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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/black_booksgroup_7795.jpg]]
2
3''Black Books'' is a merrily cynical television comedy by Creator/DylanMoran and Creator/GrahamLinehan.
4
5It was broadcast on Creator/{{Channel 4}} between 2000 and 2004, starring Moran as Bernard Black, a foul-tempered Irish misanthrope who ostensibly runs a cluttered little London bookstore but rarely sells anything. (Because when people buy books, he sells books, and then he'd have to order books, and sell them again, and all that's just ''miserable''.) Instead, he spends his time chain smoking, drinking cheap wine and verbally abusing everyone who crosses his path, especially his relentlessly excitable, somewhat naive assistant Manny Bianco (Music/BillBailey). Bernard's friend and (rueful) one-time lover Fran Katzenjammer (Tamsin Greig) has limited success in making him occasionally stop being a total prat, but as she herself is a neurotic pessimistic drunk she can only do so much.
6
7Relied on ASimplePlan for pretty much all of its plots. The characters would decide to go to a party, or do their taxes, or write a children's book, or something, and would more or less use this as a springboard for a lot of bizarre and/or appalling behaviour, until they eventually failed, or at best broke even.
8
9Came fifty-eighth in ''Series/BritainsBestSitcom''.
10
11Not to be confused with ''[[Film/{{Zwartboek}} Black Book]]''.
12
13----
14!!This show provides examples of
15
16* AirportFantasy: Bernard sells ''Tempocalypse'', a thriller about a single woman looking for love who has 12 hours to stop nuclear armageddon. His sales pitch promotes its trashy appeal to both sexes.
17* TheAlcoholic: Bernard and Fran. Fran's last name even means "hangover."
18* AlliterativeName: Bernard Black, proprietor of Black Books.
19* AlliterativeTitle: '''''B'''lack '''B'''ooks''
20* AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents: Manny's parents, who call each other Moo-Ma and Moo-Pa. Moo-Pa invariably starts singing "The Chattanooga Choo-Choo" whenever he's bored, or embarrassed, or just loses focus on what's going on around him, which is pretty much all the time.
21* AmbulanceChaser: Bernard agrees to be Fran's lawyer in order to threaten her next door neighbour with legal action, but with typical lawyer scruples and morals, he ends up falling in love with the neighbour instead and casually deriding Fran as "a mad bitch".
22* AnswerCut: "What was the situation? Had I been drinking?"[[note]]Bernard of all people should definitely know that [[IsTheAnswerToThisQuestionYes the answer to that question in his case is always "Yes!"]][[/note]]
23* ArousedByTheirVoice: Howell Granger the shipping forecaster's sexy voice is a plot point. He's played by Peter Serafinowicz.
24* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: When Fran tries to sabotage Bernard's new relationship [[note]] [[ItMakesSenseInContext (as he's forcing Manny to help him play jazz piano with spoons on his day off)]][[/note]], she claims he's actually such a modest genius that he has rooms full of his most recent paintings, can speak nine languages, blow glass and ''do hard sums''.
25* BackhandedApology: In "Manny Come Home":
26-->'''Fran''': Bernard, I think you have something to say to Manny.\
27'''Bernard''': Manny, I'm sorry. ({{beat}}) ''...I'm sorry I ever let you in here to rob me of my best years, before leaving me a burnt out husk!''
28* BadCopIncompetentCop: In "The Black-Out", after Manny gets all four seasons of ''Series/TheSweeney'' and an espresso machine for his birthday, he goes a little mad and ends up accidentally blagging his way into a real police case. In order to keep up the delusion, he agrees to do a good cop / bad cop routine, resulting in this:
29-->'''Bad Cop''': You better start talking Noggsy, or I'll feed you to the sharks...''(nudges Manny to play good cop)''
30-->'''Manny''': ''(awkwardly)''...You have...beautiful eyes...
31** He finally snaps under the pressure when the other policeman leaves him in the room with a suspect. Luckily, his mad babbling freaks the suspect out so much he winds up confessing.
32* BathroomBreakOut: In "Manny Come Home", Manny is ordered to cut his hair by his new boss at Goliath Books. Locking himself in the bathroom, he leaves the clippers running so it sounds like he is still in there and climbs out the bathroom window using the continuous hand towel like a BedsheetLadder.
33* BedmateReveal: Bernard and Fran, once, before deciding they were BetterAsFriends.
34-->'''Bernard:''' Well, I was there. And so was she. And so were our friends, the genitals. All six of us were there.
35* BedsheetLadder: In "Manny Come Home", Manny is ordered to cut his hair by his new boss at Goliath Books. Locking himself in the bathroom, he leaves the clippers running so it sounds like he is still in there and [[BathroomBreakOut climbs out the bathroom window]] using the continuous hand towel like a bedsheet ladder.
36* BerserkButton: Completely random, unrelated things can cause Bernard to explode into an incendiary nervous meltdown. Such as pandas.
37-->'''Manny''': And erm, he plays the trombone!\
38'''Bernard''': Keep going, keep going!\
39'''Manny''': And he only eats liquorice!\
40'''Bernard''': Manny, this is solid gold, solid gold!!\
41'''Manny''': And his best friend is a panda!\
42'''Bernard''': '''NOOOOOOOOOOO NOOO NO!!! AWFUL!! BILGE! ''CHILD POISON''!'''
