From L-R: Phil, Roger, and Edith
Hold the Sunset is a Rom Com by the BBC which aired from 2018 to 2019.
The show concerns a couple, Phil (John Cleese) and Edith (Alison Steadman), who have decided to finally tie the knot. Before they can do so, however, Edith's son Roger (Jason Watkins) returns, having decided to quit his job, leave his family, and move back home. The couple must now deal with the fact that for now, their dreams are on hold.
The supporting cast includes Wendy (Rosie Cavaliero), Roger's kind ex-wife that he hates, Bob the Burglar (James Cosmo), a Lovable Rogue who becomes a mentor figure to Roger, Sandra (Joanna Scanlan), who is Roger's sister, Jack Dugdale (Peter Egan), a neighbor of Phil who gets into a romantic relationship with Sandra in the second series, and Queenie (Annie Reid), an old friend who returns to assist Edith.
Tropes in this show:
- Artificial Limbs: Bob gets an artificial arm in "Old Flames" and promptly causes Desiree to Faint in Shock when she pulls it off.
- An Arm and a Leg: Bob has only one arm, the reasoning for its loss depending on who he talks to - for Edith, he apparently lost it in a car accident whilst he tells Roger that he lost it in war. Queenie claims that it involves a milk float.
- Basement-Dweller: Invoked by Roger, who gives up his cushy job and his family to live with his mother until inspiration strikes him.
- Birthday Episode: "Birthday" takes place on Edith's birthday and has Roger try to give her a gift by sending over an old helper of theirs, only for her to turn out to be a person only tolerable in small doses.
- British Brevity: Only 13 episodes were made (2 6-episode Series and a Christmas Episode respectively).
- Christmas Episode: "If I Were a Wise Man" focuses on Edith and Phil's last Christmas before they head off for their retirement. Whilst Roger has a subplot involving him getting the Christmas Tree into the house, Phil ends up seemingly interacting with the spirit of his dead wife and Edith's dreaded sister comes to stay.
- Dead Person Conversation: In "If I Were a Wise Man", Phil finds himself talking to the ghost of his dead wife Celia, who only appears as a black and white image reflected in a mirror. It's never confirmed if this actually happened or whether Phil imagined it, not helped by the fact that only he can see her.
- Desires Prison Life: Bob in "The Burgulary" wants to go to jail so that he can be out of the cold for the nights. The others don't really want to take them him and try to keep him around for breakfast, at which point the police come around and arrest Roger for possessing a stolen car. He's annoyed when they don't arrest him as well.
- Detachable Doorknob: In "Birthday", Phil goes into the garden shed to convince Roger to give up his newfound Basement-Dweller ways and go back to his wife and children so that he can sell the house. When he tries to leave, however, the doorknob detaches, leaving him trapped and forcing him to attempt to fix it whilst Roger tries to talk him out of selling the house.
- Did Not Get the Girl: In Series 2, Roger beings to grow an attraction for Georgie, Bob's Goth daughter. In "Damage Limitation", he tries to admit his feelings for her through his hand puppet, only to be rejected. He also tries to remarry Wendy in the same episode, but she already has her eyes on someone else.
- Food Slap: When Roger acts like a complete Jerkass in "Birthday", selling off Wendy's car, acting completely unsympathetic to her sobs (up to outright blaming her for the ruined birthday) and blackmailing Phil into not selling the house, Wendy fires a cake at him, but accidentally hits Sandra instead. Nonetheless, Sandra, understanding Wendy's pleas, attacks him with the remainder of the cake.
- The Ghost: It's mentioned that Roger and Wendy have two children, but they never appear on-screen.
- Gift-Giving Gaffe: In "Birthday", Roger's idea of a birthday gift is locating a woman called Queenie, who used to help out when he was little, and sending her over to help out. Edith however is not pleased when she hears of it - turns out that she's quite the liability and only good in small doses.
- Happily Ever After: Dougford proposes to Sandra in "Damage Limitation", she accepts, and the two end the series with intentions to marry.
