History Series / MadDogs

* DaylightHorror: Beautiful and sunny holiday locations contrast to the truly corrupt, violent and surreal goings on.

* ThirdActStupidity: [[spoiler: Baxter [[IJustShotMarvinInTheFace stupidly shoots Carmen dead]], firing a gun [[LethallyStupid like a lunatic]] the minute he's confronted with mild anxiety despite knowing his friends are nearby. In the final showdown, Rick fires the group's only weapon (a shotgun) at some henchmen who are [[WhatAnIdiot miles out of its effective range]] until he completely empties the ammunition, dooming them all. Quinn also offers up an [[IdiotBall extremely lame excuse]] when asked if he has any contacts who can help the group from the shady bar he runs: [[PoorCommunicationKills "They don't just give out numbers."]] This completely ignores the fact that ''he owns the bar'' and could just call his staff and ask them to put his friends on the line. [[ViolationOfCommonSense Not to mention that he personally knows many of the "connected" patrons he's been talking to for years]], and should know their contact details anyway. Getting them on the phone to help out should be [[WhatAnIdiot no problem at all]].]]

* ThirdActStupidity: Arguably, so many characters hold the IdiotBall at the end of the final season that it almost becomes an IdiotPlot. [[spoiler: Baxter [[IJustShotMarvinInTheFace stupidly shoots Carmen dead]], firing a gun [[LethallyStupid like a lunatic]] the minute he's confronted with mild anxiety despite knowing his friends are nearby. In the final showdown, Rick fires the group's only weapon (a shotgun) at some henchmen who are [[WhatAnIdiot miles out of its effective range]] until he completely empties the ammunition, dooming them all. Quinn also offers up an [[IdiotBall extremely lame excuse]] when asked if he has any contacts who can help the group from the shady bar he runs: [[PoorCommunicationKills "They don't just give out numbers."]] This completely ignores the fact that ''he owns the bar'' and could just call his staff and ask them to put his friends on the line. [[ViolationOfCommonSense Not to mention that he personally knows many of the "connected" patrons he's been talking to for years]], and should know their contact details anyway. Getting them on the phone to help out should be [[WhatAnIdiot no problem at all]].]]

Tensions build as the FourPhilosophyEnsemble are caught in the middle of a nightmare of murder, drugs and corruption and the difficult pasts and conflicting opinions threaten to tear the group apart... did we mention Tony Blair shoots someone.

''Mad Dogs'' (2011-13) is a British dramedy in which four old college friends, played by [[Creator/JohnSimm The Master]], [[Series/LifeOnMars2006 Gene Hunt]], [[Film/{{Hogfather}} Teatime]] and [[ArsonMurderandJaywalking that guy from the adverts]] reunite with the newly successful fifth member of their gang, Alvo, at his new villa in Mallorca. Things take a dark turn when Alvo steals a "friend's" boat, dragging his friends into his own vengeance.

** Maria Botto and Leticia Dolera. All without GettingCrapPastTheRadar

[[FromBadToWorse And then Tony Blair]] [[FlatWhat shoots somebody.]]

''Mad Dogs'' (2011-13) is a British dramedy in which four old college friends, played by [[Creator/JohnSimm The Master]], [[Series/LifeOnMars2006 Gene Hunt]], [[Discworld/{{Hogfather}} Teatime]] and [[ArsonMurderandJaywalking that guy from the adverts]] reunite with the newly successful fifth member of their gang, Alvo, at his new villa in Mallorca. Things take a dark turn when Alvo steals a "friend's" boat, dragging his friends into his own vengeance.

* AffablyEvil: Drug baron and master criminal Mackenzie forces the Mad Dogs to eat ice cream on the beach with him, then gets them to work together in his kitchen to cook a Spanish Omelette for dinner.

* BilingualBonus: Lots and lots of native Spanish is spoken that the boys don't understand. In particular, Carmen's mother mentions Baxter with a devious smile on her face.

* BlackMagic: Paranoid Rick constantly worries about whether the Santerian village they're in will entangle them in voodoo curses.

* ButtMonkey: When the group is cornered by a hostile force, it is almost always Baxter who is targeted first for hostilities, simply based on his appearance. Tiny Blair in particular really seems to dislike him for no reason.

* FanService: Maria Botto and Leticia Dolera. All without GettingCrapPastTheRadar

* TheGhost: The guys' families back in England.

* TheNapoleon: "Tiny Blair", the Police-affiliated dwarf gangster who wears a giant Tony Blair mask.

* NotQuiteDead: Woody reverses into Dominic at high speed, smashing into him and sending him flying straight over the bonnet. His body appears a bloodied, very dead-looking mess at first, but he then manages to get up and stagger forwards, muttering incoherently before collapsing again.

* OnlyOneName: Every single character in the show is only referred to by one name. In the boys' cases, they go by their nicknames that date back to their college years.
** Their full names are revealed in their CIA files during the final episode of series 3.

