History Series / Coupling

* DepthDeception: Jeff being dragged up to the [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments miniature]] [[GroinAttack guillotine]].

* MostWritersAreWriters: No reference is made to Steve's job during the series, but in a DVDCommentary, Moffat mentions that Steve is, like him, a writer.

* RealSongThemeTune: ''Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps''.

* ThrowTheDogABone: Jeff finally getting a girlfriend in Julia (averting MinorFlawMajorBreakup after their first date is a disaster), which even manages to avert ShippingBedDeath by mining the comedy of this poor woman having to manage a relationship with ''Jeff''.

* TwiceShy: Jeff and Julia in "Naked". We even see their respective {{Imagine Spot}}s of the terrible things they thought would happen [[AlmostKiss if they kissed]] in the stationary cupboard.

** From "The Cupboard of Patrick's Love", when Sally complains about being the only woman who hasn't slept with Patrick yet:

* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Jane, at first.
* FullNameUltimatum: Jeff's mother's reaction to the (very many) times she [[CaughtWithYourPantsDown caught him doing something embarrassing]] was always "Oh, ''Geoffrey''..."

* TheFriendsWhoNeverHang: The CastCalculus generally splits the gang into guys and girls, apart from the various, well, ''couplings'' that arise, plus Steve/Jane and Susan/Patrick occasionally interacting as exes. Jane also has sex with Patrick at one point, leaving Jeff and Sally as the only pair who never really interact together, and she seems to fairly openly dislike him.

** In his personal opinion, he's also "got technique". His ex [[spoiler:Jane]] disagrees, advising him that, when kissing, he should stop considering the epiglottis at the back of the throat a target and that he should stop trying to make nipples revolve like the knobs on an etch-a-sketch.

* BadLiar: Patrick has this problem, leaving him unable to keep secret the fact that he slept with [[spoiler:Jane]].

* SixStudentClique:
** The main character: Steve
** The Muscle: Patrick
** The Quirk: Jeff/Oliver
** The Pretty One: Sally
** The Smart One: Susan
** The Wild One: Jane

* '''Steve Taylor''': A nice, if somewhat neurotic everyman, who starts dating Susan after breaking up with Jane.
* '''Susan Walker''': A snarky and practical blonde with the occasional mean streak, who starts dating Steve after breaking up with Patrick.
* '''Jeff Murdock''': Steve's best friend. A paranoid ManChild obsessed with women's bits who provides the show's most awkward moments.
* '''Sally Harper''': Susan's beauty-obsessed best friend. Although originally written as a one-note character, she gets plenty of serious character development after the first series.
* '''Patrick Maitland''': Susan's ex, a laid-back casanova who ''does'' have his heart in the right place on occasion. He is also very well-endowed (a "tripod", apparently). Although he's not too bright, he has his serious moments.
* '''Jane Christie''': Steve's ex. A walking mess of crazy with many hidden layers of even more crazy, although hidden underneath all of ''that'' crazy, she seems to be a very sweet, very scared woman.
* '''Oliver Morris''': The final series' replacement of Jeff. Owns a fantasy/sci-fi store and is worse with the opposite gender than the rest of the cast combined. Notably, even Jane thinks he's crazy.

** Happens in "The Girl with One Heart" to Sally with Patrick's GirlOfTheWeek Jennifer - Sally thinks Jennifer was fooling around with Jeff, but that she's aware that Sally is in love with Patrick. Jennifer thinks Sally is a lesbian and is coming on to her. [[BiTheWay Which is something she's totally okay with.]]

* BiTheWay:
** Jane mentions early in the show that she's bisexual, and mentions it often, but Susan thinks [[BaitAndSwitchLesbians she isn't bisexual at all]]. At one point in "Size Matters" she claims that being bi means she can go out with gay men, and simply won't believe the gay man in question when he tries to [[IncrediblyLamePun put her straight]]. However, in the episode "Nine and a Half Minutes", when Susan snogs her in order to turn on Steve, Jane is very obviously affected by it. Later in the series though, in the episode "The Naked Living Room", Oliver points out to Jane how these claims are all part of her tendency to [[AttentionWhore do anything to get attention]]. When she denies it, [[SubvertedTrope he shows her a foldout from a lads mag and she squeals and turns away in horror]].
** Played straight in the U.S. version, in one episode it's strongly implied that Jane slept with weather girl Connie.

