From eccentric scientists to sexy dead women, television is full of repetitive motifs that must desist immediately
The idiosyncratic pathologist Where: Emilia Fox) in Silent Witness is the cool, unemotional bonekicker with no home life at all. The only place she can find romance is at the office, which rather narrows her options down to fellow whey-faced indoor type Dr Harry Cunningham, a cadaver or a Bunsen burner. Harrys eventual replacement, Jack Hodgson, is also just your run-of-the-mill forensic pathologist and part-time cage fighter. Like normal.
The cast of Silent Witness. Photograph: Jonathan Ford/BBC Sexy dead women Where: Who Do You Think You Are?, all pop docs presented by a celeb Ever since it dawned on a TV producer that literally any old layperson can present a documentary as long as its couched as a voyage of discovery, weve been buried under an avalanche of these shows, seemingly created by randomiser software. Results range from Stephen Tompkinsons African Balloon Adventure to Robson Crusoe: A Surprising Adventure, in which Robson Green is stranded (for a week) on a paradise island because hes always wanted to do that, not just because his name sounded good in the
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title. Lets follow him on his spurious, entirely arbitrary journey to see if his journey is what Robson Green hoped it might be. The journey doesnt always have to cross oceans. In fact its better if its an emotional journey, like when Danny Dyer found out he was royalty (sort of) on Who Do You Think You Are. Actually, I make a notable exception for Dyer. He can go on as many journeys as he likes, but everyone else should have their emotive passports revoked for a year.
Danny Dyer in Who Do You Think You Are?. Photograph: Steven Perry/BBC/Wall To Wall The maverick cop Where: name one TV cop who isnt a maverick. ALL of them This has gone way beyond a joke, all the way out of the other side of the joke and into the sea. Have you ever met a police person? You probably know at least one. If anything, they are very much defined by their desire to play by the rules, do things by the book and otherwise adhere to the strict guidelines laid down for them by their professional body. It seemed fun at first, to throw in a Bergerac or a Bodie and Doyle, with their bomber jackets and their sneering resentment of authority. But police officers are far more like Nick Berry in Heartbeat, and its about time TV writers admitted that and moved on from this fetish for bad boys with a talent for one-liners.
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John Nettles in Bergerac. Photograph: Rex
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Stop it, Sherlock! Five TV tropes that need to die To read more on this topic click here
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