Line #15 Series/CrashingUK


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5	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/crashing.png]]
6	[[caption-width-right:300: [[ControlFreak Kate]], [[TheDitherer Anthony]], [[HardDrinkingPartyGirl Lulu]], [[LovableSexManiac Sam]]\
7	[[TheEeyore Colin]], [[EccentricArtist Melody]], [[OnlySaneMan Fred]]]]
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9	''Crashing'' is a BritCom written by and starring Creator/PhoebeWallerBridge and directed by George Kane. It was produced by Big Talk Productions and commissioned by Creator/Channel4.
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11	The central premise is a {{Reconstruct\|ion}}ed, financially realistic RoommateCom. The series follows a group of half-a-dozen twenty-somethings who live together on the same floor in a disused London hospital under a scheme called Property Guardians, where tenants pay cheap rent in exchange for watching over uninhabited buildings that would otherwise be occupied by squatters or fall prey to vandalism. The place is run down and definitely not up to health codes, but its cheap, making it a desirable home for broke oddball young adults.
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13	Spontaneous and irresponsible Lulu (Creator/PhoebeWallerBridge) arrives at the hospital to catch up with her childhood friend and long-standing crush, Anthony (Creator/DamienMolony), who's living with his fianceé Kate (Creator/LouiseFord), who is uptight and awkward despite her best efforts. Living on the same floor is the electric and caddish estate agent Sam (Creator/JonathanBailey), the shy but excitable Fred (Creator/AmitShah), and the dry-witted, self-possessed artist Melody (Creator/JulieDray). And then there's Colin (Creator/AdrianScarborough), a maudlin, middle-aged divorcé suddenly thrust into the hospital's madness.
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15	It consists of a single six-part series that premiered on 11 January 2016.
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17	----
18	!!The series provides examples of the following tropes:
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20	* AdaptationExpansion: The series was based on two short WillTheyOrWontThey-themed plays -- one about Anthony and Lulu, and one about Sam and Fred -- that Phoebe Waller-Bridge [[https://web.archive.org/web/20210817220531/https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/tvfilm/crashing-channel-4-interview-writer-phoebe-wallerbridge-on-her-new-sitcom-about-property-guardians-living-in-a-london-hospital-a3151166.html expanded on for the production company Big Talk.]]
21	-->'''Phoebe Waller-Bridge:''' The stimulus for [the plays] was to find the moment something exciting could have happened between two people but doesn't because they bottle it at the last minute. I always wanted to write about what happened to these people after this moment.
22	* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Even not knowing who he is when he calls on the hotline, Will is able to read Sam well enough to figure out the key question to ask him: "What happens when the laughter stops?" Sam is so rattled by this he hangs up.
23	* BritishBrevity: 1 series, 6 episodes in total.
24	* CockFight: An interesting {{Gender Inverted\|Trope}} example. Sam and Will are two overtly masculine men, competing over Fred, a [[MasculineFeminineGayCouple somewhat less masculine man]]. Will is Fred's boyfriend; Sam is Fred's best friend who has a crush on him. Sam and Will increasingly dislike each other; Sam as a CrazyJealousGuy, and Will because Sam's both kind of a dick, and flirting with his boyfriend. The twist is that -- because these are two men competing over a third man -- the homoerotic elements of the relationship between the suitors is highlighted. While Sam and Will can't stand each other, they do seem turned on by each other sometimes. They AlmostKiss, and then later actually kiss. While they're actually in a LoveTriangle over Fred, it plays out as BelligerentSexualTension between them.
25	* ComingOutStory: Over the season, Sam slowly comes to realize he has romantic feelings for Fred.
26	* CreatorThumbprint: ''Crashing'' is Creator/PhoebeWallerBridge's earliest work that made it to screen. Some of the motifs from it can be seen again in her later works.
