Hamish Macbeth (TV series)

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Based loosely on a series of novels by the same name, Hamish Macbeth follows the adventures of the titular character, a constable assigned to the Scottish village of Loch Dubh. While Hamish wants nothing more than to go fishing, take walks with his dog, and court his love interest, fate usually intervenes and forces him to actually do his job.

The villagers of Loch Dubh are the usual collection of Eccentric Townsfolk, and include TV John McIver (who claims to have premonitions), Lachlan McCrae (the obligatory get-rich-quick schemer) and his son Lachie Jnr (the obligatory schemer's obligatory useless sidekick), and Doc Brown (the local doctor, who even the eccentric villagers think is a bit odd).


Tropes used in Hamish Macbeth (TV series) include:


  • Battle Butler: TV John.
  • Beautiful All Along: Isobel.
  • Bonnie Scotland: Both subverted and played straight.
  • Death of the Hypotenuse: Alex, so she can be replaced by Isobel as the main love interest.
  • Driven to Suicide: After Alex dies, Hamish goes to one of the islands in the middle of the loch to off himself. However, he is saved by a spirited old woman.
  • Eccentric Townsfolk
  • Family-Unfriendly Death: Pretty much all of the deaths depicted, including those of Wee Jock [the dog], the "Wee Boy", Alex and TV John McIver, as well as several of the villains.
  • Identical Grandfather: The ghost of TV John's grandfather appears in one episode, played by the same actor as John himself.
  • Intoxication Ensues: Parodied to great effect. Lachie Junior accidentally discovers a stash of marijuana, but mistakes it for cow feed, and gives it to his dad's cattle.
  • Land Mine Goes Click: In the episode "No Man is an Island".
  • Littlest Cancer Patient: Inverted, as the child is a budding scam artist and unrepentant jerk. However, he redeems himself by the end of the episode.
  • Man in a Kilt: Doc Brown, all the time, and other characters on occasion. In the episode where Wee Jock is run over, an entire group of men set off on a search expedition in their kilts.
  • The Medic: Doc Brown.
  • Never Learned to Read: TV John
  • Noodle Incident: "The man before the man before Macbeth" was apparently driven from Loch Dubh.
  • Quirky Town
  • Zany Scheme: Lachlan MacCrae and his son, Lachie Junior, often have one of these. These usually end in failure.