[[quoteright:320:[[http://www.redbubble.com/people/ameba2k/works/23128748-inspector-spacetime https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/inspector_spacetime.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:320:The Lunatic With a Booth.]]

->''"When you look out at the skies at night, what do you see? Starlight. From millions of stars. And that's just the light that's arrived here at one point in time. You can see every star, every planet, in one point of time, and never get the full picture. So really, the question isn't where... but when."''
-->-- '''The Eleventh Inspector'''

''Inspector Spacetime'' is a British sci-fi series that has been on the air since 1962 and has gained a worldwide following. It's long since established its niche as a cult classic.

The Inspector is an alien from a faraway planet who has come to Earth to rescue us from dangers across space and time. He travels the universe in his snug [[CoolShip Model X7 Dimensioniser]] time booth[[note]] mistakenly called a DARSIT in the very first episode, a famous case of EarlyInstallmentWeirdness[[/note]], which takes the form of a red telephone box. (Fans nicknamed it, simply, the "Booth".) The X7 is famously "just a little too small on the inside," adjusting its interior dimensions to almost, but not quite, comfortably accommodate its occupants. Even when the Inspector is alone, it retains its cosily cramped atmosphere. This is often alluded to as the reason that friendships formed in the Booth are the closest one ever makes. Even so, as the Inspector says, "There's always room for one more."

The Inspector often recruits Associates, most notably Constable Reginald Wigglesworth (Reggie). He has also amassed a RoguesGallery of villains over the years that includes the Blorgons[[note]] a.k.a. the Blogons[[/note]], the Digifleet, Thoraxis, and the Sergeant. [[ImpossiblyCoolWeapon Optic Pocketknife]] in hand, he will investigate the horrors of the universe.

The Inspector is the last of the Infinity Knights, the race of people who lived on his home planet of Kayaclasch. They once policed the universe with their advanced spacetime technological inventions, such as the time booths, but grew arrogant and corrupt in their twilight. They perished in the catastrophic [[GreatOffscreenWar Time Wave]], and the Inspector is the [[LastOfHisKind lone survivor]]... [[ThereIsAnother or is he]]??

Now, to ease his solitude and pass on his knowledge, the Inspector brings Associates along for adventures as he travels the universe, inspecting the roots of all its mysteries. He is a man who must often make tough decisions to meet his ends. Like all Infinity Knights, the Inspector was born without a heart, which explains his tendency to be cruel at times. His personal quest for a "substitute" for this organ has so far been unsuccessful since duty and danger always come first. Still set on this goal, he often takes on Associates who are similarly searching for something or looking to improve themselves. [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg Except Jeffrey]]. [[ButtMonkey Everyone hates Jeffrey]].

The Inspector's Associates provide something unique to the cast with each new addition, such as classic favorites the maths and English teachers Irma and Bart, the [[BraveScot Gaelic swordsman]] Aiden, the late Jeffrey, the [[NubileSavage barbarian princess]] Reena, fellow Infinity Knight Lunda, [[TeenGenius the genius]] Yosif, the [[RobotBuddy automatomcat]] FE-Line, and the long-runner Mary Sue.[[note]] There are a few forgettable ones, though, like the utterly nondescript Benjamin.[[/note]] More recent Associates include [[NaiveEverygirl Lily Taylor]], [[ChivalrousPervert Captain James Haggard]], the MagnificentBastard Yorke, Constable Wigglesworth, Angelica "Angie" Lake, and Rory Williams [[note]]The same character would later appear in That Ripoff.[[/note]]. The 2012 fiftieth-anniversary season introduced the Eleventh Inspector's newest Associate, [[FakeGuestStar "temporary" constable]] Geneva Stilton, who has gone on to be an official one for the Twelfth Inspector.

The programme won a devoted audience for [[FirstLawOfTragicomedies wittily combining]] humour with scares and grew into a LongRunner despite ExecutiveMeddling from producer British Television and distributor Boogatron Media--not to mention [[NoBudget chronic underfunding]], [[LoadsAndLoadsOfWriters inconsistent script quality]], [[MissingEpisode archival carelessness amounting to sabotage]], [[WhatCouldHaveBeen perversely wasted potential]], and numerous other problems best left for another discussion. Fourteen actors have taken on the iconic role of the Inspector so far[[note]]fifteen, if the [[LoopholeAbuse Unknown Inspector from the 50th anniversary specials counts]][[/note]], alongside literally dozens of Associates, in an ever-expanding cast. The sheer AMOUNT of canon there is to go through might cause some ArchivePanic, but it's well worth the hours you'll spend with it.[[note]]In all seriousness, though, there is already an effort in motion to write actual episodes of this series [[http://inspectorspacetime.proboards.com/index.cgi found here]].[[/note]]

The new series has successfully branched out into several {{Spin Off}}s within the franchise, although they do not CrossOver with the main Inspector Spacetime series. Unlike their parent show, they are all situated on Earth and rarely involve TimeTravel.

* The series ''Peacemist: Nicer Post'' starring Captain James Haggard began airing in 2005. It is [[LighterAndSofter significantly more family friendly]] than the current ''Inspector Spacetime''.
* A second spin-off series, ''The Mary Sue Predicaments''--[[DarkerAndEdgier far edgier and more thoughtful than its precursors]]--was recently cut short by the death of the lead actress.
* A children's FE-Line series [[InNameOnly named simply ''FE-Line'']], produced by an unrelated Japanese television company, has been running for the past three years, and yes, that is where those strange vids of [[HumongousMecha Giant FE-Line]] came from.
* The series ''Break'', aimed at a younger audience but with some concessions towards older viewers. The show focused largely on [[EdutainmentShow edutainment]] as opposed to interpersonal relationship drama, and was noted for its relatively strong ties to the main show's canon.

Other facets of the vast ''Inspector Spacetime'' media empire include American, British, and Japanese comic books, two different animated adaptations (one Eastern, one Western), novels, radio dramas, and video games.

Early in the series' run whilst it was gaining popularity, an American studio obtained film rights to the series. The movie version notably [[AlternateContinuity isn't canon with the TV series]] and controversially changed many aspects of the series' mythology, for example changing the Inspector from an Infinity Knight to a human police officer literally named "Spacetime" and re-inventing the Blorgons as malfunctioning peacekeeping robots. For these reasons (and others) [[FanonDiscontinuity fans don't like to talk about this adaptation]]. (Except for the fact that its star Creator/ChristopherLee soon became the Second Inspector.)

Not to be confused with a [[Series/DoctorWho far less popular imitator]].

It has its own wiki [[http://madmanwithabooth.wikia.com/wiki/Inspector_SpaceTime_Wiki here]].

The origin of this landmark television show requires detailed examination too extensive and complicated to summarize here. [[note]]''Inspector Spacetime'' is in reality a recurring gag/homage to ''Series/DoctorWho'' made by ''Series/{{Community}}'', which first appeared in its season 3 premiere, "[[Recap/CommunityS3E01Biology101 Biology 101]]", and has been regularly referred to in later episodes. But that doesn't mean we can't have our own fun with it![[/note]]


----

!!This show provides examples of:

%%%
%% Please categorize examples under Classic Series Tropes, New Series Tropes, or, for examples appearing in both, In-Universe Tropes.
%% Also, please try to group multiple examples, check for duplicates/repetition, and avoid zero context examples.
%% And most of all, please have fun expanding the Inspectrum.
%%%