27	** Lulu and Kate are obvious proto-versions of the sisters in ''{{Series/Fleabag}}''. A pair of {{Foil}}s, one a [[https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/nov/09/phoebe-waller-bridge-alternative-ending-fleabag "vulnerable rascal"]], an endearing but dysfunctional HardDrinkingPartyGirl and LovableSexManiac, projecting bravado as a protective shield; the other an uptight ControlFreak who has her life more put together, but is jealous of the rascal's charisma.
28	** A LovableSexManiac has recently lost a parent to cancer of a sexual body part. There's a genetic component, so alongside their grief, the child is also haunted by the possibility of getting the disease themselves. They could be killed by this sexual aspect of their own body that they prize so highly, or alternatively, they might have to amputate that part to beat the cancer, which would cause a total breakdown of identity and lifestyle for this person. Here, it's Sam, his dad, and testicular cancer. In ''{{Series/Fleabag}}'' it's the protagonist, her mom, and breast cancer.
29	** Melody and Colin are a less-obvious proto-version of Villanelle and Eve in ''Series/KillingEve''. A slightly-inverted MayDecemberRomance where a hot young woman sets her eyes on a frumpy middle-aged person and decides that ''this'' is who she vehemently, unambiguously wants. The middle-aged love interest is the more ambivalent half of the relationship, partly intrigued and partly confused by her interest in them.
30	* CringeComedy:
31	** A subplot of episode 4 sees Lulu, in need of money, visiting her aunt with Anthony. Said aunt seemingly intentionally gets both of them drunk, is oddly touchy with Lulu, and fixated on figuring out how to get her out of overalls. This does not deter a strapped for cash Lulu in the slightest.
32	** Episode 5 has a hungover Lulu vomiting into a pot of curry Anthony is preparing, trying to cover it up with spices, and then watching Anthony serve the dish to Kate.
33	* EveryoneCanSeeIt:
34	** Everyone knows Lulu an Anthony aren't the strictly platonic friends they claim to be.
35	** Lulu--jokingly--offers to let Sam call her "Fred" in bed.
36	* {{Foreshadowing}}: The idea that they can be evicted with no recourse is established in the first episode.
37	-->'''Melody:''' You're not allowed to have parties, cook meals, light candles, have sex, express emotion, claim any rights, argue if they want to throw you out with only two days' notice, or smoke.
38	* FriendVersusLover: Kate, Anthony's fiancee, is jealous of his relationship with childhood friend, Lulu. Sam is also jealous of Will and often acts out to get Fred's attention instead. SubvertedTrope in both cases, and both "friends" actually have crushes on their friend, and that's why they're jealous.
39	* FromRoommatesToRomance: From housemates to romance, as the main characters are only six of a number of property guardians who all live in the abandoned hospital. Nevertheless, tension develops:
40	** Lulu reconnects with her {{childhood friend\|Romance}} Anthony, even if he is living in the place with his longtime girlfriend Kate.
41	** Sam develops feelings for fellow housemate Fred, who also doubles as a ClosetKey.
42	* GreenEyedMonster: Sam glaring daggers at Fred's boyfriend while he sings about Fred.
43	* ILoveYouBecauseICantControlYou: Melody desperately wants to have sex with Colin, but he won't oblige, which she finds compelling in a "poetic agony" type of way.
44	-->'''Melody:''' He just wants to be small and good, and because of that he is huge and beautiful. Everyone wants to be big. It's bullshit. And he won't fuck me, which I love.
45	* TheLadette: If anyone in the main cast is going to [[{{Main/Gasshole}} burp, fart]], get piss drunk, or hook up with someone random, it's going to be Lulu.
46	* LeftHanging: The final episode ended [[spoiler: with Kate telling Anthony and Lulu she's "not [[PrecisionFStrike fucking]] stupid" after Anthony and Lulu spent a night together and then kissed minutes before Kate came into the kitchen.]]
