History Series / AsTimeGoesBy

''As Time Goes By'' follows the somewhat unusual love story of Jean and Lionel, two former lovers who reunite unexpectedly 38 years after their romance during the Korean War. In the opening episode, Lionel has returned to England from a coffee plantation in Kenya and is seeking a secretary to help with his autobiography. He requests one from the "Type for You" secretarial agency, not realizing that it is run by his old flame Jean, who by this time is widowed and has a grown daughter, Judith. After Lionel asks Judith on a date and the two main characters finally meet, Lionel and Jean both realize the other's identity. We find out that their relationship ended not from any loss of affection, but as the result of the post office losing a letter that Lionel had sent to Jean. Although they part on good terms never intending to meet again, they are thrown back together once again and eventually fall in love.

* RealSongThemeTune: "As Time Goes By", as sung by Joe Fagin.

* {{Flanderization}}: Jean gets much sillier by the later seasons, starting a LiesSnowball as a matter of routine, and Lionel is almost always the OnlySaneMan to the messes she creates with her meddling.

* HumbleHero: As revealed in the reunion special, When Lionel was in Kenya years ago [[spoiler:he took on the financial burdens of supporting the family of a man who worked on his plantation so all the kids could go to school, and the mother would be well off. For this, the family calls him "Father."]] He never once spoke of it to Jean or seem to mention it in his book ''My Life in Kenya'', despite being sure it must have come up at one point, but when Jean insists he never talked about it, Lionel just accepts he might not have and leaves the matter to rest. He just did what he saw as the right thing to do and did it.

-->'''Anne:''' How could you?!
-->'''Jean:''' What? [cottons on] Oh don't be ridiculous!
-->'''Terry:''' Oh no, you see, she just came in [[DiggingYourselfDeeper and found me in bed with Lionel]]!

--->'''Lionel''': She seemed thoroughly nice.
--->'''Jean''': Did she flop on the desk and cry "Why is my beauty such a curse?"

* WackyGuy: Alistair is a millionaire publisher who is often completely incomprehensible to the other characters, using words like "hype," "mega," and "hey, hey, hey." He also seems to know just about everyone worth knowing, and often offers to help Lionel get dinner reservations or redecorate his apartment. He's also prone to grand romantic gestures; when Judy rejects his Herald-Gram, Alastair turns up on horseback in ''full armor''.
** Rocky definitely qualifies as well.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Harry is played by a different actor in the reunion special.

* ExecutiveMeddling: InUniverse, the reason for the AdaptationDecay in the American TV adaptation of Lionel's books, ''Just Two People''. Includes tropes like ClicheStorm, LondonEnglandSyndrome, CriticalResearchFailure, and ViewersAreMorons (specifically, that their target demographic is 'a potato farmer in Idaho').

* GilliganCut: The dialogue version happens when Lionel's ex-wife visits. Lionel finishes reassuring Jean that she's not competing with anything because Margaret was so drab and unglamorous. Then Margaret turns up in a beautifully tailored outfit, expensively-styled hair, and a few dozen diamonds on her hands, neck, and ears.

* MirthlessLaughter: In one episode, Judy says that Jean seems to know where her life is going. Jean reply is "You've heard of a hollow laugh? If I knew how to do one, I'd do it."

* ShowSomeLeg: This is hinted at rather innocently a number of times. In an early episode, Jean suggests that her daughter Judy cross her legs while apologizing to a man. She does this when speaking with Lionel, who notices, and asks her if she always does that.
** After being turned down for a promotion, Judy complains about feeling like her main job in the office is to be "knees and dimples" for unsatisfied customers.

* SoBeautifulItsACurse: Lampshaded by Jean in "The Mini-Series".
-->'''Lionel''': She seemed thoroughly nice.
-->'''Jean''': Did she flop on the desk and cry "Why is my beauty such a curse?"

