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⇱ The Navy Lark (Radio) - TV Tropes

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Radio / The Navy Lark

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The Royal Navy's finest.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, we present... The Navy Lark."

A radio comedy produced by The BBC which ran from 1959 to 1977, starring Jon Pertwee, Leslie Phillips, Stephen Murray, and Dennis Price, with Richard Caldicot, Heather Chasen, Ronnie Barker, Tenniel Evans, Michael Bates, Judy Cornwell, Janet Brown, and April Walker.

The Navy Lark followed the adventures of the Royal Navy's worst crew, led by Lieutenant Dennis Price (Price) — quickly replaced by Lieutenant Stephen Murray (Murray), Sub-Lieutenant Leslie Phillips (Phillips), and Chief Petty Officer "Jonsy" Pertwee (Pertwee). The trio was stationed on a location known only as "The Island" under the beady eye of scheming Commander Henry Povey (Caldicot) and their chummy, fishing-obsessed CO, Lieutenant Commander Archibald Stanton (Barker). Also along for the ride were Pertwee's Bumbling Sidekick Able Seaman "Fatso" Johnson (also Barker), jetty guards Able Seamen Taffy Goldstein and Ginger (Evans and Bates), and Wren Heather Chasen (Chasen) — the only sensible one of the lot, even if she did have an eye for Mr. Phillips.

After two series of everyone mucking about and generally dodging any real Navy work, Commander Povey got a promotion to Captain and had the crew relocated to Portsmouth where they were now to be permanently stationed aboard HMS Troutbridge.note A Type 15 Frigate, a take-off of the real-life H.M.S. Troubridge with whom it shared its pennant number, F09. Did this increase their productivity? What do you think? Alongside their new Electrical Officer, Lieutenant Michael Bates (also Bates); another lovely Wren, Judy Cornwell (Cornwell); and a finally promoted Leading Seaman Goldstein; the crew crashed, scrounged, and dropped clangers all over the high seas until it was time for a series Retool.

Series 5 was retitled The TV Lark and saw most of our crew now working under Jervais Batsford Shaw (also Bates) for T-tv (Troutbridge Television). This new format was unpopular with listeners and after ten episodes it was revealed their dismissal from the Royal Navy was actually one of Pertwee's more ambitious schemes. Joining the crew from T-tv was Wren Vera Timkins (Brown) filling in for an absent Heather, who had been briefly posted to Scotland, while Commander Bell (also Barker) took up the vacant CO spot from a recently promoted Stanton.

After Series 6 introduced the ship's Padre (also Bates) and Engineering Officer Lieutenant Queeg (also Barker), Series 7 saw all change as the Admiral Superintendent, Admiral Ffont-Bittocks (also Evans), took over from the mostly incompetent preceding Admiral (also Evans). At the same time, Heather broke off her engagement to Mr. Phillips and started going out with Pertwee, followed by Mr. Murray the next series.

Following Series 9, the series had one of its biggest changes following the departure of Ronnie Barker, who was rapidly becoming a big star on TV. Johnson vanished and was replaced by Able Seaman Tiddy (Lawrie Wyman), Queeg was offhandedly mentioned to have left the ship, and Commander Bell was Put on a Bus to Scunthorpe. After a series of Commander Trotter (Alan Reeve-Jones) taking charge, a shake-up to the format was soon to come.

Series 11 opened with the freshly promoted Lieutenant Commander Murray taking control of Troutbridge, and only a few episodes later he would be married to the lovely — if not horse-obsessed — Rita Ffont-Bittocks (also Chasen), daughter of the Admiral. By Series 13, they had moved next door to Captain Povey and his fierce wife Ramona (also Chasen), while the Troutbridge crew started to find themselves tangling with the head of a sinister organisation, who was known only as "The Master" (also Pertwee).

After Series 14 saw the Troutbridge crew joined by Captain Povey and Admiral Ffont-Bittocks for a worldwide goodwill mission, the series ended with Series 15 which introduced one final Wren, Samantha Barrett (Walker), followed by a Silver Jubilee special the following year. In 1992, the Series 10-15 main cast (with the sad exceptions of the late Stephen Murray and Michael Bates) were reunited for a sketch on The Light Entertainment Show. Finally, Leslie Phillips, Heather Chasen, Tenniel Evans, Guest Star June Whitfield, and co-writer of the final few series George Evans had a 2008 reunion where they discussed the making of the series.

