%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.
!Bernard Ludwig Black
->'''Played By:''' Creator/DylanMoran
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bb_bernard_8783.jpg]]

The reclusive owner of the eponymous bookstore. He is a misanthropic, pessimistic, belligerent Irish alcoholic who hates both the job and the customers.

* TheAlcoholic: He drinks so much alcohol that his entire demeanor gives off the impression of a slurring drunk.
* AlliterativeName: Bernard Black.
* BadassBookworm: Bernard is capable writing a 1,000 page novel with a deeply complex plot, characters and themes in the space of one night [[SuccessThroughInsanity using two typewriters.]] He also throws knives and shoots miniature crossbows at invisible monsters.
* BadBoss: He forces Manny to do all of the work, never praises him, demeans him all he can, and hardly pays him.
* BerserkButton: Manny just beginning to use the word "party" as a verb causes Bernard to become instantly furious and threatening.
* BrilliantButLazy: He can write a thousand-page novel in one night and is obviously very well-read but is fairly content to just sit around drunk and bitter.
* BurgerFool: In a season 1 episode... [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere for about three minutes.]]
* BuyOrGetLost: The only kind of customer that Bernard tolerates is the kind that buys something and then leaves immediately.
** [[DownplayedTrope Although, Bernard doesn't seem to care whether people buy things or not; he just wants everyone out of the shop.]] In fact, he gets angry when Manny manages to successfully sell books since it means that he has to order more.
* ColdHam: There's something compelling about Bernard's slurring madness. Crosses over to LargeHam whenever he [[HairTriggerTemper flies off the handle.]]
* TheCynic: He makes [[Series/{{House}} Dr House]] look like a fluffy optimist.
** NietzscheWannabe: "This is life. We suffer and slave and expire. That's it".
* DeadpanSnarker: He has a very bitter and cynical sense of humor and can deliver some very cutting insults, mainly towards Manny and his customers.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: The first scene of the first episode establishes his ecentricity and misanthropy in several ways:
** He sticks a post-it note that says "ON PHONE" to his forehead rather than having to speak to a customer, then comes up with a flimsy excuse not to help the customer because he felt the customer treated him rudely (the customer asks if some books are leather-bound since he wants them to match some other books on his bookcase -- Bernard retorts that he'll only accept the transaction in leather-bound pounds that match his wallet).
** When Manny enters the shop having an anxiety attack and requests a copy of "The Little Book of Calm", Bernard spends as long as possible processing the transaction, prolonging the attack.
** After Manny leaves the shop, Bernard concludes "What a strange man...", [[HypocriticalHumour before picking up a megaphone, shouting "RIGHT, THE SHOP IS CLOSED, EVERONE GET OUT!" and chasing the customers out with a broom.]]
* ExtremeOmnivore: Things Bernard Black has ingested -- a coaster, slug pellets, oven cleaner, a jar of coffee, a teacup -- are less about nutrition and more absentmindedness, dead tastebuds and rage.
* FightingIrish: While not outright after a fight, Bernard often resorts to violence at the slightest provocation.
* FreudianExcuse: Averted. He claims his girlfriend dying is one but, given that she faked her death to get away from him, it's likely he wasn't all that much better before. Or he may have gone into SickeningSweethearts mode like he did with Alice.
* TheGamblingAddict: A little flutter on the Grand Nationals horse races gets him hooked for life. Or [[StatusQuoIsGod for the episode]], at least.
* GeniusSlob: Extremely well-read but too drunk and misanthropic to apply himself. His hygiene is so poor that the suit he wears only appears to be black when it is in fact an exceptionally dirty white suit.
** Shown that he cares more about books than people in the first episode when he denies selling a man some books because he doesn't care about the stories, but rather just their leather-bound covers.
* GrammarNazi: Occasionally.
-->'''Manny:''' Let's par--\\
'''Bernard:''' DON'T YOU DARE USE THE WORD 'PARTY' AS A VERB IN THIS SHOP!
%% * HairTriggerTemper: When you're Bernard, life is just a long series of Berserk Buttons.
* TheIllegible: In "Manny's First Day," even he can't read most of his own list of rules for the bookstore.
* {{Jerkass}}: Short-tempered and insulting toward everyone around him to a fault, and even sabotages Manny's social life out of spite.
%%* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk
* KavorkaMan: Subverted, he gets girls, but they disappear pretty quickly once they catch a glimpse of how much of a sleazebag he is.
* LethalChef: Bernard has managed to smoke away his entire sense of smell, which at one point leads him to confuse a coaster for a biscuit. His cooking skills reflect this -- in the episode where he tries to convert the bookshop into a restaurant, he ends up giving all the customers food poisoning.
* TheLostLenore: A great part of Bernard's cynical outlook stems from the loss of his beloved several years prior to the show. [[spoiler:She is, unbeknownst to him, very much alive and happy to be away from him.]]
* ManChild: You wonder how he keeps the place going for so long. The man has the maturity of a 6-year-old.
* MeaningfulName: His surname "Black" matches his dark, cynical personality.
* MessyHair: To the point it has edible mushrooms in it. Manny also cuts clumps of it off with a bread knife.
* NamedAfterSomebodyFamous: Got his middle name in Beethoven's honor.
* TheNicknamer: Calls Manny by a variety of names, including Bigfoot, Gandalf, and Thor.
* NoSocialSkills: "Do you eat? I do. ...Would you like to do it in the same room sometime?"
%%* NoSympathy: It's a foreign concept to him.
* NotAMorningPerson: He's never been awake by 10:30 in the morning, let alone opened his shop by then.
* {{Oireland}}: Bernard is possibly the least Oirish person to ever fit this trope. Still, many of the elements are there, such as the love of alcohol (though Bernard's favored tipple is wine, not beer), the readiness for violence and the Irishisms (though less "Top of the mornin'" and more "Stick it up yer feckin' hole"). He is also shown to speak at least some Gaelic.
* ThePigPen: Bernard's hygiene standard is practically non-existent. He rarely cleans himself up and is quite content with living in his own filth. That black suit he always wears is actually an exceptionally dirty white suit.
* SmokingIsCool: Averted. He smokes like an industrial chimney but his [[ManChild immature personality]] and [[TheAlcoholic drunkenness]] negate any possibility of him being cool.
%%* TheSnarkKnight: To the repulsion of many customers.
* SophisticatedAsHell: He's read every book in the shop, and he's got the mouth of an Irish drunk.
* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: He's such a massive jerk that you end up ''wanting'' bad things to happen to him.
* WellDoneSonGuy: At certain points, he treats Manny like his child. Culminates in him screaming, "HOW COULD YOU DO THIS? [[DidIJustSayThatOutLoud MY OWN SON!]]"
* WrongLineOfWork: It's difficult to imagine a human being less suited to the task of running his own bookshop, given his misanthropic hatred for the customers he has to deal with, and his lazy disdain for basic tasks like keeping track of receipts or putting books on shelves.