Although they are eventually back where they started, Lionel and Jean's romance gets off to a slow start, with each being the object of youthful affection during the first series, he from her daughter Judith and she from his publisher Alistair. At the conclusion of the first series, Lionel and Jean share their first kiss (again), by series three -- after some hilarious miscommunications -- Lionel has moved into Jean's house, and they marry the following series. Along the way, Lionel writes a mini-series about their romance for American television which fails spectacularly (not through any fault of his own), Jean opens a second branch of her secretarial agency and eventually retires, and the two acquire a country house from Lionel's somewhat unconventional parents.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: For the 90's. Among the things used to show Alastair as unorthodox and flash are his use of a cell phone and enjoyment of sushi.

* CassandraTruth: When Lionel agrees (very reluctantly) to treat Stephen in his fake-capacity as a psychiatrist (Jean had told her in-laws that he was one in an attempt to change the subject), he breaks down and tells Stephen that he's not a psychiatrist. Stephen responds by taking this to be some sort of healing method and declares "If you're not at the top of your profession, Lionel, I'd like to know who is."

* ExecutiveMeddling: {{In-universe}}, the reason for the AdaptationDecay in the American TV adaptation of Lionel's books, ''Just Two People''. Includes tropes like ClicheStorm, LondonEnglandSyndrome, CriticalResearchFailure, and ViewersAreMorons (specifically, that their target demographic is 'a potato farmer in Idaho').

* LiesSnowball: This happens quite often, especially when Penny and Stephen come to visit. Consequently, it is never revealed to the troublesome couple that Lionel is not in fact a psychiatrist, and he even ends up counseling Stephen professionally. Other such lies include that Jean and Lionel met whilst in bumper cars at a fairground, Jean takes judo, Lionel sprained his ankle while playing golf, and that Jean and Lionel were sleeping together (before they were), which resulted in their first night together being spent at Penny and Stephen's house in the country.
** A lot of the humour stems from Jean's reflexive creation of a LiesSnowball and Lionel either refusing to play along or doing it under protest.

* BritishBrevity: (Sort of) Each series is only about seven episodes long, but there are nine series(ten if you include the series 10 specials.

* GossipEvolution: A staple in the village. After sternly telling off the [[UpperClassTwits posh townies]], Jean and Lionel return the next weekend to find that Lionel holds the Victoria Cross (Jean invented the "KBM"[[note]]Kicked By Mule[[/note]] medal for him during the argument), that Jean put out the barbecue with a fire extinguisher, and that she and Lionel threw six of them over the hedge. Jean eventually "admits" that Lionel only threw two, because a little notoriety never hurts.

* DidNotDoTheBloodyResearch: Inverted in the episodes where Lionel and Jean are in Los Angeles. Americans ''do'' know what "take a leak" means, actually.

* INeverGotAnyLetters: Plays an integral part in Lionel and Jean's relationship. Lionel's (misdirected?) letter to Jean ends their relationship; if the letter had gotten to Jean they probably would have gotten married. They both start off rather cross with each other until they talk about it; fortunately they believe each other.
** [[spoiler: Later, they find the missing letter in a wartime museum.]]

* SexySecretary: When Lionel hires a temp from Jean's second branch to help him revise his book, Jean is furious to learn that they have sent him a gorgeous secretary named Daisy. Although she is temporarily replaced by the distinctly non-sexy and endlessly talkative Gwen Flack, Daisy returns after Mrs. Flack relieves them all by going to live with her cousin in Dorset.

* WackyGuy: Alistair is a millionaire publisher who is often completely incomprehensible to the other characters, using words like "hype," "mega," and "hey, hey, hey." He also seems to know just about everyone worth knowing, and often offers to help Lionel get dinner reservations or redecorate his apartment.
** Case in point, when Alistair overhears Judy wishing for a KnightInShiningArmor, he appears the next day ''in full armor, on horseback''.

* PutOnABus: A RealLifeWritesThePlot example. The actress who plays Madge became very ill by the end of the series and was unable to appear in the finale, and passed away before the reunion special. Her absence was explained as going on vacation to places Rocky wasn't interested in.

* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Lionel's love of custard tarts.