Not such a bad run for the Royal Navy's most incompetent crew, is it?

CPO Pertwee put in an indent for the following Tropes (which will not end up being sold at Nunkie's War Surplus Emporium in a few days):

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    Tropes A-M 
  • Aborted Arc: In "Number One's Married Quarters" from Series 13, Commander Murray and Rita move next door to the Poveys, much to Commander Murray's horror. Despite this potential for bad neighbour-based comedy, Series 14 didn't feature this dynamic at all due to the worldwide goodwill mission Story Arc, and by Series 15's "Helen, The New Wren", the Murrays were back to living with Admiral Ffont-Bittocks with no explanation.
  • AcCENT upon the Wrong SylLABle: When writing his memoirs in "Johnson's Memoirs", Johnson pronounces "memoirs" more like "memo-ears". Pertwee can't believe what he hears — obviously the word's pronounced "mem-oi-ers".
  • Accidental Bid: When Pertwee is tricking Commander Povey into thinking he's selling Troutbridge at an auction in "Johnson's Diet", Old Thunderguts tells him, "You've blundered". Pertwee, pretending he misheard the Commander, takes this as a bid for £200.
  • Accidental Misnaming:
    • No one serving on Troutbridge seems to be able to pronounce "Sir Willoughby Todhunter-Brown", such as in "Sir Willoughby Goes to Kawowa":
      Mr. Murray: Oh, w-welcome to the Bridge, Sir Wibbly-Doddly, er, Diddly, er, Wobbly...
      Sir Willoughby: Oh, me, me, me. Don't, don't, don't panic. I can never say "Sir Willoughby Todhunter-Brown" either.
    • Admiral Ffont-Bittocks often calls Mr. Phillips "Phyllis".
  • Actor Allusion:
    • Lieutenant Price is Put on a Bus in "New at the Helm", with the excuse given that he was on loan to the New York Navy. Between Series 1 and 2, Dennis Price was starring in the play Heartbreak Hotel in New York which was why he was unable to return to the series.
    • "Going Dutch" reveals that the Pertwee family has one member in Holland named "Ingeborg", the name of Jon Pertwee's wife.
    • Mr. Phillips is sometimes compared to "that blond bloke with the little moustache and the stupid grin" from the Carry On... Series and in "The Calais Dock Strike", "that chap who played a vicar on the telly". These are digs at Leslie Phillips' roles in Carry On Nurse, Carry On Teacher, Carry On Constable, and Our Man at St. Mark's.
    • In "Over the Sea to Rosyth", Mr. Murray jokingly calls Pertwee "Sven Pertweeten", to which Pertwee responds with a string of incomprehensible Norwegian gibberish. This was the same accent and gag Pertwee used to play Svenson in an earlier radio series, Waterlogged Spa.
    • Mr. Murray references A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum in "The Bungalese Spies", which was transmitted while Pertwee was appearing in the musical's London production:
      Mr. Murray: Now, gentlemen, please! Decorum!
      Pertwee: "De"-what?
      Mr. Murray: "Decorum", you ought to know that. It's something that a funny thing happens on the way to...
    • Mr. Murray's middle name is given as "Butterfield" in "Open Day". In Real Life, Stephen Murray was married to fellow actor Joan Butterfield.
    • Pertwee's character Constable Barker in "The Relief of the Weather Ship" is based on his West Country postman character from Waterlogged Spa. He also uses the same Catchphrase, "What's it matter what you do as long as you tears 'em up".
    • To play Vice Admiral Burwasher, Pertwee used a voice similar to the one he had done for Commander Highprice in Merry-Go-Round.
    • On the topic of World War II in "The TV Documentary", Rear Admiral Ironbridge remarks that "Monty signed the peace". Ironbridge is played by Michael Bates, who had played Bernard Law Montgomery in Patton two years earlier.