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:In-Universe Tropes]]
* ActionGirl:
** Old-school Associate Theodora "Dynamo" [=McRae=]. She once beat up a Blorgon with a [[ImprobableWeaponUser hockey stick]]. She [[PGExplosives blew up things with dynamite]]. A ''[[MadBomber lot]].''
** JunglePrincess Reena also qualifies.
** Brooke Rhapsody most certainly counts as this.
* ActorAllusion:
** This is not the first time Ellen [=McLain=] (the voice of the [[AlmightyJanitor Operator]] in "The Inspector's Ex") has played a cheerful, friendly [[spoiler:[[SelfDemonstrating/GLaDOS psychopath who wants to destroy you.]]]]
** The Sixth Inspector era had the RunningGag of Graham Chapman's various Creator/MontyPython co-workers popping up in brief, appropriately bizarre, cameos. The most infamous by far was Creator/MichaelPalin playing [[Film/MontyPythonsLifeOfBrian Pontius Pilate]] again.
*** Not to mention Chapman's imitation of a [[Creator/MontyPython "pepperpot"]] when first metamorphosing in the Fifth Inspector's dress.
* AffablyEvil:
** The Sergeant, although a classic [[DirtyCop "bent copper"]], remains cordial despite the Inspector constantly foiling his schemes, which he passes off as [[WorthyOpponent cordial rivalry]].
** The [[InexplicablyAwesome Orange Warden]]. [[SurrealHumor Sometimes]].
** Ms. Patch is a little old lady who drinks tea, knits and...plans to kill the Inspector with her minions, the Quiet Men.
* AlienGeometries: The incomprehensible geometries of Mathsville, where [[BiggerOnTheInside larger objects appear to fit within smaller ones]]; the Inspector and Angie's [[PaperPeople loss of their third dimension]] in "Squared". The interior of the Infinite Cyclorama, particularly on its second appearance.
* AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: The Rostraan caste system is ColourCodedForYourConvenience, with orange for proles, [[ChromaticArrangement olive green]] for scientists, [[LawOfChromaticSuperiority beet red]] for the military, and [[ColorCodedPatrician aubergine]] for the oligarchs.
* ArchEnemy
** [[ClassicVillain The Sergeant]]: The Third Inspector specifically considers himself to be the Sergeant's nemesis.
** In addition, each Inspector attracts a special adversary:
*** The First Inspector: [[TheTrickster The Tinker]]
*** The Second Inspector: The Circuit-Chap Commander 0LD-BN
*** The Third Inspector: [[spoiler: The [[DarkIsEvil Dark-Matter]] Inspector]]
*** The Fourth Inspector: [[MadScientist Vosrda]], the Blorgons' creator
*** The Fifth Inspector: [[TooFunnyToBeEvil The Orange Warden]]
*** The Sixth Inspector: Vosrda[[note]] technically, his fourth-generation clone[[/note]] and the Indictor
*** The Seventh Inspector: [[RivalTurnedEvil The Maharini]]
*** The Eighth Inspector: Aleph[[note]] in the Great Ending audio plays[[/note]]
*** The Ninth Inspector: [[PuppeteerParasite Wabe Gimble-Gyre Tove]]
*** The Tenth Inspector: [[spoiler: [[ChronicVillainy Yorke]]]]
*** The Eleventh Inspector: The Cacophony
* BadassLongcoat: The Inspector's signature Mackintosh coat, a constant costume piece throughout his incarnations' otherwise [[LimitedWardrobe distinctive tastes in clothes]].
* BeenThereShapedHistory: Popping up on the periphery of major events in Earth's history is practically the Inspector's avocation, as well as a [[HistoricalInJoke source of amusement]] for the programme's writers.
** In 1390, the Tenth Inspector investigated the highway robbery and assault of Creator/GeoffreyChaucer ("The Chaucer Puzzle").
** In 1483, the First Inspector examined and unofficially acquitted UsefulNotes/RichardIII ("The Two Princes' Murder").
** In 1851, the Ninth Inspector teamed up with Metropolitan Police Inspector Charles Frederick Field to rescue their author friend Creator/CharlesDickens from the underworld den "Rats' Castle" ("The Riotous Living").
** In 1882, the First Inspector negotiated the surrender and arrest of Alexander Franklin "Frank" James ("The Desperadoes").
** In 1911, the Fourth Inspector exonerated Creator/PabloPicasso in the theft of Louvre's most famous painting ("The Mona Lisa Caper").
** In 1913, the Sixth Inspector discovered that Music/GustavHolst... well... see below ("The Mask of the Maharani").
* BerserkButton: The Eleventh Inspector's bowler should not be messed with.
** Also the Third Inspector in regards to wasting tea, especially spilling it.
* BigBad:
** The Blorgons.
** The Orange Warden, in Season 16's "Bolt of Space" story arc.
** The Quiet Men, maybe Ms. Patch too.
* BiggerOnTheInside: Notably [[DownplayedTrope downplayed]] with the Booth's famous--"Always room for one more!"--cosily cramped carrying capacity.
* BizarreAlienBiology: Despite looking [[HumanOutsideAlienInside nearly identical to humans]], the Infinity Knights have many physiological differences, most notably the fact they have no hearts.[[note]] Hence the old ''Inspector Spacetime'' fan joke: "Why did the Infinity Knights newspaper fail? Poor circulation."[[/note]]
* TheBlank: The identity theft victims in "[[FaceStealer The De-Faced Doppelgängers]]"; the Cyber-Optimised Police androids from "The Five Inspectors, One Time Booth"; and the Pokerfaces in "Pokers and Tongs".
** Also, as [[LatexPerfection uncovered]] in the climax of "Mindscrew", [[spoiler:Benjamin]].
* BritainIsOnlyLondon: {{UsefulNotes/London}} is undoubtedly the Inspector's favorite city on Earth, not least because it attracts so many aliens. The Inspector's adventures officially began here in "A Timeless Man", and each of his incarnations has visited at least once. As the Third Inspector says, "When one is tired of London, one is tired of the universe!"
** It is even implied that his time booth takes the form of a telephone box because that is the best camouflage for its most frequent destination.
* BritishSeries: So very, very British. Despite its international popularity, the programme has never made any concessions to overseas accessibility. If anything, its extensive usage of UK slang, trivia, and popular culture only makes its settings seem that much more unfamiliar to audiences abroad.
** Even supposedly American characters such as Nicola "Coco" Coates and Gary Mulligan refer to [[TheProfessor boffins]], [[PowerFist knuckle dusters]], [[BabyCarriage prams]], [[SpaceClothes "space fancy dress"]], [[SpannerInTheWorks spanners]], and, of course, telephone boxes.
** In addition to all the aliens who have apparently received [[ShakespearianActors RADA/RSC training]], the Inspector has always been remarkably Anglophilic for an extraterrestrial throughout his incarnations (with one notable exception).
* CanonForeigner: Many additional Associates created for the Great Ending Productions Inspector Spacetime audio plays.
* CatchPhrase:
** Ten often cried out, ''"[[GratuitousSpanish ¡Arriba!]]"'' as he charged into action.
** "I now don a [[DashinglyDapperDerby bowler]]. Bowlers are neat."
** "The question is not where, but ''when''."
** "ERADICATE! ERADICAAAAAAAATE!"
** "[[MechanicalEvolution You will be modified.]]"
** "THE RISE! OF! [[LargeHam THE CYMBALS!]]"
** "We must [[ReversePolarity normalise the alignment of the electron stream]]!"
** "Oi, wot's all this, then?" was the only catchphrase for the First Inspector. Fitting, as his character was more of an inspector than most of the others.
** "[[AttackHello Hi, honey!]]"
** "[[DeliciousDistraction Want a wine gum?]]"
** "By Jove, Inspector, [[CrazyEnoughToWork that just might work!]]"
** "Always room for one more!"
* ChaseScene: Often for the finale, following [[TheSummation the obligatory summation scene]], the Inspector has to pursue the story's unmasked malefactor(s)—typically down {{Endless Corridor}}s.
** In the first, and greatest, of the programme's many chase sequences, "The Marathon Pursuit" has the Inspector tracking Blorgons over time and space, including Virginia's Roanoke colony in 1590, London's Crystal Palace in 1936, and a [[TheWildWest Wild West]] railway heist[[note]] actually the film set of the 1903 {{Western}} ''Film/{{The Great Train Robbery|1903}}''[[/note]], until he finally apprehends them on the [[SingleBiomePlanet swamp planet Mucidus]] in the third millennium CE.
* ChasteHero: The Inspector, although it's been a RunningGag over the decades to have him strongly hint that he's been in several tumultuous marriages, and has numerous children.
** And WordOfGod says that he and Lunda did in fact have sex, but that Infinity Knights don't go about the whole process in quite the same way that humans do. Whether she [[spoiler: was pregnant with his child when she committed her final HeroicSacrifice and left the Universe with the Bolt of Space]] is less canonical.
* ChurchMilitant: The Inspector has run afoul of a number of these.
** The First Inspector was unexpectedly [[ColdBloodedTorture "cross-examined"]] by the [[StateSec Spanish Inquisition]] in "Reign of the Nightmare".
** The Church of the Cosmos only wanted to [[MissionFromGod call on humanity to expand into space]] in "The Tenth Crusade"—it wasn't their fault it was infiltrated by the [[FaceStealer Slythins]].
** [[WellIntentionedExtremist Cardinal]] [[MadMathematician Continuum]] of the Terran Federation's [[CorruptChurch Universal Church]] tried to actuate the sacred relic "[[SummoningArtifact The Lemniscate]]" [[spoiler:(actually an Infinity Knight [[RagnarokProofing failsafe backup]])]] in "The Last Minutes".
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: The Inspector has pursued white-collar criminals ever since the titular "The Saviour of Earth" in the classic series and continues into the new:
** Mr. Bland in "The Buccaneer Comet" proves to be a [[TheManBehindTheMan far worse villain]] than Cap'n Helios and her entire band of pirates.
** In "Blorgon", [[SmugSnake Oscar del Manhattan]], with his [[GoodHairEvilHair slicked-back hair]] and double Windsor–knotted power ties, is a throwback to the 80s version.
* CosmicPlayThing: Many of the Associates. For this reason the Associates are nicknamed [[FanNickname "Soccers"]] by the fans. It's partly a shortening of "associate" and partly because they tend to get kicked about a fair bit.
* CreatorCameo: If some [[InnocentBystander luckless extra]] appears on-screen just long enough to meet some [[DeathByCameo grisly demise]], chances are it's either the director of the series in question, or the show's current Executive Producer.
* DaysOfFuturePast: Sometimes it was easier for BTV's overextended production department to refit existing costumes and sets from their historical dramas to create futures that looked extra-retro.
** The 21st-century [[AfterTheEnd post-nuclear apocalypse frontier]] in "A Village Called Sympathy" doubles as a SpaceWestern, down to little details like a [[EnergyWeapon laser-lasso]] wielded by Kickpuncher's adversary, the villainous rustler Cowpuncher.
** After the collapse of the [[TheFederation Terran Federation]] in the third millennium CE, the linked serials "The Dark Ages" and "The Queen's Angels" take place in a FeudalFuture.
* DepravedBisexual: Textbook case with Mary Sue although it is taken to extremes in her spin-off ''The Mary Sue Predicaments'' that fans often complain about.
* DoesNotLikeSpam: The Tenth Inspector once joked that the mere mention of mangoes around him is like a BrownNote, and if the Blorgons ever got word of that, the universe would be doomed in ten seconds flat.
* DoAnythingRobot: FE-Line; one common fan theory/joke is that she was originally a jumbo-sized Optic Pocketknife which had ears, a tail, whiskers and Prehensile Articulated Walking Struts bolted onto it.
* DoomsdayDevice: Constantly appearing in the Inspector's adventures and threatening the world/galaxy/universe/reality itself.
** The latest is the Trans-Temporal Tourbillon, which the Unknown Inspector uses at the end of "The Golden Jubilee of the Inspector" 2012 Christmas Special [[RetGone to obliterate]] [[MoralEventHorizon both the Infinity Knights and the Blorgons]] [[IDidWhatIHadToDo rather than let history judge them moral equivalents]] in their [[ForeverWar endless conflict]].
* DoomyDoomsOfDoom: "Doom" is tied with "Terror" as the favorite noun for unpleasantness in titles for ''Inspector Spacetime" stories.
* TheDreaded: Averted, gradually, in the classic series, then restored in the new one.
** As the programme continued and the Inspector became less intimidating over his incarnations, his [[MysteriousPast enigmatic reputation]] soon lost its ambiguous aura of menace. By the 80s, especially with the [[FailureKnight misadventure-prone]] Sixth Inspector and the [[InspectorOblivious often-clueless]] Seventh, any villain recognising who this strange individual calling himself "the Inspector" ''actually was'' immediately had to [[UnEvilLaugh chuckle]].
** After the events of the Time Wave, however, the Inspector's reputation as a dangerous foe received a [[TookALevelInBadass significant boost]]. In the new series, he's prone to [[BadassBoast re-emphasising this]] in case anyone's forgotten.
* EldritchAbomination: The Supreme Counter-Intelligence, an unearthly, disembodied entity intent on preventing humanity's discovery of extraterrestrial intelligence throughout history, appearing in "The Unspeakable Lavamen" and its SequelEpisode "[[TheLavaCavesOfNewYork The Underground of Doom]]".
** The core or power-source of The Infinite Cyclorama is implied to be one of these.
** Explicitly in "[[EvilTowerOfOminousness The God Spire]]" and "[[KillTheGod The Torcs of Vortigern]]".
* [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep Everyone Calls Him Inspector]]: To this day, the Inspector's true name is unknown. However, rumours say his nickname was Pi Lambda.
* EvilFormerFriend:
** The Inspector and the Sergeant
** [[spoiler: Yorke.]] Although how much of a friend he was is up for debate.
* EvilSmellsBad: [[SuperSoldier The Sulphur Soldiers]]. For a [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy certain definition]] of "[[LawfulEvil evil]]" (especially in "The Great Game").
* TheExoticDetective: Detectives don't come any more exotic than a literally heartless time-travelling alien solving mysteries across the universe.
* ExpandedUniverse:
** The line of books that largely involve the Eighth Inspector travelling around with AmateurSleuth and GreatDetective Fitzwilliam Fort.
** Not to mention the audio dramas by Great Ending Productions.
** Let's not forget the comic book series of the Tenth and Eleventh Inspectors published by CCC (Creation and Concept Comics) Publications.
** In the early '70s, Creator/ArchieComics bought the rights to do an ''IS'' comic under its Red Circle Comics imprint for American audiences. Their writers quickly went [[CerebusSyndrome off]] [[DenserAndWackier the]] [[DarkerAndEdgier rails]], however, and the comic was cancelled in 1979 ([[CutShort cutting short]] an arc in which the Twenty-Second Inspector was travelling to before the Big Bang to codify the universe's laws of time and space).
* EyepatchOfPower: Before [[EyepatchAfterTimeSkip Ms. Patch]] in "Brooke Gets Hitched", there was [[PirateGirl Cap'n Helios]] in "[[CometOfDoom The Buccaneer Comet]]".
* FantasticFightingStyle:
** The Third Inspector knows Jovian Jujitsu, but while he [[IKnowKarate threatens to use it]] habitually, he [[LetsGetDangerous very rarely does so]].
** Constable Reggie is trained in [[WireFu zero-gravity martial arts]].
* FemaleFelineMaleMutt: While FE-Line is definitely a female-identified robot, the Circuit-Chaps' Circuit-Mutts are always voiced by male actors.
* {{Fictionary}}: Incomplete attempts have been made to create a language for the Blorgons. For example, "blogon" (pronounced "BLOW-gon") means "thank you" in Blorgon.
* FriendlyEnemy: The Sergeant. Especially since that he and the Inspector were once friends as cadets at the Kayaclaschian Police-Time Academy.
* GoodIsNotNice / GoodIsNotSoft: The Inspector tends to exemplify one or the other of these.
* GoToAlias: "Joe Bloggs"[[note]] or "Joan", for the Fifth Inspector[[/note]] for the classic series Inspectors; "John Doe" for the Eighth; "Fred Bloggs" for the new series--which culminated in a [[TheEndingChangesEverything shocking twist]] in the 50th anniversary series finale's "[[UnpronounceableAlias The Alias of the Inspector]]".
* [[CaliforniaDoubling Greater London Doubling]]: During the classic series, BTV's producers would take advantage of the region's [[HeyItsThatPlace architectural variety (and dilapidation)]] to supply scenery for stories set in the future and/or dystopias, e.g. the disused Battersea Power Station in "Recollection of the Blorgons"; the pre-redevelopment Isle of Dogs for the gangland Terra Omega in "The Melancholy Mafia"; and Brunel University's Brutalist campus buildings in "The Rostraan Scientific Method".
** The new series instead regularly showcases the city's very latest buildings to present a shiny, happy future, including the Millennium Dome, The Shard, and, of course, [[http://eu-static.30stmaryaxe.info.s3.amazonaws.com/Live/Images/Gallery/30-SMA1.jpg "The Gherkin"]].
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: Jeffrey]]