43** Also, during the episode "Party":
44-->'''Bernard''': Can we go now?\
45'''Manny''': All set! ''Lets paaaaaa''--\
46'''Bernard''': '''DON'T YOU DARE USE THE WORD "PARTY" AS A VERB IN THIS SHOP!'''
47* BigShutUp: In "Elephants and Hens", after Fran's broke the news that the two other bridesmaids had a threesome with the groom-to-be behind the bride's back, the bride's broken-hearted response prompts one of said bridesmaids to ill-advisedly try and reclaim some of the moral high ground:
48-->'''Becky:''' You could have just kept your mouth shut...\
49'''Tanya:''' ''[Self-righteously]'' Exactly, Fran! Least said, soonest--\
50'''Becky:''' '''''Shut up, Tanya.'''''\
51''[Tanya sheepishly shuts up and looks down]''
52* BiggerOnTheInside: When stuck having dinner with Manny and his parents, Bernard drops his fork on purpose to escape; when he climbs under the table, it is then revealed that there is a bar concealed underneath, [[UnitsNotToScale complete with bartender]].
53* BilingualBonus:
54** In the series finale of season 2, Bernard, Manny and Fran all end up in an airport with no idea what country they're in, so all three ask a barman a random question in a different language in an attempt to ascertain where they are. Bernard asks (in a vaguely Middle Eastern-sounding accent, no less) "''An bhfuil cead agam dul go dtí an leithreas?''" -- an Irish phrase meaning "May I go to the bathroom?", which is probably about the only phrase in the language that every native Irish person could reliably speak.
55** Fran's surname is "Katzenjammer", German slang for hangover.
56** Also, the identity of the strange products in Fran's shop in the {{Pilot}} can be figured out if you read the [[UsefulNotes/JapaneseLanguage katakana]] on the boxes. The Japanese fetish magazine Manny finds himself on the front of at the end of season 1 accurately reads 'Big and Beardy'.
57** Also in the pilot, the last name of Bernard's accountant, "Voleur", is French for "Thief".
58* BodyHorror: When Bernard gets sick after Manny leaves, he uses awful measures to cure himself (such as drinking oven cleaner), only to end up worse. Come the episode ending, he's slurring his words, dreadfully ill, [[{{Squick}} growing edible hair mushrooms]], and [[AchievementsInIgnorance standing horizontally on the walls]]:
59-->'''Bernard''': (slurring) Manny! Manny... I don't feel that... well. I feel... like I'm being beaten up u-- underwater. ''I can feel bits of my brain... falling away like a wet cake.''
60%%* BottleEpisode: "Party" is close enough.
61* BrickJoke: The guy looking for a book about Music/FranzSchubert in season 2 finale.
62* BrokenTreasure: The wine meant for the Pope. Foreshadowed when the first thing that happens when they enter the house is Manny knocking over a PricelessMingVase.
63* BumblingSidekick: All three of the main characters play the role at at least one point -- they're often all as bad as each other.
64* BurgerFool: Bernard takes a job at a burger joint for a few hours just to get out of the rain. He looks so soul-crushingly depressed in the uniform that you'd think he'd lost self-awareness.
65 -->'''Bernard''': Welcome to... the thing. Whatever this place is.
66* CardSharp: Fran turns out to have mad poker skillz that she uses to win back the £20,000 that Bernard lost in a series 3 episode.
67* CeilingBanger: Bernard has a go at being one. The shop being in the state it is, this showers a sleeping Fran in plaster.
68* ChekhovsArmory: In contrast to previous episodes in the series having an abundance of throwaway visual gags and one-liners, every single item, discussion or person introduced in the first five minutes of "The Big Lockout" has some significance later on in the episode.
69* CoincidentalAccidentalDisguise:
70** Over the course of a whole episode Manny eventually ends up looking like a Film/HammerHorror [[TheIgor Igor]].
71** The first episode had him in a white (hospital) robe, with long flowing hair (well, it's Bill Bailey) and an expression of serenity from swallowing ''The Little Book of Calm'', giving him such an aura of calm that he can soothe dogs and car alarms with a wave of his hand. Both a punch-drunk Bernard and a pair of nervous Christians mistake him for UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}}.
72** A third episode ends with all three wearing dark glasses due to various misadventures, and Manny walking with a stick. A woman then comes in asking for donations for the blind.
73* ComfortingComforter: Fran falls asleep on Bernard's couch, so he drapes his coat over her as a blanket. Of course, he also ends up accidentally covering her in ceiling dust and he throws her phone at a wall, but it's the thought that counts.
74* ConspicuousConsumption: Crossing over with LethalChef, Bernard tries to make a concoction he calls "Luxury Pie", a recipe which includes handfuls of saffron and caviar, making the pie worth more than its weight in gold (it turns out inedible, unfortunately).
75* CrazyCatLady: Fran's school friends confide in her that they all secretly expected her to become one.
76* CrazyPrepared: The porn-shop owner, who apparently stocks specialist fetish titles like ''Senior Administrative Nurses'' as a matter of course.
