History Series / EdgeOfDarkness

* HeyItsThatGuy -- Ronnie Craven (played by Bob Peck) aka [[Film/JurassicPark Muldoon]]. Other characters are played by actors who you may recognise from ''{{Dune}}'', ''{{Sharpe}}'', ''Gormenghast'' and ''Series/BlakesSeven''.
** Joe Don Baker of JamesBond fame turns up too.
** Emma's radical boyfriend is Tim McInnery aka Darling of {{Blackadder}}

On original broadcast, it proved so popular that, immediately after it finished its run on BBC Two, it was repeated on BBC One, a unique occurrence in the history of British Television. It was praised, and awarded, for its acting, scripting, and direction, and launched the career of Martin Campbell, who would later go on to direct ''Film/GoldenEye'' for the JamesBond franchise - and who cast Joe Don Baker as a cheery CIA agent in that movie in direct reference to his role in this series. Oh, and [[EricClapton Eric "Slow Hand" Clapton]] collaborated with Michael Kamen to write the show's distinctive, haunting [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome score]].

* YouFailPhysicsForever -- Averted ''hard''. An expert came on board to ensure that all the science depicted was accurate; initially, he didn't want to do it because he was convinced this trope would come into effect and embarrass him, but the production team managed to convince him that they wouldn't mess it up. They didn't.

On original broadcast, it proved so popular that, immediately after it finished its run on BBC Two, it was repeated on BBC One, a unique occurrence in the history of British Television. It was praised, and awarded, for its acting, scripting, and direction, and launched the career of Martin Campbell, who would later go on to direct ''Film/GoldenEye'' for the JamesBond franchise - and who cast Joe Don Baker as a cheery CIA agent in that movie in direct reference to his role in this series. Oh, and Eric Clapton collaborated with Michael Kamen to write the show's distinctive, haunting [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome score]].

* EagleLand -- Flavor 2 heavily leaned on - Jedburgh returns to London from a mission in El Salvador, dressed in camo gear, with the aforementioned golf bag. "I had to leave a man behind". He also refers to the UK as "The Third World" and that [[BigBad Grogan]] is "stirring up the natives".

The police investigate briefly, but [[PoliceAreUseless rapidly abandon their investigations]], leaving Craven to use his contacts, wits, and determination to [[MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot unravel the mystery]]. [[ItGotWorse Or, at least, to attempt to do so]].

A classic - perhaps ''the'' classic - BritishConspiracyThriller. TroyKennedyMartin -- of ''ZCars'' and ''TheItalianJob'' fame -- wrote the screenplay as a [[WriterOnBoard cry of anguish]] against the contemporary political situation, and was rather startled when TheBBC decided to produce and broadcast it.

* HeyItsThatGuy -- Ronnie Craven (played by Bob Peck) aka [[JurassicPark Muldoon]]. Other characters are played by actors who you may recognise from ''{{Dune}}'', ''{{Sharpe}}'', ''Gormenghast'' and ''Series/BlakesSeven''.

* ObfuscatingStupidity: To some extent Jedburgh who by playing the part of the loud redneck Texan to the hilt conceals the fact that he is a highly determined, ruthless yet utterly moral and decent operator.

* TheMovie -- [[{{Americanitis}} set in Boston,]] starring Mel Gibson as ''Tommy'' Craven. Still has a lot of British actors, though. One critic even pointed out that "the name Northmoor makes more sense in the original".

The police investigate briefly, but [[PoliceAreUseless rapidly abandon their investigations]], leaving Craven to use his contacts, wits, and determination to [[AFarMoreSinisterPlot unravel the mystery]]. [[ItGotWorse Or, at least, to attempt to do so]].

* GaiasVengeance -- the "proper" variety. [[OrIsIt Possibly]].

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/edge-of-darkness_5449.jpg
[[caption-width:291:Edge of Darkness]]

On original broadcast, it proved so popular that, immediately after it finished its run on BBC Two, it was repeated on BBC One, a unique occurrence in the history of British Television. It was praised, and awarded, for its acting, scripting, and direction, and launched the career of Martin Campbell, who would later go on to direct GoldenEye for the JamesBond franchise - and who cast Joe Don Baker as a cheery CIA agent in that movie in direct reference to his role in this series. Oh, and Eric Clapton collaborated with Michael Kamen to write the show's distinctive, haunting [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome score]].

