Saxondale

British sitcom starring Steve Coogan as Tommy Saxondale, an ex-roadie turned Stevenage pest exterminator. Having once toured with most of the great rock bands of the 1970s (though not Led Zeppelin, not that that bothers him), Tommy considers himself to be a maverick free-thinker and independent rebel against the 'straights' and the 'squares'; in fact, he's just an opinionated fool with a trigger-hair temper who's more than a bit stuck in the past and isn't quite the rebel without a cause he likes to make himself out to be. This causes problems for his live-in girlfriend Mags, owner of a shop selling 'radical' counter-cultural merchandise, and his quiet lodger Raymond, who find themselves constantly having to dance around his moods. It also means that he's probably not going to be passing the anger management course he finds himself stuck in any time soon, much to his frustration.


 * Animal Wrongs Group: Tommy encounters a pack of these in the first episode, protesting his clearing a factory of a pigeon infestation. He ends up knee-capping one of them with a pellet gun (partly in self-defence, to be fair).
 * Berserk Button: Tommy has... several
 * Bourgeois Bohemian: Tommy is something of a New Age Retro Rocker at first glance, but he's actually more this trope. He and Mags seem to live in a fairly middle-class suburban neighborhood, he owns his own business, doesn't party like he did in the 70s, wears nice, fuzzy slippers, and thinks having a tidy-up is not selling out.
 * Brilliant but Lazy: One aspect of Tommy's character, though he's far from lazy and very conscientious about his work. While he sometimes comes across as more of a poseur than an intellectual, he does have a rather sharp mind. Presumably the 70s and his personality foibles have taken their toll on his prospects.
 * Britcom
 * British Brevity
 * Camp Gay: 'Keanu Reeves'.
 * Fat Admirer: Tommy loves Big Beautiful Women
 * Disco Dan: Tommy without question.
 * Granola Girl: Mags can dance around this trope.
 * Hair-Trigger Temper: Tommy has anger management issues stemming from his very hard divorce, so whilst he sort-of tries to keep his temper in check, the slightest thing can set him off.
 * I Never Told You the Bag Was Green: When Tommy tries to get his bag of home movies back from Keanu Reeves.
 * Improbable Aiming Skills: Played with: Tommy first tries and fails to shoot a can of lager off a fence with a pellet rifle, using the excuse "It's out of alignment." Then, borrowing Raymond's pellet pistol, he uses Guns Akimbo to shoot a half dozen cans off the fence in rapid succession.
 * Improbably Cool Car: Played with; whilst Tommy's '72 Mach One is a pretty nice car, it's also exactly the kind of car a stuck-in-the-past relic like Tommy would be drawn to. Firmly subverted by the Renault Kangoo (not 'Kangaroo') that he drives for work.
 * "Pretty nice" is about right, as it's quite deliberately one of the less-cool Mustangs of the era. It's alluded to in the episode with a Captain Ersatz of Jeremy Clarkson, but what he really wanted was a Shelby. Much like working for Led Zeppelin, it never quite happened.
 * Interrupted Suicide: Tommy saves Martin.
 * Jerkass Has a Point: Geoff explains why Tommy acts out in their anger management group session.
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Tommy's a prat, no question, but he genuinely loves Mags.
 * Nietzsche Wannabe: Martin
 * Porn Stash: Tommy's "Batcave" has a stack of magazines going back to the 60s.
 * Running Gag:
 * "...a bit of a dick"
 * Tommy never actually toured with Led Zeppelin
 * Soapbox Sadie: Subverted -- despite her shop and hard-left political leanings, Mags is for the most part sweet, kind and tolerant, if easily ticked off by Tommy's antics.
 * The Cameo: Matt Berry as Geoff
 * Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: Like most of Steve Coogan's characters, although Tommy isn't without his merits.