Line #38 Series/Manchild


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/manchild_8.jpg]]
2
3	--> ''"Timing is everything."''
4
5	''Manchild'' was a British sitcom that ran 15 episodes from 2002 to 2003.
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7	The series focuses on four men of a 'certain age' who have been friends for many years. Terry, Gary, James and Patrick are financially successful, but they have a difficult time realizing that this success doesn't necessarily translate into success in relationships.
8	----
9	!Tropes in Manchild
10	* AmicableExes: Terry and his ex-wife still get on reasonably well.
11	* BreakingTheFourthWall: Terry does this regularly to share pearls of wisdom with the audience.
12	* {{Bridezilla}}: According to Terry: "My daughter wants her wedding to make Madonna's wedding look like a car-boot sale."
13	* CampStraight: Patrick
14	* CatapultNightmare: James, when he dreams that his girlfriend snaps off his member.
15	* CigarChomper: An entire episode revolves around how much the men enjoy smoking cigars.
16	* ConverseWithTheUnconscious: Patrick and his comatose mother.
17	* CoolTrain: James has a train that he's renovated into a sort-of love shack on wheels.
18	* TheDandy: All four main characters to some extent.
19	* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: James spots a woman smoking a cigar in a rather suggestive manner.
20	* FalseFriend: Dirty Dixon, who is interested in nothing but belittling the other four men and trying to turn them against each other.
21	* GoldDigger: Several of the women in the foursome's lives.
22	* GreenEyedMonster: Terry gets jealous of his ex-wife's new man in an episode aptly titled "Jealousy".
23	* HappilyMarried: Despite a few bumps, Gary and Cheryl.
24	* TheHedonist: All four men.
25	* IHaveBoobsYouMustObey: Various women pull this one on the men ''all the time'', particularly the one trying to bribe Terry into paying for a boob job.
26	* InTouchWithHisFeminineSide: Despite all their griping about women, the men are constantly seen getting facials and manicures. Terry even tells the audience that the most important advice he gleaned from his wife was: "cleanse, tone, moisturize."
27	* ItsAllAboutMe: Terry. The finale captures this perfectly: after buying the family house from his wife because he insists that the family has to have a "base" and an "anchor", he gets a better deal from the estate agent and decides to sell it. And this is ''after'' his son finally begins to warm to him and his daughter starts making plans for the house.
28	* TheLadette: This trope is referred to by name, and held in contempt by Terry.
29	* LeftHanging: The final episode ended with Gary learning why his son Wayne was being so distant -- he (presumably, given Gary's reaction: "she's only fifteen!") got his girlfriend pregnant. The cancellation of the show meant that it was all left up in the air.
30	* TheLoinsSleepTonight: James's entire arc revolves around his erectile dysfunction.
31	* ManChild: Well duh.
32	* ManlyMenCanHunt: Terry firmly believes this, even though he's useless at it.
33	--> ''"From time to time, it is every man's duty to hunt, to kill."''
34	* MayDecemberRomance: Subverted in that the single characters even have a rule to [[spoiler: not sleep with women over 30]].
35	* NakedApron: James in one episode.
36	* NouveauRiche: Again, the four main characters, just based on their ConspicuousConsumption.
37	* TheOneThatGotAway: Scarlet to James. As he points out, he's well aware that he only wants her ''because'' she got away.
38	* RealMenHateAffection: Subverted. Occasionally the men can be openly affectionate to each other, up to and including kisses on the mouth.
39	* ShirtlessScene: Nigel Havers. Quite a bit, actually.
40	* TheSmartOne: Patrick. Gary explicitly tells him: "you're the brainy one."
41	* UnreliableNarrator: Terry's voice-overs are often belied by whatever's unfolding on-screen.
42	* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: Terry is utterly self-absorbed.
43	* WomanScorned: James cheats on his interior designer and she promptly has his flat destroyed.
44	* WomenAreWiser: Very much the case with Gary's wife Cheryl. On getting her advice as to how to deal with Patrick's grief, he asks how she knows so much.
45	--> ''"Because I piss sitting down. I'm a woman."''

Context Series / Manchild