himself, so he didn't think it was dangerous at all (or assumed it was deactivated), but it's clear that Webley isn't all the way there in the head.

* After Angel confronts the NWA at the church, and discovers all the corpses hidden in the catacombs (with enough space to hide a whole CARAVAN and still have room to spare), why does Danny stab Angel, pretending to kill him, and then take the body out of the village? They have no problem with dumping plenty of bodies in the catacombs, and have clearly been doing it for a decade at an absolute minimum. Why didn't they simply dump Angel's body in there with the others? It may simply be a plot-hole for the sake of having Angel leave and return triumphantly, but the NWA believed Angel to be dead, and they opted to have Danny drive the body out of the village to dump it somewhere. Not only is this highly risky, but what is Danny's explanation for his care? The obvious answer is he burned his car with Angel's body in it, a usual tactic for disposing of evidence, but that's still a highly risky thing as anyone, from Sandford or not, could see the burned out car if that was indeed the plan all along.\\

So in short, why did they decide to take Angel's corpse out of the village, when they could have simply left it in the catacombs with the others? Angel is alive, but they don't know that, so Danny took the body out to help his friend escape, but that still doesn't explain why the NWA agreed to this plan.

*** That would bring up the point of why they didn't dump Angel with the rest of bodies in where ever they had to go, but see the above comments about the commentary stating Danny screamed the others away from Nicholas's body. He killed his friend, he would deal with it. Plus the others had a clean up to do and one less body to deal with would be helpful.

** [[spoiler: While the rest of the town might not be aware that the NWA is killing everybody, I could still see the NWA "nudging" them all to stay indoors and keep the peace while the judges are there, hence why it's only NWA members outside.]]
** [[spoiler: Chances are, almost everyone not in or with the NWA had already been killed.]]
** Jossed. There are only [[spoiler: 24 conspirators]]. Many, many people are seen wandering around or at social gatherings in the town. More mentions are made to townsfolk who weren't even seen. More likely, the town had at least a few hundred people in and around the farms. The police force did have like a dozen people and the town had a super market so it's not like it was THAT small. Just look at how many people are at the carnival. Also, did anyone else notice that Tony Fisher had a son? It's not like the characters we saw ([[spoiler:conspirators included]]) didn't have families that we didn't see ([[spoiler:didn't know about the plot]]). After all, the shoplifter was Danny's cousin. Not to mention we didn't see Danny's aunt, the aunt's brother, or the aunt's brother's sister who was the shoplifter's mother.

** Also, I am no expert on UK law but in the US “jail” is where they keep you for minor crimes, or it’s where they hold you until your court hearing for serious crimes. Serious criminals go to prison when convicted. And we don’t actually KNOW that Lurch doesn’t know right from wrong. The scene in the supermarket suggests that he does know what he’s doing.

** Actually, if you look closely during the fight, for most of it Lurch is trying to take on Angel in hand-to-hand, likely trying to subdue him so he can break his neck. It isn't until Angel proves to be a lot more than Lurch can handle with his bare hands that he resorts to the knife. That being said, the NWA could easily have changed their cover story to go from "slipped and broke his neck" to "slipped and broke some glass that stabbed him in the heart."

** You forgot that the doctor that determines cause of death is a member of NWA, so he can write whatever cause they need and person who were supposed to find Angel was a member too.

* Don't you think that Angel is a bit too much attached to the police law? [[spoiler: During the climax he never shoot to kill. Considering all the monstrous mass murders the NWA committed and their demented reasons don't you think Angel should have gone in a RoaringRampageOfRevenge?]]

** It also serves as a perfect refutation of the methods of the NWA, who went outside the law and became monsters; while his methods there are perhaps on the extreme side, Angel stays within the law and manages to bring them to justice, thus demonstrating that the system ultimately works.
** Exactly. Of course he's not shooting to kill--Angel believes in the law above all, and would want to bring the NWA to justice. See his backstory, the bit about believing that upholding the law being something pure. Killing when there's a way to avoid it is exactly the sort of behaviour he would consider himself above.

