Line #90 Series/Miranda2009


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/miranda_8.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350: [[{{Sharephrase}} Such fun!]] [[note]] From left to right: Gary, Tilly, Miranda, Penny, Stevie[[/note]]]]
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4	''Miranda'' was a {{Britcom}} created, written by & starring Creator/MirandaHart that aired on Creator/TheBBC from 2009 to 2015.
5
6	Derived from her earlier radio comedy ''Miranda Hart's Joke Shop'', it follows Miranda as she stumbles through life from one FawltyTowersPlot to another, much to the embarrassment of herself and her loved ones, which include her mother Penny (Patricia Hodge), best friend and workmate Stevie (Sarah Hadland), love interest Gary (Creator/TomEllis), and old frenemy Tilly (Sally Phillips), while other recurring characters include Gary's boss Clive (James Holmes), Miranda's eventual new boyfriend Mike (Bo Poraj), and [[NoNameGiven an unnamed]] customer who keeps getting involved in Miranda's schemes (Dominic Coleman).
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8	The series ran for three seasons and a two-part finale special, ending with Miranda and Gary [[HappilyEverAfter finally getting married]]. At the height of its popularity, it became one of the few shows to [[ChannelHop jump from]] BBC Two to BBC One, and received new attention from American viewers when it began streaming on Creator/{{Hulu}} in the US.
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10	In 2020, ''Series/CallMeKat'', an [[ForeignRemake American counterpart]], premiered on Creator/{{FOX}}. Hart is a producer of this remake alongside ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' star Creator/JimParsons.
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12	If you want to know about your right to remain silent, you want MirandaRights instead.
13	----
14	!! This show provides examples of:
15	* AlphaBitch: Tilly among her friend group of Miranda and Fanny.
16	** Stinke Von Tusse seems to have been this when she was Head Girl at Miranda's Boarding School when they were teenagers, and still is when she meets Tilly and Miranda as adults.
17	* AmbiguouslyBi: Penny has an active sex life with her husband, Charles, much to the horror and disgust of Miranda. Though when Miranda pretends to be a lesbian to avoid marriage to wealthy, eccentric country men, Penny also mentions that she and her best friend (and worst enemy) Belinda "had a fun time at school".
18	** Stevie agrees to pretend to be a lesbian with Miranda so they can get married, and then Miranda can live life without Penny trying to pressure her into marriage. However, Stevie gets very into character and becomes offended when Miranda reminds her that they aren't actually in love or about to get married. Stevie's obsession with Heather Small, even cutting out her head from a cardboard model of her, could be seen as this.
19	** Gary is of course Miranda's love interest. Like her, he's from a rich background with a mother constantly trying to get him married. Gary has a mutual crush on Miranda, but when the attractive Doctor comes he seems just taken with him as the girls are.
20	* ArtisticLicenseBiology: When Miranda has the flu, Stevie describes her as "literally riddled with bacteria". Not only is everyone constantly covered with harmless bacteria, including Stevie, flu is caused by a virus, not by bacteria.
21	* AscendedExtra: In Series 3 there's a man who repeatedly shows up at Miranda's shop at the worst of times, getting dragged into ridiculous situations by Miranda. He ends up playing an important part in the finale, as [[spoiler:it's his wedding that Gary is best man at]].
22	* AsideGlance: A trademark of the show.
23	* BackForTheFinale: Pretty much everyone. [[spoiler: Even Clive.]]
24	* BetaBitch: Fanny is this to Tilly. Fanny was supposed to be a Series Regular for Series Two, but her actress couldn’t be this because she had to return to another series. During the final episode of Series One, when Tilly becomes half-naked accidentally at a party, Fanny is mortified and rushes off. Seeing as she doesn’t appear again, it’s most likely Fanny ended her friendship with Tilly.
25	* BigEater: Miranda eats a lot. So much so that Gary sincerely says that the restaurant entered into financial trouble when she goes on a diet.
26	* BlatantLies: All the time.
27	* BottleEpisode: Series 2 Episode 5 takes place entirely in one room (A Psychiatrist's office). As does Series 3 Episode 4 (Miranda's main room of her flat).
28	* BreakoutCharacter: Tilly.
29	* BrickJoke: There's at least one brick joke per episode which comes back somehow at the end, no matter how contrived.
30	* BritishBrevity: Three series, each containing 6 episodes, followed by a two-part finale.
31	* CallBack: Many jokes from earlier episodes are mentioned again in later episodes, or even the next season. For example, Miranda's friend Gordon ... who is [[CompanionCube made from an orange]]. Come the third series, she has moved on from making fruit friends to adding vegeta-pals.
