Lip Service

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Lip Service (2010-2012) was a BBC drama series about a group of lesbian friends in Glasgow.

Tropes used in Lip Service include:
  • All Gays Are Promiscuous: Played straight with Frankie; most of the other gay characters, however, are looking for something more long-term and substantial.
  • Black Comedy Rape: In episode 4, Frankie suggests to Ed "you should stay. The state [Tess] is in, you won't even need Rohypnol." Ed's response is to give her a look that says Dude, Not Funny.
  • Butch Lesbian: Sam and Frankie though she swings both ways
    • Fin and her football team
  • Butt Monkey: Tess. Flitting between soul-crushing temp jobs, cheated on by her girlfriends, and surrounded by more successful friends.
  • Casanova: Frankie, definitely -- she gets through three different women in the first two episodes. Jay appears to have been one of these, but is now trying to go monogamous.
  • Cast Full of Gay: It's a lesbian show, what do you expect?
  • Cute Clumsy Girl: Both Cat and Tess.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Ed.
  • Fair Cop: Sam.
  • Five-Finger Discount: Sadie's preferred method of acquiring possessions.
  • Gaydar: Funeral homes, bookshops, random street corners -- Frankie can find lesbians anywhere.
  • Gender Blender Name: Sam, Frankie, Jay. Frankie tried to make use of this to pass herself off as Jay, which would have worked better if it weren't for his Embarrassing Middle Name.
  • Het Is Ew: Tess's reaction to Frankie's having sex with Jay.
  • Hospital Hottie: Lexy
  • I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Ed fits this trope very well. Despite his long-standing crush on Tess (which is doomed to failure because of her Incompatible Orientation), he actively tries to help her love life: in the opening episode, he made a feeble excuse for not joining Tess and Lou for a drink, so that it would have some chance of turning into a date.
    • Frankie says she wants Cat to be happy in episode 3, but it's undoubtedly an inversion- since as Cat points out all Frankie cares about is herself.
  • Interrupted Intimacy: In the fourth episode when the interruptor turns out to be the husband of one of the women who is hoping to watch his wife and Tess have sex.
  • Killed Off for Real: Cat in the second episode of series 2.
  • The Ladette: Frankie.
  • Lez Bro: Jay.
  • Lipstick Lesbian: Tess and Cat, though Tess is a bit of a tomboy.
  • Making Love in All the Wrong Places: In the funeral parlour, close to the corpse? It's an unusual location, to say the least.
    • In a police station? Really?
  • Neat Freak: Cat.
  • Nice Guy: Ed.
  • No Bisexuals: Frankie doesn't mind sleeping with guys but she doesn't consider herself Bi as she says "men are only when women are not around".
  • Odd Couple: Cat and Tess.
  • Oblivious to Love: Tess has no idea that Ed has feelings for her. Frankie, however, does.
  • Shrinking Violet: Cat.
  • Switched At Birth: Frankie. Or rather, switched at age three.
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl: This seems to be Cat's preferred relationship model.
  • Tomboyish Name: Frankie which is short for Francesca and Sam whose name may or may not be Samantha.
  • The Unfavourite: Frankie's family seem to pretty much hate her, apparently just because she's a lesbian (although given how she behaves, there may be other reasons).
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Cat finally snaps and gives Frankie a lecture on how selfish she is in episode 2. It seems to have been a long time coming.
  • Word Of Bi: Frankie supposedly goes both ways, but we've only seen her with other women.
    • As of episode 4, word becomes deed - she has sex with Jay.