77* CreatorCameo: Co-writer and co-director Graham Linehan is the man who suddenly appears to buy a book at 10:30 [[GilliganCut right after Bernard declares such a thing ridiculous.]] Linehan appears again, beardless, in episode 5, ordering fast food from Bernard.
78* CurseCutShort:
79** When Bernard is going through the multiple messages inviting Manny to a party;
80--> ''*beep* Oh yeah, I forgot to mention... Manny, please don't bring that drunken Irish bast-- *message deleted*''
81** Also when Manny locks Bernard outside the soundproof door. When Manny holds up signs like "Oh no!", all that is heard of Bernard's angry rant is "WRITE SOMETHING USEFUL YOU STUPID FU--" before it cuts back behind the soundproofing.
82** In the last episode, a pissed off Bernard calls up his ex, after having just found out that [[spoiler:she's still alive.]] As the conversation escalates, Bernard suddenly yells, "No, YOU F-" then cuts himself off as she hangs up, leaving the audience with no doubts as to what she said.
83* CutASliceTakeTheRest: Bernard pulls a common variation. He takes a spoonful of coffee from a full jar, then pours boiling water into the jar and drinks from that.
84* CutHisHeartOutWithASpoon: Bernard likes to make these, usually at Manny.
85-->'''Manny''': Do you think I should wash my beard?\
86'''Bernard''': I do think you should wash it, yes. Then shave it off, nail it to a Frisbee, and fling it over a rainbow.
87* DeadlyEuphemism: Bernard hiring an exterminator;
88-->'''Bernard:''' I want you to take care of business with this cat, can I make that any clearer?\
89'''Exterminator:''' You could, actually.\
90'''Bernard:''' He dies tonight, is that any better?
91* DeadpanSnarker: Bernard and Fran.
92* DisappointingHeritageReveal: One episode has Fran seeking out her heritage and finding that she has some relatives in England who still have ties to the Old Country. She quickly grows disillusioned with them after realizing that they're just using her for her car.
93* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything:
94** Manny's defection to Goliath Books is treated as if it was some sort of romantic abandonment.
95-->'''Fran''': So he's gone?\
96'''Bernard''': Oh, no, he still sleeps here. Burrowed in like the little tick he is. But he leaves every day; every day is another betrayal.
97** Also, the plot of the first season finale has Manny leaving the bookshop and the whole thing is treated as if he was a teenage girl who's run away from home (picked up by a skeezy dude who takes creepy pictures of him, almost sold into, [[spoiler:in line with the rest of the show's weirdness, the kind of prostitution where men pay to feel his beard]]).
98** Manny and Bernard's intervention over how many shoes Fran intends on taking on holiday is played as if they were in a [[SpyFiction Spy Thriller]] trying to deprogram a ManchurianAgent.
99** Manny and Bernard trying to replace a priceless bottle of wine with freely available home-and-garden taste substitutes is treated akin to [[Film/{{Frankenstein1931}} Dr. Frankenstein and Igor creating the Monster]].
100* DoorFocus: Happens when Fran says to Bernard that she never wants to see him again and storms out. Seconds later she comes back, her hand covering her eyes, saying "Forgot my purse".
101* DownerEnding: Depending on how much you sympathize with Bernard, it probably qualifies.
102* DramaticPause: "I am... The Cleaner" ([[PsmithPsyndrome Can't you just hear the capital letters?]])
103* {{Eagleland}}: The American tourists who give Bernard's shop a visit hail from the second variety. They're used as inspiration for Fran and Manny's later impersonation of a pair of American tourists.
104-->'''Tourist''': Hey mister, you got anything on armouries, weaponry, that kind of thing?
105-->'''Bernard''': Military history is on your right.
106-->'''Tourist''': I don't want your little history grotto. I want modern warfare! Infrared! Fallout! Killzones!
107-->'''Bernard''': Military history is on your right. If you need any help, [[FiringInTheAirALot please fire a couple of rounds into the ceiling]].
108* EdgyBackwardsChairSitting: Manny does this rather too aggressively, and immediately regrets it.
109* ElectrifiedBathtub: Subverted for comedy. Manny uses an alarming number of electric devices while in the tub, including a toaster and a hairdryer. He even drops the latter into the water, but nothing happens, and he casually acknowledges his luck.
110* EmbarrassingFirstName: Fran was christened "Enid", which she keeps a secret from everyone until Bernard [[TruthTellingSession reveals it to Manny.]]
111* EpunymousTitle: It's Bernard Black's bookshop, and it puns the idea of a "black book."
112* EvenTheGuysWantHim: "Jason can have MY special biscuit."
113* EveryManHasHisPrice: Roland the exterminator, who's just saving up for vet school, is disgusted when Bernard tries to hire him to kill a cat. Until he offers him a thousand pounds. [[spoiler:He's still DrivenToSuicide by guilt, though.]]
114* ExpensiveGlassOfCrap: After drinking the rare bottle of wine meant for the pope, Bernard and Manny attempt to "recreate" it using cheap wine and ingredients from around the house so no one will notice. It ends up subverted, as it kills the pope.
115%%* ExplainExplainOhCrap: The episode ''The Big Lock-Out'' has an example of this.
