Talk:The Thin Blue Line (British TV series)

Inspector Grim's dialect

Sorry, I'm not a native speaker and don't know much about English dialects, but does Grim have a certain dialect? I especially mean his exaggerated pronunciation.--80.218.185.77 (talk) 20:08, 17 August 2009 (UTC)

Not specifically, I don't think. I'd place his accent towards the southeast of England, and occasionally he'll employ a fairly harsh imitation of the, um, 'distinctive' speech forms of officers in London-based TV 'cop' shows ("I've been liaising wiv some geezers at the Met"; or rounding on Fowler's officers with "shut it, you slaaaags!"). Grimm desperately wants his police work to be as exciting as it is on the TV, and seems to spend much of his time floating in a fantasy world somewhere between The Sweeney and Hill Street Blues, employing corresponding speech patterns and mannerisms. - Vigdis1053 (talk) 14:46, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

Location?

Are you sure that the show takes place in London? I always got the impression that it was in set in a small town. Then again, I'm from the US, and I don't know exactly how London is organised. Plus, didn't Fowler make fun of London police officers (and mention being stationed outside the M25) in the football episode? --Japonai Narya 00:43, 17 August 2005 (UTC)

Quite right--good spot--it takes place in "Gasforth". Corrected. Quill 03:48, 21 October 2005 (UTC)

I'm late to this discussion thread, but just wanted to add something. Although the M25 is indeed mentioned, Gasforth is almost certainly within an easy drive of London, as Grim at least once attends a meeting at Scotland Yard one morning and returns by noon. Gasforth is therefore on the periphery of greater London ??Engr105th (talk) 05:48, 26 March 2008 (UTC)

(I also just added the episode list. (I'm the 68.57; I had forgotten to log in.) Is there a standard format for doing these lists? I tried to use the way that some other sitcoms had it, but I'm not sure.)--Japonai Narya 14:27, 17 August 2005 (UTC)

Update July 2012: Someone has added North Yorkshire as the location of Gasforth, based on the police badge being polished in the opening of the first series (and that was an excellent spot; good eye - although its so quick one has to pause the scene to read the badge)... The problem is that all the references to Gasforth in the show's dialogue suggest it being rather close to London: Grim attending a morning meeting at Scotland Yard, "the Met" police references, the M25 (mentioned in Road Rage, not the football episode), Grim ordering Crockett to get profiles on "all known terrorists in the Southeast" and later suspecting "anyone who doesn't live within 10 miles of the Thames estuary" (both of these are in Rag Week). Apart from the fleeting badge-polishing by an unknown hand in the Series 1 openings, all indicators are of a greater London location. The badges seem to be merely another of the show's inconsistencies. I recommend leaving references to location as simply "Gasforth" and the rest to the viewers' imaginations...Engr105th (talk) 02:54, 12 July 2012 (UTC)

Will remove the references to North Yorkshire, pending any discussion...Engr105th (talk) 01:03, 15 July 2012 (UTC)

'Gasforth' sounds like one of the small pre-1974 Pennine municipal boroughs (large enough to have its own watch committee, too small to be a county borough). Wallace and Grommit probably live down the road. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 149.254.234.148 (talk) 21:29, 16 June 2018 (UTC)

Order?

Question: what do you mean "order on DVD is wrong"? Do you mean that the order on the DVD is not the same as the order in which the episodes were aired? Quill 22:13, 22 January 2006 (UTC)

Exactly, the episodes on disc 1 of the BBC DVD are not in broadcast order. Awostrack 21:13, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

That's true. The Queen's Birthday Present was the first episode aired, but the first one on the DVD is Rag Week. Jienum 19:11, 8 September 2006 (UTC)

Whilst on the subject of the DVD release is it worth mentioning that at least 3 episodes on the 2nd disc(i.e. series 2) are longer than the broadcast versions, one at least 40 minutes and another is 38 or so, is this a case of early or first edits being used accidentally for the UK DVD or does anyone know if this was a deliberate choice? Road Rage even seems to contain different and longer takes of some scenes. Anyone else aware of this??81.111.124.190 (talk) 16:08, 28 February 2012 (UTC)

Episode summaries

It seems that the table is a summary of each episode, like what would be on the back of the DVD case. This does not seem appropriate. Could someone fix this?--Gramy! 20:35, 18 March 2008 (UTC)

I see nothing particularly inappropriate about the summaries table; can you explain? Also, I have a 3-disc dvd set, bought in 2007. It doesn't summarize the episodes, just lists them...Engr105th (talk) 06:15, 23 March 2008 (UTC)

Tokenism?

