History Series / Backstrom

* AdultFear: The Hooded Man is the very embodiment of this: A terrifying cross between a child abductor and a cult leader. He works through the internet, making him completely anonymous, and the teenagers he abducts are dying to be abducted by him. One such potential abductee actually breaks down in tears at the idea that he won't choose her.

* NotSoDifferent: Backstrom derides the various conceptual and avant garde artists in "I Like to Watch" as time wasting examples of TrueArtIsIncomprehensible. He actually has a background in studio art himself, as well as a creative outlet in making kites, and while his own aesthetic is more traditional than theirs, he does come to understand some of the artists on a certain level. He connects a little ''too'' well with one, and on a live video feed at that.

** His ex-fiance, who still cares for him, is played by Sarah Chalke. Backstrom, being Backstrom, interprets her past attempts to fix him as trying to control him.

* AllGaysArePromiscuous: Valentine is gay as springtime, and flirts with any handsome dude in his general vicinity.

* AdaptationalSexuality: Gravely had originally been a lesbian in the 2012 CBS pilot. She was also hinted to be this in the original novels. [[BuryYourGays She's not in the aired version.]]

* InsistentTerminology: Backstrom regularly uses politically incorrect language, just to needle people, even when it makes his job more difficult. When dealing with the politically connected ChurchOfHappyology, he repeatedly calls it a "cult". He notes that he hates ''all'' religion, and would just as happily knock down their church as he would the Sistine Chapel, so it's not discrimination.

** The Hooded Man seems to be one to TheSlenderManMythos. More specifically, to a recent event in which a group of young girls attempted to murder a friend of theirs because they thought that if they didn't sacrifice her, Slender Man would kill their parents. A key difference seems to be that the girls in the episode ''want'' the Hooded Man to come, while the ones in RealLife were ''terrified'' of Slender.

* CaliforniaDoubling: Set in Portland, Oregon, but filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia.

* LighterAndSofter: Show!Backstrom is a general misanthrope who seems to enjoy antagonizing people more than he holds any actual prejudice. Novel!Backstrom is an outright racist, sexist, homophobic oaf. Show!Backstrom is a competent investigator. Novel!Backstrom is a complete ingrate who moseys by on his ability to play the system and sheer dumb luck. Show!Backstrom is a KavorkaMan and quite aware of it. Novel!Backstrom ''thinks'' he's TheCasanova.

* LighterAndSofter: Show!Backstrom is a general misanthrope who seems to enjoy antagonizing people more than he holds any actual prejudice. Novel!Backstrom in the ''novels'' is an outright racist, sexist, homophobic oaf. Show!Backstrom is a vaguely competent investigator. Novel!Backstrom is a complete ingrate who moseys by on his ability to play the system and sheer dumb luck. Show!Backstrom is a KavorkaMan and quite aware of it. Novel!Backstrom ''thinks'' he's TheCasanova.

* LighterAndSofter: Backstrom in the show is a general misanthrope who seems to enjoy antagonizing people more than he holds any actual prejudice. Backstrom in the ''novels'' is an outright racist, sexist, homophobic oaf.

'''''Backstrom''''' is a crime procedural, created by [[Series/{{Bones}} Hart Hanson]], that premiered on Creator/{{Fox}} in 2015 and is based upon a series of mystery novels by Swedish author Leif G.W. Persson where the character's name is Evert Bäckström.

The appalling Evert Bäckström has also made it to TV in his native Sweden, in the dramatisation of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leif_G._W._Persson Leif G.W. Persson]]'s novel of the investigation of a certain Prime Minister's assassination, '''[[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2602070/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm En Pilgrims Död]]''' (''Death Of A Pilgrim'') The original European incarnation can be seen '''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qE01sMXWJWM here]]'''. He was played by [[http://www.aftonbladet.se/nojesbladet/article16342061.ab Claes Malmberg]]. [[note]]Page photo shows him as ther original Swedish Bäckström[[/note]]

* '''The original novels in which Evert Bäckström features as a central character are:'''

** ''Linda, As In the Linda Murder'' (''Linda - som i Lindamordet'') 2005;
** ''He Who Kills The Dragon'' (''Den som dödar draken'') 2007;
** ''The Sword Of Justice'' (''Den sanna historien om Pinocchios näsa'') 2015.
** He is also a major, but not the central, character in ''The Dying Detective'' (''Den döende Detektiven'') 2016.