** Also [[spoiler: King Sonacry of Barbartron IV.]]
** And [[spoiler:Infinity Knight Lunda]], who not only [[spoiler: "died" twice]] but ended up [[spoiler: carrying the Bolt of Space on a [[PutOnABus one-way trip]] to another dimension.]]
** Subverted with [[spoiler: Captain James/The Good Lamb]].
** And of course, happens [[spoiler: more than once]] with [[spoiler:The Inspector himself]], the most spectacularly in "The Worst Ally".
* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Both the classic and new series play with these, from YoungFutureFamousPeople (e.g. [[UsefulNotes/AlbertEinstein "Bertie" Einstein]] in "Spacewhip") to {{Historical Person Punchline}}s (e.g. UsefulNotes/WinstonChurchill at the close of "Return of the Revenge of the Blorgons").
* HomicideMachines: Numerous examples, particularly during the Second Inspector's era.
* HopeBringer: Oftentimes the Inspector's role, especially in the new series.
** Subverted in the episode "Noon", where [[spoiler: instead of banding together under the Inspector's kindness and wit, the humans on the broken-down train try to sacrifice him to the "singing crystal" in the hopes that they would be spared.]]
* HumanAliens: Preferred by the budget-conscious BTV producers and lampshaded by the frustrated writers ("But you look Kayaclaschian." "Well, you look human.").
** While the Infinity Knights look human throughout their appearances in the series, the [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness implication]] by the First Inspector and Susannah Overseer in "A Timeless Man" is that their outward manifestations have been selected for undercover work on Earth.
* HumanityIsInfectious: The Inspector's relationships with his Associates have influenced his CharacterDevelopment, sometimes for [[HumansAreGood better]], sometimes for [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters worse]] (and, for the later classic Inspectors, sometimes [[HumansAreMorons dimmer]]).
* IconicOutfit: The Infinity Knights' official uniform was a distinctive high-collared trench coat-like garment, but the Inspector always livens up his emblematic Mac in each incarnation with special touches, especially his taste in hats.
** The First Inspector's beret.
** The Second Inspector wore Wellingtons and played the ocarina.
** The Third Inspector's top hat.
** The Fourth Inspector was known for wearing ostentatiously coloured knee socks.
** The Fifth Inspector had a penchant for ampersands and a truly terrible hat.
** The Fifth Inspector's carrot hatpin counts as well.
** The Sixth Inspector was known for his unexpectedly sombre and dark attire.
** The Seventh Inspector had an outfit adorned with exclamation points.
** The Ninth Inspector who always dressed quite dashingly and extravagantly. He loathed all things casual, especially leather.
** The Tenth Inspector was never without [[SpecsOfAwesome his prized coke-bottle glasses]], tight jeans, and various nerdy T-shirts.
** The Eleventh Inspector and his bowler hats.
** The Thirteenth Inspector and her [[FunTShirt slogan “I’m the Inspector…” t-shirts]]
** The Fourteenth Inspector and his [[GadgetWatches multi-function Vertex wristwatch]]
* ImMrFuturePopCultureReference: Averted in the new series after the writers realised that this occasional habit of classic Inspectors now makes them seem that much more dated in reruns. For example, the First Inspector addresses Richard III as "[[Radio/TheGoonShow you silly twisted boy]]", and the Third Inspector sings a few of his own verses to the #1 chart-topper "[[ToTheFutureAndBeyond In the Year 2525]]" by OneHitWonder duo Zager and Evans at the climax of "Abaddon".
* JokerImmunity: No matter how often the Blorgons are completely annihilated, they always manage to come back somehow. Once, the Inspector [[PunctuatedForEmphasis emphatically]] declared that the Blorgons were "''entirely'' DESTORYED! Every! Single! Last! One! Of! Them! Including ''all'' [[OffscreenVillainDarkMatter the secret ones that were hiding]]. They were ALL erased from time itself, they've ''never'' existed, and they will ''never'' exist ''ever'' again! [[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Never, never, never, never, NEVER!!! ]]
" Until next season.
* KnightTemplar: The Inspector, in his darker moments at least.
** Definitely the Inspector General in the 50th anniversary special, "The Night of the Inspector".
* LargeHam:
** '''Creator/BrianBlessed''' made three appearances on the show, as Reena's father, Sonacry, King of Barbartron IV, Ruler of the Twelve Moons, Defender of the Outer Belts ([[RunningGag and so on and so on]]). And naturally [[spoiler: in his last appearance he makes his [[HeroicSacrifice HEROIC SACRIFICE]].]]
** Neg!Rory in the Terror of the Negaverse novel. Every word he speaks after his first line is in all caps. "I AM NOT A MERE COPY! I! AM! ME! AND NONE OF YOU WILL TAKE THAT!"
** Of the Inspectors themselves, Leslie French and Creator/LyndaBellingham chewed the largest hunks of scenery, while Creator/TraceyUllman went to town playing Dynamo.
* {{Leitmotif}}: The Inspector is of course linked with Holst's ''Jupiter'', while if the same composer's ''Mars'' [[OhCrap starts to play]]... here come the Blorgons.
* LightningGun: One of the Circuit-Chaps' trademark weapons; in "Daydream in Bronze", it is laboriously powered by a hand-crank.
* LizardFolk: “Reptaliens” (reptilian aliens) are a staple of the programme, e.g. the saurian Eocenes and their aquatic brethren, the Ocean Demons, the [[ReptilesAreAbhorrent abhorrent]] Serpentians, and the scaly-armored Venusian Sulphur Soldiers. Also, [[spoiler: Queen UsefulNotes/ElizabethII in the episode "The Humans of Westminster" (HMQ is not a fan)]].
* LongRunner: Just barely beating out that [[Series/DoctorWho other show]] as longest-running sci-fi series of all time.
* MagicTool: Averted with the Optic Pocketknife. As the iconic weapon of the Time Police, the Inspector considers it bad form to use it as anything other than a weapon, despite its many functions. He also uses it only in the direst circumstances, so it's always significant when an episode features it at all--and he at least makes the effort to [[TechnicalPacifist incapacitate rather than kill.]]
* MalevolentArchitecture: Numerous examples: The [[NoOSHACompliance unbelievably hazardous]] scrapyard in "[[DurableDeathTrap Retirement Home of the Circuit-Chaps]]", which is actually [[spoiler:a booby-trapped NightmarishFactory to [[MechanicalEvolution prototype their successors]]]]; the [[AIIsACrapshoot rogue AI-controlled]] "[[UsefulNotes/CouncilEstate Perdition High-rise]]"; the interior of the Infinite Cyclorama; the [[MobileMaze labyrinthine housing scheme]] in "[[ComeOutComeOutWhereverYouAre Seek]]"; the Welsh AbandonedMine in "[[MineralMacGuffin The Turquoise Terror]]".
* MeaningfulName: An extremely common trope throughout the series:
** FE-Line, besides the obvious cat pun, has another meaning. 'Fe' is he symbol for iron, from which the robot is primarily made of.
** In the serial "The Talons of Asox", Serge A Tenth [[spoiler: is an anagrammed alias used by the Sergeant]].
** In the serial "The Space Creature", Agent Sether [[spoiler: is another anagrammed alias used by the Sergeant]].
** In the serial "Space-Break", the Tang Seer [[spoiler: is yet another anagrammed alias used by the Sergeant]].
** In the linked serials "The Dark Ages"/"The Queen's Angels", Egret's Thane [[spoiler: is still another anagrammed alias used by the Sergeant]].
** In Series 8, the mysterious figure Ares the Gent, though initially referred to as simply "The Gent", [[spoiler: is one more anagrammed alias used by the Sergeant]]
** Doctor Yahe [[spoiler: stands for "'''Y'''ou '''A'''lways '''H'''ave '''E'''nemies", signalling the return of the Sergeant.]]
* MilestoneCelebration: As a LongRunner, ''Inspector Spacetime'' has reached a couple of big ones:
** The 20th anniversary in 1982: "Five Inspectors, One Time Booth", though the First and Second Inspectors only made cameo appearances.
** The 30th anniversary in 1992: "Concepts of Space." The Fourth Inspector calls out for help from an undisclosed location as all living actors who played the Inspector over the previous decades reprise their roles to defeat a plot that threatens all of space itself. While this was the very last episode of the Classic series that BTV was able to afford, it is nonetheless hailed as a great episode by some fans thanks to the surprising crossover with ''Series/CoronationStreet'', the cast bringing new energy and unexpected chemistry. The limited role of the Fourth Inspector was done so at the actor's own request as he feared his presence may overshadow the other Inspectors, which his HamAndCheese performance did so anyway.
** The 50th anniversary in 2012: "The Night of the Inspector" unites the Inspector's four most recent incarnations; and "The Golden Jubilee of the Inspector" 2012 Christmas Special sees them encounter [[HistoricalDomainCharacter historical personages]] like UsefulNotes/QueenVictoria and [[BadassNative Black Elk]] (in the suspenseful 1887 storyline during her 50th anniversary) and celebrities like Music/TomJones and Creator/DameEdnaEverage (in the comic 2002 one during UsefulNotes/ElizabethII's).
* MistakenForSpecialGuest: The Inspector's air of authority often results in this confusion when he and his Associates appear unexpectedly.
-->'''London Bobby:''' Stop! Are you authorised for that?
-->'''Second Inspector:''' Me? I'm authorised for everything!
* MsFanservice: Many of the Inspector's Associates might qualify.
** This is go-go dancing Associate Petula's entire reason for being.
** Reena of the famous day-glo FurBikini[[note]] which was nothing compared to the ChainmailBikini uniform of King Sonacry's Amazon Guard[[/note]].
** Averted in Angie's first appearance, where she arrives dressed as a Catholic [[SexyPriest priest]]. Led to some viewer complaints that she was letting the side down somewhat, but they were mostly pacified by the official explanation that Angie was just on her way to a [[TheVicar Tarts and Vicars party]].
* NietzscheWannabe: Gradually soften during the classic series and outright averted in the new.
** In First Inspector's early adventures, he could be utterly ruthless in his defence of [[YouCantFightFate established causality]] against time-travelling interference and heartlessly indifferent to contemporary criminality. In "The Incas", he declares that he "want{s} nothing to be different, not in the future, not in the past, not in all eternity"—even if Francisco Pizarro absconds with every bit of Peru's gold while he stands by. Gradually averted as the Inspector [[CharacterDevelopment grew more explicitly and conventionally heroic]].
** The Second Inspector softened his [[TheAntiNihilist philosophic outlook]] somewhat and became more of a KnightInSourArmor.
** By the new series, the Inspector is always ready to ScrewDestiny just to rescue a CatUpATree.
* NoBiochemicalBarriers: Implied, initially, as the First Inspector indicates that Infinity Knights have been conditioned to survive on a variety of different planets; gradually explicit as the story editors [[SlidingScale/MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness softened the science fiction]] in the series, with later Inspectors developing an addiction to a particular Earth beverage and a fondness for British sweets and biscuits.
** A PlotPoint in "The Crusta Infestation" (later alluded to in "Light Traffic").
* NobodyPoops: There have been literally decades of [[ToiletHumor fan jokes]] about the Booth's complete lack of facilities. Conversely, some fans have [[EpilepticTrees speculated that secret reason]] the Inspector brings along Associates on his travels is that the Booth is in fact powered by various forms of human waste. Also jokes about the installed (but useless) phonebook's true purpose being a source of toilet paper.
* NonHumanSidekick: FE-Line travelled with the First, Second, Fourth, and Tenth Inspectors, as well as starring in the Associate SpinOff ''The Mary Sue Predicaments''. Hilarity often ensues when Associates misread her collar to read "fee-line", and the Inspector invariably can't figure out who they're referring to. [[note]]The proper pronunciation is, of course, "Iron Line"[[/note]]
* NonIndicativeName: A fair number of the episode titles appear to have been beamed in from some bizarre alternate dimension.
* [[TheNthDoctor The Nth Inspector]]: TropeNamer. The Inspector has had many actors over the years, due to his ability to undergo metamorphosis. This new blood every few seasons allows the show to stay quite fresh. Notable fan favorites are Bernard Fox and his endlessly elaborate tea-breaks, Marius Goring with his silly ascot and taste for wine gums, and the more recent Ninth and Tenth Inspectors, Mark Williams and Daniel Landlord. The least popular are Steve Carell and Stephen Fry.
* OmnicidalManiac: the Blorgons. Their CatchPhrase, "ERADICATE!", pretty much gives it away.
* OneWordTitle: The second most popular method of naming ''Inspector Spacetime'' episodes, e.g. "Afterworld", "Mathsville", "Sorta", "Cattlefield", and "Squared".
* OnlyAFleshWound: Justified since the literally heartless Infinity Knights' [[BizarreAlienBiology decentralised vascular system]], first confirmed in the Third Inspector serial "Vanguard of the Void", means that he takes somewhat less damage from chest wounds and hydrostatic shock
* OurGhostsAreDifferent: The so-called "ghost in the machine" haunting the starliner in "Journey of the Blessed" turns out to be [[spoiler: Maura]].
* OurMermaidsAreDifferent: In "The Ocean Demons", the Inspector discovers that [[TheBarnum P. T. Barnum]]'s "Feejee Mermaid" is not a taxidermal hoax but an extraterrestrial aquatic humanoid--and that its fellow half-fish aliens want it back..
* OurMonstersAreDifferent: To avoid overusing bug-eyed monsters, the programme's writers often put new spins on familiar creatures, even if some turned out simply [[OurMonstersAreWeird weird]] (e.g. the two-headed radioactive cobalt-coloured snakes from "The Blue Ruination").
* OurVampiresAreDifferent: The ones in "Vampires From Space!" have figured out that sunlight doesn't bother them during FTL interstellar travel.
* OurZombiesAreDifferent: Blackbeard's [[EverythingsDeaderWithZombies Voodoo-reanimated pirate crew]] in "The Zombie Navy" is revealed to be [[spoiler: [[Ride/DisneyThemeParks amusement park]] [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot "robotronics"]] modified by the Circuit-Chaps]].
* PrefersGoingBarefoot: In "Fry and Laurie", everyone has to go barefoot at the solar medical facility due to extremely prejudiced sanitation rules, except for the Inspector, who dons a special set of health regulation meeting antiseptic booties. Joanna, however, is ''very'' happy to run around in her bare feet due to her [[EarthyBarefootCharacter country roots]], bellowing "Shoeless by the Sun!" while wiggling her toes in the astroturf. Her abandonment of shoes becomes symbolic of her relationship with Minnie Smythe when Minnie also throws out her shoes and the two of them walk off into the sunset holding hands with the soles of their feet caked in mud. The two of them never wear shoes again, staying perpetually barefoot in every appearance after the Series 3 finale, which works out to their advantage in the Series 4 finale when the Blorgons are lured into a trap by their footprint heat signatures. In their final appearance in "The Last Minutes", they've become widely known as "The Barefoot Bounty Hunters" and even wear their wedding rings on their toes. As the Tenth Inspector is about to metamorphosise, he drops off their old discarded shoes and then limps away. They both figure out that this is his final goodbye to them and they won't be getting back on the Booth again.
* ProductPlacement: To supplement the programme's often meagre budget, BTV has occasionally resorted to inserting commercial products into the Inspector's adventures for an under-the-table fee.
** The serial "Space-Break", which featured the character the Tang Seer, played up his quaffing and extolling the virtues of a brightly coloured "astronaut beverage" (that nevertheless failed to penetrate the UK market).
** In "The Melancholy Mafia", Bertie Bassett—the [[AnthropomorphicFood anthropoid sweets mascot]] of Bassett's Liquorice Allsorts—shows up to assist the Inspector when he arrives on Terra Omega.
** In the new series' "1981 Inspector Spacetime Holiday Special", [[RealAfterAll Santa Claus]] notoriously wished everyone a "merry Time Day" by handing out [[AdvertisingCampaigns iconic bottles of Coca-Cola]].
* PropRecycling: Done constantly, thanks to the limited budget.
* RealSongThemeTune: Originally the programme used Music/GustavHolst's "[[StandardSnippet Jupiter]]", then quite [[HypeBacklash controversially]] [[ReplacedTheThemeTune switched]] to a version of "Kashmir" by Music/LedZeppelin.