* BondageIsBad: Averted in the episode "The Freckle, the Key, and the Couple Who Weren't". Jeff and his girlfriend are shown to take part in bondage as part of their relationship and it is shown as part of a loving consensual relationship... or would be if Jeff weren't so bad at it.

* HappyPlace: In "Circus of the Epidurals", when Susan tries to talk to her birth partner Sally about the possibility of the doctors having to make "an incision", we cut to Sally sipping champagne in a white room, looking serene as a string quartet play Theatre/MadameButterfly. Susan's voice calling her then starts to fade in, then the scene cuts back to Susan shaking her awake. "Sorry... I went to my safe place."

* IfYouDieICallYourStuff: According to Jeff in "Flushed", "porn buddies" are a variation in which the surviving buddy has to retrieve all the porn from the dead one's flat before their family [[PersonalEffectsReveal goes through their effects]], to spare the dead man's post-mortem embarrassment and help the survivor through the grieving process.

%% * PlugNPlayFriends: Oliver.
* PornWithoutPlot: Discussed at length in "Inferno" when Steve is grilled by the women over the discovery of a tape of lesbian porn in his possession.

* StopBeingStereotypical: In "Size Matters", Sally gets mad when Howard, a gay friend (whom Jane believes to be her boyfriend) agrees with Jeff's bizarre views on homosexuality, and exclaims [[HypocriticalHumor "That's homophobic, you stupid queen!"]] In fairness, the alluded view on homosexuality was Jeff suggesting that: (paraphrased) "Sex is easier for gay men, because all of the masturbating men do in their lives turns out to be practice. All the while they have a 'practice kit' for the real thing, but straight men don't get any practice women". While this certainly IS a somewhat bizarre view, its perhaps not as offensive as it seems without details (and he certainly wouldn't be the first person to say something to that effect.) It's also worth noting that this was supposed to be a drunken conversation, after a dozen pints very late in the evening and both of the guys are visibly drunk acting. Howard may well have been winding Sally up anyway, because she got really snarky about him being a Tory earlier in the scene.

%% * ThreeIsCompany

%% * ThrowTheDogABone: see Crowning Moment of Funny
%% * TwiceShy: Jeff and Julia in "Naked".

* UnexplainedAccent: Richard Coyle (Jeff) doesn't have a Welsh accent, and he was never asked to do one for the show. His mother has a very RP English accent, though we never meet his father. According to Steve Moffat in one of the commentaries, Coyle simply showed up on set doing the accent, and since he wasn't a well known actor no-one noticed for ages until they got to know him better, by which point the first episode had been filmed and there was nothing they could do. Most likely RuleOfFunny - while it's pretty authentic and so isn't really a 'comedy accent', there is no denying it gives a certain something to Jeff's bizarre sexual metaphors.

The series was notable for its meticulously-crafted plots, revolving around lies and misunderstandings in the FawltyTowersPlot and ThreeIsCompany veins, and hilarious cases of DiggingYourselfDeeper. Each episode was very detailed and expansive on matters such as impotence, masturbation, pornography and lesbianism. It's different to other 'traditional' British comedy and certainly isn't anything like ''Series/{{Blackadder}}'' or ''Series/FatherTed''.

'''Sally:''' My bottom is not expanding space jelly! I'm just big-boned! (''shows Steve her breasts'')\\
'''Steve:''' Oh, great! Now I've got breasts!\\

'''Sally''': How did you get to the party, then?\\

'''Sally''': How did you get to the party, then?\\

It had a US remake that lasted for only four episodes in the U.S.(though ironically the season of 13 episodes was broadcast in the U.K.). (The Greek version ran for a whole series.)

* AbortedArc: Jeff and Jane were implied to have an interest in each other at the end of series 3, but Richard Coyle left the show and this was never mentioned again.
** This was, however, salvaged for [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute Oliver]] in the fourth series.

%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * AttentionWhore: Jane.

%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * BabiesEverAfter: [[spoiler:Steve and Susan.]]

