Semi-Detached is a sitcom from The BBC that ran for one series in 2020, with a pilot first airing in 2019. It is set in Real Time and is focused on the exploits of a man named Stuart (Lee Mack) a divorced man who lives across the street from his ex-wife Kate (Samantha Spiro). Stuart wants to keep his current girlfriend April (Ellie White), but his extended family means that he has to contend with his ex-wife's annoying husband Ted (Patrick Baladi), his father William (Clive Russell), his rebellious daughter Madonna (Sarah Hoare), his extortionist brother Charlie (Neil Fitzmaurice), and two unpredictable neighbours in Barry (Geoffrey Mc Givern) and Sandy (Cecilia Noble).
Tropes in this series:
- Affectionate Nickname: April's pet name for Stuart is "Daddy Bear".
- Afraid of Needles: Stuart is revealed to be afraid of needles in Episode 6, which becomes problematic when he is expected to have blood taken to determine if he is a suitable donor for his father.
- All Gays are Promiscuous: William is the one gay character of the show and is shown to be very sex-crazed and lewd, with Episode 2 highlighting his interest in using Grindr to get people to have sex with.
- Amicable Exes: Stuart and Kate get along fairly well in spite of the fact that they're divorced, with Stuart even asking Kate for help regarding April. This gets referenced by Kate in Episode 5, where she cites the fact that they get along as highlighting that not all divorces end poorly.
- Black Comedy: This trope is utilized at times, most notably in the second episode when Stuart finds Ron dead in his car, with some comedy coming from one of William's Grindr dates getting into the back of said car and believing Ron to just be doing Kinky Role-Playing.
- Bookends: Both the pilot and the last episode of the series features Ted getting his thumb cut off.
- Borrowed Biometric Bypass: In the pilot, Stuart needs to take Ted's car so that he can get his girlfriend to hospital. However, the car is fingerprint-locked so Stuart ends taking Ted's dismembered thumb and attempting to use it, even being forced to suck it as it had been frozen beforehand. Not that it would have mattered, as Kate reveals that there was another car due to show up that was intended as a birthday gift to Madonna that they could have used anyway (and the police appear due to an incident involving William letting loose a horde of cows).
- Bratty Teenage Daughter: Madonna is due to be turning 17 and has quite the rebellious streak, telling her father to piss off amongst other things. This doesn't account for the fact that she also has a manipulative side, convincing her father to buy her tickets to Glastonbury.
- Butt-Monkey: Poor, poor Stuart, having to undergo situations as varied as an unsympathetic cast, a Hostage Situation, IBS, having to suck a decapitated thumb...
- Cruise Episode: Episode 3 features the cast going on a cruise to scatter ashes at sea, with Stuart getting caught in a misadventure involving his stowaway brother, some class A drugs and pornography prohibited by maritime law.
- Extreme Doormat: Stuart covers for his more illicit family members way too easily and lets everyone walk over him, something which he is called out for by Madonna.
- Fingore:
- Ted manages to lose his thumb in the pilot, being distracted by a man enough to lose it in a saw.
- This happens to Ted again in Episode 6, when Charlie accidentally cuts through after being spotted by the police as he was rescuing him being chained to the bed.
- The First Cut Is the Deepest: As the series goes on, it's made clear that Stuart is deeply affected by his divorce from his initial love Kate, leading to severe insecurity issues regarding his relationship with April.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Stuart manages to be the responsible to his brother Charlie's foolish - whilst Stuart's life is not going great, he at least tries to keep on the straight and narrow, unlike Charlie.
- Hostage Situation: Stuart ends up in a hostage situation in Episode 4 by a man whose life was ruined by Charlie's Ponzi Scheme.
- I Am Not Your Father: Episode 6 reveals that William is not actually Stuart's father. Despite this reveal however, Stuart decides to not press it any further, leaving it unknown who his real father is. The episode also has Stuart find out that he isn't the father of Bertha, her true father being Humphrey.