** At least until Season 16, when [[spoiler: the Sergeant successfully rewrote time, preventing Jimmy Page from ever existing, and "Jupiter" [[CreditsGag became the theme]] again. The [[ExecutiveMeddling real-life reason]] for the switch back was that paying for the rights was [[PublicDomainSoundtrack costing too much money.]]]]
* RecycledInSpace: The classic and new series have done this with everything from [[SpacePirates pirates]] ("The Buccaneer Comet") and [[SantaClaus Father Christmas]] ("The 1981 Inspector Spacetime Holiday Special") to [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampires]] ("Vampires From Space!") and [[HornyVikings Vikings]] ("The Space Viking").
** Creator/ChristopherLee famously played the Second Inspector as "Literature/SherlockHolmes [[JustForFun/RecycledInSpace In Space]]".
* RoguesGallery: BTV has dubbed the Inspector's "The Circus of Creatures", a nickname derived from the title of a Third Inspector serial that featured cameos from all the major antagonists up to that point, from the Blorgons and Circuit-Chaps to the Sulphur Soldiers and the Crütonnes.
* RuleOfSexy: Too many examples to list, of both genders, though the ImpossiblyLowNeckline on the ceremonial robe of the [[WomenAreWiser Wisewench of Barbartron IV]] is probably one of the most notable, especially when compared to the FanDisservice displayed by her monarch-employer.
* RunningGag: Every time a new Inspector takes over, the X7 starts making some strange ''new'' sound upon its arrival anywhere, which the new Inspector invariably considers to be the [[SugarWiki/MostWonderfulSound Most Wonderful.]] Associate and fan reactions have tended to be more mixed. (Though nearly everyone was happy when the program ditched the First Inspector's horrible grating screech.)
** Having the Third Inspector make a cameo appearance, invariably involving tea-drinking, at some point during the run of [[MyFutureSelfAndMe each of his successors]].
* ScaryBlackMan: The [[HookHand cybernetically hands-on]] First Mate Scree in "The Buccaneer Comet".
** Strongly averted with the Tenth Inspector, of course.
* ScaryDogmaticAliens: ''Inspector Spacetime'' is simply stuffed with them.
** [[DirtyCommunists Aliens as Communists]]: The creepily cheerful Circuit-Chaps are determined to foment the [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters Second Industrial Revolution]] by modifying machinery everywhere and view the destruction of organic life as merely a means to an end for the great mechanical uprising.
** [[PlanetLooters Aliens as Conquistadores]]: The universe-prowling [[HordeOfAlienLocusts Nasor Ants]] will steal anything and everything that isn't nailed down on a planet since it's their cultural and genetic imperative. "The Theft of Space" was their most ambitious caper.
** [[TheFundamentalist Aliens as Fundamentalists]]: The Intelligent Designers of "Spectre Night" are convinced their [[AppliedPhlebotinum DNA-diviner]] can reveal a Gnostic message hidden in the genetic code of the kidnapped descendants of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck.
** [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Aliens as Nazis]]: The CEEC's objections to the overt fascistic overtones of the Blorgon Commonwealth of Sentients may have been behind that plot development's abandonment.
* ScreamingWoman: Most of the female Associates and some of the male ones.
* SecretGovernmentWarehouse:
** The infamous Black Museum where the Infinity Knights store dangerous technology confiscated from miscreants across space and time, though the Inspector notes keeping the collection together in one place is convenient for the Tinker's burgling.
** The Peacemist Institute had one in the British Museum, although this was destroyed in "Apocalypse".
* SherlockScan: Mostly averted. When commencing a new investigation, the Inspector prefers to seek out a [[MrExposition well-informed local]] to explain what's going on rather than overplay his [[ExpositionIntuition uncanny powers of deduction]].
* SignatureHeadgear: A trademark of the series. While sometimes [[FashionsNeverChange a bit anachronistic]], such as the Second Inspector’s [[FedoraOfAsskicking vintage fedora]], there was the... thing... the Fifth Inspector sported on her head. The Fifth Inspector was the only female Inspector in the classic series and also the most fashion-challenged one to date.
* StableTimeLoop: The First Inspector was scrupulous in avoiding these on his adventures and would prevent anyone from creating them (such as the renegade Friar in "The Spacetime Rabble-Rouser").
** Which made [[spoiler: the Unknown Inspector's metamorphosis into him]] all the more ironic at the end of "The Golden Jubilee of the Inspector" 2012 Christmas Special.
* StarfishAliens: Literally in the case of the Asterozoids (or [[PeopleInRubberSuits the best the BTV costume department could do]]).
* SuperSenses: Averted. Although other characters credit him with everything from mind-reading powers and psychic abilities to x-ray vision and ultra-frequency hearing, the Inspector's apparently [[LivingLieDetector superhuman perspicacity]] and [[FingertipDrugAnalysis uncanny forensic insights]] are really due to his brilliant ratiocination.
* TakeThat: The show occasionally takes playful jabs at [[Series/DoctorWho its rival]], although when that show first premiered, many viewers criticised the Inspector's sudden and numerous diatribes about the "thieves and lowlifes at Westminster" (where the BBC's Broadcasting House is coincidentally located) as being as a case of WriterOnBoard.
** The [[HellBentForLeather "cool" leather coat]] and black t-shirt outfit of The Detective (played by Creator/NeilGaiman) and the [[TheDandy dandified]] velvet smoking jacket and lace cuffs ensemble of the Chief Inspector (played by Creator/AlanMoore) were obviously intended as [[http://neil-gaiman.tumblr.com/post/13741396287/as-i-said-on-twitter-this-was-obviously-from-the take-offs]] on the fashion statements by the Ninth and Third incarnations of the Inspector's [[Series/DoctorWho opposite number]].
* TechnicalPacifist: The Inspector often claims to be one.
--> '''The Fourth Inspector:''' Strictly speaking, Constable, it was the ''blood loss'' that killed him, not my Optic Pocketknife, although I see how you could be confused.
* TheTeaser: A hallmark of the show from the very beginning.
** During the Sixth Inspector's run, like everything else, these got ''really'' weird. Most notably, "The Mask of the Maharani" begins with a minute and forty seconds of a close-up of the Inspector staring into the camera and whispering a plot summary of the story. In Latin. Backwards.
* TimePolice: Literally, this was the function of the Infinity Knights before their society continued to expand and they slacked on their duties. Their arrogance eventually [[spoiler: led to the Time Wave that destroyed the Inspector's civilisation and most of the Blorgons.]]
* [[TimeyWimeyBall Wibble Wobble Time Thing]]: TropeNamer.
* TitleDrop: This has always been favorite rhetorical device of the programme's writers, e.g.:
-->'''Constable Wigglesworth:''' So you see, Detective and Chief Inspector, this evidence proves conclusively that the person before you was framed by ''The Previous Inspector''!
* TrademarkFavoriteFood:
** The Fourth Inspector carried a bag of [[ImpossiblyDeliciousFood wine gums]] in his coat, which he'd offer to others.
** The Eleventh Inspector loves custard creams and coffee.
* UniquenessDecay: In the early years, the audience knew almost nothing about the Inspector's origins. It would be six years into the series before the "Infinity Knights" were introduced in the serial "The Crime Sports". The Inspector did not return to his home planet of Kayaclasch until the 1975 serial "The Lethal Murderer", but in the following decade, such serials as "The Theft of Space" (1977) and the multi-part "Internal Investigation of the Inspector" (1985) revealed more and more about the autocratic, devious, and occasionally corrupt Kayaclaschians. Many fans complained that so much information about the Infinity Knights had diluted their sense of mystery. One of the objectives of the new series under David Russell was to [[RetGone erase them from the continuity]] after the events of the Time Wave.
* TheVoice: The Operator has never visibly appeared in any Inspector Spacetime media.
* TheWatson: the Inspector's many Associates, including the newest, Lucy N. D. Skye. His other Associates in the new seasons also include:
** Angelica "Angie" Lake
** Rory Williams
** Mona Virtue
** Yorke
** Joanna Martin
** Captain James Haggard
** Minnie Smythe
** Lily Taylor
** Mary Sue Brown made a cameo return on the new seasons, bringing with her the lovable FE-Line
* WhamLine: In addition to all the twist episodes, there has been plenty of startling dialogue over the years:
** [[spoiler: Yorke: Human? Is that what you think I am, Inspector?]]
** For the Anglo arc: "Remember your roots, Inspector, remember those ages past when you had so many adventures. They seem gone now, forgotten. So many things have been forgotten. [[ForeShadowing Old enemies,]] old planets, [[spoiler: even an old friend....]]"
** "It's time you finally woke up."
** The final lines of Series 6: "You've done so much: you've shattered the Time Cube, defeated the Blorgons countless times; you are the Scourge of Space, the Warrior of the Ten Systems, the Mythic Man. The daft Inspector travelling in space and time in his little red phone box...[[spoiler: and you thought it was all real?]] No, no, no, my boy. You haven't been seeing the whole picture in so long. [[spoiler: I'm contacting the mainframe and telling them to jolt you out of the hypersleep. Your reinvitigouration will be triggered artificially. You've been asleep too long, muttering in your sleep. It's time you finally woke up.]] [[ArcWords It's time for quiet, time to rise."]]
** [[spoiler: "Maura, I didn't save you."]]
** [[spoiler: "We want you to frame the Inspector, Brooke."]]
** "It all still awaits you: [[IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace the Mountains of Gorzalot]], [[SequelHook the Rise of the Twelfth]], and the dilemma! The final dilemma! The dilemma that has never been resolved, hidden away from all who might see it! The dilemma that's drawn you closer, for all of your existence! [[spoiler: [[TitleDrop 'Inspector Spacetime'.]] [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall 'Inspector Spacetime'!]] ''[[RuleOfThree 'Inspect-or-Spacetime'!]]''"]]
* At the end of the three parter, "The Not Quite Individuals", the Inspector is shocked to discover that his primary Associate has been [[spoiler: a hand-puppet]] the whole time.
->The Inspector: ''"Really should have seen that one. I mean, with the arm up the back. Who's arm was it anyway?"''
* WrongTurnAtAlbuquerque: The Third Inspector in particular tended to wander into situations by accident, but specifically [[InvokedTrope invoked]] by the Fifth Inspector at the start of "Rainbow of Forever": "Hm. Evidently we should have [[ScifiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale turned left at Betelgeuse]]. Oh well, since we're here..."
** The beginning and ending to the new series's episode "[[BestOfAllPossibleWorlds Turn Right]]".
* TheXOfY: The traditional method of creating titles for Inspector Spacetime adventures. Just mix and match from Column A and Column B with "of" or "of the".
** Column A: Age, Alias, Android, Bedlam, Case, Claws, Circus, Creation, Colony, Day, Deserts, End, First, Foot, Funeral, Gloom, Humans, Identity, Incursion, Intersection, Investigation, Journey, Mask, Megaliths, Mind, Moon, Night, Oblivion, Party, Persistence, Planet, Power, Rage, Reappearance, Reign, Return, Robots, Saviour, Sphere, Sins, Son, Spell, Theft, Tip, Torcs, Tusks, Underground, Visage, World, Ziggurats
** Column B: Aquanos, Asox, Blorgons, Camelot, Circuit-Chaps, Circuits, Cobra, Creatures, Death, Deep, Doom, Earth, Forever, Good, Infinity Knights, Inspector, Life, Line, Living, Maharani, Mastodons, Midgar, Memory, Nede, Nightmare, Parallels, Pigator, Plasma, Quiet, Ruin, Shennong, Space, Strands, Sun, Terror, Time, Venice, Venus, Villainy, Vortigern, Water, Westminster, World, Zorl
* YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm: Heavily implied to be the case with the Blue and Orange Wardens.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Classic Series Tropes]]
* AbandonedArea: Favoured by the BTV's budget-conscious producers during the classic series in order to hold down the costs of casting extras and constructing elaborate sets, notably the [[GhostCity lost city of Izzomun]] in "Funeral of the Blorgons", the [[GhostPlanet dark matter world]] in "The Three Inspectors", and the Circuit-Chap–infested [[SinisterSubway Paris Métro]] in "The Revolution".
* AbortedArc: Several in the Seventh Inspector era, first thanks to the dumbing down of the scripts, then the programme's cancellation in 1988. The Instructor plotline in particular was LeftHanging with many questions unanswered.
* TheAce: The Fourth Inspector in his appearance in the Sixth-era serial "The Only Inspector".
* AchillesHeel: In "The Crime Sports" we learn that the Dimensioniser ''isn't'' invulnerable after all. (At least when facing [[spoiler: other Infinity Knights]]...)
** The Circuit-Chaps are invincible except when exposed to lead dust, which clogs their condensers. When confronted by it, they exclaim, "Get the lead out!"
*** In later serials this weakness is [[ExaggeratedTrope exaggerated]] to the point where in 1976's "Blood and Servos", the Inspector is able to rout the Circuit-Chaps by reading the ''[[FictionalDocument Encyclopaedia Cosmosica]]'' entry for "lead" to them. [[note]] Although the FictionalDocument in question ''was'' strongly hinted to have powers beyond being a mere reference work.[[/note]]
* ActingUnnatural: The unidentified trench-coated snoopers who periodically pop up in the background during season 11.
** The various victims of "[[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes The Phobia Parasite]]" as they struggle to stay calm.
* TheAdventureContinues: [[spoiler: newlyweds Irma and Bert]] cheerfully go off to explore Earth's 3rd-Millenium galactic empire when they part ways with the Inspector at the end of "The Marathon Pursuit". They never appeared on the show again, but a couple of Expanded Universe novels were written about their escapades.
* AffectionateParody: The charity special ''The Malediction of Deadly Doom'', an online comedy special with the Inspector portrayed by Creator/RickyGervais[[note]]A CastingGag towards Steve Carell's Eighth Inspector[[/note]] who goes through multiple metamorphosis including Creator/JohnnyDepp.
* AlienInvasion: Mainly Type Two, particularly during the Fourth Inspector's forced reassignment to 1970s Earth when any given serial's [[MonsterOfTheWeek mysterious malefactor]] would turn out to be conspiring with an extraterrestrial invasion, the Sergeant, or both.
* AlwaysABiggerFish: An entire Blorgon [[TheBattlestar Battlehub]] gets [[EnemyRisingBehind suddenly]], casually devoured by [[spoiler: the Infinite Cyclorama]].
* AlwaysSaveTheGirl: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in "The Doomsday Scenario", where [[spoiler: the Inspector deliberately leaves Lunda at the mercy of the Horrible Horde. She survives... but plots revenge.]]
* AmericansAreCowboys / AwesomeAussie: Veneziana is a mix of these tropes. She is from Newer South Wales, a rather bizarre 24th-century Earth colony that mashes together the best and worst of the cultures of the [[LandDownUnder Australian outback]] and [[EverythingIsBigInTexas Texas]]. She is introduced lassoing Circuit-Chaps while wearing a bushranger hat and spurs. Subverted when it's revealed she's afraid of horses.
* AndIMustScream: The BigBad of "Five Inspectors, One Time Booth" feature-length episode gets his [[LaserGuidedKarma just desserts]] for seeking out the secret of Infinity Knight Commissioner Sassafrass' immortality when he is turned into a [[TheCakeIsALie stale Simnel cake]].
* AnyoneCanDie: [[spoiler: Jeffrey.]] The Inspector's reaction is a TearJerker.
** Associates have been dying unexpectedly ever since Layla in "[[KansasCityShuffle The Blorgons' Cunning Scheme]]".
* AnyoneRememberPogs: The Inspector and his Associates having to cram themselves inside the Booth was intended to capitalise on the fad of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonebooth_stuffing Telephone Box Stuffing]], which had just arrived the UK in 1959. Now the ridiculousness is [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] with the Associates' catch phrase "I thought it would be bigger on the inside!"
* BattleAura: The Sulphur Soldiers sometimes[[note]] That is to say, when the FX budget could afford it[[/note]] sported a foul-smelling one in addition to their GlowingEyesOfDoom.
* BeardOfEvil: The Sergeant's fabulous moustache. It has to be seen to be believed. No, it's not fake.
* BigDumbObject / {{Bizarrchitecture}}: The Infinite Cyclorama in both of its appearances.