  • Added Alliterative Appeal:
    • While serving refreshments in "Admiral Troutbridge", Pertwee offers the party guests a "dirty great dollop of dodgy doodah on a doily".
    • Pertwee also gives us this gem in "A Russian Rendezvous":
      Pertwee: It's a positive priority for Pertwee's personal peace of mind for Pertwee to be pre-informed as to what particular part, port, or peninsula Pertwee's been pointed at.
      Mr. Phillips: (Beat) Come again?
      Pertwee: Not likely...
  • Affectionate Nickname: Commander Murray and his wife Rita call each other "Steviekins" and "Ritakins".
  • Age Insecurity: Series 9 gives Captain Povey a Running Gag of insisting he is only 39, embarrassed by the fact that he is in his late fifties.
  • Agony of the Feet: Ritakins may love her Steviekins, but she has a nasty habit of accidentally hurting his feet, such as by parking her horsebox on them or getting them caught in doors.
  • All Girls Like Ponies: Rita is very fond of her horse, Bouncing Betty, and has many cups she has won in showjumping competitions.
  • All There in the Script:
    • While Lieutenant Bates' first name was never mentioned in the series, the Radio Times listings for The TV Lark give it as "Michael", 👁 This example contains a TRIVIA entry. It should be moved to the TRIVIA tab.
      just like his actor, Michael Bates.
    • Bates' French characters in "The Radar Talk-Down System" and "Frenchmen in J.41" went unnamed in the episodes but were both called "Pierre" in the script. Presumably, they are not the same Pierre who supplies Pertwee with smuggle as the CPO doesn't seem to recognise him in either appearance.
    • The Master's Terrible Trio are nicknamed "Chop", "Suey", and "Chow" in the script for "Number One's Married Quarters".
    • The end credits for "The Newhaven-Dieppe Smuggling Run" nicknames Intelligence "Dumbo".
    • Madam Elvira's first customer in "Hypnotising Ramona", Mr. Everard, is given the first name "Eric" in the end credits.
    • "Relief for Station 150" features two Russian spies, Comrade Igor and an unnamed one. However, the end credits give the unnamed one the name "Comrade Ivan".
  • And I'm the Queen of Sheba:
    • When Judy meets Sir Willoughby in "A Strange Hobby", she has no idea who he is:
      Judy: I don't know. The old boy said he was the Undersecretary to the Sea Lord. Well, I knew that was a joke, so I said I was the Queen of Sheba.
    • When the Admiral calls up the Povey residence in "The Return of Sir Frederick Flatley", Ramona doesn't believe who he is and responds as such:
      Admiral: Hello, is Povey there? This is the Admiral.
      Ramona: Is it? Well, this is the Queen of Sheba!
      Admiral: Really? Well, I'm sorry to trouble you, Your Majesty, but... bung that old fool Povey on the blower, will you?
    • During the introduction for "Rescuing Admirals", announcer Robin Boyle forgets his anniversary and tries to pass off that he thought saying "happy anniversary" over the air would be a lovely surprise. Pertwee interrupts with, "An' if 'e gets away with that, I'm Noddy".
    • In "Jigsaws and Jemmies", Second Officer Maclootie does not believe Captain Povey's age claims one bit:
      Captain Povey: Second Officer Maclootie, I'll have you know I'm only 39... (Beat) And a bit.
      Second Officer Maclootie: And that's as may be, but if you're 39, I should be in a gym slip and Wren Martin should be wearing rompers.
  • Annoying Laugh:
    • Mr. Murray has a haughty chuckle that rubs the rest of the crew up the wrong way whenever they hear it. Heather puts it best in "On the Carpet":
      Captain Povey: Ah, good morning, Wren Chasen. Well then, how did you enjoy your evening at the cinema with Lieutenant Murray?
      Heather: I didn't, sir, and what's more, I doubt if anyone else in the cinema enjoyed their evening either.
      Captain Povey: Oh, why was that?
      Heather: Well, unfortunately the film was a comedy, sir.
      Captain Povey: And it wasn't very funny?