** Nicholas Angel is basically Supercop. Of ''course'' he's such an awesome shot he knows exactly where and what he's shooting at to minimize the chance of fatalities. It's also worth pointing out that a lot of the time, he's not aiming directly at people; he's aiming at their ''surroundings'', and tactically using the terrain and objects around his targets to disable them as much as possible. In fact, if memory serves most of the actual NWA members who get shot directly are in fact shot by Danny.

** That isn't Hatcher who confronts them at the end, it's the old chap monitoring the CCTV cameras from the NWA office inside the station.

* Even if they had succeeded in killing Angel, how did the NWA expect to explain away the town shot to hell? No way they'd win village of the year if there's people getting into shoot-outs.

* So if Martin Blower and Eve Draper are such godawful actors, then how are they getting these roles in the first place? You would think that whoever was holding the auditions would simply reject them for the parts or instead give them minor roles where their lack of acting skill would be less noticeable. Yet they were both somehow chosen to play the lead roles in Romeo and Juliet?! I know the NWA members are all bonkers, but you would think that the first solution to the problem would be to try and make sure neither of them land any major parts rather than jumping straight to murder.
** One of Tim Messenger's articles says that Martin Blower financed the production. This likely means that he can cast whoever he wants, which is why he made himself and Eve Draper the leads. He probably threatened to pull the funding if there were any complaints, which the NWA didn't want because the am-dram society is "an important feather in (their) cap".
*** ^ This. Clubs and societies across the country (across the world, really) are chock full of nepotism, favouritism and narcissists. The financier or head of the Am Drams picking himself and his mistress to play the lead is a common scenario, just like the coach of the little league team making his son the star player, or the administrators of HOAs rigging the system to their own benefit.

[[folder:NWA's Timing]]
* I never understood why the NWA waited until mere days before the Village of the Year judges arrived to, as Frank said, "get everything ready". George Merchant is probably the best example. Presumably, he's been living in that house for a while, and it had become apparent to the NWA a long time ago that he wasn't going to change it. They had a year to take care of him. Why blow up his house so close to the judging, and give themselves minimal time to clean up the smoldering, rubble-filled crater that would surely hurt their chances of winning?
* Similarly, Martin and Eve have had to have been in rehearsal for some time. The NWA could have got word that their acting was terrible, taken them out early and replaced them in the show. Not only would the play have had better reviews, but the NWA wouldn't have risked the judges seeing the wrecked car/sign and Martin and Eve's blood all over the road before they've had time to tidy up.

* Y'know, one thing always bugged me about the NWA's hypocrisy. They want to kill people in the name of keeping their city prim and proper, right? If so, why did the NWA let Tina the table dancer live? Again, Tina also worked part time as a table dancer. So why was that accepted by the NWA?
** Good question. Maybe Tina did her table dancing in a nearby city rather than the town (Sandford doesn't seem like the type of location for a place called "Flappers"), so the NWA weren't too worried about it affecting the judging.

** The NWA would not be the first nor the last oppressive organisation to make hypocritical exceptions for people within their direct orbit if they are related or otherwise useful; Tina's not exactly in the inner circle, but given how the supermarket employees are clearly demonstrated to act as Skinner's goons in the final battle we can safely assume that they have found some use for her which allows them to make an exception for her more unsavoury side. In any case, the lapdancing club is almost certainly not within Sandford itself (IIRC it's mentioned to be in a different town) so as long as it doesn't happen in the village they're probably willing turn a blind eye.
** Also, it's implied on a couple of occasions that Tina is someone with what the N.W.A might describe as "[[ReallyGetsAround loose morals]]". It is not completely impossible that at least some of the ways that Tina makes herself "useful" to at least some of the members of the N.W.A are physical, if you catch the drift. They might not approve in public, but in private, well...
** They don't care about their town being prim and proper. They just want it to ''look'' prim and proper so they can get village of the year. They don't give tuppence about anyone's dirty laundry unless it gets aired publicly. A good example is the teenagers getting drunk at the pub. As it was pointed out in an above entry, only the ones who ended up getting booked later, and thus now had a public record, were disappeared by the NWA.