32	* TheCameo: The final episode features cameos from Gary Barlow and [[spoiler:the ''real'' Heather Small]].
33	* CardboardPal: Miranda has one of Gary made from a mop.
34	* CatchPhrase: Several, including Tilly's "Bear with, bear with" whenever she's reading a text, Penny's "Such fun!", and her habit of using the phrase "what I call" inappropriately. (Such as, "She's having it on a, what I call, weekday.")
35	** There's also Stevie's super-positive conversations with her Heather Small cutout - 'Whurt hev ya dun toodeeehh to mek yer feeeeel prooaarroroad?!'
36	** Miranda's "Rude!" and "[[InherentlyFunnyWords Good word, isn't it]]?" also get repeated often.
37	** Less noticeable is Gary's awkward "Hi." when he walks in, inevitably, at the worst possible moment.
38	*** But these are all lampshaded beyond all proportion.
39	** In later episodes [[ApologisesALot Charlie says "soz" very frequently]]. His other catchphrase is "I bloody love crisps!"
40	* CliffHanger: Season 3 ends with [[spoiler:both Gary and Mike proposing to Miranda simultaneously]].
41	* ClothingDamage: Miranda seems to end up in her underwear at some point in several episodes. This happens so often that other people start using it as an excuse to not invite her to posh events since she'll "just end up semi-naked in public and embarrass everyone again".
42	* CompanionCube: Miranda's "fruit friends".
43	* ContrivedCoincidence: The worst possible person always seem to walk in at the worst possible moment.
44	* ConvenientSlowDance: Zig-zagged. Miranda has a plan in case this happens and makes things awkward. But when it does happen, Stevie averts it...much to Miranda's dismay.
45	* CutawayGag: The pre-credits, "Miranda talking to the camera" bit of each episode has two or three of these, as explanations of embarrassing incidents Miranda has become involved in.
46	** "Good ''lord'' that's moist!"
47	* DancePartyEnding: Most episodes end with them, and the series finale ends with everyone dancing to Music/TakeThatBand's "Greatest Day".
48	* DownerEnding: The 2014 Christmas special ends with [[spoiler:Gary deciding he can't commit to his relationship with Miranda and walking out on her]].
49	* EekAMouse: Gary
50	* EvenTheGuysWantHim: In a recent episode, everyone was enthusing over how attractive Dr. Gail is - including Gary.
51	* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: The customer.
52	-->'''Miranda''': I'm calling you "customer" because I think it would be weirder if I knew your real name.
53	* FailedDramaticExit: Happens to Miranda a lot, especially with the coat rack in the restaurant.
54	* FallbackMarriagePact: Miranda and Gary make one in the first series. [[spoiler:Like Chris & Allison, they wound up not needing it.]]
55	* {{Fanservice}}: Gary. Especially when he goes shirtless or dresses in his "Alpha Male" outfit.
56	* FawltyTowersPlot: Every episode has this in some form.
57	* FirstGrayHair: Miranda frantically colors hers in with a marker.
58	* {{Flanderization}}: Miranda started off as a hilariously clumsy and socially awkward character, whose social mishaps were mostly natural. However by the third series she is deliberately going out her way to be anti-social, sociopathic and cause trouble as a way to appear funny, even when there's no real call for it, including damaging property/items on purpose, such as hitting wine glasses with a tennis racket at her mother's tennis social, as well as cutting a boy's earphones off on the train, and getting right in a yoga instructor's face. This applies for other characters too, such as Gary appearing to make her jealous and being unpleasant and insensitive to Mike when his dog was dying (even if he was his love rival) whereas previously he was more considerate and pleasant. All the other characters also appear more over the top in their behaviours.
59	* FullyAutomaticClipShow: The two-part finale features several, including supercuts of all the times Miranda knocked Stevie off her stool, and of times when Miranda and Penny actually got along.
60	* TheFunInFuneral: Miranda has to give a eulogy without knowing which relative it is that's died.
61	* GonkyFemme: Miranda is six feet tall in a world of women who are a foot shorter. Known as "Queen Kong" to her friends, she is socially and physically awkward and this drives a lot of the comedy.
62	* GoodLookingPrivates: Miranda and her best friend Stevie both love a man in ''any'' uniform and they both squee and compete for his attention whenever any such man happens to come to their store. They include cops, firemen, pilots, Navy men etc. They like even costume versions of the uniform.
63	%% * HeCleansUpNicely: Gary, several times - to both the enjoyment of Miranda and [[EstrogenBrigade the audience]].