      Heather: I wouldn't know, sir, and neither would any of the other patrons. Whenever something even vaguely amusing happened, Mr. Murray went "Ho-'o-'o-'o, 'a-'a-'a-'a, 'e-'e-'e-'e" for about ten minutes afterwards.
      Captain Povey: Yeah.
      Heather: He even went "'O-'o-'o-'o, 'a-'a-'a-'a" at three of the adverts during the interval.
    • Commander Bracewell, who typically delivers bad news to Captain Povey, has a variety of annoying laughs, ranging from the tauntingly mocking to the loud and goofy. Naturally, the others all see Bracewell as a total idiot for this reason.
  • Armed Farces: The series follows the crew of the Royal Navy's worst frigate crew, who spend more time scheming, scrounging, and generally bungling anything they attempt than following proper naval procedure. Leslie Phillips famously claimed that Sub-Lieutenant Phillips caused more damage to naval property than World War II.
  • Ash Face: In "Refitting Ebenezer Pertwee", the funnel of Nunkie's tug is removed, leading him to getting a face full of soot and being referred to as "a Kentucky Minstrel". Later on, the tug blasts CPO Pertwee in the face, leading to him being referred to as "Sambo" by Lieutenant Murray.
  • As Himself:
    • Aside from being the series' longest-serving announcer, Robin Boyle also appeared as himself in the first four episodes of The TV Lark as the announcer for T-tv.
    • Disc jockey Pete Murray briefly appeared in "The Case of the HGM Mark 5", being heard on the radio.
  • As Long as It Sounds Foreign: Discussing June Whitfield's performance as the Mistress in the 2008 reunion, she describes her accent as "sort of being foreign". Tenniel Evans thought it was Singaporean whereas Leslie Phillips claims it was Russian.
  • Ass Shove: A thoroughly unimpressed Admiral Ffont-Bittocks makes a suggestion to Captain Povey at the start of "Smugglers in the Solent":
    Captain Povey: But, Admiral, I-I did give you an explanation at the time. Perhaps you'd like me to put my explanation in writing, sir?
    Admiral Ffont-Bittocks: No, Captain, that is not... where I'd like you to put it.
  • Banana Republic: In "The Montezula Revolution", HMS Troutbridge makes the first stop of their worldwide goodwill mission in Montezula, a South American country. Unfortuantely, it is at the official reception the crew attend where El Godmother and the Raffia attempt a coup to blow up El Presidente with a briefcase bomb.
  • Bandit Clan: The Pertwee Clan has been selling Naval stores ever since the Battle of Trafalgar. It's a tradition.
  • The Baroness: "The Forbodians Hijack Troutbridge" features Natasha Snogitov, a gorgeous Forbodian spy who takes photographs of various key pieces of equipment aboard Troutbridge before taking over the ship.
  • Berserk Button: Goldstein and the rest of his family are immensely proud of their Welsh heritage, including Wales' coal industry. The love for "good, clean Welsh nuts" in particular means they hate anything oil-powered for taking jobs away from Welsh miners — for example, when Aunt Morpeth discovers that Troutbridge is an oil-burning Frigate in "Commodore Goldstein", she nearly has Goldstein disowned by the family.
  • Big Eater: The Padre certainly knows how to knock back his nosh in the Wardroom, such as during breakfast in "Operation Showcase" when he orders four rashers of bacon, two poached eggs, half a dozen sausages, three tomatoes grilled, a spoonful of kidneys, two spoonfuls of mushrooms, four slices of fried bread lightly done, eight pieces of toast, a pound of butter, both sorts of marmalade, a pot of coffee, and half a pint of cream on the side:
    Pertwee: Slimmin' again, Padre?
  • Big "SHUT UP!": Whenever Able Seaman "Fatso" Johnson is about to inadvertently spill the beans on CPO Pertwee's latest scheme, Pertwee quickly silences him with a sharp and loud "BELT UP!".
  • Big Storm Episode:
    • "The Lighthouse Lark" sees the Troutbridge crew tasked with getting lighthouse keeper Mr. Proudfoot to Clodwilly Rock Lighthouse in the middle of a nasty storm. Thanks to the crew's sheer incompetence, Pertwee and Johnson end up stranded there instead, and can't be picked up again because of the weather. Once Johnson accidentally gives Pertwee the idea to become a Salvage Pirate, Pertwee begins sabotaging any attempt to rescue them, even once the weather clears.