116* ExtremeOmnivore: Bernard eats just about anything due to his sense of taste being destroyed by years of chain-smoking. Once, when extremely aggravated, he even ate most of a porcelain tea cup! He also mistakes a coaster for "some kind of delicious biscuit," proves capable of consuming slug pellets and oven cleaner without complaining, and thinks that wall moulding and oven knobs would make good ingredients for a fancy meal.
117%%* FawltyTowersPlot
118* FingertipDrugAnalysis: Bernard employs a particularly inventive variant of this when a customer tries to return a book; discovering sand between the pages, he sprinkles some on Manny's tongue, who is able to identify not only the country and region, but the ''specific beach'' the sand came from, foiling the customer's attempt to return his holiday read.
119* {{Flanderization}}: The characters' personalities noticeably degrade over the course of the series, often for RuleOfFunny.
120** Bernard is a bitter, angry slob who becomes outright abusive and downright filthy ([[spoiler:one gag reveals his trademark black suit is just a very, very dirty white suit]]).
121** Manny starts off as an optimistic and reasonably competent adult only to devolve into a simpleton manchild who lives out an After School Special by running away from the book shop over a minor slight, and then reenacts ''Midnight Cowboy'' with a sleezy beard fetishist pornographer.
122** Fran starts as the OnlySaneMan (comparatively) but even she is a heavy drinker, man-hungry, and utterly negligent as a friend, and by the end of season two her horniness is cranked up to eleven while her OnlySaneMan-ness has completely vanished.
123* FormallyNamedPet: Mr. Benson, Bernard's new landlord, turns out to be [[PetHeir the former landlady's cat]].
124* FreudianExcuse: In the final episode, during a rant from Manny about his unpleasant personality in which he is asked if he has ever truly loved anything, Bernard reveals that [[spoiler:he was once engaged to be married, but that she died, which is implied to be the reason for his dishevelled and misanthropic existence.]] Fran, however, subverts the trope by revealing that [[spoiler:she did not in fact die, but faked her death to get away from Bernard, implying that he has always been this horrible and merely uses that as an excuse.]]
125* FriendsRentControl: Bernard hardly ever sells a book, and although the shop is [[PerpetualPoverty dingy and in disrepair]], and also in London, where a shoebox in the middle of the road will take up most of your wages, he somehow manages to keep it. Perhaps justified by the fact that his landlord is at first an apparently senile CrazyCatLady, and later [[PetHeir her cat]].
126* FunnyBackgroundEvent: Not so much "event" as "prop," but Bernard has a chalk board visible in each episode where he has written his "rules" of the bookshop. They change occasionally and always display his misanthropic personality. At one point, it just says "NO!!!"
127* TheGamblingAddict: Bernard becomes addicted to horse racing after Manny places a Grand National bet for him. He goes on to lose £20,000 -- underwritten by the shop -- in a poker game. Fortunately Fran and Manny, posing as American tourists, win it back.
128* GaleForceSound: Manny is on the receiving end of an irate customer's rant, delivered with such force that it blows his hair back.
129* GargleBlaster:
130** "Life Cry". Fran shows it to her friends and they fall silent, awed by what is apparently the most potent drink in the ''Black Books'' universe. As Fran remarks: "You know you're in for a good night when there's a picture of a polar bear bleeding on the label".
131** "Bludge", the drink Fran returns from Rowena's party with. "You don't even have to drink it, just rub it on your hips and it eats straight through to your liver."
132* GenreSavvy: In one episode, Bernard Black instantly recognises that Fran is in a RelativeError plot.
133* GilliganCut: DoubleSubverted. Manny, during his role as a model for Japanese beard fetish magazines, fervently insists that he will ''not'' accompany a Japanese businessman to the casino. Cut to... Black Books, where it appears that he's made good on this promise, until a £50 chip falls out of his pocket.
134* AGlassInTheHand: Bernard looks as though he's about to do this with a teacup as he rapidly loses patience with Manny's parents' annoying habits; instead he ''takes a bite out of the cup'', chews and swallows it.
135* GlobalIgnorance: Bernard in "A Nice Change":
136-->'''Fran''': Well, to get to the Canaries, we have to change (clears throat)... in New Zealand.
137-->'''Bernard''': What? That's practically in France!
138* GoodCopBadCop: In "The Black-Out", Manny has stayed up all night drinking espresso and watching ''Series/TheSweeney'', and [[IdentityAmnesia believes himself to be a copper]]. When he finds himself in a police station, mistaken for a genuine copper, he is cajoled into assisting in an interrogation, and asked to play the part of the Good Cop. Slightly misunderstanding what this involves, he ends up being rather too nice, making ''non sequiturs'' like "You've got lovely eyes" and "Why don't I go out and get us all some crispy duck?" This unsettles the perp, so the genuine policeman decides to leave Manny to continue the interrogation alone. As soon as he leaves, Manny falls to his knees and admits to the perp that he isn't a real copper, he's "just had too much coffee", and begs the perp to help him get out of the situation. This further unsettles the criminal, who cracks and says that he'll talk to "the other guy", as long as Manny goes away. As a result of this confession, the genuine policeman tells Manny that he's one of the best officers that he's ever served with.
