History Series / TheTunnel

* OutlivingOnesOffspring: Karl suffers this in the first season as his son Adam is murdered by the Truth Terrorist. The season finale sees him nearly retire from the police force after nearly killing TT in revenge. It sticks with him over the rest of the series, and he repeatedly mentions that he's never really moved on. He expresses deep sympathy for other parents who've lost children after this, and it helps him relate to a killer seeking her own son whom she'd lost years ago as well. Particularly poignant is when he says that every day Karl wakes up, feels normal for a little while, then remembering what happened hits him again.

* SadisticChoice: Karl is given one in the series finale: [[spoiler:kill Elise or let 11 innocent people be killed by gas. Elise realizes he can't choose that, and so [[HeroicSuicide kills herself to insure they live.]]

* WillNotTellALie: Elise refuses to lie, even for sparing grieving relatives of murder victims' feelings, saying it only leads to more lies when Carl counsels it.

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: After the five truths are revealed, [[spoiler:TT disposes of Danny with a car bomb under the guise on an interview he was ostensibly to commit to before turning himself in]].

A second series has already aired in both Britain and France in 2016, known as ''The Tunnel: Sabotage''. It will conclude with a third season, known as ''The Tunnel: Vengeance''.

* BrutalHonesty: Elise speaks her mind without a filter, to the point of inadvertently offending people. She gets told off by Carl for this, but refuses to lie.

* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler:Danny Hillier, the obnoxious journalist]].

* BritishBrevity: Ten episodes long.

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: The Truth Terrorist kidnaps an elderly war veteran and demands that if four wealthy businesspeople don't donate a significant amount to charity, he will let the man freeze to death live on the internet. Only ''one'' of them has the heart to make the donation.

* KillerCop: Laurent Delgado, a French riot control officer who killed a teenager during a riot.
** [[spoiler: The Truth Terrorist is revealed to be Kieran Ashton, a former police officer and colleague of Karl]].

* AmbiguousDisorder: As with her American and Swedish counterparts, Elise is implicitly hinted at having some form of autistic/Asperger syndrome.

'til the end of time.''\\\
— "The End of Time," Charlotte Gainsbourg, sung to the tune of A Maiden's Prayer

* ActionGirl: Captain Elise Wassermann.
* AdultFear: The Truth Terrorist kidnaps a busload of schoolchildren, sets several teenagers on fire and later [[spoiler: kidnaps Karl's son and almost blows up his wife and two daughters]].

* WouldntHarmAChild: Played with. On the one hand, TT doesn't go through with [[spoiler:killing any of the children on the school bus]]. On the other, he doesn't seem to care much about [[spoiler:Karl's daughters]] in the explosive-laden house, nor did he care much about [[spoiler:attempting to off the runaway teen who had seen him]]. If [[spoiler:Laura hadn't kept her foot on the trigger, they would have been killed along with her]].

It follows the investigation of British police DCI Karl Roebuck (Creator/StephenDillane) and French Brigade Criminelle Captain Elise Wasserman (Clémence Poésy), who are forced to work together due to the location of the body. The task is given an extra twist when they realize that there are actually two bodies: the head and torso of a French politician and the lower half of a Welsh prostitute.

* YourCheatingHeart: Karl allows himself to be seduced by Charlotte Joubert whilst he is investigating the case. [[spoiler: It's also revealed he slept with Kieran Ashton/TT's wife before she died, hence why he targets Karl]].
** Alain Joubert, the wealthy banker who [[spoiler: is hit by a speeding train in the first episode]]. He lived a complete second life with another woman in another house.

* ViewersAreIdiots: Danny seems to think so.

* GenreSavvy: Laura figures out that Karl cheated on her almost instantly. It's mingled with a little WrongGenreSavvy as at first she playfully warns him off Elise -- only for him to sleep with an entirely different woman.

* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Karl and Laura have a young son who disappears totally in the last two episodes. Even in season three, when Karl meets his wife at the hospital, the two eldest girls and baby twins are accounted for, but there's no sign of their middle son.

''The Tunnel'' is the 2013 French/English remake of the Swedish/Danish NordicNoir series ''Series/BronBroen'', and not to be confused with the American/Mexican remake known as ''[[TheBridgeUS The Bridge]]''. Though it closely follows the plot of the original, a key difference (as the title would suggest) is that a body is found in the Eurotunnel rather than on a bridge, right on the border between France and England.

* DontMakeMeDestroyYou: [[spoiler: The firearms officers in the season finale are more than willing to shoot DCI Roebuck, their superior, if he tries to kill Ashton]].

It follows the investigation of British police DCI Karl Roebuck (Creator/StephenDillane) and French Brigade Criminelle Captain Elise Wasserman (Clémence Poésy), who are forced to work together due to the location of the body. The task is given an extra twist when they realize that there are actually two bodies: the head and torso of a French politician and the lower half of an English prostitute.

— "The End of Time," Charlotte Gainsbourg

* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Karl and Laura have a young son who disappears totally in the last two episodes.

'til the end of time.''\\\ — "The End of Time," Charlotte Gainsbourg

Yes, you shall be mine,\\\
'til the end of time.''\\\
— "The End of Time," Charlotte Gainsbourg

Donnez-vouz à moi\\

Yes, you shall be mine, 'til the end of time.''\\\

A second series has already aired in both Britain and France.

* ActionGirl: Captain Elise Wassermann

* MeaningfulName: Karl's name is spelt with a 'K' as his father (a miner) was an avid supporter of Communism and Karl Marx's ideology.
* MissingWhiteWomanSyndrome: A variation. After TT has kidnapped a school bus full of children, he promises to release them only if the public riots against stores that exploit child labour. Once his hostages are whittled down to two, the terrorist holds an on-line vote to decide which child shall be set free and which shall be executed. One is a black boy, the other a white girl. No prizes for guessing which one the public votes in favour of.

* RedHerring: In episode 2, Elise tracks down an Anti-Zionist farmer in relation to the first murder. He is a strong suspect, as he owns slaughtering equipment similar to what was used to cut the bodies in half, and human remains are found in his storage cooler. However, when she notices he can't speak English (like the TT), she understands he has been framed and his complicity is ruled out.