History Series / DempseyAndMakepeace

** In "Make Peace Not War" several small-time crooks raid a lockup that they know is full of other stolen electrics, figuring they can nick enough to flog without having to worry about the owners reporting it to the police, as well as Ziggy (one of Makepeace's informants) also deciding to steal a pack of T-shirts figuring he can sell them at his market stall. Unfortunately for them, it turns out the lockup belongs to Heroin smuggler Murel, and the T-shirts are secretly laced with the drug. Thus Murel's goons kill two of the crooks and later hunt down and assassinate Ziggy.

* AfricanTerrorists: PlayedWith in "Silver Dollar." The episode sees S.I.10 dealing with a small but well-armed militant group calling themselves the African Liberation Army who are targeting [[MegaCorp Consolidated Westmore Limited]], first attacking their petrol stations and then when their demands aren't met, poisoning their supplies of cough syrup. Likewise in their demands, they want one million dollars for the company (describing it as a "tax upon their African subsidiaries") and for the company to use their economic influence to facilitate the release of several political prisoners from a specific military dictator of an unnamed nation of their own choice. It's never confirmed if the members are actual Africans or British descendants as they're confirmed to all live in West London (though they all speak with generic African accents) and it overall stumps S.I.10 why they would be seemingly randomly targeting this particular public corporation.

* BlackmailBackfire: In "Blood Money", following Scott approaches the sleazy auction house manager Markham with the stolen antiquities. Seeing an opportunity for a bigger payout Markham approaches Colonel Rashid, revealing he recognises them as from his country's national museum and has figured out the Colonel was using Yassin as frontman for his antiques smuggling operation. Thus Markham suggest keeping quiet on the information and pointing Rashid towards Scott in exchange for him only using his auction house going forwards. Rashid merely plays along until he has what he needs and then has Markham assassinated.

* BreakingOutTheBoss: In "Hors de Combat", gang leader Frank Price is sprung out of jail, only to be killed by his accomplices.

** From the same episode, whilst it's never outright confirmed, it's implied the armed police are secretly in on [[CorruptBureaucrat Phil Harris]] scam as they attempt to kill rather than arrest Dempsey and Makepeace upon them stumbling onto the Weapons delivery.

* FriendInThePress: "Wheelman" reveals Makepeace happens to have one in an OldFlame of her Tom Clyde who is considered the "Ace crime reporter" for the London Evening Mail. It's implied that he happily tips Harry off to anything he learns in exchange for getting the best stories, in the episode he even helps Harry sell her own story of being a fellow journalist to infiltrate Morrocco Jack's gang.

* GoodAllAlong: Mr Tsu of the Chinese embassy from "Cry God For Harry" overall comes across as quite shifty, with him sneaking out during the night at the same time one of the guests is murdered, with the clues suggesting he's the jade thief and even attacking Dempsey when he retrieves it. The end reveals he had secretly been doing his own investigation to find the jade, as his government and Lord Winfield had secretly just finished negotiations for the Jade to be returned to China and his attacking Dempsey was due to him mistaking him for the thief in the dark.

* HaveYouToldAnyoneElse: In "Blood Money" following Markham uncovering his antiques smuggling operation, whilst seemingly agreeing to the sleazy auction house manager's terms Colonel Rashid drops into the conversation the question of whether Markham had told anyone else, disguising it with the promise of a generous first payment. Thus the greedy fool happily admits he hasn't, and is thus shot dead by Rashid's secretary.

* LondonGangster: Overall make up the majority of antagonists S.I.10 go up against, in particular one involved with armed robbery and planning a big heist. Throughout the series, Dempsey and Makepeace find themselves against just about every variation, ranging from the small scale to major players, and the charming and compassionate right to vicious psychopaths.

* MedicationTampering: The [[AfricanTerrorists African Liberation Army]] pull a large-scale version of this in "Silver Dollar," with them switching bottles of cough syrup produced by [[MegaCorp Consolidated Westmore Limited]] with one they've had laced with strychnine. The effect resulted in three people being fatally poisoned and the company was forced to recall the entire branch to be destroyed.