** Evert Bäckström is first introduced as a minor character (and black comedy relief) in the novel ''Between Summer's Longing and Winter's End - The Story of a Crime (Mellan sommarens längtan och vinterns köld)'', dramatised for TV as ''En Pilgrims Död''.
** He also appears in the sequel ''Another Time, Another life (En annan tid, ett annat liv)''.

* TheShowOfTheBooks: to some extent a FreestyleVersion of Leif G.W. Persson's novels of the Stockholm police (see novel tropes below), but the lineage and themes of the original novels, and to a greater or lesser extent, the characters, are apparent.

!! Troper som är närvarande i dessa romaner inkluderar:
!!Tropes present in the novels include;
* AuthorAvatar: In his thinly-disguised AuthorTract, ''Between Summer's Longing and Winter's End - The Story of a Crime (Mellan sommarens längtan och vinterns köld)'', a police inspector called Persson is introduced who sets about methodically derailing the psychopathic secret policeman Waltin - the man who is ultimately responsible for the assasination of a certain Prime Minister. Persson is described as short, fat, middle-aged and physically unthreatening - but very intelligent.
* AuthorTract: Persson uses ''Summer's Longing...'' as a fictionalisation of his theory that Olof Palme was murdered by dissident right-wing elements in the police and security services. The reason why the crime remains unsolved is that the police officers involved staged a big cover-up. Persson worked at a high level for the Swedish Police and was sacked for whistle-blowing on incompetent cops. [[TakeThat It is very possible he is telling something of what he knows here]].
* BilingualBonus: a retired copper is called in for questioning. He is a suspect because whilst active in the police, he had a personal zero tolerance policy towards criminals and tended to be very direct and physically robust in dealing with them. This got him disciplined on many occasions. His name is [[Series/SledgeHammer Stålhammar]].
* BrawnHilda: Annika "the Anchor" Carlsson is seen as this: she is taller than the female average, works out, does weights, is well-muscled, has no obvious interest in men and this attracts rumours.
* DartboardOfHate: Bäckström's discovery of one, bearing the face of the murdered Prime Minister, in the home of a right-wing nut he is investigating for something else, offers a possible suspect for the murder and adds to an underserved reputation for excellence.
* DefectiveDetective: Bäckström has absolutely no regard for professional conduct, personal niceties, or his own health and is pretty much useless as a detective. His cases are solved by luck, coincidence, or by the efforts of others and give him - on first acquaintance - a reputation for genius. This is soon dispelled on working closely with him. What saves him is a streak of low cunning and practical experience of how the police work.
* DirtyCop: not only Bäckström but a disconvcertingly large number of the Stockholm force. Who play along with the liberal direction of the force but collude to do things ''properly'' despite official dissapproval. Even Annika Carlsson arranges a bonus for herself when several million krone in used notes appear as evidence retrieved from a crime scene. Left alone with money that hasn't been counted yet, she spirits away a hundred thousand or so in high-denomination banknotes. She hides the money in a ''very'' [[CountryMatters secure place]].
* DysfunctionJunction: ''everybody'' in the Stockholm police has their own worries, concerns and preoccupations. Bäckström is just the most glaring example.
* UsefulNotes/FinnsWithFearsomeForests: Several characters are Finnoswedes, from the border country with Finland. Bäckström makes the error of dismissing them as thick bumpkins who can't speak proper Swedish. He may regret this when his new boss, Superintendent Toivonen, considers getting revenge for all the slights and insults lower down the line, when Bäckström was ''his'' boss. Detective Niemi is largely easy-going but the informed opinion of everyone except Bäckström is that you would ''not'' want to get him angry. He's Finnish. Officers Toivonen, Niemi, Honkamäki, Alakoski, Arooma, Salonen and other Finnish "brothers in the police force" do have their own drinking club based on a Finnish restaurant where they eat [[ForeignQueasine Finnish food]], drink heartily, and plot to eject the loathed Bäckström.
