‘What trope in UK television shows annoys you?’ – 24 little annoyances that jolt you out of the action

We’re living in a golden age of television, and there’s no doubt that the UK produces some of the best shows and most incredible acting talent in the world.

However, with such a huge amount of output, there are inevitably also plenty of TV series which rely on hackneyed old tropes that get right on your wick.

Over on Reddit HallowedAndHarrowed asked ‘What trope in UK television shows annoys you?’ and followed it up with a bugbear of their own:

‘For me, it is in UK police dramas (Frost was infamous for this) when a detective gets angry that a suspect gets away because said detective didn’t follow procedure.

‘There is an episode where a lawyer lectures Frost about this with regard to a vulnerable adult that Frost is trying to pin something on. Of course said lawyer has to be shown later to be corrupt so that Frost is forever right.’

Plenty of people wanted to weigh in with annoyances of their own…

1.

‘Whenever the news come to the north they always chose to visit the roughest areas and seek out the roughest toothless individuals they can find to interview.’
–Ranoni18

2.

‘The year is 866 AD, King Aethelred is on the throne, everyone is caked in mud and dressed in rags, but the lead looks like he’s just come from PureGym, his rags contour every muscle perfectly, and he has a perfect grade 1 fade, no stubble or chin fuzz and no blade scratches, and perfect refrigerator-white teeth.’
–friends_with_salad_

3.

‘It makes laugh when a cop goes after a serial killer on their own. I once saw five cops struggle to arrest a purse snatcher.’
–farfetchedfrank

4.

‘Not finishing (or, in a lot of cases, even starting) a drink.

Main character pops into the pub, orders a drink, has a chat, maybe finds out some key information then turns face and leaves. You never seem to see somebody go ‘ok, mate, I’ll just finish my pint then head off’ or ‘no thanks, love, I was actually just looking for x’.’
–Remarkable-Ad155

5.

‘Banging gavels in courtrooms. We don’t use them in the UK.’
–knityourownlentils

6.

‘Contestants dragging out the answers to blindingly obvious questions on quiz shows. I know they are encouraged to do so for entertainment’s sake but it is just pure filler and makes the contestants look like morons.’
–knight-under-stars

7.

‘When a person is being questioned by police they always carry on with whatever activity they are doing at the time.’
–Decalvare_Scriptor

8.

‘Like you’re really going to have to put out the hymn books in church, not concentrate on the detective asking about a MURDER.’
–snarkycrumpet

9.

‘The classic trope from detective shows / crime films.

‘You can’t just do what you want. You’ve crossed the line, you’re off the case!’

Fired detective then sneakily solves the case in their own time.’
–cantevenmakeafist

10.

‘When someone gets knocked out then wake up fine a few hours later without severe life changing brain damage.’
–tinned_peaches

11.

‘In all emergency service-type shows, finding someone collapsed etc and they’re pronounced dead with nobody attempting CPR. Irritates me beyond belief.’
–Curlysar

12.

‘Everyone seemingly earns a living large enough when working in a cafe/shop for just three days a week to live in London. Especially programmes like Eastenders. The person has no money but gets offered a part time job that answers all their debts and then a couple of months down the line, they are buggering off on a holiday or flying to another country. How much an hour are they supposed to be being paid in that job, £500 an hour?

And another one of Eastenders failings, how many bedrooms does each house have as there are up to 10 characters living in most of them and none possess a washing machine?’
–jlelvidge