* CorruptBureaucrat: [[StarterVillain Phill Harris]] from "Armed and Extremely Dangerous" is officially an important but overall low-level government figure who is in charge of overseeing the covert but legal supply of missiles the British government to allied powers and groups they support. However, unbeknownst to his partner Harris is secretly corrupt and has set up a deal with the Soviets to install a special computer program into each supply, that will allow them to track and remotely the missiles once he provides them with the codes, with Harris waiting for the final instalment of the fortune they've promised him to do so and is happy to murder anyone who gets in his way.

** In "Make Peace Not War" several small-time crooks raid a lockup that they know is full of other stolen electrics, figuring they can nick enough to flog without having to worry about the owners reporting it to the police, as well as Ziggy (one of Makepeace's informants) also deciding to steal a pack of T-shirts figuring he can sell them at his market stall. Unfortunately for them, it turns out the lockup belongs to Heroin smuggler Merle's operation, and the T-shirts are secretly laced with the drug. Thus Merle's goons kill two of the crooks and later hunt down and assassinate Ziggy.

* TheSmartGuy: As well as acting as Spikings general assistant, Detective Sergeant Charles "Chas" Jarvis often fulfils this role for S.I.10, it is he who handles a large part of the department's research and data gathering, as well as managing the files and information, he also proves to be quite a good forensic account on several occasions. As well as being a [[BadassBookworm capable police officer, who is happy to provide assistance in arrests and gun fights]].

* WorkingTheSameCase: A variation. Knowing a gang of Heroin traffickers are active in "Make Peace Not War", Dempsey goes undercover impersonating their broker from America Swartz. However, one of Makepeace's informants and his mates happen to break into their warehouse (due to being full of stolen goods), with only him getting away. Thus, he tells Makepeace, and her investigation unfortunately leads her to accidentally stumble upon Dempsey with the gangsters, leading to them having to improvise to protect Dempsey's cover and Makepeace's life.

** Morrocco Jack from "Wheelman", has a strong build up being an ex-member of the French Foreign Legion, a former member of a notorious French robbery crew and having previously served in a harsh French prison and now has big plans of muscling into London. However, throughout the episode, it becomes clear that whilst a brilliant strategist, he's simply not cut out for the cut-throat world of London ganglands, with him nearly dying several times and only being saved by the efforts of Makepeace and Dempsey. His men even end up turning on him in the climax, deciding they should kill him to get the London mob off their backs and just do the robbery themselves.

* DidTheyOrDidntThey: In "Tequila Sunrise", Makepeace attempts to unwind from a particularly stressful case by having a fun night at the disco, which leaves her quite drunk and Dempsey chaperones her home, which turns into her making them cocktails and flirting together. The next morning she wakes up in bed with no memory of the night before, and at work, Dempsey proves to be in a great mood and tells her she was "wild" the night before. Causing her to conclude they slept together. [[spoiler: Only for Dempsey to reveal nothing happened between them, he simply made sure she got to bed and then left. He was in such a good mood, simply because he enjoyed going partying with her the night before and saw it as a sign their relationship has moved into a better more trusting place.]]

** ** Turns out to be the crux of the Antique smuggling operation they uncover in "Blood Money", Colonel Rashid uses the money made from the operation to fund numerous terrorist groups, that covertly act on the interests of his nation. He likewise uses a large number as his personal muscle, in particular during the final gunfight against the police.

* AlmightJanitor: Colonel Rashid from "Blood Money", officially he's merely the head of security for the diplomatic party of the unnamed Middle Eastern nation. In fact, Rashid is the mastermind behind numerous terrorist cells, set up to unofficially further his country's interests, as well as the antique smuggling operation he uses to fund them.