[[folder: I’m the Chief Inspector]]
* Chief Inspector is only equivalent to Captain in a U.S. police department. I would think that disappearing people would require at least a Chief Superintendant, or even the Commander of the Uniformed Branch. (In one of J.J. Marric’s books, Gideon’s sidekick Lemaitre laments “I know I’ll never rise above CI.”)
** It's almost a guarantee that the Chief Inspector has already got the approval of the CS and the Commander (who are almost certainly also jealous of/threatened by Angel) if needed to pull this move; he's just quipping and pulling rank in response to Angel protesting that he can't do this by making it clear that he ''can'' and that there's no point in Angel trying to go over his head about this (i.e. if the Chief Inspector wants you gone, the Superintendent and the Commander are probably willing to back the Chief Inspector up). Besides which, "disappearing" is an exaggeration; it's a transfer of personnel (to an admittedly out-of-the-way position, granted), they're not shipping him off to a military blacksite. The higher ups probably don't need to get directly involved every time an officer is posted to a different location.

[[folder: Why were most of the Sanford police officers spared?]]
* Prior to taking a level in badass, most of them behaved like oblivious idiots. So why wasn't that a concern for something that could "ruin the town's reputation"?
** Rule one for most criminals is never kill a cop as other cops tend to come after you. Even if it looks like an accident the county force will insist on an investigation which will expose the NWA. Besides they might be incompetent but they don't do any damage and can't oppose the NWA, replacement coppers might not be so easy to subvert or subdue. Like say Sgt Angel who ultimately they have to kill unless they want to do life in prison. This turns out to be easier said than done.
** They are all thick as bricks and seem quite content to just lounge about the office all day, allowing the NWA to basically run the town,if you were a murderous cult, who would you rather have "policing" the town? a bunch of imcompetant idiots or a squad of people like Angel?

*** I was referring to the fact that most of the Sanford police service are incompetent idiots, and I was wondering why that did not ruin the reputation. However, the other tropers do have good points that the NWA wanted the Sanford police service to be incompetent on purpose so that the NWA could literally get away with murder, the fact that replacement coppors might not be so easy to subvert or subdue, and some criminals' have a pragmatic rule to never kill a cop or else other cops typically come after them and the county force will insist on an investigation.

** I don't thing the 'Best Village of the Year' inspectors are going to be personally interviewing the town's law enforcement and assessing their capabilities. Least of all because they're not qualified to do as such, and also because a police station (officially speaking) has better things to do than to humor a group of civilian judges. At most they'd check to see the crime rate, and might pop in for a quick hello, and while they are incompetent, it wouldn't be immediately apparent and they are a pleasant enough bunch when not dealing with Nicholas.

* Angel's supposed to be in great physical condition, and in the intro it even mentions that he won the 100 meter dash. So, how does a drugged up teenager and a group consisting of mostly old people in long black cloaks manage to outrun or catch up with him? I understand Skinner, because the movie flat out explains how. And I get the NWA switched during the chase, but this doesn't explain Angel being outrun when it's a straight path. Nor does it explain how they're able to catch up to him in Sandford Castle.
** A lot of it can probably just come down to the fact that they all know the general area far better than Nicholas does. For the shoplifter, it's highly likely that he knew all the streets he was leading Angel down like the back of his hand whereas Angel was still fairly unfamiliar with the specifics. There's also absolutely nothing to indicate that he's any less fit than Angel is. And as for the NWA, if you watch the scene where he's chasing them all after Leslie's murder, you'll notice that Angel actually does come quite close to catching the one he's currently pursuing a few times...but then another takes over some distance away and he stops in confusion for a moment before carrying on. This happens at least twice before he eventually gives up clearly not understanding how he could have almost caught someone but then they've suddenly been able to jump ahead quite a way. Because he's firmly under the impression that he's only ever chasing one person, he never thinks to look around the area close by to see the one that's "tagged out"; as it stands, each individual NWA member seems to have only had to run a couple of hundred metres at best before another took over (they've got at least 20 members to choose from, after all), and some like Skinner and the two actors are at a fitness level that could compensate for the more elderly members. And as for when they're up at the castle...again, they clearly know the layout of that place both above and below ground in a way that Angel just doesn't which would give them a natural advantage. Plus Angel is clearly increasingly in a state of panic from the moment Danny appears, getting worse as he falls into the catacombs and discovers all the bodies (including those of ''children'') and remains panicked until Danny "stabs" him; even if he did know the layout of the castle as well as the NWA does, he'd not be in the best state to be choosing a rational exit route.

