Ideal

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Moz: Dealing? I am so over that.

Dark but clever British sitcom about a drug dealer and his assortment of customers. Based in Salford, it follows the exploits of Moz (played by Johnny Vegas) and a large bunch of strange characters (played by a surprisingly great cast). The series has shifted through many a Story Arc, the most recent of which features Moz giving up dealing.

Tropes used in Ideal include:
  • Alliterative Name: Psycho Paul. It works on paper, but when spoken the P in "Psycho" is not pronounced.
  • Anyone Can Die: Craig, Stemroach, Alan.
  • Battle Cry: "Psycho Paaaaaaaaaaaaaaaauuuuuuuuuuul!!!"
  • Camp Gay: Brian is this trope.
  • Catch Phrase: Several.
  • The Ditz: Arguably Marco, but he does seem competent as a builder itself.
  • Eye Scream: Psycho Paul's way of welcoming Steve back to the lower ranks of the hierarchy.
  • Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The police constable's name is not mentioned for the first three series, and the end credits simply list him as "P.C." In The Past, it's finally revealed that his name is Phil Collins.
  • The Faceless: Cartoon Head, who's real face is never seen.
  • Face Heel Turn: Alan, Steve, series 3..
  • Heel Face Turn: Steve, series 4.
  • Hey, It's That Guy!: Stemroach is played by David Bradley, known to fantasy fans as Filch from Harry Potter.
  • Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Each episode title starts with "The" (except the 2005 special) and typically has only two words.
  • Luke, You Are My Father: Brian's son.
  • Meaningful Name: PC (those are his initials; he did indeed become a Police Constable). Also a variety of meaningful nicknames: Psycho Paul, Cartoon Head, Fist and Stemroach.
  • Mood Whiplash: The show can go from silly to dramatic to gory violence in a snap.
  • Mushroom Samba: Brian after eating a drug-laden pizza in The Future, Cartoonhead shooting Craig while on acid and then getting rid of the body with Psycho Paul (also on acid), Moz hallucinating Craig's body sitting next to him, asking many of the questions Steve has about Craig's disappearance, and Moz innocently eating biscuits Judith left for him, only to later discover they were full of magic mushrooms.
    • Also, arguably, many of the strange visions Jenny has during and after her coma.
  • Only Known by Their Nickname: Several characters. Lampshaded in one episode where Psycho Paul claims that Cartoon Head is the character's real name.
  • Parental Incest: Brian and son did this.
  • Pun-Based Title
  • Replacement Goldfish: Sort of. After the shooting of Craig, his identical twin Steve - played by the same actor - arrives.
  • Room101: the red bag. Its contents are never revealed, but it makes Psycho Paul 'cry like a little girl', reduces a Russian gangster to incoherence, and scares even Cartoonhead.
    • Belongs to Fist, who is also Jenny's uncle and apparantly she's known whatever it was since she was a child.
  • Suddenly Sexuality: Brian is shown in The Past to have once been a straight favourite with the opposite sex who regularly dated beautiful women and was repulsed by homosexuality. Although he mentioned that he was 'dead big on arse'.
  • The Vicar: Geoff 'Fist' Fistiwick
  • The Voiceless: Cartoon Head, who never makes a sound apart from a wheezy chuckle. He can talk on the phone, though, but the audience doesn't get to hear him.
  • Wham! Episode: Cartoon Head killing Craig by mistake and Steve's assault on Stemroach.
  • Whole-Episode Flashback: The Past.
  • You All Look Familiar: Spoofed in The Red Bag with Tony's claiming Marco and his brother look the same.
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