* BigfootSasquatchAndYeti: The Second Inspector encountered Skunk Apes while investigating odd [[LavaAddsAwesome volcanic activity]] on [[ChekhovsVolcano Mount Tambora]] in "The Unspeakable Lavamen."
* BigNo: The Inspector at [[spoiler: Jeffrey]]'s death.
** Used more humorously when the Fifth Inspector learns [[spoiler: The Infinity Knights have made her High Chief Commissioner.]]
* BlatantLies: The Sixth-Inspector serial "The Only Inspector" features guest appearances by the Third, Fourth and Fifth Inspectors. WordOfGod states that this was a deliberate riff/TakeThat aimed at the Third Inspector serial "The Three Inspectors", which featured Bernard Fox in (technically) three different roles.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: The TropeNamer, after the inscrutable actions of the Blue ("good") and Orange ("evil") Wardens. In the so-called "Orange Warden Trilogy" comprising "Mawdrone Alive", "Genesis", and "The Dark Ages", it's impossible to say what the Warden's [[HiddenAgendaVillain enigmatic plan]] for the Fifth Inspector is, only that it's malevolent ([[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext probably]].)
* BolivianArmyEnding: "The Theft of Space", sort of. WordOfGod is that [[spoiler: Reena died from being stabbed]], but as it ended up being filmed, the actual scene leaves [[spoiler: her fate]] rather ambiguous.
* BrilliantButLazy:
** Yosif was the Inspector's most intelligent Associate, sometimes even beating him at problem solving, but most of Yosif's ideas were not recognised due to their apathetic presentation. The Third Inspector tended towards this as well, leading to the fan-snark that their era on the show was one long tea-break punctuated with the [[EarthShatteringKaboom occasional planet blowing up]].
** The Sixth Inspector also fit this trope during the "Internal Investigation of the Inspector", which he spent a lot of time [[AFoolForAClient orchestrating/reacting to events]] from his Defendant's Cube.
* [[BBCQuarry BTV Quarry]]: The earlier serials take place on planets such as "Rockterrainia", but after the programme's budget got beefed up, this has mostly been averted.
* BuddyCopShow: Quite a few of the flashbacks of the Inspector's and the Sergeant's early days.
* TheBusCameBack: The very first Associate, Susannah Overseer, was abruptly and mysteriously "reassigned" by her and the Inspector's then-unnamed civilisation after only a few serials and replaced with the far more popular duo of Irma and Bart. (The real-life reason was that the character simply wasn't working as well as hoped; Irma and Bart served as much better [[TheWatson Watsons]].) She came back for a brief but significant cameo in "The Crime Sports" and was never seen again. Although [[spoiler: there were subtle hints that she shares ''some'' sort of connection to The Instructor.]]
* BusmansHoliday: The Third Inspector's quasi-retirement consisted chiefly of excursions across space and time in which he ''[[CoincidenceMagnet coincidentally]]'' arrived on distant worlds conveniently when plots against [[EarthIsTheCentreOfTheUniverse Earth]] were being hatched, despite the Infinity Knight high command's request he limit his involvement with his old planetary precinct after the events of "The Crime Sports".
* TheCastShowoff: The various actors who have played the Inspector often possess additional talents they're happy to show off.
** While Creator/ChristopherLee's commando training with the [[UsefulNotes/{{SOE}} Special Operations Executive]] added an element of authenticity to the Second Inspector's fight scenes, his proudest personal accomplishment on the programme was displaying his operatic baritone by singing ''[[Theatre/TheMarriageOfFigaro Non più andrai]]'' to Aiden before the climactic battle in "The Sulphur Soldiers".
** Graham Chapman, a prominent member of the Dangerous Sports Club, convinced the director of "Spacewhip" to include a chase sequence involving the Inspector "zorbing"—downhill-racing in a 3m-diameter lightweight plastic sphere-within-a-sphere.
** Creator/SteveCarell's ability to [[BurpingContest burp the entire alphabet]] figures twice in his one broadcast performance as the Eighth Inspector. ("I never thought when I learned to do that at age 13 it would pay off with a MadeForTVMovie," Carell bragged.)
* CityOnTheWater: Mid-Atlantica Habitation Platform #2342 in "The Sunken Peril".
* ClassicalMovieVampire: Count Morbus (played by Vladek Sheybal) from the Fourth Inspector serials "Terror at Tooth Point" and "Vampires From Space!".[[note]] In the latter serial, he is ''not'' one of the eponymous entities but [[spoiler: helps the Inspector fight them.]][[/note]]
* CluelessMystery: The notoriously bad scripts for the Seventh Inspector's "back to basics" time-travelling investigations drew much criticism for withheld clues, last-minute culprits, and massive explosions covering up plot holes. The worst example occurs in "Bronze Friends" where the Inspector doesn't so much figure out how the Circuit-Chaps could have {{Blackmail}}ed Isambard Kingdom Brunel into modifying the first propeller-driven transatlantic steamship with self-awareness as how he can [[StuffBlowingUp blow it up]].
* CobwebOfDisuse: The desolate ruins on Antebelis Gamma in "The Sphere of Strands" in season 2; by the time the Inspector comes back for "Return to the Sphere of Strands" in season 11, the whole planet has become a CobwebJungle, which contrasts eerily with the sterile and polished [[spoiler: Infinity Knight Star Chamber]].
* ConspicuousTrenchcoat: The high-collared trench coat-like garments worn by the mysterious tailing Third Inspector during his last season. [[spoiler:The finale serial revealed them to be the Infinity Knights' InternalAffairs Watchdogs, sent by the high command to monitor the Inspector's unorthodox approach to his mysterious mission.]]
* CostumePorn: Associate Petula's white go-go boots.
* CreepyGood: The Under-Lurkers in "The Throwbacks".
* CriminalDoppelganger: In "The Saviour of Earth", the nefarious [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Basile Lisque]] is a dead ringer for the Second Inspector, who is able to go undercover impersonating him by adopting merely a [[WigDressAccent glued-on moustache]] and [[JustAStupidAccent outrageously bad French accent]].
* CryptidEpisode: In addition to the [[BigfootSasquatchAndYeti Skunk Apes]] in "The Unspeakable Lavamen," there's the [[StockNessMonster Morgawr]] in "Horror of the Asterozoids" and the [[OminousOwl Owlman]] of Cornwall in "Night Terrors of Nede."
* CuteKitten: "The Kittens" ''attempts'' to subvert this trope, with the titular creatures as the [[CuteIsEvil secretly bloodthirsty]] MonstersOfTheWeek.
* DanceSensation: Pamela Highwater (the second Petula) was a professional go-go dancer by trade. She performed "Do the Inspector" on ''Series/TopOfThePops'', and her single got as high as #27 on the UK Top Singles chart. No music critics have dared to put it on "Worst Songs Of All Time" lists due to [[DistractedByTheSexy how beautiful Pamela is]].
* DistractedByTheSexy: Associate Petula was a frequent cause of this, sometimes deliberately [[WeNeedADistraction when her go-go dance routines were used to distract guards]], sometimes by simply walking past.
* TheDitz: One popular fan-name for the Fifth Inspector and her associates Thorough Visor, Nymeria and Veneziana was "The Four Ditzes", though the Inspector was much more clever than she acted, and, in various ways, the three associates were all more clever and capable than they themselves realised.
* DoesntLikeGuns: Averted until Season 23, when BTV banned protagonists from using firearms. The Sixth Inspector (and all inspectors previous) occasionally carried [[RevolversAreJustBetter his trademark Webley revolver]] in a shoulder holster. The Sixth Inspector liked his pistol so much he would often use it to open Orangina bottles.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The first few serials with Susannah Overseer. As indicated by her name, she was evidently the Inspector's assigned auditor, or even ''boss'', holding some sort of vaguely defined "decommission" threat over him as he solves "history crimes" (see immediately below). Both of them being (as-yet-unnamed) Infinity Knights also resulted in a lot of painfully clunky AsYouKnow dialogue. The show didn't really find its groove until Susannah was abruptly "recalled" and [[TheWatson Irma Rong and Bart Gilbert]] enthusiastically burst onto the scene.
** And, of course, the Dimensioniser being called a "DARSIT" a few times in the first serial. The Fourth Inspector [[{{Retcon}} later explains]] that "darsit" is an [[PardonMyKlingon Infinity Knight swear word.]]
** The pilot episode is very unusual compared to the rest of the series, by not featuring any monsters, adventures, space or time travel.
* EdutainmentShow: Hard as it is to believe in retrospect, this programme was conceived as serious family edutainment. Stories set in the past were supposed to teach children history, with The Inspector solving historical crimes, such as in the serial "[[UsefulNotes/RichardIII The Two Princes' Murder]]". The ones set in the future or on other planets were intended to teach science, but the Blorgons' unanticipated massive popularity quickly changed the emphasis of the show to science fiction.
* EmperorScientist: Vosrda becomes this in "Corporation of the Blorgons". Or at least [[spoiler: ends up ruling one of three competing Blorgon factions following an EnemyCivilWar.]]
* EnemyCivilWar: Following the events of Sixth Inspector serial "Corporation of the Blorgons", the Blorgon [[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny Commonwealth of Sentients]] got broken into ''three'' competing factions, all of which figured in the next season's mammoth "Internal Investigation of the Inspector". Sadly, the Seventh Inspector's "Oblivion of the Blorgons" was a hideously apt title, as the Commonwealth was depicted as being (re)unified with absolutely no explanation as to what happened.
* EnemyMine: The Inspector and [[spoiler:Count Morbus]] during "Vampires From Space!"
* EverybodyLives: The Fifth Inspector's final serial "The Hills of Androgyny", where the Inspector saves the [[{{Utopia}} eponymous paradise]] from [[GreenAesop environmental destruction]] without a single death. Except her own. And of course, she recovered.
* EvilTwin: Was there ''ever'' a character in this show that didn't have at least one of these? One even turned up for FE-Line. The zenith (or nadir) was probably the serial "The Triplicate Catastrophe", with "The Three Inspectors" running a close second.
* ExpendableClone: Scads of them in "The Triplicate Catastrophe", thanks to an ongoing TeleporterAccident.
* FairPlayWhodunnit: A staple of the Second Inspector's investigations, particularly the innumerable locked room mystery settings (which were favoured for [[BottleEpisode budgetary reasons]]). For example, the Inspector deduced the murders of the chrono-scientists in "The Cube in Time" were perpetrated by [[spoiler: the base's high-tech laboratory equipment and kitchen appliances, which the Circuit-Chaps had modified into lethal conscripts of the Digifleet, after assorted evidence excluded all the human and alien suspects]].
* FanDisservice: The outfits sported by King Sonacry and The Indictor are the most legendary examples.
* FictionalDocument: The Inspector occasionally would read from/quote/consult the ''Encyclopaedia Cosmosica''. There was evidently a plan to do a serial centred on this rather mysterious work, but like so much else, it got scrapped during the Seventh Inspector's run.
** While the Inspector no doubt ''wishes'' that it was the EC, the phonebook that comes as part of the Booth's current form is, in fact, a (very) battered and out-of-date copy of the phonebook for the Sprint Street neighbourhood where the Booth picked up its current form.
* TheFilmOfTheSeries:
** The 1964 ''Inspector Spacetime vs. the Blorgons'' and its 1965 sequel ''Blorgons--Extortion Earth 2150'', starring Creator/ChristopherLee as "[[MyNameIsNotShazam Inspector Spacetime]]" (instead of simply "The Inspector"). Unusually, these Films of the Series were made while the original was still in production. They adapted the first and second Blorgon stories but also changed the overall premise of the series, most notably by making the Inspector half human and introducing the first quasi-official spelling of Blorgon without the "r". They most definitely take place in an AlternateContinuity, as opposed to the broader canon fans refer to as [[Franchise/{{Whoniverse}} the Inspectrum]].
** Later there was the TV movie ''Inspector Spacetime'', which didn't adhere to the same continuity as the first two films, although it references them in a few throw away lines.
** Many Inspector Spacetime movies have wound up languishing in DevelopmentHell, such as one where he was to face '''THE DEVIL HIMSELF.'''
* FlamingSword: A memorable part of the official regalia of the King [[spoiler: or Queen]] of [[NameTron Barbartron IV]].
* FlyingCar: The Fourth Inspector temporarily used one after the Infinity Knights grounded him on Earth. Spacetime fans called it "The S.E.T." (Spacetime Express Tram) or just "The Tram".
* FollowTheLeader: In 1963, Creator/TheBBC tried to duplicate the success of ''Inspector Spacetime'' with [[Series/DoctorWho another, less-inspired show]].
** And again in 2007 with [[Series/{{Torchwood}} their own unoriginal spinoff.]]
* FourIsDeath: Literally. The Fourth Inspector has left behind a higher body count than any of the other Inspectors, even modern ones, including [[spoiler: associates Lunda, who metamorphosised twice and then went into exile in an alternate dimension, and (probably) Reena.]]
* GambitPileup: The whole glorious elephantine spectacle that was "Internal Investigation of the Inspector" season/plot-arc. The Infinity Knight high command, ''three'' factions of Blorgons, the Circuit-Chaps, the Sergeant, the Indictor, the Instructor, the Blue and Orange Wardens... Maddeningly, it all got [[ExecutiveMeddling swept under the carpet]] when the Seventh Inspector era started.
* GenderBender: Many hardcore Inspector Spacetime fans don't even know this trope applies to the Inspector's popular 1960s Associate Petula (played by the luscious Pamela Highwater). During the Second Inspector's first series, a script was written at the instance of ratings-conscious BTV executives that featured a visit to the planet [[HotterAndSexier Femulon-VII]] where the Inspector's current Associate Peter (Roy Higginbotham) was transformed into Petula. Miss Highwater was signed to play Petula, and scripts heavily emphasised Petula's sex appeal... an awkward development given Higginbotham's unprecedented "pay AND play" contract. The serial detailing Petula's transformation is now [[MissingEpisode missing]], and Petula's masculine origin was only obliquely hinted at a few times afterwards.
* GenerationShips: Examples include those in "The Hulk", "Afterworld", and "Brouhaha on Beeb".
* GilliganCut: At the end of "Abbadon":
-->'''The Inspector:''' But anyway! Now we need to go get you two ''married!''\\
'''John:''' What?\\
'''Mary:''' Married? To him?!\\
''[cut to [[StockFootageFailure painfully obvious]] stock footage of church bells ringing.]''
* GravityMaster: The one of the powers of "The Infinite Cyclorama". Or maybe it used some other force to tie knots in the fabric of space.
* GreatBigBookOfEverything: The Encyclopaedia Cosmosica. Maybe literally.
* [[BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy Gustav Holst Was An Alien Spy]]: The Trope Namer. Also, of course, a CreditsGag: "I liked that tune!" "Yes, I expect we'll be hearing it again."
* HedgeMaze: One appears in "Mindscrew", although it's probably just a metaphor. Probably.
* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler: Count Morbus]]. [[EnemyMine Sort of]].
* HereThereBeDragons: The map in "Journey to Déjà Vu" features the legend "Here There Be Blorgons". (It turns out [[spoiler: to be a RedHerring, or possibly foreshadowing for "The Blorgon's Cunning Scheme"]].)
* HeroicBSOD: The Inspector after [[spoiler: Jeffrey dies.]]
* HighDiveEscape: The Sergeant's in "The Ocean Demons", among his [[VillainExitStageLeft many exits]]; [[spoiler: Count Morbus]]'s spectacular one at the end of "Terror At Tooth Point".
* HistoricalPersonPunchline: The writers enjoy occasionally introducing surreptitious historical cameos to keep viewers on their toes.
** In "[[{{Demythification}} The Legend Locators]]", when UsefulNotes/NikolaTesla's time-travel experiment goes awry, the Inspector and his Associates must rescue his temporally stranded friend and lab partner, [[Creator/MarkTwain Sam]], from a fifth-century British warlord called [[Myth/KingArthur Rigotamos]] who has dragooned him into serving as court magician. Once freed through the help of [[LadyOfWar Layla of Dumnonia]], Sam tells them that their adventure has provided him with the inspiration for his [[Literature/AConnecticutYankeeInKingArthursCourt next novel]].
** In "Spacewhip", the Inspector reveals that "the separation between past, present, and future is only an illusion, although a convincing one" to a young German stowaway on the Dimensioniser he calls "[[UsefulNotes/AlbertEinstein Bertie]]".
* HopelessWar: Hinted at in the backstory of "Omega and the Postmen" and the whole point of "The Doomsday Scenario".