- Inhibition-Destroying Puppet: In "Damage Limitation", Roger tries to express his feelings for Georgie through his hand puppet Methuselah.
- Jerkass: Roger - it's particularly notable in "Birthday", where he sells Wendy's car under her nose, then has a Never My Fault attitude and is unsympathetic to her understandable sobs, and in "Roger the Carer", where he not only tries to swindle the carer system, but is completely aware of his actions and tries to blackmail his relatives for it.
- Hand Puppet: Methuselah, a crocodile hand puppet given to Roger as a consolation prize when he fails to get a job at a toy store. Roger gradually forms an attachment to the toy and eventually uses it as part of a street act with Roger.
- Help, I'm Stuck!: Roger manages to get stuck in a window whilst trying to flee his ex-wife Wendy in "Bubbly".
- Hollywood Midlife Crisis: Edith certainly believes that Roger's behavior comes from the fact that he's almost 50 and having a midlife crisis, but it isn't a widespread opinion.
- Locked in a Room: In "Birthday", Roger and Phil get trapped in a room, where Roger tries to convince Phil to not sell the house.
- Lovable Rogue: Bob may be a robber, but he is polite to Edith when caught in the act and eventually strikes up a friendship with Roger.
- Love Triangle: Bob and Phil are both in love with Edith, although Edith is only in love with Phil.
- Manchild: Roger quickly regresses back to a more child-like state upon moving back in with his mother, soon having a tantrum over the fact that someone sold his comics and toy car collections and becoming reliant on his mother for chores such as getting his clothes washed.
- Most Writers Are Writers: A plot point in Series 2 has Wendy take up writing classes and become inspired to write a book based on her own family. Notably, despite being published independently, she goes on to achieve a surprising degree of success, with her book winning awards, interviews on TV, and even losing the need for Roger to pay alimony to her.
- Moving-Away Ending: After two series of trying to depart, the show ends with Edith and Phil getting married and leaving for their retirement in Portugal.
- Obfuscating Disability: In "Roger the Carer", Bob convinces Roger to go for a carer role by passing Edith off as having little speech, severe mobility issues, and subject to fits of rage. However, he's told that they need to make an assessment of her before they can allow him, so he asks Queenie to pass herself off as his mother and act disabled. It seems to go well in spite of errors, until Sandra and Phil receive word and convince the interviewer that Roger's insane.
- Old Flame:
- Desiree was an old girlfriend of Phil which he now dreads, thinking her to be more of a Stalker with a Crush. They eventually meet face to face again in "Old Flames", where Desiree admits that she definitely handled the situation poorly.
- Bob "Angel Face" Wickley was an old boyfriend of Edith's back in 1962, although the relationship broke up when he found someone with money. He and Edith meet again when he tries to rob her house, and he spends the rest of the series trying to rekindle the romance.
- One-Word Title: "Bubbly" and "Birthday" in Series 1.
- Pushover Parents: Edith allows Roger back home after he gives up most of his life and allows him to stay despite Phil calling her out on it. This treatment also extends to Sandra, as she's willing to keep giving her money so that she can expand her business - Roger himself calls her out for it.
- Second Love: This is the case for both Edith and Phil, as they have gotten together after their original respective spouses passed away.
- Settle for Sibling: In "The Burglary", Roger claims to have only gone out with Wendy so that he could get close to her sister Rose. Unfortunately for him, she was dating Martin Norton.
- Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace: Bob interrupts Edith and Phil's wedding halfway through in a bid to win back Edith, causing her to Faint in Shock. Doesn't stop them from marrying though.
- Unknowingly Possessing Stolen Goods: At the beginning of "The Bulgulary", Wendy gets a new car, Roger being forced to buy it for her after he sold off the last one to pay for Queenie to come and take care of Edith. It isn't until the end that she's told by the police that it was a stolen vehicle.
- Wedding Finale: The series ends with Edith and Phil marrying.
- Write Who You Know: In-Universe, in Series 2, Wendy writes a book called "The Lemming Family" which features thinly-veiled portrayals of her family. No-one is too pleased once they figure it out.