* The {{Foil}}: throughout the interlinked books in a long series, the appalling Bäckström and other incompetent, mediocre and corrupt coppers are deliberately contrasted with parellel characters who have the redeeming qualities they lack. The last novel in the series, ''The Dying Detective'' (''Den döende Detektiven''), sees the one man who could unreservedly be called a ''good'' copper, Lars-Martin Johansson, recuperating after a stroke, reviewing a cold case which was bungled a quarter-century before by Bäckström. As his last piece of active police work, Johansson undoes the damage caused by Bäckström and solves an especially horrible murder. But the effects of his illness are too much and he relapses and dies. Lisa Mattei, similarly, serves as a foil to the amoral Annika Carlsson.
* FowlMouthedParrot: Bäckström's ill-fated attempt to keep a pet. He amuses himself by teaching the parrot some choice items of demotic Swedish. Unfortunately [[SinisterSchnoz Isaak the large-beaked parrot]] conflates the phrases ''Bäckström is a sex god'' and ''{{[=insert senior policeman of choice here=]}} is a pouf'' and learns to incessantly recite ''Bäckström is a great big pouf!''. When fobbed off on a neighbour's son, the child takes the parrot to school for Show And Tell, where its impressive vocabulary causes a scene.
* HistoricalDomainCharacter: In ''The Story of a Crime (Mellan sommarens längtan och vinterns köld)'', the character of "Pilgrim", the prime minister who is subject of an assassination attempt, is clearly Olaf Palme. Persson uses the novel - and its later TV adaptation - as a RomanAClef to present his theory that the still-unsolved murder of Sweden's Prime minister was an inside job by members of the police and security services who belonged to shadowy far-Right groupings.
* {{Homage}}: The retired Officer [[Series/SledgeHammer Stålhammar]].
* HoneyTrap: In ''He Who Kills The Dragon'', a shady big-time art dealer who relies on Bäckström for "little services", (ie, corrupt favours) arranges him a high-class escort for the night as a "thank-you". Bäckström, vain, egotistical and with an exaggerated belief in his own pulling power, believes the beautiful woman who picks him up in the hotel bar and takes him home is genuinely attracted to him and finds him irresistable. It doesn't occur to him for one second that she's been paid for and it's a Honey Trap to drag him deeper into corruption.
* ICallHimMisterHappy: Bäckström's pet name for his penis is ''The Super-Salami''. He considers this to be a piece of equipment which is highly-tuned and in in peak condition, and believes any woman offered a slice of the salami is blessed indeed.
* IncompetenceInc: the Swedish police force as visualised by Leif G.W. Persson, a bureaucracy riven by political demands and where TheDilbertPrinciple sees people promoted to ''exactly'' the right level of incompetence.
* MistakenForBadass: Bäckström, after he shoots two immigrant criminals who came round to his flat attempting to bribe him (having been tipped off by the art dealer, who ''is'' giving backhanders in return for favours, that this is a cop who is open to suggestions). This perceived act of self-defence makes Bäckström a hero and taps into ugly prejudices in Swedish society that immigrant criminals are being treated as a soft touch by an over-generous Sweden. The fact that he blazes off fifteen shots at close range, only hits ''once'' and gets the second man by an unrelated fluke accident - and then he steals the bribe money ''anyway'' - is not touched upon.
* MistakenForGay: Annika Carlsson, who ticks all the boxes for "butch lesbian" and is not apparently interested in men. This causes misunderstandings.[[spoiler:She does turn out to be cheerfully BiTheWay, though.]]
* NationalStereotypes: the character of Bäckström is used as an UpToEleven parody of Swedish prejudices about other nationalities.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: technically true as Olof Palme was murdered long before Persson started writing books. A [[RomanAClef Swedish Prime Minister]] with a suspiciously similar back-story gets murdered in ''Summer's Longing''. Even the fictional First Lady is wounded in exactly the same manner as her real-life counterpart.
* NordicNoir: the novels are Scandinavian crime fiction with an added edge of seriously black humour.
* OneSteveLimit: on a professional visit to the FBI in Quantico, Police Chief Johannsson is amused to note his assigned FBI minder is a Swedish-American called Agent Baeckstroem who is as completely unlike the Bäckström he knows at home as it is possible to get. the American Bäckström - here in the novels - is physically fit, incorruptible, does not drink, and refrains from foul language.