* HumanoidAbomination: The Blue and Orange Wardens.
* [[ImmuneToBullets Insusceptible to Handcuffs]]: TropeNamer. The MonsterOfTheWeek cannot be apprehended with conventional police gear--at least not until the Inspector modifies them. "Just once, I'd like to encounter an extraterrestrial miscreant that wasn't insusceptible to handcuffs!" the Superintendent would typically complain during his adventures with the Fourth Inspector.
* JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind: The episode "Mindscrew" of course. [[spoiler: Although as also indicated by the title, ''whose'' mind exactly can be a point a debate..]]
* JumpedAtTheCall: First Inspector Associates Irma and Bart are classic examples, eagerly going off with the Inspector when offered the chance.
* JustToyingWithThem: The Orange Warden, possibly.
* KarmaHoudini: The Sergeant. Although the Inspector repeatedly foiled his schemes with the Blorgons, Eocenes, Orcons, and Sulphur Soldiers (to name only a few), he could never amass conclusive evidence of the Sergeant's involvement in their conspiracies or disprove his nemesis's elaborate alibis. [[spoiler: Until their climactic final confrontation on Kayaclasch in the serial "The Lethal Murderer".]]
** Also Count Morbus, although he wasn't exactly a villain in his last appearance.
* LighterAndSofter: BTV hired a fledgling author named Creator/TerryPratchett to lighten the tone of the Fourth Inspector's later adventures. He has since criticised the new series for its overuse of [[http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/tvandradioblog/2010/may/04/terry-pratchett-ludicrous-doctor-who "that wonderful element 'makeitupasyougalongeum'"]] but confesses he finds it compulsively watchable.
** Also applies to the Fifth Inspector's run, which further cranked back the body-count.
* LondonGangster: Naturally, these appear throughout the Fourth Inspector's reassignment to late-twentieth century Earth, most prominently in "Exodus of the Blorgons" and "The Robot Revolution".
** [[ParodiedTrope Parodied]] with Terra Omega's [[TheAggressiveDrugDealer Pearly King]] and his [[FacelessGoons Button Men]], whom the Seventh Inspector's investigates for pushing the drug "[[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything Cloud-9]]" because of [[DrugsAreBad their neurologically deteriorated capacity for natural happiness]].
* MadeForTVMovie: The [[TheNineties 90s]] Anglo-American collaboration ''Inspector Spacetime'' starring [[http://buzznet-00.vo.llnwd.net/media/jj1/2008/07/hathaway-phone/anne-hathaway-phone-booth-07.jpg Steve Carell as The Eighth Inspector and Anne Hathaway as his Associate, Charity Galloway]] during the British programme's extended hiatus. Although its canonicity is established, its awkward plot, loose characterisation, and [[HamAndCheese over-the-top acting]], and make it something [[FanonDiscontinuity fans prefer to forget]].
** Except maybe, [[TheScrappy ironically]], Creator/StephenFry's brief farewell performance as the Seventh Inspector.
** Doesn't help that they cast Creator/ChristianSlater as The Sergeant.
* MidBattleTeaBreak: Literally. The Third Inspector would employ his [[BritsLoveTea legendary love of tea]]—"It's always teatime somewhere in the universe."—as an excuse to extract himself and his Associates from sticky situations.
* MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot: In "The Sunken Peril", a bit of seemingly [[TheRadioDiesFirst petty vandalism]] leads to a plot to blow up Habitation Platform #2342.
* MirrorUniverse: In "The Worst Ally", the finale of the "Internal Investigation of the Inspector" plot-arc and Creator/GrahamChapman's final appearance on the show, the Inspector was banished by the Infinity Knight leadership[[note]] Yes, yes, this is a massive simplification. The Sergeant was involved. And the Indictor. And the Instructor. And almost certainly the Blue and Orange Wardens. More of the era's trademarked weirdness.[[/note]] to another universe where the Blorgons desperately oppose the [[TheEmpire evil Terran Empire]]. He ended up [[spoiler: killing himself so that the explosive renewal process would overload the Terran High Citadel's main reactor, ripping a "dimensional gap" large enough to send him hurtling back home.]] (With the bonus that [[spoiler: his new incarnation could not be tried again for the same "crimes".]]) One last time, the Sixth Inspector succeeded by failing.
* MisplacedWildlife: The show used whatever animals it could scrounge up on a shoestring budget, so yeah. And for cryptozoology fans at least, having [[DeepSouth Skunk Apes]] turn up in UsefulNotes/{{Indonesia}} is a prime example.
* MissedHimByThatMuch: The teaser for the Sixth-Inspector serial "The Only Inspector" featured the current Inspector and Jeffery in the foreground trying (with their usual lack of success) to keep the Exploding Rock from exploding again, while in the far background the Third Inspector and Mary-Sue re-create one of the tea-spilling scenes from "[[PrehistoricMonster Incursion of the Mastodons]]." Neither pair ever notices the other.
* {{Mockbuster}}: The Inspector appeared in the completely unauthorised 1973 Turkish film ''5 Kudretli Adamlar'' (lit. ''5 Mighty Guys'', aka "Turkish Blacula"). The film featured the Inspector teaming up with Film/{{Blacula}}, Wrestling/ElSanto, and advertising {{Mascot}} Mister Clean to defeat an extremely violent and sadistic version of Franchise/{{Tintin}}. The Inspector, wildly out of character throughout, wields a leftover Batarang prop from the 1966 ''Series/Batman1966'' instead of his Optic Pocketknife.
* MoodWhiplash: A common complaint about the TV Movie, which cuts jarringly from Stephen Fry's dignified and funereal last bow, to Steve Carell and Christian Slater [[HamToHamCombat competing]] to see who can bite off [[ChewingTheScenery larger chunks of the set]].
* MoralGuardians: Christine Blackhall's Civic Eyes and Ears Council launched a public campaign against the programme during the Fourth Inspector's reassignment to Exo-Pol in the mid-70s, complaining about its sci-fi treatment of violent crime in contemporary London and its generally [[DarkerAndEdgier darker shift in tone]]. The [[LiteralCliffHanger cliffhanger scene]] of the Sergeant stamping on the Inspector's fingers as he dangled from the edge of the Infinity Knights' Omnium Watchtower in "The Lethal Murderer" was singled out by Blackhall as, notoriously, "teatime terrorism for tykes".
* MuppetCameo: For the serial "Mindscrew", the [[Creator/JimHenson Jim Henson Company]] was specially commissioned to produce an [[http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_EirmiLOQjB4/SmHZu_jWuYI/AAAAAAAAGHo/B5ImhxVIMeA/s400/IMG_9397.JPG Inspector Muppet]] for the scene in which the Sixth Inspector is transformed into a blue-furred monster. Despite the serial's classic status, some fans still complain that they not only got the X7's colour wrong but also used an [[OffModel American-style phone booth]].
* MyFutureSelfAndMe: The various incarnations of the Inspector have had their interactions over the decades. "The Three Inspectors" has the Third Inspector meeting a not-too-distant future version of himself (along with their dark-matter duplicate).
* NamingYourColonyWorld: Newer South Wales and Androgyny are two of the more memorable examples. The fact that the latter name proved to be ''spectacularly'' inappropriate was immediately lampshaded by the Fifth Inspector and her Associates upon their arrival there.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: [[GenericDoomsdayVillain The Sploog]] at the end of "Cattlefield" when it declares that "all trace of your stain shall be wiped from existence!" and sweeps everything into the Field... including Dynamo's [[ImpressivePyrotechnics satchel stuffed full of dynamite]].
* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: The Seventh Inspector, more than once.
* TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness: The Infinity Knights, as well as their (possible) minion the Instructor.
* OneSteveLimit: Averted; the Inspector has had two otherwise-unrelated Associates named Aiden.
** Not to mention the fact that two consecutive actors playing the Inspector were ''named'' "Steve."
* PlanningWithProps: Done in "The Sulphur Soldiers", when planning the assault on the eponymous entities.
* TheQuest: "The Bolt of Space" arc, in which over the course of half a dozen serials the Inspector searched for pieces of the titular MacGuffin, which was [[spoiler:either [[CosmicKeystone a part of the Cosmic Portal Lock or the Fourth Dimensional Coupling]], depending on whether one believed the Blue Warden or the Orange Warden]].
* TheRadioDiesFirst: Done more than once with the Second Inspector's mysteries.
* RaygunGothic: Intentionally invoked more than once in the sets of the Seventh Inspector's episodes, particularly with the Circuit-Chaps in "Bronze Friends". Whether this was another failing of the era or one of its few high points remains a point of contention among fans.
* RealLifeWritesThePlot: Mimmek, one of the Fifth Inspector's Associates, was originally going to be a shape-shifting robot alien. However, the [[SpecialEffectFailure mechanical prop kept breaking down]], so he was hastily rewritten as "Mimmek the Invisible". Oddly enough, this has caused him to be (supposedly) one of the longest-running Associates, as WordOfGod says he's still travelling with the Inspector, but he's "just been very shy lately".
** A sadder example is Graham Chapman's early departure from the series due to his growing health problems.
* TheRival: Inspector Minerva. Introduced when the Fourth Inspector returned to Kayaclasch in "The Lethal Murderer" and returning in "The Theft of Space" and "Five Inspectors, One Time Booth", she [[TheScrappy rubbed fans the wrong way]]. Her CatchPhrase [[StrawFeminist "No-one calls me baby!"]] particularly grated since nobody did, in fact, ever call her baby.
* SealedEvilInACan: "The Moribund Mind" features one of these. Also "Return of the Infinite Cyclorama", though it was a really big "can"..
* SelfFulfillingProphecy: The attempt(s) to prevent the re-summoning of the eponymous artefact in "The Return of the Infinite Cyclorama".
* SequelHook: The serial "Sphere of the Strands" ended with one, which was finally followed up on ''ten years'' and two Inspectors later, with the Third Inspector's final serial "Return to the Sphere of Strands". Might also qualify as a BrickJoke, although the Inspector had nothing to laugh about.
* ShadowDiscretionShot: Used a couple of times in "Terror at Tooth Point", in homage to [[spoiler: the silent version of Film/{{Nosferatu}}]].
* SpaceWhale: In the serial, "Brouhaha on Beeb" the Inspector and Jeffrey are trapped on a spacefaring, living vessel, on the scale of a blue whale. The serial also serves as a ThrillerOnTheExpress, as they solve a mystery on a moving, closed vehicle. And of course, it's a jab at That Other Show, since "Beeb" [[spoiler: turns out to be the name of the creature.]]
* StarfishLanguage: The Theremen speak in high-pitched electronic squeals and squeaks.
* StrangeSyntaxSpeaker: In the TV Movie, the Circuit-Chaps speak in [[GratuitousIambicPentameter unrhymed iambic pentameter]].
* SuddenSequelDeathSyndrome: [[spoiler: The Seventh Inspector]] in the made-for-TV movie.
* SufficientlyAdvancedAlien:
** The Blue and Orange Wardens are the programme's most prominent example. At one point the Inspector speculates these two might even be "[[PowersThatBe The universe arguing with itself.]]"
** The Oddities from "Oddly Out of Place" qualify as well.
* [[DaChief The Superintendent]]: TropeNamer Head of Exo-Pol's London Branch, the [[OldFashionedCopper old-fashioned]] Irvine Leith initially appeared as a ReasonableAuthorityFigure, but after a few stories, he began to embody this trope, as repeated exposure to extraterrestrial miscreants, as well the Fourth Inspector's mercurial personality, [[CharacterDevelopment frustrated him considerably]].
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Early on BTV tried to replicate the Blorgon fad several times, never successfully. Most notable were the [[TinCanRobot Leptons]] in the Second Inspector's adventure "The Servitors", as well as the massive [[UnnecessarilyCreepyRobot Crütonnes]] in the Second Inspector's serial of the same name and the cuter [[CuteMachines Chavvies]] in the First Inspector's "Solar System 16".
* SwirlyEnergyThingy: The Centripetus storyline involved [[WhenThingsSpinScienceHappens nefariously controlled ceiling fans]] that emitted a still unknown, but harmful type of energy.
* TakingYouWithMe: [[spoiler: The Inspector]] blows up the AlternateUniverse Terran Empire's High Citadel in "The Worst Ally".
* ThirstyDesert: Featured, [[SpecialEffectsFailure sort of]], in "The Megaliths of Plasma".
* TimeStandsStill: A sign of the deteriorating condition of... darn near everything... in "Space-Break".
* TravelMontage: Used extensively in the episode "Ferdinand Magellan".
* UnexplainedRecovery: The Sergeant, beginning with his apparent death in [[spoiler:"The Lethal Murderer"]], has successfully, if inexplicably, come back after: dissolving due to an [[PuffOfLogic algebraic proof he did not exist]] in [[spoiler:"Mathsville"]], vanishing in his sabotaged Dimensioniser in [[spoiler:"Space-Break"]], drowning in a liquid planetoid in [[spoiler:"Moon of Water"]], and undergoing public execution by the Infinity Knights in the backstory to [[spoiler:the 1999 TV movie]].
* VillainousValour: Ümlaütsøn in "The Space Viking".
* WeNeedADistraction: Associate Petula's go-go dancing was often a triple threat, used to distract guards, fill air time, and provide ParentService (though not so much the latter when she was played by Roy Higginbotham.)
* WeaksauceWeakness: The Blorgons' infamous inability to swim. Their problem gets solved when [[spoiler: the Orange Warden]] [[DiabolusExMachina pops up]] and bestows on them an upgrade [[AffablyEvil jocularly referred to]] as "a powerboating licence."
* WeirdMoon / WeirdSun: Both are {{Plot Point}}s, thanks to ArtisticLicenseSpace, in "The Obvious World".
* WhatYearIsThis: Averted. The Seventh Inspector [[RunningGag typically announces]] he and Jeffery have arrived in a particular year only to be quickly corrected by a local.
* [[WhoWatchesTheWatchmen Who Inspects the Inspector]]: The Infinity Knights' high command has on occasion taken exception to the Inspector's methods of performing his mission and conducted their own inquiries into them. Their interventions suggest that their impartiality may be suspect, however.
** At the end of "Return to the Sphere of Strands", the Inspector successfully defended himself against their most serious criticisms, but [[spoiler: he was nevertheless transferred to 1970s Earth as a Time Police Liaison with Exo-Pol, effectively exiling him, and required to metamorphose into the Fourth Inspector.]]
** "The Internal Investigation of the Inspector" arc, obviously. By the end, the proceedings had gotten a [[KangarooCourt bit silly]], but that might have been the [[CourtroomAntics Inspector's plan]] all along.
* WholesomeCrossdresser: Yosif's sex wasn't [[SamusIsAGirl revealed]] until a season after the character's introduction (though the stated reason for crossdressing is that it was just easier).
* WorldOfSilence: Tacitropolis. To be banished there is crueller than the Inspector thinks any sentient deserves.
* [[YouWillBeBeethoven You Will Be Gustav Holst]]: While investigating [[WhichMe unauthorised timeline versions]] of [[HistoricalDomainCharacter famous historical figures]] in "The Time Bootleggers", the Second Inspector must impersonate, variously, the [[AncientEgypt Pharaoh Ramesses the Great]], [[GayParee Georges Seurat]], and [[UsefulNotes/RasputinTheMadMonk Grigori Rasputin]] in order to preserve continuity.
** In the new series, the Inspector heavily implies that following the Time Wave, he has had to do this again with other notable personages.
* {{Zeerust}}: As a 50-year-old programme often taking place in the decades and centuries to come, ''Inspector Spacetime'' inevitably has to deal with dated futuristic designs and failed historical and technological predictions. This also causes [[ZeerustCanon continuity issues]], such as the Circuit-Chaps having access to more advanced machinery during the Paris techno-riots of "The Revolution" (1967) than in "The Lost Asteroid" (1965), despite the former story taking place over a decade before the latter.
* Lampshaded with the Circuit-Chaps' original quasi-Victorian design, which subsequently was remodelled several times to emphasise its "retro-futurism".
[[/folder]]

