History Series / Taboo

''Taboo'' is a 2017 period drama series airing on [[Creator/TheBBC BBC One]] in the United Kingdom and FX in the United States.

The year is 1814, and the UsefulNotes/WarOf1812 is winding down. James Delaney (Tom Hardy), a man who has been missing for 18 years, returns to Britain after the death of his father, and his impending inheritance of Nootka Sound, a strategically valuable strip of land on the western North American coast being sought by the East India Trading Company, the British Crown, and the United States.

* AndThereWasMuchRejoicing: Horace Delaney's passing is largely a matter of happy business to many both of the great and the "good" of London, as well as the small and tattered on the dockside. Including his daughter.

* NiceHat: James wears a top hat when he's about town, to go with this long coat.

* LecherousStepparent: There's a degree of sexual tension between Lorna and her stepson James. She had no part in raising him however, given that he only met her after his father's death, and are about the same age anyway.

* KillEmAll: The season one finale ''really'' racks up the body count, with [[spoiler:Wilton, Pettyfer, Helga, Dumbarton, Stuart Strange, possibly Cholmondelay, and, most likely but not for certain Zilpha]] all bite the dust.

* StuffedIntoTheFridge: [[spoiler:Winter, killed to frame James and make him doubt his own sanity]].

* AnimalMotifs: Birds, including the tattoos on James and Winter, Lorna Bow's canary, James' mother in his visions, [[spoiler: the marks left by James' mother in the fireplace]], the raven feathers on [[spoiler: Salish and Zilpha's]] dresses, and the bird that [[spoiler: Zilpha]] sees before jumping off the bridge.

* AnyoneCanDie: In season one, that includes [[spoiler: Thorne Geary, Winter, Helga, Dumbarton, Pettyfer, Wilton, Sir Stuart Strange, and Zilpha Geary.]]

** James' mother Salish/Anna ended her life in the original Bedlam, Bethlem Royal Hospital. [[spoiler: Later used, after being abandoned as a mental hospital, to store James' gunpowder.]]
** Bethlem is also where Dr. Dumbarton [[spoiler: the American spy]] has set up, ostensibly to assist in a [[spoiler:fake]] cholera outbreak.

* BloodFromTheMouth: [[spoiler: Winter's]] corpse at the end of episode six.

* DarkSecret: [[spoiler: Godfrey]] is homosexual and a transvestite, perhaps even an outright transexual. DeliberateValuesDissonance is in effect here, of course, as that kind of thing could easily destroy his life and have him institutionalized with the key thrown away if anybody who cared were to find out.
* ADateWithRosiePalms: Cholmondeley asks James if Laura Bow is free for him to pursue, luridly exhorting that she's so pretty that she's not just someone he wants to sleep with but masturbates about.

** James has one with [[spoiler: Winter]] in episode seven.
** He may or may not have had a one-sided one with the "ghosts" (if they aren't hallucinations) of [[spoiler: the slaves sunk aboard the ''Influence'']] in episode one.
* DeathOfAChild: [[spoiler: Winter is killed at the end of episode six by the East India Company, in order to set James up.]]

* DuelToTheDeath: Thorne Geary and Delaney have one in episode five. [[spoiler: Unfortunately for Geary, his second works for the EIC and doesn't load Geary's pistol. Even worse, from Geary's point of view, Delaney declines to fire back.]]

* HeroicBSOD: Brace enters this state twice. He lies on his bed in a near-catatonic state for hours prior to confessing that [[spoiler: he administered a MercyKill to Horace Delaney]], and in the finale, sits staring, teary-eyed, into space for some time after [[spoiler: Delaney leaves him behind.]]

* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: [[spoiler: Thorne Geary by Zilpha.]]

* IncompatibleOrientation: [[spoiler: Godfrey]] mentions that he had been in love with James when they were attending the seminary together.

* KillEmAll: The season one finale ''really'' racks up the body count, with [[spoiler: Wilton, Pettyfer, Helga, Dumbarton, Stuart Strange, possibly Cholmondelay, and, most likely but not for certain Zilpha]] all bite the dust.

* MercyKill: [[spoiler: What Brace says was his reason for killing Horace Delaney.]]

* MistreatmentInducedBetrayal: It was never clear whether the associate of Atticus lost his thumb because James really knew he was a traitor, or he was just picked at random to set an example. In either case, [[spoiler: he pays back the thumb amputation by turning a blind eye while on guard duty for James' ship, letting the East India Company blow it up]].

** The Americans (through Dumbarton and Carlsbad) offer to kill Thorne so that James and Zilpha can be together. James seems fine with this plan. However, when [[spoiler: Zilpha murders her husband to free herself from his abuse]], James is ''not'' fine, and believes that the act was a sin.
** [[spoiler: James then refuses Atticus' suggestion to kill Helga, when it becomes obvious Helga will betray them due to the death of Winter]].
* NiceHat: James wears a top hat when he's about town, to go with this longcoat.

* OffingTheOffspring: [[spoiler: According to Brace, Salish was sent to the asylum after she attempted to drown the infant James in a river.]]

* ParentalAbandonment: Horace had a son that was left to be raised by a family near the docks. James thinks the kid is better off for it. If Robert is, indeed, Horace's son. It's possible he's the child of [[spoiler: James and Zilpha]]. Either way, still abandoned.

** He goes out of his way to insist the [[WholesomeCrossdresser Ladies]] leave their meeting place before [[spoiler: his arrest, warning them that their club was soon going to be occupied by British soldiers who were likely to inflict horrible violence upon them.]]

* SelfHarm: [[spoiler: According to Brace, Horace Delaney was in such despair that he began burning himself.]]

