History Series / Glue

* InfantImmortality: Avoided, since the series is about the death of a minor. [[spoiler:Thankfully played straight with Ruth's daughter]].

->''"We all got fucked and now he's dead."''
-->-- '''Tina Fallon'''

* PunBasedTitle / StealthPun : "Glue" refers to what horses end up as, as well as to the ties binding the main characters together.

* TokenMinority: Rob (half-black), the Romani characters (Eli, Cal, Ruth) and [[spoiler:James (gay)]].
** TwoferTokenMinority: [[spoiler:Cal - Romani and gay]].

* AbusiveParents: much like on ''Series/{{Skins}}'', the parents in ''Glue'' are either absent, emotionally distant, dead, or outright abusive. The only character who has a stable relationship with his parent(s) is Dominic.

** ThwartedEscape: makes two attempts to flee during the ordeal, both equally unsuccessful.
* {{Arcadia}}: the show is set among the seemingly peaceful rolling hills of the English countryside.

* BigDamnHeroes: at the end, [[spoiler:Tina, Rob and Ruth arrive just in time to save James from being ganked]].

* BingeMontage: the series starts with a night of drugged debauchery - at a grain silo of all places.
* BittersweetEnding: the culprit is arrested, but [[spoiler:it's Eli Bray, who Tina is helplessly in love with by that point;]] Cal is still dead, [[spoiler:and so is Janine]].

* BreakTheCutie: this happens to the cast with their friend[[spoiler:s]] murdered. Special mention goes to James [[spoiler:who was Cal's boyfriend, and who gets put in jail at one point and later kidnapped (and almost killed) by Cal's murderer]].
* BritishBrevity: only 8 episodes long.
* BuryYourGays: [[spoiler:two of the three deaths in the series - Cal and Ian - fall into this category, with one more such murder narrowly averted.]]
* ChildhoodFriendRomance: several instances of this (Rob and Tina, [[spoiler:James and Cal, Tina and Eli]]), which makes sense since everyone has known each other since forever.
* CloseKnitCommunity: the small farming village of Overton is a seemingly idyllic place whose inhabitants all know each other.

* CorruptTheCutie: in-universe, [[spoiler:Cal and James joke that the latter was a good boy before Cal got to him]]. On a darker note, [[spoiler:Eli believes that Cal got corrupted by his experience in foster care - and, sadly, he's probably right]].
* CountryMatters: how Cal describes his mum [[spoiler:- which tips Eli over the edge and causes him to accidentally kill his brother]].
* CrowdSurfing: done in episode 2 to James and Rob at a woodland rave, to the former's discomfort and the latter's glee.
* CurbStompBattle: how Cal was killed, apparently. [[spoiler:James also does this to Rob in episode 5 after getting fed up with the latter's behavior; and Eli does this to James in the finale]].
* DeadPersonConversation: [[spoiler:both James and Eli]] have one with Cal at different points in the story. See HelpfulHallucination below.

* EveryoneIsASuspect: specifically everyone in Cal's group of friends, although several supporting characters [[spoiler:notably Sgt Ian Salter]] come into suspicion as well.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: this line of dialogue:
-->'''DCI Simpson''': [[spoiler:"Do you think if you love someone you don't hurt them?"]]

* HelpfulHallucination: [[spoiler:while tripping on acid James hallucinates Cal, who tells him where to find the contract for Blackout.]]

* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: like on ''Series/{{Skins}}'', the episodes are named after the characters (two per each, e.g. Episode 4 is "Tina/Dominic"). The first and last episodes are both titled "Everyone".
* InfantImmortality: avoided, since the series is about the death of a minor. [[spoiler:Thankfully played straight with Ruth's daughter]].

** KissingUnderTheInfluence: [[spoiler:while tripping on acid James kisses Rob, confusing him for Cal]].
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: most of the characters fit under this trope, but Rob best of all - he's cocksure and careless, [[spoiler:and among other things cheated on his girlfriend and drugged his best friend]], but he also shows a more considerate side such as when he [[spoiler:works hard to get James out of jail]]. Moreover, he's in general seen trying to cheer his friends up in various (somewhat awkward) ways.

** BerserkerTears: [[spoiler:when he learns that Eli is Cal's murderer]].
* MementoMacguffin: the night of his murder, Cal is wearing a necklace which is later missing from the body. James is seen in posession of a similar necklace which he promptly throws out. [[spoiler:James recovers his, Cal's is found in his shirt pocket, and Eli also has a matching trinket - all three feature the Moon Horse, a local nature phenomenon. Eli and Cal's are to remember their mum whose ashes were scattered there, and James received his from Cal as a token of affection.]]
* NeverOneMurder: [[spoiler:the series ends with a body count of three, with one more murder barely avoided.]]
* ParentalAbandonment: [[spoiler:Eli and Cal's mum left the family - and a week later was found to have committed suicide]].