[[folder:New Series Tropes]]

* AbsurdlyYouthfulMother: Following a drunken one-night stand astride the Interstellar Date Line, Angie is now several centuries younger than the resulting daughter, [[spoiler:Brooke Rhapsody.]]
** Until TheReveal that [[spoiler:Brooke is actually Angie's grandmother, and the real baby was whisked off to be sold to a sweatshop orbiting Neptune. The trope still stands, though, because Brooke is still fifteen minutes and thirty-two seconds younger than her granddaughter.]]
* AlternateLandmarkHistory: The new series often invokes this trope.
** The Blorgons construct the Los Angeles Griffith Observatory to snoop on [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed movie stars]] in "[[TheShowGoesHollywood Blorgons in Hollywood]]".
** In "[[RaceAgainstTheClock The Clock Strikes Eleven]]", the self-destruct–primed [[WeaponizedLandmark Big Ben]] is the 150-year-old HQ of [[spoiler: the Cacophony]].
** The Inspector discovers in "The Promethium Closes" that Great Pyramid of Giza was actually built to house [[PyramidPower the Parapyramidion]]—which hides the eponymous artefact.
** In the episode "The Last of the Snarling Lions" we find that the [[Art/TheSphinx Great Sphinx of Giza]] is a [[LivingStatue giant Snarling Lion]].
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Pretty much the whole point of the Time Deviants. While they look and act human, they're actually [[AxCrazy soulless psychopaths]] who feed off of chaos and destruction. [[spoiler: Yorke]]'s self-control from [[HeelFaceTurn the time he started travelling with the Tenth Inspector]] to the time he saved a fleet of Blorgons from the Time Wave is impressive.
* AnachronicOrder: The new series has tried the occasional narrative experiment.
** The episode "Morton's Fork" jumps around wildly in both time and space when revealing the long history of the Eleventh Inspector's bowler hat. (And thanks to the aforementioned Fork, there are some jumps ''[[FlashSideways sideways]]'' as well.)
** In "Around the Century in 80 Yesterdays", the Inspector pursues a bank robber who has come UnstuckInTime, although from an objective perspective, it looks like the Inspector arrests him first as a child, pursues him throughout his lifetime, yet somehow overlooks him when he pulls off his heist as an old man.
* ArcWords:
** [[spoiler:GOOD LAMB GOOD LAMB GOOD LAMB]]
** You've been a [[spoiler:Naughty Monkey]].
** Season Two had [[spoiler: the Peacemist Corporation.]]
** Season Three had [[spoiler: Elect Anglo!]], signalling the return of [[spoiler:the Sergeant.]]
** "The wasps are reappearing!"
** [[spoiler: QUIET WILL RISE.]]
** [[spoiler: Ring Ring Goes the Bell, until the Inspector snuffs it.]]
* ArmouredClosetGay: Almost the whole of steadfast, manly military man Captain James Haggard's story arc is his inspiring journey as he tries to come to terms with his own [[ExtremeOmnisexual pansexuality]]. It's heartbreaking to watch him struggle with his internalised homophobia, but the writers pull it off brilliantly.
* BadassBoast: The Inspector has rather a lot of them in the new series.
** In "Good Lamb":
-->'''Blorgon in human form:''' What are you gonna do? Save everyone? You're gonna rescue Lilly Taylor from the heart of our Battlehub, free the Earth, and then, just to top it all off, erase every last one of us from history?
-->'''The Ninth Inspector:''' [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome But I have an optic pocketknife, a time booth, and a *plan*]]… while your best option is to be frightened out of your tiny Blorgon minds!
** Also in "The Anger of the Inspector":
-->'''The Tenth Inspector:''' Do you know what the word "Inspector" means in Blorgon? It means "a silly little man in a silly little coat". Well, this silly little man in a silly little coat destroyed every single one of them. The Blorgons paid the ultimate price for underestimating me. For the sake of yourself, your family, and your civilisation, please do not make the same mistake.
** And in "The Clock Strikes Eleven":
-->'''The Eleventh Inspector:''' [[spoiler: Congratulations! You're the first lot to come here. But the question isn't where, but when. Yes, there are going to be so many of you. Thousands and thousands of you, for millions and millions of years. And you'll all have one thing in common: me. Good evening, I'm the Inspector. You're nicked.]]
* BreakTheCutie: Angie, originally a source of slapstick humour, goes through this when [[spoiler:the Sergeant succeeds in ripping her planet apart.]] It causes her to [[TookALevelInBadass take a level in badass]].
* BrownNote: The Inspector quickly learned that the Cacophony couldn't be drowned out with sound. It only made them stronger. "The Cacophony WILL find you."
* CallBack: The classic series receives a lot of these from the {{Revival}}.
** In both TV Movie and "The Clock Strikes Eleven", the recently metamorphosed Inspector steals his new clothes from a police station's locker room, just like in "Vanguard of the Void".
** In "Lily", the ConspiracyTheorist Derek shows her a computer-enhanced aerial reconnaissance photo of the Inspector and his time booth at the Guanajay IRBM launch site outside Havana. The premiere episode of ''Inspector Spacetime'' aired in the UK just after the [[UsefulNotes/HistoryOfTheColdWar Cuban Missile Crisis had ended]], of course.
** Any time wine gums or sherbet lemons come up, everyone remembers which Inspector loved these.
* CanonDiscontinuity: For several years after "The 1981 Inspector Spacetime Holiday Special" aired, the BTV's official stance on the episode was to [[OldShame deny that it had ever been broadcast, produced, or even existed in the first place]] and that everyone responsible had been sacked. Any chance of an official release remains very unlikely as the [[CreatorBacklash creator reportedly personally destroyed]] every single official copy shortly after the broadcast, and BTV [[NeverLiveItDown refuses to respond]] to anyone claiming to possess a copy.
** The Internet being what it is, any truly dedicated fan will be able to [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes find a copy online to see for themselves.]] [[note]]Be warned that copies of it are used at scifi conventions as a game to see who can watch it the longest before breaking into sobbing tears or fits of screaming rage.[[/note]]
* CanonImmigrant:
** Christopher Lee's "Inspector Spacetime" character from the 60s films became one when he reprised the role for the 50th anniversary episode "The Golden Jubilee of the Inspector" 2012 Christmas Special.
** {{Inverted|Trope}} after Arthur Darvill ended stint as Rory Williams on ''Inspector Spacetime'' only to play ''the same character'' in [[Series/DoctorWho That Ripoff.]]\\
• [[AdaptationExplanationExtrication Funny thing is]], that [[Series/DoctorWho other show]] has yet to explain Rory's immortality. But ''we'' already know the reason since we watched him here in ''Inspector Spacetime''!
* [[ChangedMyJumper Changed My Hat]]: TropeNamer. The Eleventh Inspector often changes his bowler hat's colour, thinking it a cunning disguise.
* CrossOver: HollywoodCyborg Kickpuncher pursues the [[GRatedDrug Mega Dope]]-smuggling syndicate to the Mexican border, where he teams up with the Inspector, in "A Village Called Sympathy".
* DancePartyEnding: In an ironic conclusion to the tragic outbreak of Choreokinesis--a disease that makes its victims dance compulsively--that killed fan-favorite [[spoiler: Gerte]], the Inspector felt it best to celebrate the discovery of the disease's antidote with a dance party.
* DeadAllAlong: [[spoiler: Maura]], whom the Tenth Inspector offered to let travel with him simply so she could realise this. When she finally does it is truly heartbreaking.
* DiscontinuityNod: In the 2011 [[UsefulNotes/ComicRelief Red Nose Day]] special "Spacetime", one of the "Alterninspectors" from parallel realities is seen using his Optic Pocketknife as a grappling hook, climbing up the side of a tall building, then pausing to chat with ''Series/TopGearUK'' host Jeremy Clarkson through an open window. It's a reference to the infamously unauthorised Batarang-wielding Inspector from the 1973 film ''5 Kudretli Adamlar'' ("Turkish Blacula").
* DomesticAbuse: {{Implied|Trope}} with the Sergeant and Lucio, the ([[ObfuscatingStupidity suspiciously competent]]) shoe-shine boy he married in Mexico [[spoiler: while posing as Henry Anglo]]. Lucio has the last laugh, however, when [[spoiler: he cleans out "Anglo's" ill-gotten re-election fund and is last seen literally sailing off into the sunset on a yacht.]]
* DramaticUnmask: In climax of the 60th anniversary special “Scriggle”, the Fourteenth Inspector (played by Christopher Obi) rips off his [[LatexPerfection perfect disguise]] to reveal he was the Fifteenth Inspector (played by Creator/RahulKohli) all along.
* EverybodyDiesEnding: Very tragically in "A Spacetime Musical":
-->'''The Ninth Inspector:''' No... no... please don't give me a night like this. I don't want it... ''(quietly, holding back tears)'' Everyone's dead, Lily... Once again... Everyone's dead.
* EvilCounterpart: This happens frequently when a character's positrons are negatised, resulting in an anti-version of the being affected. Constable Reggie once described the Anti-Inspector as having a "[[BeardOfEvil funny moustache]]" and being "[[IHaveYouNowMyPretty kinda rape-y]]".
* FiveManBand: "[[SquadNickname The Inspector Detail]]" team-up of the Inspector's four most recent incarnations, plus Temporary Constable Geneva, put together by the Unknown Inspector in the 50th anniversary special episodes to fight both the [[KnightTemplar Inspector General]] and the [[MillionMookMarch Blorgon forces]].
* FutileHandReach: [[spoiler: Fiona Finch]] does this shortly before becoming a Snarling Lion in the DownerEnding of "Stare". Snarling Lions reproduce by transferring their DNA through a viral bite, and the person bitten [[VirusVictimSymptoms gradually becomes a Lion]]. It's very rare (usually they just destroy and consume), but if someone manages to evade them for long enough, the Lions will attempt to convert them.
* FutureMeScaresMe: The Inspector is horrified by the prospect of incarnating as the Indictor, said by himself and the Infinity Knights to be a future incarnation of the Inspector.
** Subverted in the charity special "Space Crunch": It turns out that the Fifth Inspector isn't [[ValuesDissonance scared]] of her [[ScaryBlackMan unexpected future self]], but rather of the Tenth Inspector's ''elbow'', which hovers dangerously close to her face in their exceptionally cramped, intersected Dimensionisers' interiors.
* GigglingVillain: [[spoiler: Yorke.]] Brrrrr.
* GlassesPull: When the Tenth Inspector wanted to emphasise a point (or make a terrible pun) in a scene, he would habitually put on/take off his prized coke-bottle glasses.
* HitlersTimeTravelExemptionAct: Subverted in "[[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany Let's Kill Hitler]]". When Aidan strangles der Führer with his bare hands, the Inspector is alternately furious with him and terrified of the awful world they'll find when they return to the early 21st century. In fact, they find [[spoiler: millions of lives were saved because there was no Holocaust; World War II and the Cold War never happened, ushering in an unprecedented era of peace on Earth; and an undivided Germany became a beacon of tolerance and diversity, a shining example for all nations.]]
-->'''Aidan''': [[spoiler: EverybodyLives, Inspector, just this once, everybody lives!]]
-->'''Angie''': [[spoiler: Except Hitler.]]
-->'''Aidan''': [[spoiler: Well, yeah. Not Hitler.]]
* HollywoodScience: The science behind the Entanglement timeline is often criticised for its improbability, but writers dismissed these attacks in the third edition of the ''Inspector Spacetime'' companion book. Two words: [[QuantumMechanicsCanDoAnything Quantum Superpositioning]].
* ImpersonatingAnOfficer: As the last of the Infinity Knights, the Inspector tends to pull rank, [[ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem legitimately or otherwise]], on nearly every authority he encounters in the post-revival series.
* TheInquisitorGeneral: The [[LawfulEvil ruthlessly zealous]] Inspector General who was in charge of the Infinity Knight High Command's InternalAffairs Department and who was running his own secret death squad of space-time officers to wage a covert war against the Blorgons. In the {{webisode}} "The Twilight of the Inspector" and the nicknamed [[MilestoneCelebration "Golden Jubilee" episode]] "The Night of the Inspector", it is revealed that the Eighth Inspector [[TheInfiltration went undercover]] to [[WhoWatchesTheWatchmen investigate him and his death squad]], metamorphosing into [[TheMole the Unknown Inspector]].
* IronicNurseryTune:
--> "Ring ring, goes the bell/
--> One day we all must quit/
--> Ring ring, goes the bell/
--> Till the Inspector [[spoiler: snuffs it]]"
* LotusEaterMachine: The Sixth Inspector famously ended up in one. When he used his psychic abilities to break loose, it caused a negative feedback which broke the machine, but also left him critically wounded. He then changed into his Seventh Incarnation in what fans refer to as the most spectacular done metamorphosis sequence of the series and yet would be betrayed by the poor writing to come with Stephen Fry's Inspector. Sadly, Chapman died not long after his final scene was finished being filmed. The writers were rushing production while he was terminally ill at his insistence to please the fans and not leave them hanging or ungracefully bow out with a FakeShemp.
* LoveTranscendsSpacetime: The Inspector and Brooke Rhapsody, obviously.
* MagmaMan: Plural, in the 2012 Summer Special, in which igneous humanoids menace the Eleventh Inspector and Constable Geneva during their summer hols on an eco-tour in Sumatra. They turn out to be [[spoiler: controlled by the Supreme Counter-Intelligence.]]
* MayDecemberRomance: The Inspector and his beloved, Brooke Rhapsody, meet at [[TimeTravelRomance the middle of their romance and then go backwards]]. However, Brooke takes meticulous notes and documents everything so the Inspector knows exactly what's going on at whatever point in life he meets her.
* MindRape: What some would consider Mona Virtue's ultimate fate.
* MistakenForGranite: The Snarling Lions from the critically acclaimed episode "Stare". These creatures are taken as statues at first by the episode's protagonist, Fiona Finch, but the Inspector soon warns her that they are intergalactic monsters that feed on continuum particles and that if she looks at any of them directly, they will [[spoiler: suddenly become aware of her and wipe her from existence so they can eat on the energy the universe uses when repairing a minor gap in spacetime.]] The Inspector once described them as [[spoiler: time mosquitoes]].
* MusicalEpisode: "A Spacetime Musical".
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: And the award goes to Captain Haggard in his introductory episode "The Cambiare Machine". [[spoiler: He unseals the [[SealedEvilInACan Void Seed container]] Inspector and Lily were chasing. The results are... [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone not pretty]].]]
* NoSenseOfDirection: Infamously, Angie Lake. In "See No Evil", she not only gets lost in the woods in an attempt to avoid the Lions, she also manages to fall into a cavern.
* [[PerceptionFilter Observation Screen]]: TropeNamer; however the new showrunner, Stefan Toffat, is not a fan of the earlier episodes and has vowed to reduce or eliminate its use, criticising it as a HandWave.
* PlanetOfHats: A literal example in "Morton's Fork", which [[ADayInTheLimelight in part focused on the backstory]] of the Eleventh Inspector's bowler hat.
* RedHerringTwist: While fans were eagerly anticipating the Eleventh Inspector's metamorphosis for 2012 Christmas special's big {{Denouement}}, they did not expect [[spoiler: the Unknown Inspector's into the First]]—which then left [[spoiler: the Classic Series Inspectors]] in a StableTimeLoop and made a TemporalParadox out of [[spoiler: the Ninth's origins]].
** The immediate audience reaction was [[WhamEpisode quite]] [[EndingFatigue divided]] over the resulting WhatNowEnding.
* RomanticFalseLead: Creator/SpikeMilligan is this for Joanna, until she decides she [[NoSenseOfHumour doesn't like]] ''Radio/TheGoonShow'' and promptly dumps him for Minnie.
* RunningGag: Unlike the monarchs of Europe who adore the Inspector, the prime ministers of Canada all want him dead or alive for a reason [[NoodleIncident the Inspector always glosses over.]]
** In the new companion book, we find out why. [[spoiler: He lost them the War of 1812. They had to [[{{Retcon}} fix it]] themselves. They still remember. All of them.]]
* {{Spinoff}}:
** ''Peacemist: Nicer Post'' after Captain James Haggard joins the Peacemist Institute following the clash of the Blorgons and Circuit-Chaps.
** ''The Mary Sue Predicaments'' picked up with Mary Sue Brown following the [[PoorlyDisguisedPilot suspiciously inconclusive]] "The Embarrassing 15th Anniversary Reunion".
** ''Break'' revisits the [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits "special needs" school kids]] from "These Dark Satanic Mills" to find out what they get up to in between classes.
* StraightGay: Gwaednerth Smith, [[spoiler:Captain James' love interest and eventual husband/partner/companion.]]
* StrawCharacter: The episode "News of the Worms" features a transparent Piers Morgan analogue who the Inspector calls "the real worm".
* TheTeamWannabe: In the Neil Gaiman-scripted special episode "The Previous Inspector", it is revealed that the Detective and the Chief Inspector are [[spoiler: not actually Infinity Knights but are really [[AscendedFanboy time-travelling admirers]] of the now-vanished Kayaclaschians and are attempting to assume their role, down to adopting [[{{Cosplay}} their dress sense]].]] Their appearance foreshadows [[spoiler: the brief return of the Inspector-obsessed Infinity Knights to erase his [[CanonDiscontinuity chronological contradictions]] in "The Last Minutes".]]
* [[YouMeanXmas Time Day]]: As the Eleventh Inspector explains in 2010's ChristmasEpisode, "The 1981 Inspector Spacetime Holiday Special", it's a universal tradition for life forms to give each other "a gift at the end of each orbital cycle." So really, Time Day isn't a question of when but where.
* TomatoInTheMirror: The Constable and the poison pineapples. Doubles as a huge TearJerker.
* {{Tsundere}}: Brooke isn't sure she loves the Inspector or wants to throttle him.
* TheUsualAdversaries: The Blorgons. In the new ''Inspector Spacetime'', they now show up at least once in every series.
** Lampshaded in the [[MilestoneCelebration 50th-anniversary series première]], "Bedlam of the Blorgons".
* UnreliableNarrator: The episode "Morton's Fork". "Hello there! I will now tell you a whole ''slew'' of simply ''massive'' {{lies|ToChildren}}!"
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Beloved candidate for Prime Minister, Henry Anglo, until the end of Series 3 when [[spoiler: he reveals to everyone that he is actually The Sergeant.]]
* WaybackTrip: The Eleventh Inspector's ChristmasEpisode, in which he and Constable Reggie travel back to [[TheEighties 1981]] in order to [[SavingChristmas save Time Day]] from the Blorgons. Conceived as the new series's [[InternalHomage hat tip]] to the classic serials, it wound up featuring such [[YeGoodeOldeDays badly misplaced nostalgia]], [[StockFootage inappropriate reused footage]], [[HairMetal awful musical numbers]], and [[{{Zeerust}} terrible "futuristic" special effects]] that it drew record hate mail from both fan camps.
* WholeEpisodeFlashback: "Morton's Fork". [[MindScrew sorta.]]
* WholePlotReference: ''Journey Of The Blessed'' has the Inspector board a spaceship made to look like the earth cruise liner ''[[Film/ThePoseidonAdventure SS Poseidon]]'', but it instead replicates the entire plot of the movie ''Film/{{Titanic 1997}}''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fandom-Related Tropes]]

