Line #27 Literature/DalzielAndPascoe


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/clubbable_woman.jpg]]
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3	Series of novels by Reginald Hill, set OopNorth in a fictional Yorkshire town.
4
5	The series revolves around two detectives, Andy Dalziel (pronounced dee-ell) and Peter Pascoe. Dalziel is a grumpy, overweight, politically incorrect character, while Pascoe is a more sensitive academic with a degree in Social Sciences. (However, see the description under NobleBigotWithABadge). A television series based on the books and characters ran from 1996-2007 and featured Creator/WarrenClarke as Dalziel and Colin Buchanan as Pascoe. There was a one-off adaptation with Hale and Pace but this is reviled by fans and even the original writer.
6
7	Other characters include DC Kim "Posh" Spicer and DC Parvez "Fez" Lateef.
8
9	----
10	!!This series contains examples of :
11
12	* {{Acrofatic}}: Dalziel, despite his huge girth, often shows himself to be graceful and agile. In one short story, he even shows off his roller-skating skills.
13	* AffectionateParody: The novels ''Pictures of Perfection'' and ''A Cure for All Diseases'', both loving send-ups of Jane Austen.
14	* AllGaysArePromiscuous: spectacularly averted in both the novels and the series--Wield has a grand total of three love interests.
15	%% * AlwaysMurder
16	* AlternateContinuity / CanonDiscontinuity: "One Small Step," seeing as how we're long past 2010 and Pascoe is still in Wetherton...
17	%%* AnimalTesting: ''The Wood Beyond''.
18	* AnimalWrongsGroup: Despite ''The Wood Beyond'''s dislike for AnimalTesting, the animal rights activists (aside from Cap Marvell) don't exactly come off well themselves.
19	%%* AnimalsHateHim: In the novels, Edwin Digweed vs. Monte and Tig.
20	%%* AnonymousKillerNarrator: ''Dialogues of the Dead''.
21	* ArrangedMarriage: Part of the backstory to ''Pictures of Perfection'' is an attempted arranged marriage between Guy Guillemard, slated to inherit Old Hall and the estate, and the far more capable Girlie Guillemard. Girlie [[BigNo objects]], which takes care of that.
22	* BenevolentBoss: Dalziel himself to everyone's surprise. He takes a paternal interest in all those below him; fighting like hell to push Pascoe up the ranks and ensuring that Sgt Wield is protected from genuinely homophobic bosses.
23	* BittersweetEnding: A few:
24	** ''Bones and Silence'': The Pascoes finally realize who has been threatening to commit suicide. [[spoiler: Peter shows up just in time for her to actually do it.]]
25	** ''On Beulah Height'': Rosie Pascoe survives her near-fatal illness. [[spoiler: That's not true of her friend.]]
26	** ''Death's Jest-Book'': Rosie Pascoe survives a shoot-out. [[spoiler: However, the young male prostitute Wield has been protecting is dead, and Dalziel realizes that he botched the case in ''Dialogues of the Dead.'']]
27	* BreakingTheFourthWall: "[[MediaNotes/TheAuteurTheory Auteur Theory]]," which is about the fate of a Dalziel and Pascoe ''novel''.
28	%%* BreakoutVillain: Franny Roote (novels only).
29	* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Sgt. Wield disappeared from the TV series after the adaptation of ''Dialogues of the Dead'', although he remained a major player in the novels.
30	%%* CirclingVultures: Parodied in ''Pictures of Perfection''.
31	%%* CluelessDeputy: The terminally inept Constable Hector.
32	* ComicBookTime: Although it varies, the characters are aging between one-quarter to one-half "real time." When the series hit its 20th year, Hill wrote a short essay discussing the issue and a story, "One Small Step", which looked forward to where Dalziel and Pascoe might find themselves if they kept it up for another 20 years.
33	* ComingOutStory: Wield comes out to both of his superiors in ''Child's Play'', after [[spoiler: the young man with whom he has had a brief affair is murdered.]] To Wield's astonishment, Dalziel knew all along, although Pascoe was completely clueless. In ''Pictures of Perfection,'' Edwin Digweed tells Wield that he was outed about thirty years earlier after an affair with an unnamed lord. As homosexuality was still criminalized at the time, Digweed was prosecuted and disbarred, and eventually left the country.
34	%%* ConnectTheDeaths: ''Dialogues of the Dead''.
35	* ConstructiveBodyDisposal: In the television episode "Bones and Silence", Dalziel investigates a construction magnate whose company happens to be resurfacing the police station's car park, and comes to suspect that he's hidden the victim's body under the freshly-laid tarmac. [[spoiler:He's right -- only it turns out to be ''bodies'', plural.]]