139* GrammarNazi: "Don't you ''dare'' use the word 'party' as a verb in this shop!"
140* HaHaHaNo: Manny's creepy new boss in "Manny Come Home" laughs with him and then yells, "I'M REALLY ANGRY NOW!"
141* HangoverSensitivity: A frequent gag, given the amount of red wine the characters are always chugging. However, special mention goes to "The Entertainer", where the characters' dark glasses are part of a CoincidentalAccidentalDisguise that leads some charity fundraisers to think they're all blind.
142* HappyPlace: Bernard's is apparently a bar. Under a table.
143* HardDrinkingPartyGirl: Fran.
144* HerCodeNameWasMarySue: Fran reads part of a [[SelfInsertFic self-insert]] short story by Bernard:
145-->''"Feared by men and admired by women, Brendan Blake turned from the window and petted Larry, his barely hominoid, milk-fed gimp."''
146* HolyBacklight: Manny just after internalizing ''The Little Book of Calm''.
147* IAteWhat: Bernard once mistook a beverage coaster for some kind of delicious biscuit. He then subverts this trope and asks for another one when Manny tells him what he just ate.
148* IngestingKnowledge: Manny absorbs ''The Little Book Of Calm'', which temporarily transforms him into a messianic figure.
149* InjuredLimbEpisode: In one episode, Bernard gets his left arm in a cast. He is reluctant to reveal how it happened. [[spoiler:He fell. It was so ... ''undashing''.]]
150* IntoxicationEnsues: Absinthe and espresso have both been used.
151* IShallTauntYou: Bernard to a bunch of skinheads:
152-->''"Uhh, okay, let's see... Millwall! That's the one. You know that chant, 'Millwall, Millwall, you're all really dreadful, and all your girlfriends are unfulfilled and alienated!'"''
153* IWantGrandkids: Manny's parents.
154%%* {{Jerkass}}: Bernard & Fran.
155* KavorkaMan:
156** Despite being a filthy, friendless sociopath, Bernard does end up bagging the gorgeous brunette Kate. It's also hinted he's had casual sex with Fran in the past, and was also engaged to be married to "Emma".
157** Also Manny, who has no female contact other than Fran for the entire series except for cute blonde Rowena in the very last episode, whom he magically ends up sleeping with.
158* LadyDrunk: Fran Katzenjammer. Fittingly, her last name means "hangover" in German.
159* LargeHam: Bernard with his explosive rants and his preference for smashing things up in times of stress. Manny has his moments as well.
160* LaserGuidedKarma: Fran's scores a job indirectly thanks to Manny's friend Gus who is also a dwarf. After she impresses her boss, she later makes fun of his stature in the shop, unaware that Gus the one that her current boss reports to. Cue her getting fired.
161* LastHetRomance: In the third episode, "Grapes of Wrath", Fran doesn't take long to work out that the guy she's on a date with is gay and not consciously aware of it, so she wastes no time in helping him to come out.
162-->'''Fran:''' Ben, I've got something to tell you, and it might come as a bit of a shock, but you are... mhm, question. What do the following people have in common: Elton John, Ian [=McKellen=], Jean-Paul Gautier?
163-->'''Ben:''' Well, they're all fabulous.
164* LeaningOnTheFurniture: Jason, aficionado of the CaptainMorganPose.
165* LethalChef: When Bernard opens a kitchen in the book shop, he runs out of ingredients and starts cooking with whatever he can find:
166-->'''Bernard''': This paint will make a tasty dish! Yes! Yes! My oven can cook anything! My oven can cook... BITS OF OVEN!
167* LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain: "WE SAID WE WOULDN'T TALK ABOUT CANADA!”
168* LivingInAFurnitureStore: Averted. Bernard and Manny's backroom is a crumbling pig sty. The shop itself is only marginally better, and quickly deteriorates whenever Manny isn't there.
169* LondonGangster: Underworld London criminal Danny Spudge, who comes painstakingly close to ripping Bernard to pieces with his bare hands.
170* LooksLikeJesus: Manny in the first episode, due to CoincidentalAccidentalDisguise
171* MadScientist: Bernard briefly becomes one while trying to make "super-wine."
172--->'''Bernard:''' Now let's see here... an oaky finish... Oak? OAK! TO THE GARDEN!
173** Also hilariously supplemented by Manny as TheIgor after breaking his tooth (Giving him a muffled voice), having his nerves spasmed by a massage machine (making him hunch over) and getting cramp in his leg due to stress, giving him a limp.
174* MaintainTheLie:
175** Manny told his parents he had a girlfriend and had made partner in the bookshop. Then they came to visit...
176** Manny hiding in a piano to support Fran's pretence that she can play.
177* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Bernard tries to invoke this with his summer girlfriend, who he plans to use and then throw away when fall comes around...but she ends up thinking he's mental and dumps him.
178* MeaningfulName:
179** Grumpy misanthrope Bernard's surname is "Black", while his cheerful assistant Manny's surname is "Bianco", meaning "white" in Italian. Their dipsomaniac friend and neighbour Fran's surname is "Katzenjammer", German slang for "hangover".
180** Bernard's crooked accountant from the first episode is named Nick Voleur, French for "Thief".