!Manny Bianco
->'''Played By:''' Music/BillBailey
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bb_manny_4291.jpg]]

Bernard's shop assistant and flatmate. He is a skilled businessman, well liked by the customers.

%%* AttentionDeficitOohShiny
* BumblingSidekick: Or so Bernard likes to tell him. Manny's a little odd but he's generally more competent than Bernard himself.
* ButtMonkey: Treating Manny like shit is one of Bernard's few reasons to get up in the morning.
* CaughtComingHomeLate: After an evening out with friends, Manny returns to find Bernard sitting in a chair waiting up for him, with Bernard proceeding to scold him.
* DeskJockey: At the very start of the series.
* FictionalDisability: Manny has a condition called "Dave's Syndrome", which causes "bad things" to happen if his body temperature hits 88 degrees Fahrenheit.
* {{Foil}}: To Bernard. Even [[MeaningfulName his name means "white"]].
* GeniusDitz: Possesses remarkable talents such as being able to play a piano melody after hearing it on the radio once and draw perfect illustrations for a children's book.
* HiddenDepths: He's an extremely talented musician, artist and writer as evidenced when he helps Bernard write a thousand-page novel in one night.
* HypercompetentSidekick: While perhaps not brilliant, he is far better at the financial and customer-service aspects of bookselling than Bernard.
* InstantExpert: He is able to perfectly imitate piano music after listening to it once and even master Jazz just as quickly, which Fran's piano teacher finds impossible to believe.
* LooksLikeJesus: The long hair and beard and is even [[ItMakesSenseInContext mistaken for Jesus by Bernard]] in the pilot.
* MeaningfulName: Bianco is the Italian term for 'white', signifying Manny's idealistic and positive outlook to Bernard Black's endlessly sour cynicism.
* NiceGuy: Kind to customers, supportive of his friends, and generally wasted in the shop.
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: For some reason, he's absolutely terrified of travelling in a van.

!Fran Katzenjammer
->'''Played By:''' Tamsin Greig
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bb_fran_6725.jpg]]

Bernard's best and oldest friend. In the first season owned a gift store next to Black Books, but the business went bankrupt and she was unemployed from then on.
* AllWomenLoveShoes: In one episode, she tries to bring a suitcase holding at least 12 different pairs of shoes on vacation with her.
%%* AttentionDeficitOohShiny
%%* DeadpanSnarker: You have to be when you hang out with Bernard so much.
* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Fran seems to be this amongst all her female friends, which is why she hangs around with Bernard and Manny.
* TheHedonist: Fran drinks and smokes with abandon. In one episode, a hippie friend attempts to straighten Fran out, getting her to go vegan and try yoga. The ''only'' thing that really winds up rubbing off on Fran is the self-righteousness.
* TheImmodestOrgasm: To the sound of the shipping forecaster's voice. She even has to call him so she can finish.
%%* LadyDrunk
* MeaningfulName: Katzenjammer is a [[GratuitousGerman German]] term for a hangover. [[note]] Literally means "cat's wail".[[/note]]
%%* OnlySaneMan: You know your social circle is a mess when ''Fran'' is this person.
* ProdigalFamily: Meets her long-lost family in one episode, and they proceed to use her for free rides around town.
* ReallyGetsAround: To the point where she simply assumes that she's slept with Manny, as he's a man who she happens to know.
* WomenAreWiser: Averted. She's about as crazy as the rest of the cast. She fulfills the trope on occasion, but only because it's a very low bar to clear.
%%* WrongGenreSavvy

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