History Series / GaryTankCommander

Made by BBC Scotland, it follows the mishaps of Gary, his three soldier pals, his girlfriend and the other members of the unit. The main plot of each episode is broken up with documentary style interview spots as Gary gives his opinion on issues raised during that episode.

Brief video clips of shenanigans taken during Gary's overseas deployments.

An ArmedFarces sitcom featuring Corporal Gary Mclintoch, of the 104th Armoured Regiment, British Army. Made by BBC Scotland, it follows the mishaps of Gary, his three soldier pals, his girlfriend and the other members of the unit. The main plot of each episode is broken up with documentary style interview spots as Gary gives his opinion on issues raised during that episode, and brief video clips of shenanigans taken during Gary's overseas deployments.

* SureLetsGoWithThat: The crew reluctantly use a cooker for target practice on Sergeant Thomson's orders. They have to go along with it because to protest would mean confessing to sneaking away from an exercise to procure the cooker for Gary's dad.

* TheWarOnTerror: At the start of the show, Gary is returning from Iraq. Later episodes take place after he and his mates have done a tour of Afghanistan.

* RunningGag: Gary answers his phone with names of businesses; usually he has to explain that it's really him.

* TruthInTelevision: Although the show appears to be MildlyMilitary, soldiers definitely do get up to mischief and take the mickey out of each other in some of the ways shown. Also, any supporting characters who are military are shown to be much more professional than the main cast.

* TruthInTelevision: Although the show appears to be MildlyMilitary, soldiers definitely do get up to mischief and take the mickey out of each other in some of the ways shown. Usually, any supporting characters who are military are shown to be much more professional.

* TruthInTelevision: Although the show appears to be MildlyMilitary, soldiers definitely do get up to mischief and take the mickey out of each other in some of the ways shown. Some of the supporting characters are shown to be professional soldiers, too.

* CaliforniaDoubling: The Iraq and Afghanistan scenes were filmed in Scotland.

* TanksButNoTanks: The 'tank' in the first season is an Abbot self-propelled gun.

* BritishAccents: The majority of the cast are Scottish. The accents may take some getting used to for non UK viewers. Some of Gary's 'interviews' are partly subtitled, which makes Gary's words (if not his thought processes) clearer.
** Captain Fanshaw has an upper class English accent and is possibly a graduate of the Royal Military Academy (Sandhurst). His younger brother is studying at a local university and claims to be Scottish, despite the accent.

* CantHoldHisLiquor: Sergeant Thompson gets drunk at a regimental party, supposedly due to this. Subverted, in while the main characters are all exhausted the next day, Thompson is well enough to get up bright and early for a [[SarcasmMode lovely game of "chemical attack!"]]

* TookALevelInJerkass: Sergeant Thompson in the first series behaved in essence as a StraightMan whose biggest flaw was a tendency to brown-nose the Captain, but otherwise he behaved much as a professional soldier who had to command Gary's section would; when he did something genuinely mean, it tended to be because Gary had mucked things up for him first. In the second series, he is a petty tyrant who simply enjoys being mean. A possible in-universe explanation is that the chains of commanding Gary and his men simply broke him.

* ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: It's not until episode 5 of the first season that anything resembling a tank appears. (See TanksButNoTanks)

* UnfortunateItemMixup: Happens to Gary in 'The Great Debate'.

* CountryMatters: A joke about football team names including body parts ends with this.

An ArmedFarces sitcom featuring Corporal Gary Mclintoch, of the 104th Armoured Regiment, British Army. Made by BBC Scotland, it follows the mishaps of Gary, his three soldier pals, his girlfriend and the other members of the unit. Thick Scots accents abound. The main plot of each episode is broken up with documentary style interview spots as Gary gives his opinion on issues raised during that episode, and brief video clips of shenanigans taken during Gary's overseas deployments.

* TruthInTelevision: Although the show appears to be MildlyMilitary, soldiers do have lives outside the service, and definitely do get up to mischief and take the mickey out of each other in some of the ways shown. Some of the supporting characters are shown to be professional soldiers, too.

* MildlyMilitary: In a fairly realistic way. Soldiers do have lives outside the miltary, and definitely do get up to mischief and take the mickey out of each other in some of the ways shown. Some of the supporting characters are shown to be a lot more professional.