"[Gladstone's] character has been criticised as a token ethnic minority one, despite Habib's importance to the series."

Can this be sourced? Precisely because of the prominence of Constable Habib, plus one or two ethnic minority and international supporting characters, it seems odd to focus criticism on PC Gladstone for being a 'token'. Was any reasoning given? - Vigdis1053 (talk) 14:37, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

Please see http://web.archive.org/web/20050324014837/http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/articles/t/thinbluelinethe_1299003106.shtml provided by Bob. This BBC article does indeed mention Gladstone's 'tokenism' as a concern by critics. The reason appears to be that he was "given so little to do" in the series. Engr105th (talk) 23:29, 2 September 2011 (UTC)

The writer Ben Elton is a self-confessed fan of Dad's Army,[citation needed] and a

This is mentioned in The Fry Chronicles but I don't remember were. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 220.246.171.232 (talk) 1an he looked"2:31, 20 March 2011 (UTC)

Accuracy issues

I've followed this Wiki article for several years now, being a big fan of this show. I like the way the Wiki article is organized, with the summaries of the main characters (to which I've contributed a bit), but I've also noticed a number of inaccuracies, seemingly based on changes people have made over the years. I recently removed a line about Inspector Fowler "being a fan of Captain Kirk" after I re-played the episode where Kirk is mentioned (Fowler in fact speaks derisively of him). I also removed a line under Goody's section that suggested he "might be stronger than he looked" when he struck a skinhead (it was an irrelevant point, and based on POV).
Now, looking at Gladstone's section, there is the remark "He also offered advice to Fowler on how to deal with environmental protesters who had chained themselves to trees, etc., which effectively amounted to "call the police"."....The only episode I can think of for this remark is "Road Rage" (series 2). I just watched it, and cannot find where he says that. Does anyone know from where this remark came (series and episode)? If not, I'm going to remove it. I also wonder if all the inaccuracies are the result of there being different edited versions of the show (??). I have the BBC Video boxed set, with both series, but is there another?
Perhaps we need to begin discussing changes before they are made? Just a thought...Engr105th (talk) 18:57, 31 August 2011 (UTC)

I quite agree - do feel free to go through and remove anything suspect. The problem is that articles like this, when left unwatched for years, accumulate lots of trivia, poorly-remembered information, which is almost always about the plot and characters, never any useful information about the production of the series, critical reviews, etc. This is essentially a Wiki article circa 2006. I suppose the only thing to do would be to rewrite the whole thing, adding some "real world" information about the series, and then farm off the character list as a subarticle. That's what I did with the Blackadder series articles, anyway. One problem with this sitcom is that there's a surprising lack of information about the series out there - there's this unexpectedly snitchy BBC Comedy article and a much more favourable British Comedy Guide article. Bob talk 22:14, 31 August 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for the support Bob. You are probably spot on about how Wiki articles for TV shows become corrupted. Anyway, I will make changes as I discover the need. Funny, but the line I mentioned above (Gladstone talking about protesters) has been in his section of the article for several years now. It had such detail that I always assumed it was true. After I watched the entire two series on a rainy night last week, I realised that either the Wiki article was wrong, or I had a highly edited version of the show; that was also when I found the Capt Kirk error and a couple of others...

I'm not sure about a complete rewrite (though it might be necessary) as there are some very astute observations about the characters, etc. One thing: the snitchy BBC Comedy article you posted mentions "inconsistency in characterisation" as a problem for the show (meaning, I suspect, Goody and Habib). I seem to recall that the character inconsistency was once noted in the Wiki article; it was removed some time ago. I may add something back about it, as you've kindly provided a source - after all, the show is rated #34 favourite Brit comedy, yet was canceled after only two series. I've never found a firm reason for its failure. Cheers, Engr105th (talk) 04:35, 2 September 2011 (UTC)

That's the weird thing - all the evidence points to it being quite fondly remembered by audiences, but apparently the critical reviews at the time were quite poor. Really, that's what it would be good to get a copy of, but 1995 is a bit far back to find online newspaper articles. The much better, but discontinuedBBC Guide to Comedy has quite a useful review that goes into the character inconsistency issue in a more probing manner. Bob talk 16:19, 2 September 2011 (UTC)