* CovertGroupWithAMundaneFront: In "Blood Money" it involves S.I.10 investigating a seemingly mundane murder and robbery of an antiques dealer Yassin. Chas however, figures something is wrong when going over Yassin's history and discovers that he hasn't made a single sale of any of his stock since he opened, despite regularly bringing in sums of money into the tens of thousands. Thus it emerges the entire operation was a front for an Antiques smuggling operation, masterminded by Colonel Rashid, acting on behalf of an unnamed Middle Eastern nation, with Rashid using the funds to sponsor multiple terrorist groups.

* DiplomaticImmunity: Dempsey and Makepeace hit against this issue in "Blood Money", as their investigation into the murder and antiques smuggling leads them to Colonel Rashid, officially the chief of security for the diplomatic party of an unnamed Middle Eastern nation, in reality, the mastermind behind not just operation but numerous terrorist groups. As Rashid holds diplomatic immunity being an attaché to the ambassador's office, they are forced to not directly confront him without clear evidence of his involvement. The matter is resolved in the climax when Rashid's attempt to recover the stolen antiques results in a shoot-out between his men and the police, resulting in his demise and guaranteeing his country will write him off as a rogue operative.

* MixedAncestory: According to Dempsey his father's family is Irish (his father apparently being a first-generation immigrant as he mentions his grandmother was born in Ireland), whilst his mother's family is Italian, this causes him to joke that it makes him a natural-born New Yorker.

* ScrewTheRulesIAmDoingWhatsRight: In "Judgement" following [[SternOldJudge Sir Lionel Hardcastle]] using his connections to ensure no autopsy is carried out on his daughter Sarah after it becomes clear their investigation is unable to find anything but circumstantial evidence, realising they need the forensic information Dempsy decides to take matters into his own hands launching an elaborate ploy of smuggling a disgraced Surgeon into the morgue to carry out a preliminary investigation and then breaking into a university to use the equipment for him to run his tests. Spikings lampshades that due to this they could never bring the results to court, however, the results are able to point them towards the real culprit and save the life of an innocent man.

* TamperingWithTheMedicine: The [[AfricanTerrorists African Liberation Army]] pull a large-scale version of this in "Silver Dollar," with them switching bottles of cough syrup produced by [[MegCorp Consolidated Westmore Limited]] with one they've had laced with strychnine. The effect resulted in three people being fatally poisoned and the company was forced to recall the entire branch to be destroyed.

* WhyDontYouJustShootThem: Subverted in "Armed and Extremely Dangerous". At the climax Phill Harris has Dempsey and Makepeace tied up next to a TimeBomb, intending to leave them to die in the explosion. His number two decides this is too much of a risk and goes back inside to simply shoot them. Ironically this enables them to escape (he makes the mistake of standing too close, allowing Makepeace to disarm him with a well-placed kick).

* CowboyCop: Dempsey, naturally. His actions making New York too hot for him are what get him sent on the 'exchange program' to the UK. Despite this being his default, Dempsey has proven on several occasions that it's not his only style of police, showing that he knows when a situation requires diplomacy and tact instead. Notably in "No Surrender" he tries to negotiate a peaceful resolution with the bank robbers, figuring their mostly over their heads teenagers and that so far nothing too serious has happened. Ironically it's another officer being this that ruins his chances.

* IHaveYourWife: In "Blind Eye" Mr Tennent and Commander Jack get wind that Charlie Wilson (presently serving time for being involved in an armed robbery they pulled off) wants to talk to Spikings, they have two crooks kidnap Charlie's six-year-old son Charlie JR to force him into silence.

* MiddleEasternTerrorists: "Nowhere To Run" involves S.I. 10 dealing with several members of the Palestinian terrorist group Black September. They plan to break out their leader Salim Masad, who is presently being held awaiting trial for the murder of a Irian diplomat, whilst he is in transit and thus use a London drug trafficker to smuggle several machine guns into the UK for them to use.

* TimeBomb: The attempt to kill Spikings in "Blind Eye" involves one of the gangster's goons sneaking on the train and switching his briefcase for one of these, intending to blow him and everyone in the carriage to kingdom come. Thankfully Spikings attempts to put his newspaper back in the case and noticing the difference in weight, realises it's a bomb allowing him to evacuate the carriage in time.