Uncle is a Brit Com about Andy, an unemployed thirty-something musician who gets roped into helping his older sister, Sam, to take care of her twelve-year-old son, Errol.
Not to be confused with the series of children's novels about elephants.
Provides examples of:
- Amicable Exes: Ben and Sam try to get along for Errol's sake. It's a struggle at first, but it gets easier for them as they find new partners, who themselves get integrated into the wider family.
- Back for the Finale: Alfie and his dad return in the final episode when Andy and Errol go to the Bentley dealership to buy a car. They strike a deal for a discount in exchange for writing a jingle for the dealership.
- Battle of the Bands: Val hosts one of these at COX, which Andy and Errol take part in as "The Bear Maximum".
- But Not Too Bi: When asked where he falls on the Kinsey scale, Errol says that he would describe himself as a one* , but that if he were to seriously reflect on it, he's probably be a two* . The audience is never really shown anything to this effect.
- Melodie tells Andy that she's slept with men and women in the past, but when she moves to New York, the only person she mentions as having been in her orbit as a potential partner is a male colleague.
- Chocolate Baby: When Andy first meets Bruce, he asks how Bruce can be the father of a “blonde Viking” like Tiff, which is what prompts Bruce explain that Tiff is his stepdaughter.
- Daddy DNA Test: When Sam learns that Neville might not be her biological father, she tells Andy that she wants to get a DNA test, but Andy talks her out of it.
- Divorce Is Temporary: Downplayed. Jane suggests that her and Neville's decision to split up might not be entirely final, given the pull of their shared history.
- Dr. Feelgood: Played with. Rather than writing dodgy prescriptions, Eclipse is a doctor who deals coke as a side hustle.
- Embarrassing Tattoo: In one episode, Val and Gwen argue about Gwen’s plan to get a tattoo on her neck saying “I Love Casper” in Thai.
- Family of Choice: A major theme throughout the series is Andy expanding his support network and strengthening his relationships with people besides Sam, particularly Gwen, Val and Casper. Casper himself praises the benefits of chosen family in the final episode.
- First-Episode Twist: It’s only at the end of the first episode that we find out that Sam is a recovering addict.
- "Friends" Rent Control: It’s not clear how Sam and Bruce managed to afford that big semi-detached house in Croydon with an included garden flat when Bruce had been a stay-at-home dad to Tiff prior to his divorce and Sam is a newly-qualified counsellor.
- Hypocrite: Ben doesn't want Sam to tell his mother that she's in recovery because he's afraid that this will lead to his mother finding out about his own past drug-taking.
- Interrupted Suicide: The first episode opens with Andy's attempted suicide being interrupted by a call from Sam asking him to pick Errol up from school.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Bruce’s mother browbeats him and Sam about getting married, but she doesn’t hesitate to treat Errol as her own grandchild.
- Parent with New Paramour: Both Errol and Tiff have to contend with their parents splitting up and finding new partners over the course of the series.
- Single Parents Are Undesirable: Zig Zagged. In the first episode, Andy tries to get Errol to pretend that he is Andy’s son because he thinks he can convince Gwen to get back together with him by showing that he’s a mature and responsible parent. This collapses immediately when Gwen and Val catch Andy in the lie.
- Spoiled Sweet: Veronica is implied to have come from quite a rich family, and although it’s obviously made her a bit out of touch, she’s very good-natured and tries her best to empathise with other people’s problems.
- Stag Party: Andy decides to throw his dad, Neville, a post-divorce stag party, ostensibly to celebrate but really so he can show Neville how shit it is to be single to try and convince him to get back with Jane.
- Teen Pregnancy: Jane became pregnant with Sam when she was a teenager.
- Time Skip: Series two and three both open with time skips of about a year from the previous one.
- Whole-Plot Reference: "...Is This Just Fantasy?" is quite similar to the "My Princess" episode of Scrubs as it features a character coming up with a fantasy-themed story inspired by the events of the series which then goes on to depict the events in the fantasy setting. In both cases, the author of the story casts themselves as a heroic protagonist while fielding interjections to the narrative from the real world.
- Where Everybody Knows Your Flame: Val's club, COX.
