Line #13 Podcast/TheBunker


1	[[quoteright:275:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bunker_stacked_2.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:275:The wasteland's best (and only) radio hosts: [[TheHeart Dave]], [[TheLancer Tom]] and [[TheLeader David]].]]
3
4	'''The Bunker''' is a British dark comedy/drama/variety podcast by Definitely Human. It is a fake radio show (think Podcast/WelcomeToNightVale) set in the post-apocalyptic ruins of London. Twelve episodes of varying length were released in 2014-15, followed by a Christmas special in 2016, along with some short sketches exclusive to the [[https://www.patreon.com/definitelyhuman Definitely Human Patreon]].
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6	A hundred years after the end of the world, three immortal survivors - Dave, David and Tom - are still sealed in an underground bunker. Too scared to explore the nightmarish wasteland outside, they pass the time by hosting a breakfast radio show, featuring news, interviews, music, call-ins and other features from both before and after the apocalypse. As their routine is disrupted by internal tensions and external threats, the hosts are forced to confront the reality of their new world, with heartbreaking consequences.
7	----
8	!This podcast contains examples of the following tropes:
9	* AfterTheEnd: The precise nature of the Big Headache is not described in detail, but it seems to have incorporated elements of almost all the popular apocalypse varieties, including nuclear war, environmental disaster, and robot uprising.
10	* AmazonChaser: Dave's "type" is "mostly terrifying savages." This includes Katie and one of the bandit women who captures and threatens to kill him.
11	* TheApocalypseBringsOutTheBestInPeople: Played with through each of the hosts and how they respond to their new circumstances.
12	* BilingualBonus: Lee Yan Chak, a regular caller to the show, has an interesting subplot of his own if you understand Cantonese.
13	-->"[[https://twitter.com/BunkerPodcast/status/692276028908138496 Once you know it you can't unknow it!]]"
14	* ControlFreak: David is the de facto boss of the Bunker and will go to considerable lengths to ensure things are done his way, to the point where the others are sometimes hesitant to make decisions on their own for fear of pissing him off.
15	-->'''David:''' I know I've been a bit of a control freak.\
16	'''Tom:''' (nervously) What? You? No...
17	* CrapsackWorld: Played with. Every episode brings more news of horrible death and suffering in the Wasteland, and [[TheCynic David]] is very firm in his stance that it is this trope, but [[TheIdealist Tom]] seeks to prove him wrong.
18	* TheCynic: David, to Tom's idealist.
19	* DistaffCounterpart: [[spoiler:Not far from the Bunker is the Outpost, a similar refuge for survivors from the old world - namely Molly, Alexis and Nina, whose personalities, viewpoints and relationships echo those of the Bunker boys. They even host a near-identical radio show. The Bunker and the Outpost are vaguely aware of one another, but have never made contact.]]
20	* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Played brutally straight. After everyone finally leaves the Bunker, we learn indirectly that they were shot and killed almost immediately.]]
21	* TheFogOfAges: [[spoiler: David, who has lost most of his treasured memories [[MySkullRunnethOver after all those years in the Bunker]].]]
22	* FreudianTrio: A highly dysfunctional example, with apathetic Dave trapped helplessly between Tom's uncontrollable emotions and David's pathological frostiness.
23	* HumansAreBastards: Or so David tells Gertrude. To be fair, he does tend to be proven right.
24	* TheIdealist: Tom, to David's cynic.
25	%%* ImmortalityBisexuality
26	* IOweYouMyLife: Teenage reporter Emma Stirling serves as the Bunker's eyes and ears in the Wasteland, and is particularly loyal to David, since he rescued her from a bear trap. Never mind that it was ''his'' bear trap.
27	* LargeHam: Kallo. Apparently that's just how he talks in real life.
28	* LivingForeverIsNoBigDeal: Mainly Dave, who in the first episode forgets what "getting older" even is.
29	* MayflyDecemberRomance: Both Dave and David have romantic interests around four hundred years younger than them.
30	* OffToSeeTheWizard: It's subtle, but WordOfGod confirms that Katie's story is littered with Wizard of Oz references (her pet wolf is Toto; [[WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994 Nala]] is the cowardly lion; Adam is the tin man and Jon is the scarecrow).
31	** It's made more explicit in the Christmas special, when Adam and John receive a ''real human heart'' and a ''real human brain'' respectively.
32	* OneSteveLimit: Averted by David Knight and David Price, both named for their actors. To make it easier, the latter is usually shortened to Dave (although as a unit they are sometimes referred to as "Davids").
33	* Really700YearsOld: The occupants of the Bunker, [[spoiler:the Outpost, Jonathan Day,]] Marion the Eternal, and a handful of other survivors with large stockpiles of youth pills. These relics of the old world are sometimes regarded as powerful, mystical beings and referred to as "The Ancients" by those who were born after the Big Headache, who are unaware of the existence of youth pills.
34	* ResetButton: Lampshaded with the Archaeologist and the Deus Ex Machina, which [[spoiler: completely fails to restore the world to its pre-apocalypse state.]]
35	* ResurrectiveImmortality: Arguably displayed by [[spoiler: David, who dies for most of episode nine and is fine by the end of the broadcast.]] Only very briefly addressed, and it's unclear whether or not the others are similarly affected.
36	* RunningGag
37	-->Bit insulting.
38	* SpiritualSuccessor: Definitely Human's next podcast, {{Podcast/Marscorp}}, is a more straightforward comedy drama - and set on a different planet. However, the two shows take place in similar (though not identical) universes, reference one another, share many common themes, and feature mostly the same cast. Dave, David and Tom even play characters with their own names again, although these characters act and sound very different to their Bunker counterparts.

Context Podcast / TheBunker