History Series / NightAndDay

A stylised and frequently offbeat soap opera that ran on the UK’s {{Creator/ITV}} network between 2001 and 2003. Aiming to recapture a youth audience lost to the channel with the poaching of Australian import ''Series/HomeAndAway'' by the rival [[{{Creator/Channel5}} Channel 5]], ''Night and Day'' revolved around six dysfunctional families living in and around the fictional Thornton Street in Greenwich, south-east London.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Consultations with psychics abound, as do individual character visions – for example, while in the catacombs, Josh has a vision of a man holding a black chrysanthemum. This later turns out to be the name of the Japanese club where Jane is alive and well as a geisha. Also, an ‘alternative reality’ episode around halfway through the series explores what might have happened if Sam and Jane had married – and many of the events that occur in this episode eventually come to pass in the show’s real timeline.

* Geisha: Jane is one of these by the time we finally encounter her in the flesh, a full year since her initial disappearance. She's now black-haired, amnesia-stricken, and works at a club called the Black Chrysanthemum, where it seems she is required to work as a prostitute.

* DemonicPossession: Josh, apparently. For the most part he’s a kind-hearted, if mysterious, soul – but later in the series, he begins to act demonically at times, taking pleasure in the suffering of others and apparently gaining the ability to harm people simply by staring at them with menacing red eyes. On at least one occasion 'Josh' explicitly states that he is not Josh, apparently suggesting that a parasitic entity of some form is responsible - although its influence on him appears to be intermittent. The nature of the possession, if that's indeed what it is, is never really explained, though it appears to be triggered when Alex punches him and he hits his head. It may be related to his blackouts and/or a quasi-symbolic side-effect of his parent issues. The phenomenon, which also deploys aspects of the RomanticVampireBoy trope (see below), has vanished by the series’ close, with just as little explanation as its introduction.

* DemonicPossession: Josh, apparently. For the most part he’s a kind-hearted, if mysterious, soul – but later in the series, he begins to act demonically at times, taking pleasure in the suffering of others and apparently gaining the ability to harm people simply by staring at them with menacing red eyes. At one point 'Josh' explicitly states that he is not Josh, apparently confirming that a parasitic entity of some form is responsible. Its influence appears to be intermittent. The nature of the possession, if that's indeed what it is, is never really explained, though it appears to be triggered when Alex punches him and he hits his head. It may be related to his blackouts and/or a quasi-symbolic side-effect of his parent issues. The phenomenon, which also deploys aspects of the RomanticVampireBoy trope (see below), has vanished by the series’ close, with just as little explanation as that with which it arrived.

** In order to tame Josh's wild side, Della adopts a wild new persona of her own: Desire. In more vampire-trope-heavy scenes in the catacombs, she ties Josh up with a belt, scratches him on the face, and licks the blood from the wound, before interrogating him about his role in Alex's arrest on suspicion of Jane's murder. The confrontation leads to them sleeping together for the first time.

** In order to tame Josh's wild side, Della adopts a wild new persona of her own: Desire. In more vampire-implied scenes in the catacombs, she ties Josh up with a belt, scratches him on the face, and licks the blood from the wound, before interrogating him about his role in Alex's arrest on suspicion of Jane's murder. The confrontation leads to them sleeping together for the first time.

* RomanticVampireBoy: Elements of Josh's DemonicPossession story (above) play out like a prophetic parody of the {Literature/Twilight} franchise, invoking various vampire tropes as an extended metaphor for sex, whilst continuing to advance the ongoing Josh/Della romance. Given the show's ambiguous presentation, it's not clear how much of the apparently supernatural content in these scenes is literally happening, or should simply be regarded as symbolic.
** Josh's attempts to violate Holly and Kate with his demon eyes appear to be successful, leading to their both collapsing to the floor and screaming. In the latter case, Kate screams the word 'sex!' (softened to 'sin!' in the daytime episodes). It's partly this episode which causes Kate to declare that she hates all men, leading to the formation of the Virgin Army. But when Josh attempts the same technique on Della, he says she is 'too pure' for it to have any effect on her.