* PunBasedTitle / StealthPun : "glue" refers to what horses end up as, as well as to the ties binding the main characters together.

* SadisticChoice: when Eli was younger, his mother [[spoiler:made him choose between leaving with her or staying with Cal. Eli chose Cal and his mother killed herself]].
* ScarySurpriseParty: happens to James in episode 2, complete with a kidnapping.
* SecretRelationship: [[spoiler:James and Cal]]. Unusually for this trope, nobody else knew about it while they dated.

* TheStoner: most of the characters get high once in a while, but Rob's the standout example. In fact, [[spoiler:the last we see of him in the series is him rolling a joint]].
* TroubledButCute: both the Bray brothers, although in different ways: Eli is a brooding loner while Cal is basically [[spoiler:a rentboy]].

* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: the promotional stills of the characters show [[spoiler:Cal and James wearing matching Moon Horse pendants]], hinting at the closeness of the characters.
* TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: the entirety of Cal's character. He's a 14-year-old doing drugs with his older friends, planning on [[spoiler:running away to Argentina with his older boyfriend, prostituting himself]] and continuously getting in trouble with the law (albeit for minor crimes). Some of this is due to him having a messy home life and a very harsh upbringing.
* UptightLovesWild: [[spoiler:goody-two-shoes James fell for TroubledButCute Cal]].

* WildTeenParty: the one at the grain silo in episode 1, as well as the rave in the woods that Rob throws in James' honor.

Unrelated to Creator/IrvineWelsh book, ''Literature/{{Glue}}''.

Unrelated to the book of ''Creator/IrvineWelsh'', ''Literature/Glue''.

* {{Shotacon}}: [[spoiler:Ian was into young boys. Also, if you want to get technical, James was dating Cal who was below the age of consent]].

* WildTeenParty: the one at the grain silo in episode 1, as well as the rave in the woods that Rob throws in James' honor.
* XMeetsY: ''Series/{{Skins}}'' (teenagers doing drugs and having sex) meets ''Series/{{Broadchurch}}'' (murder of a young boy in a small rural community).

Glue is a British 8-part crime drama shown on [[Creator/{{Channel4}} E4]], commonly described as "''Series/{{Skins}}'' meets ''Series/{{Broadchurch}}''" (understandably, since it was created and written by ''Series/{{Skins}}'' writer Jack Thorne). The plot revolves around a tight-knit farming community shaken by the brutal murder of local Romani teenager Cal Bray. The investigation to find the killer reveals his friends' dark and dirty secrets, hidden behind the picture-perfect English countryside.

* HorseRacing: Tina is an aspiring jockey, and episode 4 revolves around her first major race.

* MaleFrontalNudity: James, Cal and Rob, though not at the same time.

* MementoMacguffin: the night before his murder, Cal is wearing a necklace which is later missing from the body. James is seen in posession of a similar necklace which he promptly throws out. [[spoiler:James recovers his, Cal's is found in his shirt pocket, and Eli also has a matching trinket - all three feature the Moon Horse, a local nature phenomenon. Eli and Cal's are to remember their mum whose ashes were scattered there, and James received his from Cal as a token of affection.]]

Glue is a British 8-part crime drama shown on [[Creator/Channel4 E4]], commonly described as "''Series/{{Skins}}'' meets ''Series/{{Broadchurch}}''" (understandably, since it was created and written by ''Series/{{Skins}}'' writer Jack Thorne). The plot revolves around a tight-knit farming community shaken by the brutal murder of local Romani teenager Cal Bray. The investigation to find the killer reveals his friends' dark and dirty secrets, hidden behind the picture-perfect English countryside.

Glue is a British 8-part crime drama shown on E4, commonly described as "''Series/{{Skins}}'' meets ''Series/{{Broadchurch}}''" (understandably, since it was created and written by ''Series/{{Skins}}'' writer Jack Thorne). The plot revolves around a tight-knit farming community shaken by the brutal murder of local Romani teenager Cal Bray. The investigation to find the killer reveals his friends' dark and dirty secrets, hidden behind the picture-perfect English countryside.

** [[spoiler:James and Cal's SecretRelationship]], revealed in episode 5, is heavily foreshadowed early on: [[spoiler:out of all Cal's friends James is the most shaken by the death, behaving in an erratic fashion consistent with heavy grief; the two have matching pendants, with James wearing his covertly under his clothes; James burns Cal's caravan down - not only to destroy the contract he thinks is inside, but also per Romani tradition, which he wouldn't have known about had he not been closer to Cal than their behavior at the grain silo party would suggest]].