History Series / ATouchOfCloth

* RevealingContinuityLapse: Parodied in series 3 when a supporting character points out a PlotHole, namely that there was no reason for Cloth to have stolen the pound of heroin from the evidence room when he didn't even know at that point that he would need it later. Cloth rants that [[CowboyCop he doesn't obey any laws]], including the laws of continuity, and grows and ungrows a full beard in between shots to prove his point.

'''Cloth''': No, don't go, it's none of my business.

* ILoveTheDead: Played for laughs. In the requisite "parents visit their daughter's corpse" melodrama scene, the choir boy in the scene who's singing the somber piece suddenly switches to porno music, [[CrossesTheLineTwice which causes the father to do... things... with his daughter's body]].

* VisualPun: Whenever Des says "You might want to take a look at this" in a serious tone, he is usually just looking at something sexual and completley unrelated to the investigation.

* TheCoroner: Like many crime drama tropes, this is parodied by Natasha, a female coroner whose every line dialogue consists of her aggressively flirting with Jack Cloth. She has an incredibly dry sense of humor, and at one point dissected a cat because she thought it would be amusing.

** Oldman's ringtones are all lesbian-related songs like "I Kissed a Girl" and "All the Things She Said".

* TakeThat: In the first episode a detective is fine at a comically violent murder scene, but starts retching immediately after seeing a photo of Piers Morgan.

* LudicrousGibs: [[spoiler:Hope Goodgirl explosively decompresses after being crushed by a rather lightweight falling pillar]]. This being A Touch of Cloth, [[UpToEleven they truly]] ''[[UpToEleven are]]'' [[UpToEleven ludicrous]].

* LudicrousGibs: [[spoiler:After Hope Goodgirl is crushed by a falling pillar]]. This being A Touch of Cloth, [[UpToEleven they truly]] ''[[UpToEleven are]]'' [[UpToEleven ludicrous]].

* KillerCop: [[spoiler:Tom Boss, the Assistant Chief Constable]].

* MetaCasting: John Hannah has played brooding detectives before, most notably John Rebus of ''Literature/{{Rebus}}''. Suranne Jones, who plays DC Anne Oldman, plays a DC in [[Series/ScottAndBailey Scott & Bailey]].

Read more: https://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/view_episode_scripts.php?tv-show=a-touch-of-cloth-2012&episode=s02e02

* FanDisservice: Oldman getting out of bed in the sequel. Hilariously, her body double is a noticeably overweight ''man''.

* LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn: They like this gag. The first episode alone has the music during a chase scene performed by a local band, and the ethereal music during a scene where two distraught parents are brought in to see their daughter's corpse revealed to be sung by a choir boy. Another time: "You are listening to Radio 3. And now, 'Requiem For An Unsuspecting Victim' ".

* InsaneTrollLogic: The motivation for the serial killer is variously thought to be working his way through [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messiah_%28TV_series%29 the Apostles]], the ''Twelve Days of Christmas'', hits of TheEighties and favourite ''Literature/MrMen''. A FreezeFrameBonus of TheBigBoard reveals they've already tried [[Film/{{Se7en}} deadly sins]], [[Creator/WilliamShakespeare Shakespeare]] [[Film/TheatreOfBlood deaths]], wonders of the world, books of Literature/TheBible, films of CaryGrant, egg dishes, Grand National winners, Martin Clunes vehicles, endangered species, plagues of Egypt and [[FunnySpoon types of spoons]].

** Cloth does it to [[spoiler:Tom Boss]] in the season 2 finale. Sets up copious amounts of HoYay [[spoiler: and FoeYay]].

* LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn: They like this gag. The first episode alone has the music during a chase scene performed by a local band, and the ethereal music during a scene where two distraught parents are brought in to see their daughter's corpse revealed to be sung by a choir boy.

* CleanPrettyReliable: Oldman tries this on Cloth. He recovers instantly.

* DiscriminateAndSwitch: Cloth asks a black kid on a bike where to find Crossbo, and the kid answers in what appears to be heavily accented, broken English: "Dat dere yute club." Then it turns out that the name of the place he directed Cloth to is ''literally'' "Datdere Yute Club". [[note]] "Opened by Baron Peregrine Datdere-Yute, 2002" [[/note]]

* PlotHole: In episode 2 of series 1: When the team are searching the abandoned lockup, they are surprised to meet Todd Carty. [[spoiler: For the remainder of the episode however, he has inexplicably become a Police Officer, and joined the investigation.]]

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Aiden Hawkchurch, a foul mouthed celebrity chef who is murdered in the first season, is an obvious parody of Gordon Ramsay.

* NoAnimalsWereHarmed: Averted in-universe. "I took the amusing precaution of dissecting the cat!" Note that it was ''alive'' [[BrickJoke in the first episode]].
** Averted in-universe again in Series 2; a big deal is made of the fact that the bank robbers shot the owl. Why the bank has an owl is {{Hand Wave}}d but it's implied to be for security purposes.

* OnTheNext: Parodied. The "next episode" montages feature completely non-existent plots. For instance, the one for the third series had an AlienInvasion and ghost banshees.