[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Dennis-N-Gnasher.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:Dennis and his sidekick dog, Gnasher.]]

[[NamesTheSame One of two]] ComicBook characters known as ''Dennis the Menace'', both being primary school-age boys who frequently get into trouble and make mischief, aided by a pet dog, that were first published in March 1951. This page is about the [[BritishComics British version]] as published in the AnthologyComic ''TheBeano''.

This Dennis has no known surname and is slightly older than the [[DennisTheMenaceUS Dennis from across the Atlantic]], 10 years old rather than 6 (though at times he has been portrayed as slightly older again). He also has dark spiky hair and an iconic black-and-red horizontal-striped jumper, and he is joined by his similarly drawn spiky-haired dog, Gnasher. He truly revels in doing naughty or mischievous things and is at odds with his parents, the local police, his neighbours and the "softies" of his neighbourhood.

Unlike the U.S. Dennis, he is more actively malicious than simply mischievous. If you look at it the right way, it is not hard to interpret his actions toward the so-called "softies" as bullying based merely on the fact that those boys are more effeminate and quiet than he is. This has meant that a manipulative and calculating streak has been given to Dennis' main rival, Walter, in hope of balancing this out.
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!!Provides examples of:

* AdultsAreUseless: They never are able to stop Dennis' mischief.
* AlphaBitch: Athena Kane in the 2009 cartoon. Sometimes slipping into LovableAlphaBitch depending on the situation.
* AmbiguouslyBrown: Athena in the new animated series. It's hard to tell whether she's half-caste or heavily tanned. All we know for sure about her ethnicity is her father is white.
** There's also Angel Face.
* AnimatedAdaptation: A couple, the most memorable being TheBBC's 1996 two-season series ''Dennis the Menace'', or ''Dennis and Gnasher'' [[MarketBasedTitle internationally]]. Though the same character, more or less, this Dennis managed to have random bouts of heroism here and there.
** The new 2009 animated series, on the other hand, has Dennis' character [[ExecutiveMeddling completely re-written from the ground up]], as the BBC decided that they do not wish to teach young children how to be troublemakers. Why did they commission the series then?
*** Actually, [[AvertedTrope they didn't change him at all to]] [[PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad make Dennis not be a troublemaker]]. If anything, Dennis got into more trouble than good (both intentionally and unintentionally) in the 2009 series. [[CriticalResearchFailure You should blame a certain news site]] [[http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/2583051/Dennis-The-Menace-is-de-menaced-by-BBC.html for misinformation about the show itself]] [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome that was debunked by a]] [[http://lewstringer.blogspot.com.au/2009/08/another-political-correctness-gone-mad.html professional comic book artist]].
**** Also, in a number of shorts that aired inbetween episodes, there were times where they'd show the viewers ways of how to be troublemakers (making stink bombs, pulling pranks on others, etc.).
* AntiHero/ VillainProtagonist: Dennis is a bully who lives mainly to create chaos. The cartoons at times try to portray him as less mean.
* BitchInSheepsClothing: Angel Face.
* {{Bowdlerize}}: In the series' early days, Dennis getting paddled was one of the running gags. However, as paddling children began to be seen as abuse rather than discipline, it was phased out of the comic.
* [[BratsWithSlingshots Brats With Catapults]]
* CanineCompanion: oh so much.
* CaptainColorbeard
* TheCatfish: In the animated series episode "Fish Tale", Dennis and his gang attempt to capture 'the legendary pike of Beanotown Lake'.
* CoolOldLady: Granny, who is just a mischievous as her grandson, much to the dismay of her son and daughter-in-law.
* CrappyCarnival: In the animated series, Dennis visits a fair where all of the rides have been nerfed because of the havoc Dennis and his cronies wreaked the previous year.
* CrossdressingVoices: Dennis is voiced by a woman in the new series.
* CrossOver: one episode of the animated series had Dennis enter a contest on ''BluePeter'', complete with the animated presenters being voiced by the actual ([[LongRunners at the time]]) presenters of the show.
* ElmuhFuddSyndwome: Walter in the new animated series.
** Sometimes slipped into it in the old ones too, but it wasn't as noticeable.
* GogglesDoNothing: Sugar wears CoolShades that she never puts over her eyes.
* AGoodOldFashionedPaintWatching
* GrayAndGreyMorality: Walter was already a bit of a jerk at the beginning, but ever since the cartoon (or earlier) he's arguably become just as bad as Dennis.
* GreatWhiteHunter: Dennis' neighbour [[MeaningfulName Stanley Livingston]] is a subversion, having the look of the trope but actually being very friendly with jungle animals and filling his house with them - a sort of proto-Steve Irwin.