--> '''Jane:''' Where are we going wrong? Are we supposed to hang around bars, shag every man in sight, get ourselves pregnant and then trap some poor loser into a lifetime of misery and heartbreak?\\

--> "We never really got 'round to organizing a wedding. Thought maybe a whole human being would be easier."

--> '''Susan''': Jeff, Jeff! Listen to me! Women want someone with command, with confidence, someone who won't take no for an answer. We want somebody arrogant and gorgeous with a terrifying sexual appetite and an amazing range of sexual technique. But when it comes right down to it, d'you know what? We'll settle for a man!\\

--> '''Sally:''' What am I doing?\\

--> '''Jane:''' Oh, it's pretty easy to get a response out of Steve as long as you hit the right notes. It's like... snake-charming.\\

* BiTheWay: Jane mentions early in the show that she's bisexual, and mentions it often, but Susan thinks [[BaitAndSwitchLesbians she isn't bisexual at all]]. At one point in "Size Matters" she claims that being bi means she can go out with gay men, and simply won't believe the gay man in question when he tries to [[IncrediblyLamePun put her straight]]. However, in the episode "Nine and a Half Minutes", when Susan snogs her in order to turn on Steve, Jane is very obviously affected by it.
** Later in the series though, in the episode "The Naked Living Room", Oliver points out to Jane how these claims are all part of her tendency to [[AttentionWhore do anything to get attention]]. When she denies it, [[SubvertedTrope he shows her a foldout from a lads mag and she squeals and turns away in horror]].
*** Played straight in the U.S. version, in one episode it's strongly implied that Jane slept with weather girl Connie.

--> '''Susan:''' So is it absolutely necessary to think about somebody else?\\

--> '''Susan:''' I'm sorry.\\

%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * TheCasanova: Patrick.

* CerebusSyndrome: Started rearing its head in series 3 with the increasing Patrick/Sally tension, but became more noticeable after Jeff left.

--> '''Jill:''' How could you possibly enjoy a film like that?\\

--> '''Susan:''' Okay. You know what's really getting me mad? My boyfriend, my fiancé, the man who, against all my better judgment, I actually love, chatted up a woman in a bar. And on the very same day, ''the very same day'', I chatted up a man. Do you see? Do you get it? I'm equally at fault. How can I ever forgive him for that? Well, of course, I'm not going to forgive him, because men, and I don't mean to generalize, are crap! They're the human race's only failed gender! Who needs them? And why are they so difficult to keep hold of? Do you think they realize, that were it not for the genetic imperative to populate the earth, they wouldn't get a date? That's one hell of an inducement: "No pressure, girls, but shag one of these or it's curtains for all humankind!" That's harassment! But you know what? Do you know what's even more crap than men? ''We'' are more crap than men! All those stupid books you guys have, and... and these magazines! A hundred pages of "men are useless bastards" and an article about why you should wake him up with a blowjob! Am I alone in spotting the inconsistency here? And these places! (''referring to the salon'') Because, for God's sake, don't let them see what we really look like! Just let them enjoy the results, don't let them see how it all happens!\\

--> '''Jeff:''' What's wrong?\\

--> '''Jeff:''' I am a prison for sperms. Those poor little tadpoles have been sentenced to life in Jeff Murdock's groin. And let me tell you, that can be a pretty lonely place.\\

--> '''Sally:''' Facial - Wednesday evening.\\

--> '''Sally:''' I bet she doesn't lie on her back and fill her armpits. Hah!\\

--> '''Susan:''' When I say "dinner", I mean dinner.\\

--> '''Susan:''' (''noticing the wedding invitation'') What's that?\\

--> '''Jane:''' So what's the guy like?\\

--> '''Steve:''' Okay. Anyone want another drink?\\

-->'''Jane:''' I do not say "penis" when I mean penis! I mean, penis! Penis, car, penis, car...

--> '''Susan:''' Told you I could fix anything with one snog.

* HiddenDepths: [[spoiler:Jane. Compared to Susan she's still pretty shallow but she's actually [[CloudCuckooLander less insane]] and more sensitive to others' feelings than she appears to be. She is, however, still an AttentionWhore.]]

* IAmSpartacus: From "The End of the Line": "I'm Giselle!"
** "In that case, ''I'm'' Dick Darlington!"