181* MediationBackfire: Bernard and Manny take time out from an argument to insult Fran, and end up resolving their own differences in the process. Until she leaves, whereupon they start it up again.
182* MenCantKeepHouse: To the point where Bernard and Manny have to vacate the shop for a few days while the cleaner sorts it out; even sweeping his finger around in the air covered it in dust. In a later episode, after Manny moves out, it only gets worse, as the shop gets hopelessly cluttered with books and garbage and [[NoodleImplements a dead badger]], and Bernard has to yell directions through it all from the living area.
183* MessyHair: Bernard's appearance matches that of the shop.
184* {{Metaphorgotten}}: When Manny works at Goliath Books, his manager makes one:
185-->'''Evan''': You see, selling books is a game. It has rules. And you need to learn those rules and get serious about them, ''because it's not a game.''
186* MinimalistCast: Only three people in the cast, and no recurring characters of note.
187* MisspellingOutLoud: Manny stumbles over his spelling after Bernard starts a wager with him over who can sell the most books.
188-->'''Manny:''' Ha! You're toast! T-O-E-A-R-S-T ...toearst.
189* MistakenForGay: Subverted. At their first meeting, Manny mistakenly believes Bernard to be gay, to which Bernard casually acknowledges that he himself made this mistake "for a bit", but changed his mind after discovering the apparently unreachable high standards of hygiene, "and all that ''dancing''". Played straight, however briefly, in the same scene when Manny suggests the place could look better with some lamps.
190* MistakenForProfound: Fran, having been given an office job she knows absolutely nothing about, bluffs her way through a presentation by filling it with business-speak clichés. Her boss is so impressed she gets promoted.
191* MistakenForRomance: In "The Blackout" Fran sees her boyfriend having dinner with another woman [[spoiler:(who turns out to be his sister)]] and showing affection for her.
192* MistakenForToilet: In "The Blackout", Bernard visits his friends Gerald and Sarah in a drunken stupor, mistakes their kitchen for a bathroom and uses their wicker chair as a toilet.
193* ModelScam: Happens to Manny in "He's Leaving Home", but his audience as a model is niche to say the least.
194* MoodWhiplash: The final episode's plot about deciding to go to the party takes a turn after they return where Bernard & Manny end up in an argument and Manny delivers a TheReasonYouSuck speech. Despite the rest of the episode still having comedic moments, it's still horrendously dark compared to the first half.
195* NiceMeanAndInbetween: Or [[ButtMonkey the oaf]], [[{{Jerkass}} the aggressive alcoholic]], and [[OnlySaneMan his old friend]].
196%%* NietzscheWannabe: Bernard.
197* NighInvulnerable: PlayedForLaughs with Bernard; after already contracting an IncurableCoughOfDeath when Manny leaves, he barely survives eating slug pellets and oven cleaner, and claims his brain is falling away like a wet cake ([[StatusQuoIsGod yet somehow]] gets over it).
198* NoodleImplements: When the trio returns from their awful holiday, Bernard mentions he somehow has chilblains, tinnitus, and thrush.
199* NoodleIncident: Whatever did happen in Canada? All we know is that Manny had to sacrifice a monkey and that Bernard will [[LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain never let it be spoken of]].
200* NonResidentialResidence: In one episode, after falling out with Bernard and being fired from the titular bookshop, Manny accepts a job with rival bookstore Goliath Books and sleeps on the cashier's desk in a sleeping bag.
201* NoSympathy: Bernard often has none to spare for Manny:
202-->'''Bernard:''' So you admit you deliberately stepped in front of the bullet?
203-->'''Manny:''' (softly) Yes.
204-->'''Bernard:''' And wantonly sprayed blood from your head wound across the shop?
205-->'''Manny:''' (softly) Yes.
206-->'''Bernard:''' Before going to waste time writhing around on an 'emergency operating table'?
207-->'''Manny:''' (softly) Yes.
208-->'''Bernard:''' (hands Manny an affidavit and a pen) Sign here. [[BadBoss No wages for seven years.]]
209* NotAGame: Evan, the slightly-unhinged manager of Goliath Books:
210-->'''Evan:''' Selling books is like a game; it has rules, and you have to learn them and get serious about them ''[[{{Metaphorgotten}} because it's not a game!]]''
211* NotAMorningPerson
212-->'''Bernard:''' ''[blearily]'' What time is it?\
213'''Manny:''' Um... half ten.\
214'''Bernard:''' Half ten? ''Half ten?'' I've never been up at half ten! What happens?
215* OnlyALighter: The first episode has a subplot where Fran is going slowly mad trying to figure out what a bizarre object she's been trying to sell in her shop is (it's "very in"!). At the end of the episode, Manny wanders into her shop and immediately identifies it as a novelty cigarette lighter.
216* OnlySaneMan: All three take turns at this role, but none of them can ever make it stick -- they end up as the sane one [[DamnedByFaintPraise solely by process of elimination]].
217* OverlyLongGag
218* OverlyPrepreparedGag:
219** the three subplots of the piano episode involve all three of them donning sunglasses for different reasons, only for a collector for the blind to show up the the end of the episode.