    • In "Stormy Weather", Heather gives Mr. Phillips a 24-hour ultimatum to give her a definitive answer about where their engagement is going, just as Troutbridge is sent out to sea in frightful weather conditions. While Lovable Leslie decides to use this to his advantage, hoping that he'll have more than 24 hours before he sees Heather again, he also has one of his worst navigational disasters ever — by the end of the voyage, Troutbridge manages to hit three destroyers, two frigates, an aircraft carrier, and a timber yard; wreck the harbour; loose its radar mast and two four-inch guns; and swipe the telephone kiosk off the jetty!
  • Birds of a Feather: Whenever Intelligence reaches Vera when trying to call Captain Povey in Series 5, Able Seaman Bright falls for her... because her voice is just as gormless as his own sounds.
  • Birthday Episode:
    • Heather celebrates her 24th birthday in "The Comfort Fund". After initially forgetting her birthday, Mr. Phillips comes up with the idea to give her a party and present paid for by the Unit Comfort Fund.
    • For Pertwee's birthday in "The Gun Mechanism Test", his lady friend Sybil gifts him a musical cigarette case that plays the Popeye the Sailor theme. Unfortunately, he mistakes the experimental gun mechanism that had been sent to stores for his present and breaks it, leading to him and Johnson needing to get it fixed quickly before the demonstration.
    • "Fatso's Box Brownie" starts with Johnson celebrating his birthday. As a gift, he receives a camera, and he quickly turns into a nuisance drunkenly trying to take everyone's picture.
    • The next Birthday Episode is also Johnson's, in the next series' "Johnson's Birthday". Johnson starts the episode hiding in the stores because he doesn't want Pertwee's present, and after being tricked into opening the door, Pertwee gifts him a sewing machine so he can fulfill the contract he made with the yacht club to supply them with sails. The late Admiral Troutbridge's birthday falls on the same day, and it's at his party that Mr. Phillips finds a map to his treasure.
    • Admiral Troutbridge's birthday is once more celebrated in "Admiral Troutbridge" when a nosh up is thrown in the Wardroom as a celebration.
    • "Captain Povey's Shop" kicks off when Captain Povey loses his two shillings down a drain on his way to buy a present for Ramona's birthday, which is in two weeks. To raise the money to buy her a present, he opens Henry Povey's Emporium out of his office with the help of Pertwee and Nunkie. On Ramona's birthday, she learns the truth about how he lost the money and opened a shop, so she forces him to do the washing up as punishment.
    • Heather's 27th birthday comes up in "Mr Phillips Gets Engaged", and Mr. Phillips gives her "Old Faithful" — a dress ring of polished coal set in melted-down Floggle-Toggle metal, which he gives to all the Wrens on their birthday before they chuck it out and he fishes it out of the wastepaper basket to regift later. Heather gets back at the Sub-Lieutenant by wearing it as an engagement ring. Mr. Phillips is horrified at first but soon warms to the idea of one day marrying Heather.
    • The third time Admiral Troutbridge's birthday is celebrated is in "Troutbridge's Party", only this time Pertwee isn't allowed to be Wardroom steward and has to stay outside with no wallop at all.
    • Captain Povey celebrates his 39th birthday in "Back from the Antarctic", although his day is quickly ruined when Troutbridge returns to Portsmouth with an international fleet of assorted collected ships in tow.
    • For Ramona's birthday in "Sub-Conductor Phillips", Captain Povey gets her a compact mirror once owned by Boudica. Unfortunately, Ramona finds it on top of the wardrobe and assumes he's cheating on her. As punishment, she tells her husband he isn't allowed to have a slice of her birthday biscuit and will have to have four tablespoons of castor oil, without any cocoa for after.