[[folder:Why didn't the NWA kill P.I. Staker or the swan?]]

*** There are a number of cities in the UK where swans not only roam free but there are entire flocks of them. Swans are capable of breaking a person's arm; that doesn't mean they will just go into attack mode the instant they see a human being with no provocation. Like most creatures, swans will generally only attack if they perceive themselves to be in danger or else are protecting their young. The swan had no cygnets so that rules out the latter and as for the former...the swan is clearly agitated at several points when Angel and Danny are pursuing it throughout the film but it takes the entire film for it to attack. And why does it attack Frank but not Angel and/or Danny or anyone else? Probably because there's just been a shootout which would have stressed it significantly. It's also illegal to kill a swan in the UK since they're all technically owned by the Queen; given the average age of the NWA members, it's probably fair to say that that fact alone would make them reluctant to kill the swan. Bottom line: the swan wasn't hurting anyone by roaming around and actually wasn't likely to hurt anyone. And besides all that, it gives Angel and Danny something harmless to be getting on with instead of focusing on the "accidents" - in fact, there are several times when an NWA member brings up the swan while Angel is trying to focus on the various deaths.
** It is commonly believed that all swans are owned by the Royal Family, and that to kill a swan is high treason (they're not and it actually isn't, but the popular myth persists). Regardless, if it ''is'' a royal swan, then killing it is actually illegal, albeit punishable more on the "hefty fine" side of the scale than the "locked in the Tower and beheaded" side. Furthermore, doing so would likely be a loss of a feather in the village's cap -- it's almost certainly a mascot of some kind, given how it's "''the'' swan" -- and would in and of itself be beyond the pale to middle-class Little Englander types like the N.W.A, as it's a symbol of royalty and Britain and the like. They're willing to punish humans who bring disrepute to their village with death, but even they are probably willing to make allowances for what is essentially a wild bird. And Staker's just the bloke who tends to it, it's not like he's the one running around quacking and snatching food off people or whatever, it's not his fault if it runs off every so often, so why murder him? So they just let it go.

* When we first see the killings, there's only NWA member present. However, when the NWA are explaining everything to Angel, the flashbacks show multiple hooded NWA members. So, which is it? Was it just one or multiple?
** Multiple. The first time round, we're deliberately only being shown half the picture to keep the red herring of Skinner being the only killer through. When we get to Angel's summary where he has Skinner pegged as the killer, we're seeing it how Angel sees it so there's still only one killer and it's Skinner. Then when we get to the NWA's explanations, we see things as they actually happened: multiple people were present for the murders of Martin, Eve and George and while only one member was technically present at the scene of Leslie's murder, the rest were waiting in what were presumably planned relay positions since her murder happened in broad daylight and thus could have attracted someone's attention.

* Is she really apart of the NWA, or was she just defending her son?