36	* ContinuityNod: Dalziel's eventual girlfriend from ''Recalled to Life'' turns out to have a small but important part in ''Good Morning, Midnight'', [[spoiler: where she appears as a corpse.]])
37	** Franny Roote's reappearance in ''Arms and the Women,'' after not being seen since the second novel, ''An Advancement of Learning.''
38	** Wield himself [[{{Lampshade}} lampshades]] that his subplot in ''Death's Jest-Book'' revisits ''Child's Play''.
39	%%* CowboyCop: [[spoiler: Pascoe]] in the TV episode ''Under Dark Stars''.
40	%%* DaChief: CC Raymond.
41	* DecemberDecemberRomance: Dalziel and Cap Marvell. Wield and Digweed also qualify, although Digweed is a decade older.
42	%%* DepravedBisexual: [[spoiler: Franny Roote]] in ''An Advancement of Learning''.
43	* DistinguishedGentlemansPipe: Girlie Guillemard in ''Pictures of Perfection'' is a rare female example.
44	%%* DrivenToSuicide:
45	%%** A subplot in ''Bones and Silence''.
46	%%** Crops up again in ''On Beulah Height'', for much less sympathetic reasons.
47	%%* ElectrifiedBathtub: A variant in ''Dialogues of the Dead''.
48	* EmbarrassingMiddleName: Andrew [[spoiler: Hamish]] Dalziel. Dalziel is visibly appalled when somebody mentions it, relatively late in the series.
49	* EverybodyDidIt: Parodied in ''Pictures of Perfection'', in which every character does ''something''... but all of the victims are unwilling to file a complaint. [[spoiler: This includes Wield, who discovers that Digweed has robbed the post office to cover up his detour into dust jacket forgery.]] Dalziel is left completely livid at the end.
50	* ExcrementStatement: "A Quiet Massacre". At the same exact time his partner is dealing with a hideous triple murder, Dalziel has to content with his own case, featuring an antiques thief who has "micturated in a kitchen utensil". That's Pascoe-speak for urinating in a kettle. And so the hunt is on for the Wetherton Micturator...
51	* FaceHeelTurn: By the end of the short story "One Small Step", set many years in the future, [[spoiler: Pascoe]] turns out to have become, if not corrupt, then certainly tainted.
52	%%* FairCop:
53	%%** In the early episodes, Sanjay Singh is a male example.
54	%%** In the novels, DC Shirley Novello deliberately subverts this by leaving off makeup and wearing baggy clothes.
55	%%* FakeOutOpening: [[spoiler: ''Pictures of Perfection''.]]
56	%%* FatAndSkinny: Dalziel (fat), Pascoe (skinny).
57	%%* FauxYay: Hinted at with [[spoiler: the journalist]] in ''Ruling Passion''.
58	* FishOutOfWater: In the novel ''Recalled to Life'', Dalziel's investigations take him off to the United States, with predictable results. The television adaptation eliminates that chunk of the novel, for [[PragmaticAdaptation understandable reasons]].
59	* FourthDateMarriage: In ''Pictures of Perfection'', Digweed proposes to Wield after they've known each other for exactly ''two days.''
60	* {{Gaydar}}: Both Ellie and Dalziel figure out Wield almost immediately, although neither one lets on. Ironically, Wield's gaydar is non-existent.
61	* {{Gayngst}}: Wield suffers from this until ''Child's Play'', although it takes ''Pictures of Perfection'' for the final symptoms to disappear.
62	%%* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: [[spoiler:Franny Roote.]]
63	%%* HowWeGotHere: ''Pictures of Perfection''.
64	* ImpoverishedPatrician: In ''Pictures of Perfection'', the Guillemards are fast running out of the money they need to maintain their estate, Old Hall, especially since most of their tenants are long gone. Later novels often mention Girlie Guillemard's most recent schemes for keeping Old Hall afloat.
65	%%* TheJeeves: Wield. This is even lampshaded by Pascoe in one of the later books.
66	* JurisdictionFriction: ''Ruling Passion''. Pascoe, who isn't on his turf, keeps stepping on the toes of the local Detective Superintendent. In the novel, [[spoiler: Pascoe turns out to be in the wrong throughout, and the Detective Superintendent solves the crime.]]
67	%%* KaraokeBox: Wield winds up doing a karaoke duet in ''Death's Jest-Book''.
68	* KavorkaMan: Dalziel, who attracts a surprising number of women over the course of the series.
69	%%* LastNameBasis: Wield, with everyone except his partner.