* PointyHairedBoss: Bäckström's first Chief of Police introduced in ''Linda, As In the Linda Murder'', a military-minded martinet with a hazy grasp of reality, who bunks off as often as he can to ride his beloved horse, a man who insists cavalry jodhpurs and spurs are a part of police uniform. He is pretty much forcibly retired on the grounds of insanity, and a more sensible, but necessarily distant, man takes over. Bäckström himself is this to his subordinates, who often have to sidestep him to get anything effective done.
* ReassignedToAntarctica: Bäckström just about survives the events of The Linda Murder by the skin of his teeth and gets through a disciplinary over his extravagant expenses claims by luck and by calling in favours. But he is still posted to "Lost Property", the accepted end of the road for mediocre coppers. More flukes and a change of management (who does not know his reputation and who needs an experienced detective in a hurry) get him re-assigned to the murder investigation at the heart of ''He Who Slays The Dragon''.
* RevisitingTheColdCase: The last novel in the series, ''The Dying Detective'' (''Den döende Detektiven''), sees Lars-Martin Johansson, recuperating after a stroke, reviewing a cold case which was bungled a quarter-century before by Bäckström. As his last piece of active police work, Johansson undoes the damage caused by Bäckström and solves an especially horrible murder.
* SmallNameBigEgo: Bäckström .He believes he is the only true genius copper and everyone around him is a plodding dolt. He believes he is irresistable to women. Heis, of course, smarter than anyone else.
* SpicyLatina: Officer Magdelena Hernandez, a positive product of Sweden accepting refugees from elsewhere. Also Officer Felicia Petterson - a Swede by upbringing, adopted from a South American orphanage by Swedish foster-parents. Bäckström's opinion of them is pretty much {{Spexico}}.
* TakeThat: Leif G.W. Persson worked for many years as a civilian advisor to the Swedish police.[[note]]He was, in fact, sacked for whistle-blowing[[/note]]He appears to know exactly what targets to skewer.
* TriangRelations: Brace yourself. [[MistakenForGay Everybody thinks Annika Carlsson is a lesbian]] as she is unmarried, sporty, short-haired, taller than the average and well-muscled. But she has a secret torch for Bäckström. The motherly civilian assistant Nadja Högberg is ''also'' secretly fond of Bäckström. Meanwhile Officer Felicia Petterson, a classically gorgeous SpicyLatina who every male officer is in lust with, ''is'' gay and makes her lust for Annika Carlsson embarrassingly obvious. Felicia desires Annika who desires Bäckström - who is blithely ignorant of both. He also misses all the signals when Nadja brings a bottle of excellent Russian vodka to his apartment one night and they drink it together.
* VetinariJobSecurity: The Swedish force can't easily sack Bäckström. And he's such an objectionable shit of a man that every department he works with discovers the only way to get rid of him is to post him on with glowing references and promotion. Which is how he ends up as a Superintendent. And he has worked the system; he knows how to appeal against disciplinary offences. As he is ostensibly fighting against alcoholism he now has a medical defence against dismissal. And after heroically killing two Moslem immigrants who are now big-time crooks and perceived as untouchable [[note]]By accident, effectively. Both later die in hospital but this doesn't stop a large chunk of Sweden acclaiming a hero who has finally clamped down ''hard'' on bloody immigrants taking the piss, who shouldn't have been allowed into our country in the first place[[/note]], he becomes a popular hero. And heroes cannot be sacked, as his bosses reluctantly admit.

* FowlMouthedParrot: Bäckström's ill-fated attempt to keep a pet. He amuses himself by teaching the parrot some choice items of demotic Swedish. Unfortunately [[SinisterSchnoz Isaak the large-beaked parrot]] conflates the phrases ''Bäckström is a sex god'' and ''{{insert senior policeman of choice here}} is a pouf'' and learns to incessantly recite ''Bäckström is a great big pouf!''. When fobbed off on a neighbour's son, the child takes the parrot to school for Show And Tell, where its impressive vocabulary causes a scene.

He is also a major, but not the central, character in ''The Dying Detective'' (''Den döende Detektiven'') 2016.