--> '''Susan:''' Go!\\

%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * LeftHanging: The finale of season 2.
* LifeEmbellished: Moffat calls the series "my life as told by a drunk".
** In a specific example, he says that he wrote "Inferno" based on a similar situation where he was caught with porn in his VCR; however, he admits to adding the "spanking" part because it made the whole things just a little more twisted.
%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * LivingInAFurnitureStore: Averted so many times by RuleOfFunny.
%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * TheLoinsSleepTonight: The [[AnthropomorphicPersonification Melty Man]].

%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * MenCantKeepHouse

--> '''Steve:''' This pause is just expanding and expanding like, this out-of-control... ''thing!''\\

--> '''Steve:''' Well, if music be the food of love, then masturbation is just a snack between meals!

--> '''Steve:''' You keep bringing it up! I can't get it out of my head... it's expanding!\\

--> '''Sally:''' As Susan's best friend, I am, to you, a bit like Australia.\\

--> '''Patrick:''' Thing is, Ivan, I don't share my woman. It's like finding the right tennis racket. Once you've got one you really like using, you keep on using it until it falls apart and you have to get a new one... only more emotional.

--> '''Susan:''' It just seems like a needy thing to do. I don't do needy.\\

* MistakenForGay: Sally, by Patrick's girlfriend, probably because Patrick told her "that Sally is the sort of woman who...is a lesbian." She is oblivious to this, however, and it leads to a wacky misunderstanding, of course. See OneDialogueTwoConversations.

*** ''Inferno''
*** ''Faithless''

--> '''Sally:''' This isn't fair! I was gonna have Patrick!\\

--> '''Jeff:''' Did she ask? You know, ask...\\

%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * PlugNPlayFriends: Oliver.

%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * SadistShow: And how!

** Steve Taylor almost shares a name with Steven Taylor, a companion on ''Series/DoctorWho''. Oliver also has ''Doctor Who'' merchandise in his bookshop, and when going to a dinner with the gang in "Bed Time", wears a sweater reading "Bring Back Doctor Who" on the back.
*** Which became hilarious in hindsight after Creator/StevenMoffat started working for the Series/DoctorWho TV series (although he was already involved in its ExpandedUniverse) and eventually became its ShowRunner.

-->'''Steve''': But Susan, Sally, Jane, this... is a sofa. It is designed by clever scientists in such a way so is to shield the unprotected user from the way of skin abrasions, serious head trauma, and of course - [he collapses behind the sofa and reemerges] - [[Series/DoctorWho Daleks!]]

--> '''Patrick:''' Melty Man!\\

* StopBeingStereotypical: In "Size Matters", Sally gets mad when Howard, a gay friend (whom Jane believes to be her boyfriend) agrees with Jeff's bizarre views on homosexuality, and exclaims [[HypocriticalHumor "That's homophobic, you stupid queen!"]]
** In fairness, the above alluded view on homosexuality was Jeff suggesting that: (paraphrased) "Sex is easier for gay men, because all of the masturbating men do in their lives turns out to be practice. All the while they have a 'practice kit' for the real thing, but straight men don't get any practice women". While this certainly IS a somewhat bizarre view, its perhaps not as offensive as it seems without details (and he certainly wouldn't be the first person to say something to that effect.) It's also worth noting that this was supposed to be a drunken conversation, after a dozen pints very late in the evening and both of the guys are visibly drunk acting. Howard may well have been winding Sally up anyway, because she got really snarky about him being a Tory earlier in the scene.

--> '''Steve:''' I don't know, Patrick - I don't keep some sort of self-abuse diary.
--> '''Jeff:''' ''Well, neither do I.''

-->'''Susan:''' How exactly did you pass your driving test?\\

%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Oliver replaced Jeff.

--> '''Susan:''' God! What is it with you lot? Why do you all have this desperate desire to see me naked?\\

--> '''Susan:''' Okay. So Steve saw your bottom, so what?\\

-->'''Susan:''' Well, there's a useful clue!

%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * ThreeIsCompany
%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * ThreeWaySex
%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * ThrowTheDogABone: see Crowning Moment of Funny
%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * TwiceShy: Jeff and Julia in "Naked".