Part of the reason for this show's lukewarm reception in Britain has to do with the public perception of Ben Elton himself in the UK. In his initial stand-up comedian mode, he was perceived as a challenging, Left-wing firebrand, which made him a hate figure for the Right-wing press in Britain (whose more out of touch members assume that he still is a Left-wing firebrand); while those who initially appreciated him in that mode were disappointed by how tame and conventional The Thin Blue Line was, especially as it saw Elton and Rowan Atkinson reunited after Blackadder. Dolmance (talk) 23:40, 22 December 2020 (UTC)

I'll also correct the following under Habib's section: "She was also citizen arrested by local villain Terry the Tank after Grim tried to use her as a "honey-trap" and was subsequently accused of entrapment. The Honey Trap episode is also the only time Habib flirts with, and kisses Constable Goody. Habib is playing up her provocative Honey Trap character, however Goody thought that she had kissed him because of his new aftershave and stated "This perfume is sex dynamite, I'm going to dunk my trousers in it"... The incident involving Goody's aftershave/perfume and Habib's kiss is NOT in Honey Trap, but another episode. In any event, why a quote by Goody in Habib's character description? Engr105th (talk) 23:43, 2 September 2011 (UTC)

I've made the changes discussed above. Also removed a POV remark about Habib being sexually promiscuous. She's obviously a party-girl, but the closest implied "liaison" is her attraction to the gay firefighter, which didn't work out. Engr105th (talk) 01:43, 3 September 2011 (UTC)

Ok, I tightened up the sections on Goody and Cristabel Wickham, where the information was wandering too far away from character description and into episode/plot description. Engr105th (talk) 19:46, 4 September 2011 (UTC)

Kevin Goody section: Someone has added the last line that states Goody "takes his duties seriously" and will carry out orders to the best of his ability, etc etc...I've tagged that as "dubious" and invite the contributor to explain here... My thought on Goody is that he is obsessed with Habib, sweets (Mars bars and curly-whirlies, etc) and perhaps TV (he's mentioned Capt Kirk, Gladiators, Crime Watch UK, The X-Files, etc), in that order. He often shoots glances at Habib from his desk - she's doing her paperwork while his mind is wandering. Policing seems one of the last things on Goody's mind...Engr105th (talk) 14:13, 19 July 2012 (UTC)

Removed that line...too POV...Engr105th (talk) 15:58, 21 July 2012 (UTC)

Mayoress?

That means Christabelle Wickham is the female consort (usually wife) of a Mayor. And being Mayor is a one-year post, so how has she managed to remain the Mayor's consort for more than one year? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 149.254.234.148 (talk) 21:24, 16 June 2018 (UTC)

It is clear that she is in charge, whatever she is called.--Jack Upland (talk) 08:45, 21 July 2021 (UTC)

Location of Gasforth

Is there a source of Gasforth being in North Yorkshire? I note from an earlier discussion this was previously removed, and there was nothing on screen to my knowledge which would suggest a Yorkshire setting, so it would need to be one of the writers or production team had stated this was the case. If no source exists then I would suggest that this claim is removed. Dunarc (talk) 22:52, 16 June 2020 (UTC)

I should also note Template:Areas of London claims it is in London (wrongly I suspect as in one episode it is made clear they are not in the Metropolitan Police). Dunarc (talk) 22:54, 16 June 2020 (UTC)

It seems fairly clear from references in the script that Gasforth is somewhere just outside London - the location in "Rag Week" is Watford, which fits the refs in the script well (in that it's Hertfordshire, but just within M25). The Yorkshire thing just comes from a badge being polished in the titles apparently. Bob talk 23:11, 16 June 2020 (UTC)

Yeah, I always found it hard to work out. I think the issue is that as you say, a helmet plate is seen being polished in the titles which has a 'Yorkshire rose' on it. At the same time, the Flying Squad and an officer of the rank of 'Commander' are also mentioned amongst the episodes and the Flying Squad and the rank of Commander in its own right are both only seen in Met Police. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A00:23C6:938A:B101:3CDB:FC28:2F2C:3C9F (talk) 16:11, 17 June 2020 (UTC)

I have taken it out of Template:Areas of London. I would agree that I had also thought it to be somewhere close to, but not in London. They cannot be in the Metropolitan Police because in the "Come on You Blues" Boyle tells Grim that the Metropolitan Police are on the phone for him. Probably however it was intended to be a sort of Anytown.Dunarc (talk) 19:29, 17 June 2020 (UTC)