47	* LikeBrotherAndSister: ZigZaggingTrope. ChildhoodFriends Anthony and Lulu ''swear up and down'' that they're LikeBrotherAndSister. They say it ''so'' often and ''so'' insistently that you might ''briefly'' consider the possibility it could be true. But they also flirt with each other ''constantly''. When Lulu tries to get with other guys, Anthony responds like a CrazyJealousGuy. They go so far as to confess their feelings for each other and then cover it up with JustJokingJustification. The other characters treat their relationship as suspect because EveryoneCanSeeIt. At the end of the season, they [[spoiler:hook up]].
48	-->'''Anthony:''' The idea of having sex with Lulu always has and always will make my penis want to go all the way back up inside. It would be like touching up a monkey I raised myself.
49	* LikeParentLikeSpouse: In episode 5, Colin notices he and all of Melody's former muses bear a striking resemblance to her father.
50	* LoveDodecahedron: Sam and Lulu hook up, but Sam has a crush on Fred, who's dating Will, [[spoiler: who later kisses Sam]], and Lulu is in love with Anthony, who's into her in return but also engaged to Kate.
51	* MeaningfulEcho : Fred and Sam
52	** In one of their first conversations in Episode 1:
53	--->'''Fred:''' I don't think you're very happy, mate.\
54	'''Sam:''' Don't say "mate".\
55	'''Fred:''' You say "babe".\
56	'''Sam:''' I'm an estate agent. I'm meant to sound like a twat. What's your excuse?
57	** In their last conversation in Episode 6…
58	--->'''Fred''': Can I have a sip of your coffee, mate?\
59	'''Sam''': Ugh. Don't say "mate."\
60	'''Fred''': Okay… babe.
61	* MistakenForGay: Lulu, Jessica, and Anthony all variously seem to find the idea of Kate as a repressed lesbian to be plausible. Her attraction to her fiancé Anthony seems tenuous at best. She isn't comfortable with him seeing her naked, he struggles to make her orgasm, and she drunkenly confesses that she doesn't love him. If she ''were'' a lesbian, LastHetRomance would provide a very convenient, no-blame way to end their relationship. But Kate's ''not'' a lesbian. This makes the situation with Anthony much… stickier.
62	* MistakenForSuicidal: Early in the season, Colin -- fresh off a divorce -- [[ItMakesSenseInContext sings a spontaneous song about wanting to die most mornings]] and seems familiar with how the crisis hotline Will works at operates. In the final episode, Melody has him pose by an open window. She leaves him alone to confront Sam, and when they return Colin is unconscious on the ground below. Melody assumes he jumped. When Colin comes to, he admits that he really did just lose his balance and fall out the window.
63	* TheMuse: Melody strongarms Colin into becoming the inspiration for her art. It's an {{Inverted\|Trope}} or GenderInvertedTrope in that the hot young woman is the artist and the plain-looking middle-aged man is the muse, and that inversion is PlayedForLaughs. By the end of the series, though, they're weirdly the least messy pairing among the group.
64	* MySisterIsOffLimits: Anthony tells Sam that Lulu is off-limits and frequently tries to stop them from hooking up. All the other main characters tell Anthony it's none of his business.
65	-->'''Anthony:''' I grew up with her. She is Red Zone. She's basically my sister.
66	* NoBisexuals: Despite having had - and seemingly enjoyed - lots (and lots, and lots) of sex with women, everyone assumes Sam is gay once he develops feelings for Fred.
67	* NonResidentialResidence: The characters reside in an abandoned hospital under the Property Guardians scheme (which [[https://liveinguardians.com/property-guardians-london really does exist]]). Tenants pay cheap rent to live as sanctioned squatters, watching over uninhabited buildings that might otherwise be occupied by non-sanctioned squatters. They're supposed to follow a strict set of rules (the whole point is to prevent the vandalism that is associated with non-sanctioned squatters) but no one actually follows them.
68	* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Lulu is called Louise exactly once: when she's applying to be a guardian.