* YankTheDogsChain: Baxter falls in love with Carmen during series 2 and embarks on a short, yet passionate summer romance with her amid the drug dealing and money laundering. Both are left emotionally devastated when Baxter is forced to flee Ibiza and never see her again.

''Mad Dogs'' (2011-13) is a British dramedy in which four old college friends, played by [[JohnSimm The Master]], [[Series/LifeOnMars2006 Gene Hunt]], [[Discworld/{{Hogfather}} Teatime]] and [[ArsonMurderandJaywalking that guy from the adverts]] reunite with the newly successful fifth member of their gang, Alvo, at his new villa in Mallorca. Things take a dark turn when Alvo steals a "friend's" boat, dragging his friends into his own vengeance.

* [[spoiler:DownerEnding: Zigzagged. Series 1 ends with Quinn about to be shot by Dominic and the rest of the gang torn apart. Subverted with Series 2, which shows the other guys went back for Quinn and now have accidently ended up in more trouble in Ibiza. Series 4 ends with the 4 being killed by a paralysed Dominic and travelling through purgatory before untimately dying. ItMakesSenseInContext. ]]
* TheDon: Mackenzie. [[spoiler: aka the man who Alvo stole the money from.]]

* GainaxEnding: [[spoiler: As graves are being dug up for the gang by over a dozen Tiny Blair's with Dominic waiting for them. They surrender as they are forced to kneel over the graves while one Tiny Blair puts a black bag over their head while another four prepare to shoot them execution style. As we are watching from Baxter's point of view the executioner's hood has been removed by an unseen person. All of the Tiny Blairs and Dominic have seemed to have disappeared. As the gang make their way back to a car they drive onto the motorway only to have the black car turn up on the side with two Tiny Blairs in the front. One of them removes his Tony Blair mask to reveal the face of Baxter as he waves at him while Baxter watches. The final line is spoken by Baxter saying "So is this the end of it?". The final shot then shows the car driving over a gap in the on the motorway and freezes as the credits roll.]]
* TheGhost: The guys families back in England.
** [[spoiler: Up until the finale anyway. We see Baxter's ex-wife,his daughters and Rick's wife.]]

* OnlySaneMan: Oddly enough, Rick is often the only one to see how bad things are and what to do. [[spoiler: For instance, in Series 2 he rightly suggests they throw the 3 million Euros into the sea and go back to England, so they cannot be traced. Of course, the other guys don't listen to him.]]

* PosthumousCharacter: [[spoiler: Alvo, Maria and possibly Dominic (it was unclear whether he died) all appear in "two weeks ago" flashbacks.]]

* ShootTheShaggyDog: [[spoiler: After all of thier efforts across the entire series just to survive, and watching everything they care about come apart around them, the show ends on the main characters careering off of a bridge to thier deaths.]]

* VillainousBreakdown: After [[spoiler:Lazarov's]] plan to assassinate the mad dogs goes awry , [[spoiler:he]] resorts to growling, howling and barking at them while pinned under a table.
* YankTheDogsChain: Baxter falls in love with Carmen during series 2 and embarks on a short, yet passionate summer romance with her amongst the drug dealing and money laundering. Both are left emotionally devastated when Baxter is forced to flee Ibiza and never see her again.
** And ''again'' in the finale. [[spoiler: He accidentally shoots Carmen in the face, killing her when he's startled by the homeless South African kid.]]

* FreudWasRight: Partly invoked by Alvo as he cracks a joke.
** [-"How many Freudians does it take to change a lightbulb?"-]

* Foreshadowing: At the start of Series 2, when Rick and the boys arrive at the hotel [[spoiler: you can catch a glimpse of Mackenzie's henchman when Rick looks over the balcony (dressed in a black leather jacket and sunglasses). ]]

->''"We're all going straight to hell for this."''
-->-- '''Baxter, Series 2'''

* TheReveal [[spoiler: In the first episode that Alvo is has gang connections, and in the last that Maria is not a member of the police but a gangster.]] Although the last one was suspected since they showed up.
* Running Gag: Rick missing a hug from everybody is prevalent from the first episode.

''Mad Dogs'' (2011-13) is a British dramedy in which four old college friends, played by [[JohnSimm The Master]], [[Series/LifeOnMars2006 Gene Hunt]], [[Discworld/{{Hogfather}} Teatime]] and [[ArsonMurderandJaywalking [[Series/HotelBabylon Charlie Edwards]]]] reunite with the newly successful fifth member of their gang, Alvo, at his new villa in Mallorca. Things take a dark turn when Alvo steals a "friend's" boat, dragging his friends into his own vengeance.

** This is actually accidental as the script called for "Tony Blair", but was misspelled "Tiny Blair" and loads of short men auditioned for the role

** Rick, the most histrionic and least reliant Mad Dog, also gets this speech multiple times from Baxter and Quinn for just generally being a pain in the arse.

* VillainousBreakdown: After Lazaro's rubbish plan to assassinate the mad dogs goes tits up, he resorts to growling, baring his teeth and barking at them while pinned under a table.