** In order to tame Josh's wild side, Della adopts a wild new persona of her own: Desire. In more vampire-implied scenes in the catacombs, she ties Josh up with a belt, scratches him on the face, and licks the blood from the wound, before interrogating him about his role in Alex's arrest on suspicion of Jane's murder. The confrontation leads to them sleeping together for the first time. Later, after learning of his true parentage, Josh leaves town, again seeming to suddenly disappear after kissing Della.

* DemonicPossession: Josh, apparently. For the most part he’s a kind-hearted, if mysterious, soul – but later in the series, he begins to act demonically, taking pleasure in the suffering of others and apparently gaining the ability to harm people simply by staring at them with menacing red eyes. The nature of the possession, if that's indeed what it is, is never really explained, though it may be related to his blackouts and/or a quasi-symbolic side-effect of his parent issues. The phenomenon has vanished by the series’ close, with just as little explanation as that with which it arrived.

* ContentWarning: Parodied in one episode with messages overlaid on-screen during scenes in which Natalie behaves entirely out-of-character. Progresses from 'Warning: smoking kills', to 'Warning: Drinking may cause a downward spiral into the abyss', to 'Shagging your daughter's ex-boyfriend can seriously damage your health'. This last one is particularly fitting since Josh, the ex-boyfriend in question, has apparently become possessed by a demon.

* ArtisticTitle: Night and Day's stylised opening sequence featured video headshots of the main characters (either smiling or scowling, usually towards the Fourth Wall), in a series of quick transitions incorporating images from the show's locations. Colouring is predominantly red and black, as with the final title card and break bumper; and the sequence ends on a smiling Jane, while the words 'NIGHT AND DAY' drift together in the foreground, with the 'D' in the AND and the DAY overlapping so that it finally reads 'NIGHTANDAY'. The characters of Steph and Kate, who weren't present at the show's outset, are added a few weeks into the run. But curiously, the show later on occasion uses a rare version of the titles that not only omits these characters, but also the actual title of the show. Curiouser still, a second rare version exists whose only difference from the usual sequence is that the merging of the letter 'D' doesn't occur. Whether these oddities are stylistic choices or production mistakes is unclear.

* ArtisticTitle: Night and Day's stylised opening sequence featured video headshots of the main characters (either smiling or scowling, usually towards the Fourth Wall), in a series of quick transitions incorporating images from the show's locations. Colouring is predominantly red and black, as with the final title card and break bumper; and the sequence ends on a smiling Jane, while the words 'NIGHT AND DAY' drift together in the foreground, with the 'D' in the AND and the DAY overlapping so that it finally reads 'NIGHTANDAY'. The characters of Steph and Kate, who weren't present at the show's outset, are added a few weeks in the run. But curiously, the show later on occasion uses a rare version of the titles that not only omits these characters, but also the actual title of the show. Curiouser still, a second rare version exists whose only difference from the usual sequence is that the merging of the letter 'D' doesn't occur. Whether these oddities are stylistic choices or production mistakes is difficult to say.

* MoodWhiplash: Constant. The result can be jarring and disruptive, but also refreshingly effective.

* MayDecemberRomance: ''Night and Day'' has a real preoccupation with these, and attractions are regularly alluded to, even if nothing actually happens. The most prominent actual relationships within this category are between Alex and Jane and Fiona and Dennis, although there are many more near misses.

* LargeHam: When she’s not plotting and scheming to win custody of her nephew and niece Ben and Lucy, or lusting after her male school pupils, the deliciously over-the-top Rachel is most likely to be found berating her neighbours with pompous Shakespearean diatribes. Even her visions of Jane get it in the neck: ‘Begone, vile figment!’ Ryan is similarly larger-than-life.