* Just where did Old Man Webley get all those guns (and a sea mine)? He says he “found them”. Were they part of some stash the NWA were keeping or something?
** Assuming Mr. Webley is around the same age as his actor, he would have been born during World War 2. It's mentioned on the Fridge page that police crackdowns on firearms in the UK didn't happen until about twenty years before the time of the film (so in the 80's), and most of Webley's firearms are fairly old models. He was probably something of an eccentric collector in his youth, and when the crackdowns happened just didn't give a toss. While that then opens up the question as to why he would show Nicholas, he's incredibly nonchalant about the entire thing, so he may be getting a bit senile and no longer realise his collection is illegal, or just thinks that since it's a small town in the middle of nowhere and he's not hurting anyone, nobody would actually care.
[[/folder]]

** Also, I am no expert on UK law but in the US “jail” is where they keep you for minor crimes, or it’s where they hold you until your court hearing for serious crimes. Serious criminals go to prison when convicted. And we don’t actually ‘’know’’ that Lurch is that severely handicapped. The scene in the supermarket suggests that he does know what he’s doing.

** At the end of it, this one's really just RuleOfDrama or AnthropicPrinciple or the like; ''something'' has to happen to get the top London cop into the quiet rural village with a dark secret, and a transfer seems like something which would be fairly plausible to the bulk of the audience without an intimate knowledge of British police operational jurisdictions and hiring policies, while also not being so egregiously ''im''plausible that the rest would have too much difficulty going SureLetsGoWithThat for the purposes of the story. So they just went with this. IIRC they've actually admitted that in reality Nicholas wouldn't be transferred as he is in the film at all, but since there wouldn't be a story without it this is one of those details you've just got to run with for the purpose of the narrative; even the two real life cops mentioned above who point this out in the trailer ultimately let it go for the sake of the story. The filmmakers try to be accurate for the most part in how they depicting the British police, but at it's still a fictional action movie, not a police training manual, so the story will always take priority over getting the details correct.

** It is commonly believed that all swans are owned by the Royal Family, and that to kill a swan is high treason (they're not and it actually isn't, but the popular myth persists). Regardless, killing the swan itself would be beyond the pale to middle-class Little Englander types like the N.W.A, as it's a symbol of royalty and Britain and the like. And Staker's just the bloke who tends to it, it's not his fault if it runs off every so often. So they just let it go. Besides which, it's a quirk of the kind that little villages like Sandford love to have).

** Multiple. The first time round, we're deliberately only being shown half the picture to keep the red herring of Skinner being the only killer through. When we get to Angel's summery where he has Skinner pegged as the killer, we're seeing it how Angel sees it so there's still only one killer and it's Skinner. Then when we get to the NWA's explanations, we see things as they actually happened: multiple people were present for the murders of Martin, Eve and George and while only one member was technically present at the scene of Leslie's murder, the rest were waiting in what were presumably planned relay positions since her murder happened in broad daylight and thus could have attracted someone's attention.

** It's almost a guarantee that the Chief Inspector has already got the approval of the CS and the Commander (who are almost certainly also jealous of/threatened by Angel) if needed to pull this move; he's just quipping and pulling rank in response to Angel protesting that he can't do this by making it clear that he ''can'' and that there's no point in Angel trying to go over his head about this (i.e. if the Chief Inspector wants you gone, the Superintendent and the Commander are probably willing to back the Chief Inspector up). Besides which, "disappearing" is an exaggeration; it's a transfer to personnel (to an admittedly out-of-the-way position, granted), the higher ups probably don't need to get directly involved every time an officer is posted to a different location.

** Also, Angel's in good shape, but he's not actually Superman. It's not beyond the realm of fantasy that other people might be able to physically match or even excel him.

** Wandering swans would be regarded as picturesque by the village of the year judges, so would probably count in the village's favour.

* Given that they killed Eve for having an annoying laugh and murdered a dog for pooping, why were the swan or his owner not killed for causing trouble?

** Still doesn't explain from where Arthur Webley got his stash. It could be that the NWA was providing him with the weapons as "gifts" or left them around for him to find. They could simply sneak in and take whatever they needed whenever they wanted. The stash being discovered would make Webley worthless to them and hence why is later found dead. But seriously? A sea mine? How the [[PrecisionFStrike fuck]] did he get that? Are they any where NEAR the ocean? Actually, it's just as likely that Arthur Webley was just that CrazyAwesome.