* ShootTheMessenger: Both [[spoiler: Wilton and Pettyfer]] die this way in the season finale when they're delivering information and/or people to [[spoiler: Delaney's]] men. An ironic version of the trope, as in both cases, they're bringing what the recipients want.

* StuffedIntoTheFridge: [[spoiler: Winter, killed to frame James and make him doubt his own sanity]].
* TamperingWithFoodAndDrink: Horace Delaney died because [[spoiler: Brace]] put arsenic in his beer.

* TilMurderDoUsPart: [[spoiler: Zilpha finally has enough of her husband's abuse and rape, and stabs him through the heart with a marlin spike.]]

* VillainousBSOD: Geary is in this state after his [[spoiler: sabotaged]] duel with Delaney in the fifth episode.

* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: ''Nobody'' likes the EIC.

* NotBloodRelated: There's a degree of sexual tension between Lorna and her stepson James. She had no part in raising him however, given that he only met her after his father's death, and are about the same age anyway.

* BrotherSisterIncest: James and Zilpha once had a ''taboo'' sexual relationship, and they still seem to be in love with each other at present. He even starts visiting her in her dreams ([[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane maybe]]) to have sex. [[spoiler:It's later consummated for real after she kills her abusive husband.]]

* DomesticAbuser: Thorne is one to Zilpha.

* HateSink: Thorne Geary is a racist, DomesticAbuser SmugSnake with zero redeeming qualities, and does something (or says something) shitty to somebody else in almost every single scene he's in.

-->'''Coop''': How is he this morning?
-->'''Footman''': Toe and arse this morning, sir.
-->'''Coop''': Oh, God. I know about his toe. What happened to his arse?
-->'''Footman''': One can only imagine.

* DungAges: Essentially this trope applied to the early 1900s rather than the Middle Ages. There may have never been a BBC depiction of London in more nauseating squalor.

* {{Greed}}: The MO of The East India Trading Company can be summed up thusly "scam or undercut everybody out of everything for maximum profit". With a dash or eight of {{Pride}} over doing it, too.

* OnlyAFleshWound: In episode four, after Delaney receives a blow to the head that should have resulted in a severe concussion, at least. He shows up in the subsequent scene without even a ''wound''.

* DarkSecret: [[spoiler: Godfrey]] is homosexual and a transvestite, perhaps even an outright transexual. ValuesDissonance is in effect here, of course, as that kind of thing could easily destroy his life and have him institutionalized with the key thrown away if anybody who cared were to find out.

* AnimalMotifs: Birds, including the tattoos on James and Winter, Lorna Bow's canary, the woman in James' visions, [[spoiler: the marks left by James' mother in the fireplace]], the raven feathers on [[spoiler: Salish and Zilpha's]] dresses, and the bird that [[spoiler: Zilpha]] sees before jumping off the bridge.

* StuffedIntoTheFridge: Two of them, in episodes six and eight - [[spoiler: Winter, killed to frame James and make him doubt his own sanity; and Zilpha, who commits suicide and whose death is used solely to make James sad and again, question his sanity.]]

* DarkSecret: [[spoiler: Godfrey]] is homosexual and a drag queen, or perhaps even an outright transexual. ValuesDissonance is in effect here, of course, as that kind of thing could easily destroy his life and have him institutionalized with the key thrown away if anybody who cared were to find out.

* AdiposeRex: As you'd expect of the Prince Regent, aka Prinny, aka the future George IV.
* AndThereWasMuchRejoicing: Horace Delaney [[SarcasmMode was such a nice guy]] that his passing is largely a matter of happy business to many both of the great and the "good" of London, as well as the small and tattered on the dockside. Including his daughter.

* BrotherSisterIncest: James and Zilpha once had a sexual relationship, and they still seem to be in love with each other at present. He even starts visiting her in her dreams ([[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane maybe]]) to have sex. [[spoiler:It's later consummated for real after she kills her abusive husband.]]

* ImAHumanitarian: We're not quite sure if James is *actually* a cannibal, but the rumors coming out of his time in Africa certainly raise the possibility. Pettyfer, Thorne, Zilpha, and Atticus all make references to James's supposed cannibalism, and one of the hallmarks of James's kills is taking the heart or internal organs of his victims, which he may or may not eat. In a scene with Atticus, James also refuses to eat pork, which is historically connected with cannibalism (i.e. "To Serve Man's" "long pork").

* NoPronunciationGuide: The chemist that James recruits' name sounds like "Chum-lee", but is apparently spelled "Cholmondelay".

* OnlyAFleshWound: Averted. After being stabbed in episode two, James spends most of episode three in agony.
** Played straight in episode four, after Delaney receives a blow to the head that should have resulted in a severe concussion, at least. He shows up in subsequent scenes without even a ''wound''.

* GraveRobbing: During the time period it was an unofficial practice among some medical professionals to perform experiments on recently buried, excavated corpses. After James hires a doctor to perform an autopsy on his father so he can confirm that the man was killed through poison, the latter makes a sly remark that it would be wise to bury him a bit deeper the second time around. James immediately threatens to kill him and any of his colleagues if the body is desecrated in any way.

The year is 1814, and UsefulNotes/TheWarOf1812 is winding down. James Delaney (Tom Hardy), a man who has been missing for 18 years, returns to Britain after the death of his father, and his impending inheritance of Nootka Sound, a strategically valuable strip of land on the western North American coast being sought by the East India Trading Company, the British Crown, and the United States.

* ServileSnarker: Brace does what he's told, but he reserves the right to snark while he's at it.