* GroundedForever: An episode of ''Dennis and Gnasher'' had Dennis's parents ask themselves how much trouble he could have got into in the ten minutes since the school holidays started, only for a long string of neighbors to come to the door to complain. With each one, Dennis's grounding is increased by a year, until finally he's grounded forever.
* HeroWithBadPublicity: Dennis, in the rare cases he isn't [[VillainProtagonist being the bad guy]], usually in the animated series. His opponents, conversely, are often...
** VillainWithGoodPublicity: Walter is unscrupulous enough to usurp the Tooth Fairy. Also a pair of ''very good'' and popular dog trainers. [[spoiler:[[BrainWashedAndCrazy They actually hypnotized the dogs]] [[ManchurianAgent into helping them commit burglary.]]]]
* {{Jerkass}}: Considering the kid's name is legally "Menace", he'd be hard pressed to NOT be one. He ''HAS'' had several JerkWithAHeartOfGold moments, though.
* LighterAndSofter: The new series makes Dennis much more goody-goody. He's still a menace, but he has been softened up a lot.
* LoveableRogue: The first AnimatedAdaptation attempts to find a middle ground for Dennis, he is still a trouble maker, but often towards unpleasant peers or general societies most his age despise. Most of the other kids root for him rather than fear him, diluting his "bully" image.
* MeaningfulName: His surname is actually The Menace.
* NamesTheSame as the American DennisTheMenace character.
* MoralityPet: Gnasher to Dennis, and one of the few times Dennis is truly upset is when Gnasher goes missing.
* MoreDakka: In one episode of TheNineties cartoon, Dennis and Gnasher got a pair of HumongousMecha which happened to look like them; Gnasher's had an enormous gun pop out of its "nose". Then more guns. Then some [[UpToEleven more]]. Then some '''''[[SerialEscalation more]]'''''. [[spoiler:[[DeconstructedTrope Then it fell over]].]]
* {{Nephewism}}: Notably averted (often cited as being a prominent aversion in ConversationalTroping in the UK) with Gnasher being the father of Gnipper. This was dealt with in-comic by having Gnasher vanish for weeks in one of the strip's rare long-running arcs, "Gnasher Come Home", after which he returned with his children.
* NewspaperThinDisguise: Used in addition to the TotemPoleTrench below to trick Athena into thinking they're her dad Ratbucket. She sees through it when [[NotHimself she begs them for money and they don't give it to her]].
* NiceToTheWaiter: Sugar isn't just Athena's assistant. She's also her best friend.
* OffModel: In the 2009 animated series' "Dance of the Seven Pies" when Dennis is trying to convince Athena that an itchy Pie-Face is actually dancing, her character model is flipped, making her belt face the wrong way.
* OneOfTheKids: Gran. Dad was redesigned into this in 2012.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Curly and Pie-Face. Well... they're ''probably'' nicknames.
** AvertedTrope: One episode of the 90s series revealed Pie-Face's real name is Kevin.
** Also, Curly's name was revealed in one old strip to be Crispin, which means "Curly haired" in Latin. Curly seemed rather embarrassed when he revealed it.
* APirate400YearsTooLate: One episode of the cartoon has a group of actors turn out to be real pirates.
* PowerTrio: It depends on the period, but the Menaces and Softies are often seen in groups of three: Dennis, Curly and Pie-face for the Menaces and Walter, Bertie Blenkinsop and Spotty Perkins for the Softies. The Softies were sometimes expanded to four with the addition of [[PunnyName Nervous Rex]].
* ProfessionalButtKisser: Sugar to Athena.
* ProperTightsWithASkirt: Athena Kane
* RulesOfTheRoad: In one animated episode, Dennis and his gang attempt to drive a line-marking machine which goes haywire and leaves white lines everywhere on the road. Cars naturally attempt to follow the line and end up driving on the footpath, through the park, etc.
* ShellShockedVeteran: Dennis' other neighbour The Colonel.
* SuperDickery: Inverted.
* {{Unnamed Parent}}s: Dennis' parents are known as Dennis' Mum and Dennis' Dad, they call each other Mum and Dad. One comic even reveals that those are their actual names.
* TheMakeover: Happened to Dennis's parents between issues 3647 and 3649, courtesy of GokWan.
* ThemeNaming: In addition to Gnasher the dog, he also had a pig named Rasher, a spider named Dasher, and a fish named Splasher.
** Gnasher's children are named Gnipper, Gnora, Gnancy, Gnatasha, and Gniamh.
* TookALevelInJerkAss: Walter.
* TotallyRadical: An extremely {{egregious}} example, in that the characters talked in 1950s slang, "chortling" away at "corking" things and saying "What a swizz!" well into the 2000s!
* TotemPoleTrench: In "Dennis V.I.P." Dennis and his friends use this to get into a Ratbucket concert with one ticket.
* TrademarkFavouriteFood: Pie-Face and, well, [[CaptainObvious pies]].
* UncannyFamilyResemblance: Dennis the Menace and his female cousin Denise the Menace.
* UsefulNotes/{{Wales}}: Mrs. Creecher from the new series is Welsh.
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