Significant Anagram/Live-Action TV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Examples of Significant Anagrams in Live-Action TV include:

  • Doctor Who:
    • In the new series, the Master runs for Prime Minister using the alias "Mister Saxon" - an anagram of "Master No. Six" - John Simm being the sixth incarnation of the Master to appear in the series. However, according to Russell T. Davies, this is just a coincidence: once you've used "Mister", it's harder to avoid a "Master" anagram than to achieve one.
    • And, of course, there's Torchwood.
    • In the original series the Kaled race become Daleks, and the Master disguises himself as Giles Estram (and possesses the body of Tremas). Significant Anagrams were also used to hide Anthony Ainley's name in the credits when the Master was in disguise (usually "Neil Toynay"). Terry Molloy did the same thing in "Rememberance of the Daleks", so no-one would realise the Emperor Dalek was really Davros.
    • The MacGuffin in "Time and the Rani" is "Loyhargil", an anagram of "Holy Grail".
    • Astrid Peth is an anagram of TARDIS, with peth being Welsh for "part." That's good, since the placement of a P in "The TARDIS" wasn't exactly obvious. Oddly, she's an ordinary Human Alien with no connection to the TARDIS.
    • Donna Noble is actually an anagram of 'a non blonde', a reference to the new series' first companion, Rose Tyler, and the various blonde jokes that her successor Martha Jones quipped during season three. Probably a coincidence...
    • In the same "coincidence" line, Wilfred Mott anagrams to "WTF Time Lord" - or "Time Lord FTW".
    • In the Big Finish audio Zagreus, neither Eight nor Charley get "Saviltride" until it's spelled out for them: " evil TARDIS".
    • Also in Journey's End, the "Osterhagen" in "Osterhagen Key" is an anagram of "Earth's gone".
    • Amy Pond actress Karen Gillan revealed in an interview that her auditions were conducted for a project named "Panic Moon" which is an anagram of companion. Producer Stephen Moffat, who was also present, then joked that he would have to find a new anagram for future companion auditions.
    • The Foamasi, an alien society that has criminal organisations called "Lodges" in "The Leisure Hive", have a name that is an anagram of Mafiosa.
    • The Drashigs, the titular monsters in "Carnival of Monsters", are an anagram of "dishrags", because writer Robert Holmes believed that's what the costumes would be made of.
  • Andre Linoge, the villain of Storm of the Century: his surname is an anagram of the biblical Legion.
  • In The Lone Gunmen, all the names used by the character Yves Adele Harlow (including that one) are anagrams of Lee Harvey Oswald.
  • In the BBC show The Adventure Game, all the major characters' names are anagrams of "Dragon".
  • Two of them in the same episode of House:
    • The dog Wilson and his (first) wife had was named by her as Hector. She eventually reveals the reasoning behind it: The dog was impossible to house train, and "Hector does go rug" was an anagram of "Doctor Greg House".
    • House, being House, immediately comes up with a better anagram to use next time: "Gregory House" -> "Huge ego, sorry".
  • Though it's never brought up in Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, it's been observed that "Garth Marenghi" is an anagram of "Argh, Nightmare."
  • On Coronation Street, a character named Carter sets up a fake company to defraud his boss, Mike Baldwin... and, rather foolishly, names said company "Artrec". After catching him out, Mike even points out how stupid it was to use an anagram name.
  • Lost has had about five meaningful anagrams: Ethan Rom is "Other Man," Mittelos Bioscience is "Lost Time," Gary Troup is "Purgatory," "Henry Gale, Minnesota" = "See Another Man Lying", and the Hoffs/Drawlar Funeral Parlor is "Flashforward". Apparently those have caused many Lost fanatics to begin looking for anagrams in the names of everyone and everything.
  • The Colbert Report:
    • One toss between The Daily Show and The Colbert Report had Stephen Colbert looking for anagrams in the names of political figures. Since the names were (mostly) real, rather than made up by writers, the results were less than impressive.
    • On the other hand, Stephen Colbert is very close to being an anagram of Charles Noblet. (Before you try: it has an extraneous A and superfluous L while lacking a P and one more T and E. You end up with STELHEN COLBAR.)
    • In another episode, Stephen rearranged the letters in CIA Director Leon Panetta's name and came up with Ayman Al-Zawahiri.
  • Colbert and Stewart also had fun trying to make anagrams out of the name of Reince Prebus, the new head of the Republican party. They ended up with... Prince Reebus?
  • Matt Albie from Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip has drug-induced false memories of an imaginary writer named Tim Batale. Yes, his subconscious comes with an anagram under the influence of narcotics.
  • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine has a couple of Real Life examples:
    • Barfly Morn was named as an anagram of Norm, from Cheers.
    • DTI field agents Lucsly and Dulmur from the episode "Trials and Tribble-ations" are anagrams (or almost so) for Scully and Mulder.
  • On the Too Good to Last martial arts show WMAC Masters all the Masters go by their real names and nicknames except one. Tracer, a mysterious man with a military gimmick, is really a kickboxer named Michael Foley who goes by the name Tracy Swedom on the show. It's soon revealed that he's a mole working for the evil cult Jukido. The reason for the fake name is revealed when the Wizard (who's an ex-member of Jukido and aware that his brother Warlock has recently made a secret Heel Face Turn to join them) brings in an anagram generator and enters other masters' names in it, revealing that "Tracy Swedom" is a perfect anagram for "Destroy WMAC".
  • In Reaper, Sam Oliver is an anagram for "Evil Roams".
  • When presenter/musician/comic Richard Stilgoe had his own show, he would often begin it with an anagram. Anagrams of his own name include "Ricardo Hotlegs" ans "Giscard O'Hitler".
  • On Dollhouse, Alpha uses the alias E. Hap Lasher, which is an anagram for "Alpha's Here".
  • Criminal Minds does this at least twice, both times a little strangely: once, when a man who things he's the Fisher King uses the alias "Sir Kneighf" to hide his (delusional) identity, and once when a serial killer known as "the Reaper" goes into hiding under the name "Peter Rhea" (intentionally, so as to make it possible for the team to find him). Reid, of course, figures out both anagrams in record time.
  • From Stargate SG-1, Vala Mal Doran = Amoral Vandal.
  • In the remake of Randall and Hopkirk Deceased, another character drops the title and points out that it's a perfect anagram for "sad plonker and real dickhead". The anagram was apparently invented by a critic and incorporated by the writers.
  • In Kamen Rider Fourze, Sensei-chan Sarina Sonoda's name can be rearranged into "Sasori nanoda", which is Japanese for "I am the Scorpion", referring to her role as the Scorpion Zodiarts, one of the Big Bad's Co-Dragons.
  • In the midlife crisis episode of Home Improvement, wise neighbor Wilson points out that 'Tim Taylor' anagrams to 'Mortality.'
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Significant_Anagram/Live-Action_TV?oldid=1926091"