* AffectionateParody: Very much so. Both Community's writers and IS fans use the programme as a way both to poke fun at ''Series/DoctorWho'' and to celebrate what they love about it.
* BizarroUniverse: Many things in IS mirror--or [[InvertedTrope contrast]] or [[SubvertedTrope subvert]] or [[DoubleSubversion twist]]--''Series/DoctorWho'' in some way.
* BreakoutCharacter: The Inspector was just a ''Series/DoctorWho'' parody, now he's developing his own canon and universe. Notable in that a) The [[FanNickname Inspectrum]] is actually taking a few steps to differentiate it from ''Doctor Who'', and b) the 26 second parody aired less than a week before any of this started materialising.
* DuelingShows: Parodied. WordOfGod insists that ''Series/DoctorWho'' [[http://twitter.com/danharmon/status/117571958182383616 "is a RIPOFF of Spacetime."]]
** When Creator/StevenMoffat learned about ''Inspector Spacetime'', he threatened, [[https://twitter.com/#!/theoodcast/status/183558380173004801 "Let's take the rip out of THEM on OUR show."]]
*** On the other hand, ''Doctor Who'''s stars love ''Community'': Karen Gillan is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhpPZgwH4X0 an Inspector Spacetime fan]], and Matt Smith wants to [[http://www.tvguide.com/News/Comic-Con-Best-Moments-1049994.aspx guest-star on the show]].
* FanworkBan: At least in the case of [[ScrewedByTheLawyers a Sony lawyer's phone call demanding production cancellation]] of ''Community'' actor Travis Richey's proposed ''Inspector Spacetime'' web series. In the tradition of ''[[Series/TheStranger The]] [[CaptainErsatz Stranger]]'' substituting for ''Doctor Who'', he [[SerialNumbersFiledOff removed all direct references and reworked it]] as ''The Untitled Web Series About A Space Traveler Who Can Also Travel Through Time''.
* ShowWithinAShow: ''Inspector Spacetime'', within ''Series/{{Community}}''.
* SpiritualSuccessor: to "[[http://web.archive.org/web/19990203054134/http://dcs.ex.ac.uk/%7Edma/ProfX/ Professor X]]", a ShowWithinAShow briefly seen in the Virgin New Adventures, which promptly generated parallel Professors, companions, episodes, and so forth.
** Also, ''Dr. Lazer Rage'' starring Creator/ChristopherEccleston, a ShowWithinAShow on ''Series/TheSarahSilvermanProgram'' (which Creator/DanHarmon co-created).
* TakeThat: When the 60s-era Inspector exclaims, "We can go anywhere, at any time, in the universe! {''{{beat}}''} But it'll probably be London during the Blitz.", the joke is a dig at the ''Series/DoctorWho'' fan complaint that although the Doctor can go anywhere, at any time, in the universe, he keeps revisiting [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E9TheEmptyChild Great]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E10TheDoctorDances Britain's]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E3VictoryOfTheDaleks Finest]] [[Recap/DoctorWho2011CSTheDoctorTheWidowAndTheWardrobe Hour]].
* ThrowItIn: Basically how all of canon is created in the Inspector Spacetime continuum. ''Series/DoctorWho'', both the classic and the new series, is the preferred source of pastiche/parody for the ''Inspector Spacetime'' television programme, but its ExpandedUniverse is a free-for-all. ''Series/{{Community}}'' sets the tone for the sense of humour. Anything goes that hasn't already been established.
* TransatlanticEquivalent: The American remake, entitled ''Epochs of Eternity: Inspector Spacetime'', stars ''Series/BeverlyHills90210'''s Luke Perry and Jennie Garth as [[MrFanservice Inspector Spacetime]] and his [[MsFanservice Ensign]].
[[/folder]]
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