64	* HeightAngst: Miranda sometimes displays this concerning awkwardly towering over just about everyone else in the cast. It doesn't help that her mother is a petite five-foot-five and her best friend Stevie is barely five foot two. She also has gloomy bouts of NoGuyWantsAnAmazon.
65	* HotPotato: When Miranda hosts a dinner party, she winds up flinging the main course out the window.
66	* HugeSchoolgirl: Obviously no longer, but still surrounded by schoolfriends who call her 'Queen Kong'.
67	* InherentlyFunnyWords: A RunningGag is for Miranda to [[LampshadeHanging point them out whenever they are said]] and then repeat them several times.
68	* JustFriends: Gary and Miranda. Off and on. Sometimes.
69	* LadyLooksLikeADude: PlayedForLaughs on several occasions. It's a running joke of the series that Miranda is mistaken for a man, especially due to her height and build.
70	-->'''Delivery Man:''' Here you go, sir.
71	-->''(cue audience laughter and an annoyed AsideGlance from Miranda)''
72	** In one episode, Miranda's attempt to buy a nice dress results in an inadvertent visit to a cross-dresser shop where the owner plays along with the ''fiction'' that she's a woman. Later, dolled up, she's oblivious to the fact that a guy hitting on her thinks she's cross-dressing, until her (and his) bubble is finally burst by Stevie's astonished:
73	--> Miranda! Why are you dressed as a transvestite?!!
74	* LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn: Clive regularly plays plot appropriate songs in the restaurant, to Miranda's annoyance.
75	* MrFanservice: Gary ends up with his shirt (or more) off on several occasions.
76	* MouthingTheProfanity: This is a recurring gag for Miranda, who will especially mouth "sex", "breasts", and "moist". This is then played with when Miranda's mum (it all runs in the family) does something similar, but mouths the innocent words around the profanity instead, notably in such an embarrassing way as: "I'd say she was company, but [-she looks like-] a HOOKER!"
77	* NoFourthWall: Miranda frequently turns toward the camera to make jokes to the viewers and to actually talk to them as if it were a conversation, except this is only done in short bursts, usually to raise a quizzical eyebrow or to completely contradict what she's just said.
78	** To the psychiatrist: "You haven't got us pegged!" - to the audience: "He has ''totally'' got us pegged!"
79	*** A ShoutOut to a certain [[{{Series/Frasier}} show about an American psychiatrist]]?
80	** Lampshaded when Penny is doing an impression of Miranda, and ends it with an AsideGlance at the audience. Then cut to Miranda also looking at the audience, confused. (Which can be seen [[https://youtu.be/mlCRxA3TXsU?t=40s here]])
81	** Hart has herself said this was inspired very heavily by the old sketches of Creator/MorecambeAndWise.
82	* NoNameGiven: The man who turns up at the shop repeatedly during Series 3 (credited as "the customer"). A RunningGag is that nobody knows who he is.
83	-->'''Psychiatrist:''' I'm sorry, who is this?
84	-->'''Everyone Else:''' We don't know.
85	* NonSequitur:
86	** "When I'm naked in bed and roll over my breasts clap."
87	** "When my thighs are sweaty and I stand up it sounds like a fart."
88	* {{No Social Skills}}: Much of the show's humour is based on Miranda's serious yet hilarious lack of social skills, such as saying the most inappropriate things to the strangers and formal people.
89	* ObsessedWithFood: Miranda
90	* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Miranda's friends and mother are all in total shock and show serious concern when she offers a snack that she "forgot to eat" as well as when she goes against her natural instinct of pushing Stevie down and actually eats one of her fruit friends in the {{Grand Finale}}.
91	* ParentsSuckAtMatchmaking: Miranda Hart's domineering and overbearing mother does not like it at all that she still has a single daughter, and hatches various matchmaking schemes to get her paired off. Once in desperation she tries holding a street auction to the highest suitable bidder.
92	* PintsizedPowerhouse: Stevie. And Miranda's forceful mother.
93	* PutOnABus: Clive disappeared in the third series without explanation.
94	** TheBusCameBack: Reappears at the end of the series as [[spoiler:the groom of that one guy who keeps showing up randomly]].
95	* RoadTripAcrossTheStreet: Instead of going to Thailand, Miranda checks in to the hotel around the corner.
96	* RunningGag: Someone, or even Miranda herself, unknowingly quotes a line from a song and Miranda then proceeds to sing the song the line is from.
97	** Miranda saying an InherentlyFunnyWord, then [[LampshadeHanging commenting on its inherent funniness]] and repeating it several times.
98	** Miranda pushing Stevie off her stool.
99	* SelfDeprecation: The show is written by Miranda herself, and contains a ''lot'' of jokes about her [[LadyLooksLikeADude general appearance]], so it counts.