    • As the title implies, "The Padre's Birthday" revolves around the Padre's birthday. Pertwee spends the episode trying to get him a present before his party — first, he buys the Padre a pipe only to learn he's given up smoking. Then, Pertwee buys a copy of Grand Walks 'Round Canterbury by the Reverend Ignatious Golightly before learning the Padre's Maiden Aunt already got him one. Finally, Pertwee gets him a silk tie, which the others hate, but thankfully, the Padre loves it.
    • In "Friday the 13th", Mr. Phillips helps Rita pick out a present for Commander Murray's birthday. They decide on a pipe... even though he doesn't smoke.
    • The party for Admiral Troutbridge's 225th birthday in "The Brain Pill" occurs at the same time that Mr. Phillips has become insufferable thanks to his newfound intelligence. At said party, Mr. Phillips does his nut, insulting everyone and spouting off never-ending facts until the pill finally wears off and he faints.
  • Blackmail: Desperate to keep Mr. Murray and Heather apart in "On the Carpet", Mr. Phillips blackmails Pertwee into taking Johnson down to the Majestic Cinema and interrupting their date:
    Mr. Phillips: Chief, I'm a desperate man. If you don't go along to the Majestic Cinema, then as Duty Officer... I shall have to report you for deliberately destroying naval property by chucking it over the side.
    Pertwee: But you, but you, b-but y— (Beat) You ordered me to, sir!
    Mr. Phillips: I shan't report that bit.
  • Boot Camp Episode: In "Mr Murray's Endurance Course", Captain Povey has Mr. Murray sent on a month-long special training course run by Lieutenant Plummer and Sergeant Coggins of the British Army. While the Number One is away running himself ragged on their course, Mr. Phillips takes over for him back on Troutbridge and becomes a nightmare to be around — all part of Captain Povey's latest plan to have the crew split up.
  • Breaking Bad News Gently: In "The Put-a-Horse-out-to-Graze Fund", Sub-Lieutenant Phillips and the Padre have a very confused conversation about Bouncing Betty (a pregnant racehorse the Padre thinks is a girl Mr. Phillips has got knocked up due to how he broached the subject), with the Padre being so shocked that after having had to sit down he declares, "I think I'd like to stand up again".
  • Brick Joke: At the start of "Chasing the Kepeac", Captain Povey and Ramona are building a do-it-yourself cupboard, and Ramona is left holding it up when Captain Povey is called urgently down to his office. At the end of the episode, Commander Stanton gets a call from Portsmouth General Hospital for Captain Povey that the bits of wood Ramona was holding up landed on her bonce and gave her a concussion.
  • Brief Accent Imitation: Mr. Phillips adopts a Cockney accent for one of his answers during his test in "The Brain Pill":
    Professor Lumley: M-Mr. Phillips, can you give us a sentence containing the word "summit"?
    Mr. Phillips: Ah, ha-ha. Now we're getting down to the tricky ones. Now, now don't rush me, now, let's have a think. Now, "summit", "summit", "summit", got it! Got it. Er, um. Er. "'Ere guv, fought you ought to know, 'cos summit's gawn wrong".
  • The Bus Came Back:
    • Troutbridge's original Number One, Lieutenant Price, made a brief reappearance in Series 4's "A Hole Lieutenant", filling in as navigator after Mr. Phillips was promoted. He'd been off on a training ship (although he wasn't sure if he was supposed to be training or being trained) and cooled down significantly by this point, a great relief to poor old Pertwee.
    • While Heather had been absent from The TV Lark and subsequently Series 5, she returned in the Series 6 opener, "Wren Chasen Returns", explaining that she had been posted to Scotland, and was furious that despite their engagement, Mr. Phillips hadn't written to her once.
    • "Troutbridge's Silver Jubilee Party" saw the first appearance of Rear Admiral Ironbridge since Series 6, having forgotten that he retired years ago and turning up for the party in the Wardroom. Later on, sometime between that episode and "The Radio Beacon", the Rear Admiral was once more in the Navy.
    • Lieutenant Bates' airtime dwindled during Series 7 before he completely vanished in Series 8 thanks to the Padre being favoured as Michael Bates' main role. It wasn't until the Series 10 opener, "Troutbridge Electrifies Portsmouth", that Batesy made a brief reappearance as Troutbridge's Electrical Officer.