70	* LetOffByTheDetective: ''Pictures of Perfection''. [[spoiler: Wield doesn't arrest Digweed either for robbery or forgery. Of course, Wield is also falling in love with him, although he doesn't realize that yet.]]
71	* LimitedAdvancementOpportunities:
72	** Wield's early annoyance about being stuck at Detective Sergeant is later [[RetCon retconned]] into being a deliberate choice.
73	** Averted with Pascoe, who begins the series as DS, appears in one short story as a newly-minted Detective Constable, and is currently Detective Chief Inspector. The short story "One Small Step" suggests that he'll keep moving upward (but see AlternateContinuity).
74	* LiteraryAllusionTitle: Virtually every episode based on the novels. (Hill started his career as a lecturer in English literature, and it shows.)
75	* LockedRoomMystery: Played with in ''Good Morning, Midnight'', which features [[spoiler: a suicide made to look like a locked room murder]]. Dalziel {{lampshades}} this when he accuses Pascoe of 'being at the Creator/JohnDicksonCarr.'
76	* LongRunners: The first novel, ''A Clubbable Woman'', appeared in 1970. The last one was slated for summer of 2013, but after Hill's [[invoked]][[DiedDuringProduction death]] in January 2012, the publisher canceled it.
77	* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: The killer's technique in ''Deadheads.''
78	* MarketBasedTitle: Happened to the novels twice:
79	** ''The Death of Dalziel'' (UK) = ''Death Comes for the Fat Man'' (Canada and some other markets).
80	** ''A Cure for All Diseases'' (UK) = ''The Price of Butcher's Meat'' (USA).
81	%%* MistakenForCheating: Wield in ''Death's Jest-Book'', although not by his partner.
82	* MistakenForGay: Dalziel briefly pretends to be gay in order to throw a homophobic superior off Wield's trail.
83	* TheMole: One of the subplots in ''Dialogues of the Dead'' involves Dalziel's search for a mole in the police department who is passing on information to a crusading journalist.
84	%%* MotiveRant: ''Ruling Passion.''
85	* MyGreatestFailure: In 'On Beulah Height' for Dalziel - the case of three missing girls fifteen years ago.
86	* MySecretPregnancy: Strongly hinted in the TV episode ''Time to Go'': Mary Waddell's son may well be [[spoiler: Dalziel's]].
87	* MysteryMagnet: When Dalziel and Pascoe take vacations, they wind up stumbling into murder cases.
88	%%* NeverSuicide: Averted in ''Bones and Silence'' and [[spoiler: ''Good Morning, Midnight''.]]
89	* TheNicknamer: Dalziel--Pascoe is "Sunbeam", DC Shirley Novello is "Ivor", Wield is "Wieldy", etc.
90	* NobleBigotWithABadge: Played with in Dalziel, who talks like a bigot and misogynist but sometimes acts more liberal than uber-liberal Pascoe.
91	** In ''Child's Play'', when Wield is threatened with being outed, Dalziel reveals to him that he knew all along that Wield was gay and didn't particular care as it didn't affect his job. He then goes out of his way to protect Wield from a genuinely homophobic superior.
92	** Justified in that Dalziel, with his working-class background, was regarded as an outsider when he joined the police, and had to prove himself the hard way; he therefore naturally identifies with and defends others who might be considered "outsiders" themselves.
93	* ObfuscatingInsanity: Squire Selwyn of ''Pictures of Perfection'' is nowhere near as senile as he first appears.
94	* ObfuscatingStupidity: Dalziel often presents himself as an ignorant fat slob. Woe betide anyone who believes him. Lampshaded in "On Beulah Height":
95	-->'''Culprit:''' You already know, don't you? You're not as stupid as I thought.
96	-->'''Dalziel:''' You're not the first person to make that mistake.
97	%%* ObfuscatingDisability: [[spoiler: Roote in ''Cure for all Diseases'']].
98	%%* OldCopYoungCop
99	%%* OldFashionedCopper: Dalziel himself.
100	* OutOfGenreExperience: ''Pictures of Perfection''. Not only does every subplot track back to Creator/JaneAusten, but the whole thing sends up the rest of the series' AlwaysMurder mode.
101	* ThePerfectCrime: ''Deadheads''. [[spoiler: Successfully. So much so that in the novels, the killer is still living a few doors down from Pascoe, many years later.]]
102	** ''Bones and Silence''. [[spoiler: Not so successfully.]]
103	** ''Dialogues of the Dead''. [[spoiler: Successfully again, although in ''Death's Jest-Book'' Dalziel realizes, with some horror, who the killer must have been. Too late, however, to do anything about it.]]
104	%%* PoliceProcedural
105	%%* PoliticallyMotivatedTeacher: Ellie Pascoe was this up through ''Under World''.