* HeyItsThatGuy -- Ronnie Craven (played by Bob Peck) aka [[JurassicPark Muldoon]]. Other characters are played by actors who you may recognise from {{Dune}}, {{Sharpe}}, Gormenghast and [[BlakesSeven Blake's 7]].

* HeyItsThatGuy -- Ronnie Craven (played by Bob Peck) aka [[JurassicPark Muldoon]]. Other characters are played by actors who you may recognise from Dune, Sharpe, and Gormenghast.

* CrazyAwesome -- Darius Jedburgh is all over this. He returns home from El Salvador and casually upends his golf bag on the floor, spilling out golf clubs, empty bottles, an assault rifle and hand grenades.
* CrowningMomentOfAwesome -- Darius Jedburgh [[spoiler: brings some of his freshly stolen plutonium to a conference at Gleneagles Hotel ''and makes it go critical '''in his hands''','' irradiating himself and [[BigBad Grogan]]]] with a bright flash of pure awesome.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment -- "Azure". Police terminology indicating that the room is bugged, which makes it a [[SarcasmMode wonderful]] name for an operating system.

* SpecialEffectsFailure -- Averted, but it is rather amusing to discover, via the making-of documentary on the DVD set, that the plutonium containers shown on screen were just cheap storage bins bought from Woolworths, with nuclear warning trefoil stickers applied.

* TheEighties -- And how!
* TheMovie -- [[{{Americanitis}} set in Boston,]] starring Mel Gibson as ''Tommy'' Craven. Still has a lot of British actors, though. One critic even pointed out that "the name Northmoor makes more sense in the original".

* YouFailPhysicsForever -- Averted ''hard''. An expert came on board to ensure that all the science depicted was accurate; initially, he didn't want to do it because he was convinced this trope would come into effect and embarrass him, but the production team managed to convince him that they wouldn't mess it up. They didn't.
* YourMileageMayVary -- not on the series itself, but specifically on viewers' reactions to Craven gently kissing the business end of his daughter's vibrator while he's going through her belongings. For some it's a touching moment of grief coupled with [[ComingOfAge his realisation of how grown up his daughter had become]], whereas for others it's just [[{{Squick}} gross and innappropriate]].

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome -- Darius Jedburgh brings some of his freshly stolen plutonium to a conference at Gleneagles Hotel ''and makes it go critical '''in his hands''','' irradiating himself and [[BigBad Grogan]] with a bright flash of pure awesome.

A classic - perhaps ''the'' classic - BritishConspiracyThriller. TroyKennedyMartin -- of ''ZCars'' and ''TheItalianJob'' fame -- wrote the screenplay as a [[WriterOnBoard cry of anguish]] against the contemporary political situation, and was rather [[WaitWhatWhoa startled]] when TheBBC decided to produce and broadcast it.

* TheEighties -- And how!
* TheMovie -- [[{{Americanitis}} set in Boston,]] starring Mel Gibson as ''Tommy'' Craven. Still has a lot of British actors, though. One critic even pointed out that "the name Northmoor makes more sense in the original".

* StormingTheCastle -- Craven and Jedburgh infiltrate the mine/storage facility ... [[CrazyAwesome and stop half way to enjoy a three course dinner with fine wine, cigars and classical music]].
** Jedburgh also manages a one-man infiltration of a high-security conference - unleashing sheer chaos with nothing more than [[spoiler: two bars of stolen plutonium]] and a screw-the-lot-of-you attitude, inspired by [[spoiler: his imminent death from radiation poisoning]].
* SpecialEffectsFailure -- Averted, but it is rather amusing to discover, via the making-of documentary on the DVD set, that the plutonium containers shown on screen were just cheap storage bins bought from Woolworths, with nuclear warning trefoil stickers applied.

* EagleLand -- Flavor 2 heavily leaned on - Jedburgh returns to London from a mission in El Salvador, dressed in cammo gear, with a golf bag containing golf clubs, booze, an automatic rifle, and a hand grenade. "I had to leave a man behind". He also refers to the UK as "The Third World" and that [[BigBad Grogan]] is "stirring up the natives".

* StormingTheCastle -- Craven and Jedburgh infiltrate the mine/storage facility ... and stop half way to enjoy a three course dinner with fine wine, cigars and classical music.