Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context UsefulNotes / ScotlandYard

Go To

1[[quoteright:203:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/_39685613_scotland_yard_203_9314.jpg]]
2[[caption-width-right:203:[[StockBritishPhrases 'Allo 'allo... wot's all this, then?]] ]]
3
4The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), the police force of ''most'' of Greater UsefulNotes/{{London}} (the tiny City of London has its own, separate police force despite being only a Square Mile). Metropolitan is from Metropolis, meaning "Mother City".
5
6The HQ of the Met is at New Scotland Yard, on the Victoria Embankment close to the Houses of Parliament. This is actually the third ''New'' Scotland Yard. (The name comes from the fact that the original HQ had a public entrance opening onto Great Scotland Yard, a street which got its name for housing the diplomatic mission of the Kingdom of Scotland in [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfTudor Tudor times]].) The force is divided into Area commands that cover multiple boroughs, each having a two letter code seen on officer's shoulder numbers.
7
8The Met Police is one of the two UK forces led by a Commissioner as opposed to a Chief Constable. This is currently Sir Mark Rowley.
9
10In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when few police forces outside London had trained detectives, they would often call on Scotland Yard to send one to investigate any serious crime whose perpetrator wasn't obvious or where a suspect was socially important enough to make arresting them embarassing for a local cop (the real-world source of the SmithOfTheYard trope). This is very rare now in RealLife unless you were dealing with a wandering SerialKiller and even then, real-life local forces [[JurisdictionFriction would object]]. However, it often appears in works with contemporary settings by American authors whose knowledge of British police procedure still comes mostly from Creator/AgathaChristie or Creator/DorothyLSayers novels.
11
12!!In fiction
13
14Rules for inclusion here:
15* They must be the stars.
16* The force must be identified as the MPS on screen or in dialogue. This is less common than you might think due to the use of GenericCopBadges being widespread in British works and the fictional "Greater London Police" will often be substituted.
17
18[[foldercontrol]]
19
20[[folder: Comic Books]]
21* ''Comicbook/{{Grandville}}'', the first volume of which declares itself to be "A Detective Inspector [=LeBrock=] of Scotland Yard Scientific-Romance Thriller".
22[[/folder]]
23
24[[folder:Film]]
25* ''Film/TheBlueLamp'' is an iconic depiction of how the Metropolitan Police liked to see itself immediately after World War II.
26[[/folder]]
27
28[[folder:Literature]]
29* The Gideon novels by "J J Marric" (actually a pseudonym of the hyper-prolific John Creasey), which are often viewed as the first British {{Police Procedural}}s.
30* ''Literature/JohnDevil'' by Creator/PaulFeval
31* The Alleyn novels of Creator/NgaioMarsh.
32* The Daisy Dalrymple novels by Carola Dunn. Daisy persists in tripping over bodies and almost invariably ends up calling in Chief Inspector Fletcher of the Yard. This is made easier later in the series after they marry.
33* The Detective Joe Sandilands, by Barbara Cleverly, stars Detective Sandilands of the Metropolitan Police, although he's seconded to the Bengal Police when first introduced.
34* The ''Literature/RiversOfLondon'' books are about the Met's tiny, unfunded and barely acknowledged [[WhoYouGonnaCall Weird Stuff]] division, better known as The Folly, comprising GentlemanWizard Inspector Nightingale and his [[TheApprentice Apprentice]] DC Peter Grant.
35* Superintendent Battle, created by Creator/AgathaChristie, is the primary detective of her books ''Literature/TheSecretOfChimneys'', ''Literature/TheSevenDialsMystery'', ''Literature/MurderIsEasy'', and ''Literature/TowardsZero''. He also appears as one of the detectives in ''Literature/CardsOnTheTable''.
36[[/folder]]
37
38[[folder:Live Action TV]]
39* ''Series/AshesToAshes2008'' (but not its predecessor ''[[Series/LifeOnMars2006 Life On Mars]]'' which is set in [[UsefulNotes/FootballPopMusicAndFlatCaps Manchester]]).
40* ''Series/{{Babylon|2014}}''
41* ''Series/BetweenTheLines1992'' is about the Metropolitan Police's InternalAffairs, at the time known as the Complaints Investigation Bureau (it's now the Directorate of Professional Standards).
42* ''Series/TheBill''
43* ''Series/DixonOfDockGreen''
44* In ''Series/{{Elementary}}'', Franchise/SherlockHolmes and American detective Captain Gregson worked together at Scotland Yard before they both came to UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity.
45* ''Series/TheFall2013'': Creator/GillianAnderson plays a Met detective who is brought in by the [[UsefulNotes/NorthernIreland PSNI]] to assist in moving a cold case forward. Eventually she links two more murders to the case, and becomes the SIO in the hunt for the serial killer.
46* ''The Inspector Alleyn Mysteries''
47* ''[[Series/InspectorLynley The Inspector Lynley Mysteries]]''
48* ''Series/{{Luther}}''
49* ''Series/NewTricks''
50* ''Series/PrimeSuspect''
51* ''Series/WakingTheDead''
52[[/folder]]

Top