    • A running theme in Series 2 was Pertwee getting smuggle from a French contact, Pierre. 12 years later, Pierre made his return to the series in Series 13's "The Newhaven-Dieppe Smuggling Run", once more working with Pertwee after a deal with Nunkie.
    • After Ronnie Barker had left the series, Lieutenant Queeg was mentioned to have left Troutbridge in "Stranded" when we met his short-lived replacement, Lieutenant Sharp. In "The Digital Isles Go Unstable", Queeg was once more aboard Troutbridge and back to his old routine.
    • The first three series had infrequent mentions of Cookhouse Clara, the Island Draft's vast cook who had a thing for Johnson. In the Series 15 opener, "Sequel to the Talpinium Shell" — years after her last mention — we got to hear about her again; apparently she thinks Pertwee is past his prime.
    • After being sent on a promotion course in "Sidney and the Stamp" and being replaced by Samantha for the rest of Series 15, Heather was once more Captain Povey's secretary with no mention of any promotion in "The Jubilee Navy Lark".
  • Buxom Beauty Standard: When the actress Felicity May Hope comes aboard Troutbridge in "Cine Cameras at Sea", she catches Mr. Phillips and Pertwee's attention thanks to a certain part of her anatomy:
    Mr. Phillips: Look, chaps! Look at that coming up the gangway. Well, they'd never get all that on the small screen.
    Pertwee: Ha-ha-ha-ha-haaa! Oh, well, per'aps is a serial. They're gonna show 'er in eight weekly parts.
    Mr. Phillips: Well... I know which week I'm going to watch.
  • Call-Back:
    • Mr. Murray promised Goldstein a promotion to Leading Seaman in "Onabushkan Flu" so the Welsh layabout would be motivated to help the rest of the crew escape from their Onabushkan prison. This set up the events of "Commodore Goldstein", wherein, after weeks of complaining, Goldstein finally went up for promotion, but due to an error, ended up as a Commodore for a short while.
    • "Returning from Leave" takes place on the first anniversary of Portarneyland gaining home rule back in "Return to Portarneyland", and so HMS Troutbridge is tasked with once again transporting Sir Willoughby and Lady Todhunter-Brown, this time to a special event celebrating the Republic's independence.
    • After the Troutbridge crew meet Ramona Povey's old flame, Captain Franklyn "Snogger" Pettigreaves in "Mr Phillips Has Navigation Tuition", they decide to invite him back to Portsmouth to help Captain Povey deal with his difficult sister-in-law, Valentina, in "Relatives and Reservations".
    • At the end of "The Civilian Adjustment Course", Rear Admiral Ironbridge has Sub-Lieutenant Phillips promoted to Lieutenant for being completely unaffected by the course's climate-based tests. The following episode, "A Hole Lieutenant", keeps this development and plays it for laughs as Mr. Phillips finds himself being mistakenly promoted again and again and again.
    • In "Falmouth Ghost Ship", Troutbridge keeps accidentally radioing the Empress of Portarneyland liner. The ocean liner returned in "Back to Portsmouth", transferring Field Martial Sir Mortimer Bullingham-Trench and his wife over to the destroyer Makepeace.
    • The election in "The Portarneyland Election" is mentioned to be Portarneyland's first election since gaining independence, which had occurred all the way back in "Return to Portarneyland".
    • Nunkie and Pertwee's latest smuggling scheme in "The Newhaven-Dieppe Smuggling Run" hinges on Lieutenant Peregrine Pertwee (who had appeared in the previous series' "The Slogan Contest") sending Troutbridge and Admiral Ffont-Bittocks' personal motor yacht to Dieppe.
  • Camera Fiend: After Johnson gets a camera for his birthday in "Fatso's Box Brownie", he gets drunk and starts barging into everyone's quarters to take their picture.
  • Canned Orders over Loudspeaker: "The TV Documentary" has periodic announcements made over Troutbridge's communications for Leading Seaman Riddle to report to the Bridge. After this goes on for a while, the announcer remembers that he is Leading Seaman Riddle.
  • Canon Welding: Commander Wetherby was a character Jon Pertwee had first played in Waterlogged Spa in The '40s, where he was the stuttering Wetherby Wet.