* UnusualEuphemism: Jeff has one for everything sex-related. In the first episode ("Flushed") he introduces "The Boyfriend Zone"[[note]]the stage of a relationship where the man is entitled to certain sexual favors from the woman[[/note]] and "Unflushable"[[note]]a person who just can't seem to be dumped[[/note]] in the opening five minutes.
** There's also the Sock Gap[[note]]the point where a man who's undressing has to deal with removing his socks lest he end up naked except for them[[/note]], the Nudity Buffer[[note]]the time period between seeing a woman for the first time and getting stuck with the mental image of them naked[[/note]] and the (non-sex-related) Giggle Loop[[note]]a thought during a mandated silence where you contemplate the awkwardness of you laughing in the midst of the silence, and every time you suppress that thought, the laugh you're holding back gets bigger and bigger[[/note]].

* YourLittleDismissiveDiminutive: Sally has a tendency to use this a lot.

* DepthDeception: Jeff being dragged up to the [[CrowningMomentOfFunny miniature]] [[GroinAttack guillotine]].

* AttentionWhore: Jane.

* BabiesEverAfter: [[spoiler:Steve and Susan.]]

--> '''Patrick:''' I can explain. Yes, I did

* TheCasanova: Patrick.

* UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}}: The setting of the U.S. version.

* ClusterFBomb: Sally's reaction to [[spoiler: discovering Patrick's engagement ring]] in the series finale.

* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: There were several episodes titled "The [Man/Girl] With [X] [Body part]"

* LeftHanging: The finale of season 2.

* LivingInAFurnitureStore: Averted so many times by RuleOfFunny.
* TheLoinsSleepTonight: The [[AnthropomorphicPersonification Melty Man]].

* MenCantKeepHouse

* {{Metaphorgotten}}: Some of the humorous bits of the show are of this nature.

* PlugNPlayFriends: Oliver.

** "Remember This" elaborates on the story of Patrick and Sally's first meeting (and first kiss) at a party in Susan's office.
-->''From Patrick's recollection of the story:''\\

-->''From Sally's recollection of the story:''\\

* SadistShow: And how!

* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Oliver replaced Jeff.

* ThreeIsCompany
* ThreeWaySex
* ThrowTheDogABone: see Crowning Moment of Funny
* TwiceShy: Jeff and Julia in "Naked".

--> '''Jeff:''' One day, I lost control in front of my whole family during ''Songs of Praise''!\\

'''Steve:''' So you're telling us that as a young child, and despite the obvious electrical dangers, you sexually assaulted the television set? During ''Songs of Praise''?\\

-->'''Howard:''' [[MargaretThatcher Maggie Thatcher]], in my opinion...\\

* RetargetedLust: A woman doles out (possibly fictitious) stories of her past encounters with women in order to keep her boyfriend interested.

It had a US remake that lasted about four episodes before being chased off the face of the Earth. (The Greek version ran for a whole series.)

* GranolaGirl: Jane.
** It's debatable though in how far this is just another mask she uses to manipulate the people around her.
*** TwoWords: "Bi-Vegetarian".

* GenreSavvy: Steve is already so familiar with Jeff that in the first episode, the first time the audience ever hears a 'Jeffism', he's appropriately wary of them:
--> ''Is this going to be something disgusting? Am I going to be embarrassed to be your friend?''

'''Steve:''' (''exasperated'') Oh, ''because it's got naked women in it!'' Look, I ''like'' naked women! I'm a bloke, we're supposed to like them, we're born like that! We like naked women as soon as we're pulled out of one! Halfway down the birth canal, we're already enjoying the view! Look, it is the four pillars of the male heterosexual psyche; we like: naked women, stockings, lesbians and Sean Connery best as James Bond, because that is what being a boy is! And if you don't like it darling, join a film collective! I want to spend the rest of my life with the woman at the end of that table there (''gestures at Susan'') but that does not stop me wanting to see several thousand more naked bottoms before I die! Because that's what being a bloke is! When man invented fire, he didn't say, "Hey, let's cook!" He said, "Great! Now we can see naked bottoms in the dark!" As soon as Caxton invented the printing press, we were using it to make pictures of, hey, naked bottoms! We've turned the Internet into an enormous international database of... naked bottoms! So, you see, the story of male achievement through the ages, feeble though it may have been, has been the story of our struggle to get a better look at your bottoms. Frankly, girls, I'm not sure how insulted you really ought to be.