∇
troperville

∇
tools

∇
toys

SubpagesMain

main index

Narrative

Genre

Media

Topical Tropes

Other Categories

new edits	workshops	reviews	YKTTW	tweets	random
to do	pm	add watch	drop watch	watchlist	profile

Subpages:

Oliver's Travels

Five episode British miniseries. Oliver, a professor of comparative religion, is fired from his job and decides to take a road trip to the home of his favorite crossword compiler who uses the pseudonym Aristotle. When he finds the house abandoned, he alerts the police and eventually secures the assistance of a police investigator, Diane Priest. She discovers that Aristotle is now living in the Orkneys, as well as suggestions of high level corruption.

Oliver proposes marriage to Priest because when she is telling him how to address her, she says, "Diane, not Priest" which is an anagram for "predestination." She refuses, but they travel together to the Orkneys, he investigating the disappearance of Aristotle, and she investigating the coverup she begins to reveal. Gradually, connections appear linking the two incidents into one vast conspiracy, and things begin to get out of hand.

Contains examples of

Chekhov's Gun: Oliver finds a king from a chess set in Aristotle's abandoned house which at the end, allows Oliver to know that he has found Aristotle's house in the Orkneys.
Crossword Puzzle
Black Helicopter
Corrupt Corporate Executive and Aristocrats Are Evil
The Everyman: Diane's nice but ordinary son.
Daddy's Girl: Diane's father calls her every day, no matter where she is.
Faceless Goons: A man in a balaclava who turns out to be Diane's son, who has been working for a security firm involved in the coverup.
Playful Hacker
Public Secret Message: Aristotle's crosswords are still appearing in the newspaper, and at one point Oliver realises that the one he's just done contains a hidden message indicating who's behind the coverup.
Running Gag: Oliver's habit of telling everyone he meets that he knows a strange and amusing fact about sex, in the hope that someday somebody will ask him what it is. (Diane eventually does.)