220** Manny's various injuries throughout an episode suddenly make sense when Bernard becomes a MadScientist, and Manny has transformed into his [[TheIgor Igor]].
221* ObjectCeilingCling: The show was the inspiration for the creation of the trope. Manny sees a piece of toast stuck to the ceiling whilst he is calling a cleaner. Later in the same episode, Bernard casually skims a slice of toast with jam at the ceiling. The setup ''finally'' pays off when Manny's shock (at accidentally killing the Pope) at the end of the episode is emphasised by [[BrickJoke jammy toast falling on his head]].
222* OutOfCharacterMoment: In the last episode, after [[spoiler:revealing his FreudianExcuse, Bernard not only refuses a drink, but walks off to make the others a cuppa, one of the rare times he lifts a finger to help anyone. Later, he helps Manny get together with a girl and drapes his coat over Fran.]]
223* PestEpisode: One episode has a sub-plot about the bookshop being infested with a strange species of pest which are never named, never appear on-screen and which Bernard and Manny keep killing in increasingly inventive ways. The episode ends with Manny trapping on of the pests in a jug and steaming it to death with a coffee machine, then declaring proudly, "I've done it! I got the queen!"
224* PetHeir: Bernard's deceased landlady left the building to the cat, Mr. Benson. Bernard conspires to murder Mr. Benson to avoid paying rent.
225* PowerTrio: Bernard (Id), Manny (Ego), Fran (Superego).
226* PricelessMingVase: Freddie has tw-- one.
227-->"No, no, ''I'm'' sorry. It was clearly a very silly place to put it. We have another one, although I would ask you to be careful of that, because it is the only one left in the world... now."
228* ProdigalFamily:
229** Manny's incredibly irritating parents show up for the weekend.
230** Fran doesn't initially know her long-lost family, but once she meets them it becomes difficult to extricate herself from the familial embrace. They then proceed to use her for free rides around town.
231* ProportionalArticleImportance: Bernard misses the enormous headline "POPE KILLED BY INFERIOR WINE" because he's looking at the ''date'' (it's his birthday).
232* ReachingBetweenTheLines: Manny attempts to show the cleaning company he's talking to on the phone just how dirty the bookshop is by pointing the receiver at the room.
233* ReducedToRatburgers:
234** A variation -- when Manny leaves Bernard in "Manny Come Home", he's reduced to eating whatever he can to survive. This includes things like eating a strip of old cheese Fran stepped in and the mushrooms that grow in his hair.
235** Also in "The Big Lock Out" where Manny, locked in the shop with no food, is forced to consume bumblebees spit-roasted over old cigarette butts.
236* RelativeError: Committed by Fran. She thinks her boyfriend's cheating on her; he's actually taking his sister out to lunch because she lost her job. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by Bernard, who manages to guess she's made this mistake.
237* RefugeInAudacity: The scene in the final episode with [[spoiler:Fran convincing Bernard that his supposedly dead former fiancée isn't actually dead. It starts with Fran showing Bernard her full name in her phone. It then escalates to Fran showing him Emma's dental records, a birth certificate and a picture of Emma wearing an "I Love Life" t-shirt and holding a copy of that day's newspaper.]]
238* RightBehindMe: Done in "The Fixer" when Bernard, thinking he's safe from [[PsychopathicManchild Danny]], starts insulting him just as Danny walks back into the shop.
239* {{Scotireland}}: An American tourist in Bernard's shop refers to him as a "Scotchman." This earns him a suitably dirty look from Bernard, who later retaliates by telling him and his wife to "piss off back to Australia."
240* SecondPersonAttack: The end result of Bernard taunting a trio of skinheads is getting three simultaneous fists to the face.
241* SelfParody: In "A Nice Change," when Bernard reads an ad for cinema showings:
242-->'''Bernard''': What's this, Blue Tunes? [...] [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything Grouchy Leonard Blue runs a second hand record shop with his half-wit, mustachioed assistant Danny...]]\
243'''Manny''': ''(laughs)''\
244'''Bernard''': When this zany pair team up with bitchy, neurotic neighbour Pam, things are sure to be a riot of laughs. [[SelfDeprecation Where do they get this crap? Even a child could]]--\
245'''Manny''': They must think we're idiots.\
246'''Fran''': ''(looks at picture)'' Look at them. Wankers.
247* ShaggyDogStory: Bernard's explanation for breaking his arm, a convoluted tale of PullingTheThread to unravel [[WhatDidIDoLastNight how he'd drunkenly ruined his oldest friendship]], which culminates in him... [[AntiClimax falling down some steps]].
248* ShapedLikeItself:
249-->'''Bernard''': The shop is the way it is because it is the way it is. If it wasn't the way it is it wouldn't be the way it is.
250* ShoutOut: Most of the names Bernard calls Manny are pop culture references to guys with long hair and beards, among them [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings "Lord of the Rings" and "Gandalf"]], [[Franchise/FlashGordon "Ming the Merciless"]], and [[Music/{{Hawkwind}} "Hawkwind"]].
251* ASimplePlan: The basis of most episode plots. Not even doing taxes or attending a party can go normally.
252* SitComic: Both Dylan Moran and Bill Bailey; Tamsin Greig is the only star without a stand-up past.