100	* ShipTease: Miranda and Gary.
101	* ShipperOnDeck: Stevie and Clive plot to get Miranda and Gary together.
102	* ShutUpKiss: PlayedForLaughs when Miranda panics as her taxi driver is about to reveal that she is going on holiday to the Hamilton Lodge and not, as she has told her assembled friends, Thailand.
103	* SickeninglySweethearts: Gary's friends Chris and Allison.
104	** [[spoiler: Subverted; the penultimate episode reveals them to be very unsatisfied and resentful of each other.]]
105	* {{Slapstick}}: A lot of the sight gags revolve around "Queen Kong", ie the six-foot tall Miranda among petite family and friends, or else Miranda getting into increasingly unflattering situations and embarrassing physical comedy often resulting in her outer clothing being torn off. A recurring gag involves Miranda wittingly or unknowingly swiping her tiny friend Stevie so hard she is bowled over.
106	* StepfordSmiler: As mentioned previously, [[spoiler: Chris and Allison]]; it is also revealed in the last episode that [[spoiler: Penny]] has been stuck in a loveless marriage for years, and her [[spoiler: HeadTiltinglyKinky adventures with Miranda's father were in fact efforts at trying to regain his interest]].
107	* SoundToScreenAdaptation: The show originally started as a radio show called ''Miranda Hart's Joke Shop''.
108	* SpeakNowOrForeverHoldYourPeace: Zig-zagged. In the final episode, [[spoiler:Miranda and Stevie hear that Gary is at a wedding, believe he's marrying Jacinta and rush to the venue to stop the ceremony. Miranda gets there just in time... only to discover that Gary is merely the best man. He does, however, agree to marry her right then and there, as per the usual trope]].
109	* StealthPun: When Music/GaryBarlow makes a cameo appearance ([=S3E5=]), Penny turns to Raymont Blanc and [[Music/TakeThatBand says...well...]]
110	* StickySituation: Miranda gets stuck to the bathtub while waxing. Even better is that Queen starts playing on the radio, making for some good humour.
111	* StopDrowningAndStandUp: Miranda freaks out in a kayak ''that's not even in the water''.
112	* StrangeSyntaxSpeaker: Too many to count. Tilly and Stinky stand out as the worst offenders, though.
113	* StrawmanPolitical: Penny in S3 E2: "What a Surprise". Played for laughs.
114	* StrippingSnag: Happens to Miranda on a crowded street in London, leaving her racing after the car in her underwear trying to get her dress back. An arresting sight on a six-foot comedienne whose shtick relies a lot on the visual humor inherent in her height and build.
115	* StudioAudience
116	** You can easily tell this especially when [[spoiler: Gary comes in the psychiatrist office where Miranda and her mum are in and confesses his love for Miranda, kisses her, and goes down on one knee to propose.]] Half of the audience members are [[{{Squee}} screaming like twelve-year-old girls]]. Then, you can hear them "aww'ing" at sheer disappointment [[spoiler:when we find out it was just Miranda daydreaming.]]
117	* SuddenlyShouting: Miranda's painting instructor has a [[CharacterTic vocal tic]] in which she oscillates between indoor and [[NoIndoorVoice outdoor voice]] mid-sentence. Happily for her, she's evidently [[SelectiveObliviousness blissfully unaware]] of the tic.
118	* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: "This is not a hoover pretending to be a man!"
119	* TechnologicallyBlindElders: Penny calls remote controls 'doobries' and screams when her mobile rings.
120	* TinyGuyHugeGirl: Whenever Miranda and Charlie are onscreen together.
121	* TooMuchInformation: Miranda is traumatized by Penny's over-sharing.
122	** Chris and Allison are very open about the anatomical details of her pregnancy.
123	* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Charlie bloody loves crisps!
124	* TransAtlanticEquivalent: The American remake, ''Series/CallMeKat''
125	* UncoolUndies: Adding to Miranda's humilation when her outer clothing is torn off, she is invariably wearing "sensible and serviceable" underwear.
126	* UnseenCharacter: Penny's tennis partner and ArchEnemy Belinda.
127	** Miranda's father was this until the season two finale.
128	* VitriolicBestBuds: Miranda and Stevie are this. On more than one occasion they have had a massive argument and seemingly broken off their friendship only to [[StatusQuoIsGod go back to being best friends by the end of the episode]].
129	* [[spoiler:WeddingsForEveryone: The series ends with Miranda marrying Gary, Clive's wedding to The Customer, and Tilly engaged to Charlie.]]

Context Series / Miranda2009