* KilledOffForReal: Jane died at the end of the series, but returned as a ghost to say her goodbyes to friends and family. Steph was in a coma for the last few episodes after setting fire to the Halfway House, and was revealed to have died in the finale. Will was accidentally killed when Kate dropped a book on his head, but was memorably resurrected by ‘a team of engineers’ as a robot in the last episode. Other deaths included Danny, creepy midwife Bradshaw, detective inspector Boyle and Halfway House guardian Malcolm Burns.

* HormoneAddledTeenager: Pretty much all of the younger characters, but especially Tom and Frankie.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: The entire purpose of the night-time omnibus, arguably. The daytime episodes always seemed far more suggestive once you’d seen the omnibus – although the existence of the latter meant that the writers perhaps didn’t feel the need to sneak so much risqué stuff through during the teatime slot.

* FilleFatale: Jane Harper, as revealed through the flashbacks of some of the men of Thornton Street. Not that this remotely justifies some of them sleeping with her when she was underage.
* ForeignExchangeStudent: Jane’s French penpal Francoise Jardin descends on Greenwich for a sustained period near the beginning of the show, before mysteriously disappearing, just like Jane. It becomes clear that Francoise knew more about Jane than many of her friends and family.

* EccentricTownsfolk: Stacks of them. Evil ‘Aunt Rachel’ Culgrin is perhaps the most outlandish, but Jane’s sociopathic brother Ryan also deserves an honourable mention. Towards the end of the run, Frankie Radcliffe and Kate lose the plot with their Virgin Army – but in truth, most other characters also display considerable eccentricity at one time or another.

* DemonicPossession: Josh. For the most part he’s a kind-hearted, if mysterious, soul – but later in the series, he begins to act demonically, taking pleasure in the suffering of others and apparently gaining the ability to harm people simply by staring at them. The nature of the possession is never really explained, though it may be related to his blackouts and/or his issues surrounding his parentage. It has faded again by the series’ close, with just as little explanation.

'''Note: Since the show finished more than a decade ago and is not commercially available, spoilers on this page remain untagged.'''

* OddFriendship: Lots of them, but Ryan and Josh is an especially strange one. Ryan has good reason to suspect that Josh may have killed his sister during a blackout, and frequently torments him about it – to the extent of deliberately inducing another blackout in Josh and making him believe he's hurt Della while he was out of it. Yet their friendship is surprisingly tender at times, with Josh frequently trying to bring out Ryan’s better nature. The oddness is cranked up a gear when Ryan saves Josh’s life, and subsequently decides he ‘owns’ him – making him sing ‘I’d Do Anything’ from {{Theatre/Oliver}} to prove it. Josh later shows Ryan how to kiss a girl by offering his hand as a stand-in – and later by demonstrating his own kissing technique on the object of Ryan’s affections, Celeste.

* RedHerring: Plenty during the entire ‘where is Jane?’ arc that lasted for most of the show’s run. Francoise’s disappearance after meeting Alex in the graveyard is later proven to be a red herring, when we learn she’s safe and well back in France. Creepy Malcolm is thought to have killed Jane and is even caught digging a grave, but it turns out to be just for his dead dog. Likewise, Josh’s blackouts prove to have had no involvement in Jane’s disappearance.

* EccentricTownsfolk: Stacks of them. Evil ‘Aunt Rachel’ Culgrin is perhaps the most outlandish, but Jane’s sociopathic brother Ryan also deserves an honourable mention. Towards the end of the run, Frankie Radcliffe and Kate lose the plot with their ‘virgin army’ – but in truth, most other characters also display considerable eccentricity at one time or another.

* SexIsEvil: The characters’ tendency to link sex and sin is a running theme of the show. It’s most overtly exemplified by Frankie, who is in denial about sex to the degree that she founds a ‘virgin army’ dedicated to excising racy passages from Victorian novels. Other characters frequently display hang-ups about sex and morality – not least Rachel, Kate, Ryan, Mike, Natalie and Sam.

'''Note: Since the show finished more than a decade ago and is not commercially available, there seems little point in tagging spoilers.'''