253* StealthHiBye: The Cleaner.
254* SpitTake: A drunken Manny pops out from under the table with pigtails, causing Bernard to spray 20-year-old vintage ''Vin du Rosier'' (worth £7000) all over the table like a broken hose. Probably the most expensive spit-take in history (£1295, [[FreezeFrameBonus according to]] the on-screen price ticker).
255* SuddenlyShouting: Bernard is very prone to this.
256-->'''Bernard:''' Let's just, you know, get some ideas bouncing around. Sort of go crazy, you know, no rules...\
257'''Manny:''' Yeah, yeah, sort of anything goes-\
258'''Bernard:''' ''[hysterically]'' NO, NOT ANYTHING GOES, I SAID ''NO RULES''!
259* TheyCalledMeMad: Parodied by Bernard while attempting to make a "super wine" from scratch, "with a fraction of nature's resources and a ''FOOL'' for an assistant."
260* ThisProductWillChangeYourLife: Bernard has attempted to fob books off on customers with this line so they'll go away.
261* TransparentCloset: One of Fran's dates, although it appears he seems to have kept his sexuality hidden from ''himself''.
262* TrashcanBonfire: Bernard and Manny burn the children's book they write in one of these.
263* TrashOfTheTitans: A RunningGag, but played up particularly in "The Grapes of Wrath". "North corner, cobwebs containing a number of deceased arachnids... with beans". Later he sweeps his finger through ''thin air'' and it comes away black with dust.
264* TruthTellingSession: When Bernard finds out Fran's been hiding the fact that his "dead" girlfriend isn't, it triggers one of these.
265%%* TwiceShy: Manny and Rowena.
266* UglyAmericanStereotype: One episode involves the Irish Londoner Bernard having to deal briefly with a married couple of American tourists. The husband is presented as a boorish loudmouth who demands to know if he has any books on armories; when told where the military history books are, he declares that he doesn't care about history, he wants "modern warfare! Infrared! Fallout! Killzones!". He also calls Bernard a "Scotchman" to his face (earning perhaps the deadliest death glare in the whole series). Later in the episode the pair returns; the guy demands a refund for the book he bought, and Bernard tells them to "piss off back to Australia."
267* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: Protagonist Bernard is a surly misanthrope.
268* VerbalBackspace:
269 -->'''Bernard''': You know I don't approve of you seeing other girls-- PEOPLE!
270* ViewersAreGeniuses: Bernard reveals that his middle name, Ludwig, is probably a reference to Ludwig van Beethoven, his hair and expression reference the famous portrait of Beethoven himself. You'd have to be familiar with the portrait to get the joke.
271%%* VitriolicBestBuds: Bernard and Manny.
272* WellIntentionedReplacement: Bernard and Manny's attempt to recreate the £7,000 vintage wine they accidentally drank.
273* WeWantOurJerkBack:
274** Manny starts to miss Bernard when he goes to work for creepy boss Evan at Goliath Books.
275** Fran disapproves of Bernard's behaviour when he tries to be a bit less miserable: "Look! I can do ''fun''!"
276* WhamLine: In the last episode, Bernard: "[[spoiler:I had a girlfriend actually, she died.]]" It even cuts off a drunken Manny ranting about Bernard's coldness.
277* WhatDidIDoLastNight: Bernard frequently gets alcohol-induced memory gaps for comic effect, but this plot was the particular focus of the episode where he tries to work out why his oldest friend blanked him in the street.
278** From "Travel Writer", when Bernard can't recall telling Manny he could have a festival of travel writing:
279-->'''Bernard''': I don’t remember that.\
280'''Fran''': Do you remember that night last week when you slept in a revolving door?\
281'''Bernard''': ...no.\
282'''Fran''': Okay, do you remember when you ran out of tobacco so you smoked your own pubic hair?\
283'''Bernard''': Not especially, no.\
284'''Fran''': It was in between those two things.
285** Bernard dimly recalls a BedmateReveal involving himself and Fran a few years ago, but doesn't remember the details. This may be at least partly due to Fran telling him [[RepressedMemories he's not allowed to remember what happened.]]
286* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Fran's shop is shown early in the first season and occasionally mentioned a few times thereafter. Suddenly in the second season, she mentions her shop closed with no explanation. It also leaves her without a visible source of income (except for her short-lived office job) for the rest of the series, but this never seems to bother her.
287* WhoWouldWantToWatchUs: When considering going to the cinema, Bernard reads out a review of a film whose premise is practically identical to the show's -- to groans from all.
288%%* WithAFriendAndAStranger
289* WimpFight: Bernard and Fran settle their differences with a fight, which involves them turning their heads away and slapping each other childishly until Fran twists Bernard's arm behind his back and pulls his hair.
290* WomenAreWiser: Fran ''thinks'' she's this, but she really really isn't.
291* YouDoNotWantToKnow: Manny refuses to say what happens to him if the temperature reaches 88 degrees, referring to his condition only as "Dave's Syndrome." It turns out it involves [[spoiler:a war dance on top of a car, naked save for a strategically-placed hot water bottle and "Eat Me" written on his chest.]]
292* ZanyScheme
293----
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