69	* QuirkyUkulele: Lulu is a young woman who plays the ukulele and she's desperate to be more unconventional than she truly is deep down. She calls her instrument her "uku-Lulu" and plays some strange bits for fun. Lampshaded when she meets Kate:
70	-->'''Kate:''' Wow! A ukulele! Quirky.\
71	'''Lulu:''' Thanks, I try.
72	* RealMenCook: Anthony works as a chef, and throws a dinner party for all his neighbors.
73	* RoommateCom: The show follows the lives of a half-dozen twentysomethings metropolitan neighbors. The twist is that it's a {{Reconstruction}} of the financial aspects of this trope. It {{Avert\|edTrope}}s the usual FriendsRentControl and instead has the characters living together on the same floor of a disused London hospital as as sanctioned squatters under a scheme called Property Guardians.
74	-->'''[[https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/jan/19/crashing-review-frank-filthy-sad-and-weird-a-millennial-flat-share-comedy-with-edge One review]]:''' They are legal squatters, a generation-rent ''{{Series/Friends}}'' for austerity Britain. There are no niggling questions about how these twentysomethings can afford designer flats and a lifestyle above their means: the shelves are falling off the walls, medical equipment litters their makeshift bedrooms, the ground outside is a demolition site and, in this second episode, Kate narrowly avoids electrocution from a light while in the bath.
75	* SecretlyGayActivity: We've got our sexual tension between a gay guy and a "straight" guy, but it's an InvertedTrope. Our gay guy, Fred, is quiet and shy and would probably never have the nerve to flirt with Sam. It's "straight" Sam who's flirting at every turn, leaving Fred perplexed. Fred is, if anything, trying to ignore his friend's flirting and continue pursuing a relationship with his openly gay boyfriend instead.
76	* StandardOfficeSetting: Kate works at a London company called Something Events where Kate works, along with her Colin and Jessica. Lulu gets a {{Nepotism}} job there as a secretary, and Kate doesn't like having her both at home and at work. It has a bullpen setup that makes it easy for characters to communicate and interact.
77	* StepfordSnarker: Sam's a twat, and he doesn't hesitate to play the "dead dad" card to get his way in the first episode, but Episode 2 shows he's taking his father's recent passing pretty hard and acting obnoxious to hide his grief.
78	* TeamMom: Kate perceives herself as such. In actually its fairly downplayed, but everyone turns to her when something breaks in the hospital.
79	-->'''Kate:''' Oh okay, fuck you all! Oh, yeah, yeah, sure, ''I'll'' fix the danger bath, put up another shelf, set up dates for my fragile work colleagues, before running to work--where I don't even have a receptionist--and yes, ''I'' am supposed to be sorting that out as well!
80	* TheTease: Lulu is always flirting with Anthony, and Sam is always flirting with Fred. Both try to play it off as "just how they are"--they're always flirting with ''everyone''! But both actually have a crush on said person.
81	* VulgarHumor: Sam calls Fred all manner of flippant, homosexually-themed epithets. Will calls him out on it at one point.
82	-->'''Will:''' It's not cool how you talk to Fred. Calling him "bitch" and "pencil prick" and "freaky tits". I'm not a gaping arsehole -- I know it's just for laughs -- but that sort of language is actually pretty... insidious. I just think you should just dial it down a bit, before it starts making a dent.
83	* WillTheyOrWontThey:
84	** Lulu and Anthony are forever playing a GameOfChicken, daring each other to confess their feelings and make a move -- and before it can get too real, they do an about-face, mock the idea it could've been real, and claim JustJokingJustification to cover it up. Ostensibly their constant flirting with each other is just some sort of weird InsideJoke.
85	** Sam loves to tease and cuddle Fred, and monopolize his time, openly flirting -- all the while claiming he's straight and there's nothing to it.
86	** Melody and Colin are a much more downplayed version than the others, but they cycle ambiguously through muse and artist, friends, and potential lovers.
87	--->'''Melody:''' He's not my lover! He's my muse!
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Context Series / CrashingUK