History Series / RosemaryAndThyme

* PetGetsTheKeys: One victim's guide dog, trained to retrieve small objects such as his keys when he dropped them, obligingly fetches the keys to deactivate a lift when the killer has locked Laura in the shaft to be crushed to death and deliberately dropped them down the stairs.

** The title characters run the length of the field with this in "The Gooseberry Bush". After finding an abandoned baby you'd assume they would turn it in to the police. Instead, deeming the 20-mile distance to the nearest police station too much of a bother, they keep it - even refusing to tell the police when they are on site after finding a body. Turned UpToEleven when they decide to stash a gun next to the baby - even pointing the barrel at him while concealing it.

* [[AmateurSleuth Amateur Sleuths]]: Rosemary and Laura are gardeners, though Laura is former cop and has some idea of how to analyze a crime scene (if no jurisdiction whatsoever).

* SceneryPorn: The entire series is filled with lush gardens and beautiful houses, from snug little cottages to lavish mansions.

[[caption-width-right:350:[[EpunymousTitle ''(Get it?)'']]]]

[[caption-width-right:350:[[EpunymousTitle ''(Get it?)'']]

* YourCheatingHeart: The pilot episode has Laura's husband leave her for a 23 year old police secretary. "Orpheus in the Undergrowth" reveals he tried to convince Helena (their daughter) that the reason the marriage broke down was due to Laura having an affair with his best friend. In the same episode, [[spoiler:Helena's boyfriend turns out to be the murderer's boytoy]].
** In "Arabica and the Early Spider" the foreman's wife had a serious affair with the owner of the village stables, but returned to her husband after the former became bankrupt. [[spoiler: Her husband deliberately strove to bankrupt the stable owner to spite them both. However the people he hired to do the dirty-work of the plan he had in mind wound up murdering another person who was in on the scheme and then burying her in the grounds of an abandoned manor.]]
** Everyone with a named spouse is cheating in "The Language of Flowers", [[spoiler:including the victim's now deceased husband - who fathered a daughter who would end up murdering her.]]
** Covering up an affair is the motive for the murders in [[spoiler: "Memory of Water" - Suzanne Frazer did ''not'' want the village to know about her indiscretions.]]

* IdiotBall: What kicks off the murder plot in "Arabica and the Early Spider". The victim is working late and sees some suspicious figures digging up his lawn. Instead of doing the smart thing of retreating inside and calling the police he chooses to confront them and gets shot for his troubles. Rosemary also gets hit with this in the same episode, as after being shot at through her window she ''stands up instead of ducking under the desk'', and a moment later chooses to ''open the door and yell at the shooters''. Both instances are heavily lampshaded by the more level headed characters.

* NotNowWereTooBusyCryingOverYou: In "Swords Into Ploughshares," Laura sees a news report that Rosemary has been murdered.[[note]]It's mistaken identity, a classmate was using her name.[[/note]] When she and a client try to tell Rosemary's mother, the old lady laughs gaily and calls out to her daughter.

** The second death in "Sweet Angelica" appears to be suicide, untils the duo find out that the victim was a devout Catholic and so was very unlikely to have jumped.

* HeKnowsTooMuch: The first victim in "The Cup of Silence" is killed because [[spoiler:he'd just discovered that the owners of a fancy winery were ripping their customers off by passing of cheap wine as legitimate vintages.]]

* AnimalAssassin: In "Racquet Espanol". A man is deathly allergic to insect bites, so his epipen is stolen and an aggressive spider is placed in an open water bottle hidden under a pillow in the hope of making in inevitable bite look like an accident.

--> '''Rosemary.''' That's not very nice.
--> '''Laura.''' [[ComicallyMissingThePoint And they forgot to sign it.]]

--> '''Detective Inspector Taylor.''' Why'd you quit?
--> '''Laura.''' I was stupid enough to marry a D.I.

* [[AmateurSleuth Amateur Sleuths]]

--> '''Laura.''' And they forgot to sign it.

* HisNameIs: In "Seeds of Time," Laura is reading an old diary late at night and discovers a possible clue. Waking Rosemary, she says "I've just found the answer to the whole thing! It's a--" "AAAAARGGH!", glass breaks, and the girls open the window to find yet another dead person.

* IdiotBall: What kicks off the murder plot in "Arabica and the Early Spider". The victim is working late and sees some suspicious figures digging up his lawn. Instead of doing the smart thing of retreating inside and calling the police he chooses to confront them and gets shot for his troubles. Rosemary also gets hit with this in the same episode, as after being shot at through her window she choses to ''open the door and yell at the shooters''. Both instances are heavily lampshaded by the more level headed characters.

* GrailInTheGarbage: This is what happens in "Seeds of Time" where it turns out a long-dead botanist [[spoiler: smuggled the seeds of a medicinal plant from Chile in a cushion]], his family had no idea and [[spoiler: sold it at a rummage sale, where Laura (then their neighbor) bought it]] and kept it for years until she cleaned out her house and threw it in the trash [[spoiler: where it was rained on and the seeds sprouted]], saw it on her way out and realized what it must be.