106	%%* Power Trio: Dalziel, Pascoe, and Wield. {{Lampshade}}d in the novels, where they're nicknamed the "Holy Trinity."
107	* PutOnABus: Happens to Singh in both the TV series and the novels when Dalziel notices that [[spoiler: Wield has fallen in love with him. Wield is not amused when Dalziel owns up to this in ''Child's Play''.]]
108	** A more traditional example: the TV series divorced Ellie and Peter Pascoe, then sent Ellie off to the United States.
109	%%* TheQuietOne: Wield.
110	%%* RankUp: Pascoe.
111	* RisingWaterRisingTension: The climax of "Under World" has Pascoe confronting a murderer in an abandoned mine that is slowly filling with water due to a storm.
112	* SarcasmMode: Dalziel and Edwin Digweed appear to be permanently stuck in this mode. Ellie Pascoe also tends to wind up here.
113	* ScrapbookStory: Several of the novels, most notably ''On Beulah Height'' (a Yorkshire folktale that affects the plot), ''Arms and the Women'' (Ellie Pascoe's mock-epic), and ''A Cure for All Diseases'' (e-mails and iPod recordings).
114	* SelfInsertFic: The short story "Auteur Theory", in which a grumpy, unnamed Hill glumly watches as one of his D&P novels gets produced for the screen.
115	%%* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: Pascoe and Dalziel, but also Digweed and Wield.
116	%%* SerialKiller: ''Deadheads'', ''Dialogues of the Dead''.
117	* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: Digweed, partly as a self-defense tactic.
118	* SesquipedalianSmith: DC [[spoiler: Ethelbert]] "Hat" Bowler, who definitely thinks he has an EmbarrassingFirstName.
119	* ShoutOutToShakespeare: ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'' plays an important role in ''A Killing Kindness''.
120	%%* SlapSlapKiss: The dynamic between Edwin Digweed and Wield in ''Pictures of Perfection.''
121	%%* SnuffFilm: The novel ''A Pinch of Snuff''.
122	%%* StraightGay: DS Edgar Wield.
123	%%* StrawFeminist: Ellie Pascoe slides into this a lot during her initial appearances.
124	* StylisticSuck: Squire Selwyn's annual performance of his epic poem at the Guillemard Reckoning in ''Pictures of Perfection''. [[spoiler: Actually, it's deliberately bad. See ObfuscatingInsanity.]]
125	* TheSummation:
126	** Pascoe tries it in the adaptation of ''Ruling Passion'', and [[spoiler: nearly gets shot for his pains.]]
127	** Done with a twist in ''Pictures of Perfection'': Edwin Digweed gets the summation scene, not the detectives.
128	* ThreePlusTwo: With the addition of Shirley Novello and Hat Bowler to the original PowerTrio.
129	* TitleOfTheDead: ''Dialogues of the Dead''.
130	* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: "One Small Step" (1990) is set in 2010, with a manned space flight to the moon and a European wide police force headed up by Pascoe.
131	* TheUnsolvedMystery: [[spoiler: ''Deadheads'' (the killer is never caught) and ''Dialogues of the Dead'' (wrong solution).]]
132	* TwistEnding: ''Dialogues of the Dead'', [[spoiler: which reveals the killer's real identity to the reader, but not the detectives.]]
133	* WeWouldHaveToldYouBut: [[spoiler: Dalziel's secret drug investigation]] in ''Exit Lines.''
134	* WeedingOutImperfections: In ''Deadheads'', Dalziel and Pascoe investigate Patrick Aldermann. Over the course of thirty years, six people in relation to Aldermann have all died suspiciously, and that each time, Aldermann benefited from their death. Aldermann is a keen rose gardener and the title refers "deadheading": the practice of cutting off the dead blooms from rose bushes to encourage new blooms.
135	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: ''Arms and the Women'' suggests in passing that there's something more to Digweed's backstory than he has let on, but Hill never brings up this plot point again.
136	* WhereEverybodyKnowsYourFlame:
137	** The recently uncloseted Wield wanders into here while looking for a killer.
138	** Parodied in the novel ''Death's Jest-Book''.
139	* WriterOnBoard: While Hill usually restrains himself, he lets audiences know how he feels about experimenting on animals in ''The Wood Beyond'', the Iraq war in ''Good Morning, Midnight'', and the aftermath of Thatcherism in ''Pictures of Perfection''.
140	* TheWrongfulHeirToTheThrone: A comic version in ''Pictures of Perfection,'' as Guy Guillemard, on whom the estate is entailed, is a thorough prat.

Context Literature / DalzielAndPascoe