- Intoxication Ensues: Stuart is not exactly pleased to hear that William has put drugs in the hummus that he had consumed beforehand.
- I Want My Mommy!: One of April's reactions to her labor is to call out for her mother. When Stuart asks to phone her, the girlfriend reveals that her mother doesn't like her.
- Making Love in All the Wrong Places: Stuart's father casually mentions losing his gay virginity on the teacup rides in Alton Towers.
- Mistaken for Cheating: Thanks to several misunderstandings involving William intercepting Simon's phone, Simon's wife Liz is led to believe that Simon is cheating on her and tells him to never contact her again.
- The Missus and the Ex: Stuart is forced to talk regularly with Ted and is not pleased to do so - the fact that said boyfriend tends to bring up Stuart's failures as a husband does not help.
- Naked People Are Funny: Episode 4 ends with a stripper policeman stripping entirely naked in front of Stuart and Simon, complete with penis. Stuart just mutters that he wants next door, whilst Simon takes the opportunity to pull a Screw This, I'm Out of Here!.
- New Baby Episode: The pilot episode focuses on April going into labour.
- Polyamory: Episode 5 has Barry reveal that his lover Sandy is also in a relationship with a guy named Paul. From what we hear of it, it' not particularly fair to Barry, although he was convinced by the Polyamory pamphlet that Sandy gave him.
- Ponzi Scheme: Charlie is seen running a ponzi scheme over the course of the series, which usually ends up leading into trouble - Episode 2 for instance has him investing the money from a family of debt collectors and him fearing them hunting him down.
- Practically Different Generations: Bertha to her half-sister Madonna, with Madonna turning 17 at the same time that Bertha is born in the pilot. Subverted in Episode 6 when it's revealed that neither are related at all, the real father of Bertha being April's ex Humphrey.
- Previously on…: With the exception of the Pilot and Episode 4, every episode has a previously-on sequence.
- Punk in the Trunk: Charlie hides himself in the trunk of a car over the course of Episode 3, a problem seeing as the car is on a ship, making him an illegal passenger, the fact that he's hiding from police, and the fact that cocaine and pornography are being stashed in the back.
- Real Time: Every episode is filmed in real-time, with poor Stuart undergoing his suffering in periods of time equal to that of each episode's runtime of approximately 25 minutes.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: Stuart spends Episode 2 trying to get his hands on his iPad in time for his gig, a trickier-than-usual task involving dead people, a sickly cat, and bribing teenagers. In the end, after all that, the tablet ends up smashed on the ground and Stuart is forced to cancel the gig.
- Soapbox Sadie: Madonna has very strong political opinions and won't hesitate showing them - for one thing, Episode 5 has her covered in paint from doing an Extinction Rebellion protest.
- Taking the Heat:
- In Episode 3, the police, suspicious of Stuart's odd behavior, decide to search his car, which has the wanted Charlie smuggled in it. To save Charlie, Stuart deflects the police by using explicit photos taken and hidden by Barry and claiming that they were of him.
- Episode 5 sees Stuart take the blame for Ted's bad investments, which go right up to taking from Madonna's inheritance funds. Whilst Kate is horrified at Stuart, the next episode reveals that she did eventually find out the truth and is grateful to Stuart for what he did.
- Toilet Humour: The most notable example of this comes from Stuart suffering from IBS in Episode 3, leading to an Overly Long Gag of Kate having to listen to him suffer on the toilet whilst shaking in cocaine with her father's ashes.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot:
- Stuart visibly pukes on Ted in Episode 1 whilst suffering from the influence of drugs.
- When a doctor tries to take blood from a frightened Stuart in Episode 6, Stuart ends up visibly puking over him.
- Who's Your Daddy?: Episode 4 and 5 complicates the paternity of Bertha by having Stuart come across April's ex Humphrey, who might be Bertha's father. Episode 6 eventually reveals that Stuart isn't the father of Bertha.