  • Can't Hold His Liquor:
    • Half a lemonade shandy (a drink that is 50/50 lemonade and mild beer), and Sub-Lieutenant Phillips is anyone's.
    • Whenever Able Seaman Ginger is in a pub, he will inevitably get plastered and start belting out a Drunken Song. In "Leading Seaman Goldstein's Party", Pertwee mentions he can get drunk just from walking past an advertisement for tonic water.
  • Captain Crash: Sub-Lieutenant Phillips is Troutbridge's Navigation Officer, yet can't give directions better than "Left hand down a bit"; naturally, he has crashed the ship into everything at sea at least twice, and can't even dock the ship without smashing into the dock gates or the harbour wall. Ironically, the one time he was asked to deliberately crash Troutbridge into Makepeace in "A Deliberate Bashing" (as part of a ploy to allow Captain Povey to escape his overbearing mother-in-law, Mrs. Crump, and join the rest of the crew at a pub), he missed... 42 times in a row!
  • Carry the One:
    • While trying to figure out where Troutbridge is in "Chasing the Kepeac", part of Mr. Phillips' muttering is "two an' two are, um, an' carry one...".
    • During navigation in "Confirming Povey's Rank", Mr. Phillips mutters, "If I carry one, I'll have two, provided I don't take one away an' leave one over...".
  • Catchphrase:
    • Sub-Lieutenant Phillips has "Left hand down a bit", "Oh, lumme", "Cor!", "Sorry, pardon" (often used by Mr. Murray as well), "Ooh, nasty", "You buzzed, sir?", "I don't think I feel very well...", and "Filthy swine!".
    • CPO Pertwee has "Ev'rybody down!", "BELT UP!", "Flutter awf!", "Enter, friend", and "Dirty old devil...".
    • Lieutenant Price has a drawled and slightly gloated "Grand morning/day/evening, isn't it?" when he's got one over on CPO Pertwee.
    • Able Seaman Johnson's "I'm not 'appy. I'm not 'appy at all", "You're rotten! You're rotten you are!", and "Good mornin'", mostly said to Pertwee.
    • At first, Goldstein started conversations with "Jetty Guard 'ere, Able Seaman Goldstein chattin'". Once the series left the Island, this turned into "Starboard Lookout 'ere, Able Seaman Goldstein chattin'", and after Goldstein was finally promoted in "Leading Seaman Goldstein's Party", it became "Starboard Lookout 'ere, Leading Seaman Goldstein chattin'". Starting in Series 10, he also ends his calls with a cry of "Iechyd da!" (Welsh for "Cheers!").
    • Commander Shaw ends his phone calls with a cheery "Toodly-bye!". After he was Chuck Cunninghamed, this catchphrase was adopted by Commander Bracewell of Intelligence, also voiced by Michael Bates, who also had "Bags of panic" which he used to mock Captain Povey whenever he got frantic over the phone.
    • The first Admiral had "Oh, do get out of me way" and "Creeping ivy!". His replacement, Admiral Ffont-Bittocks, also used the latter from time to time, alongside the more common "Shut your cakehole", often directed to his Bumbling Sidekick, Flag Lieutenant Dingle.
    • Able Seaman Bright (the dimwitted voice of Intelligence) answered his phone calls with either a gormless-sounding "'Ello, Intelligence 'ere" or "This is Intelligence speakin'".
    • Before Captain Povey gives a recitation, Ramona is always on standby to warn him, "No smut".
    • While listening to Sir Willoughby's speeches, Lady Todhunter-Brown is the first to cheer him on with a slurred "Bully for Willie!".
    • The two Portarneylanders have a back and forth of "Bung ho!":
      Samuel Pepys Washington-Burt: Bung ho!
      Harold Golfball: Bung ho!
      Samuel Pepys Washington-Burt: And one more?
      Harold Golfball: And why not indeed?
      Portarneylanders: Bung ho!
    • Starting in Series 4, whenever Captain Povey sends the Troutbridge lot on a dangerous mission, Heather will burst into his office with a cry of "Murderer!".
    • Rear Admiral Ironbridge had "Yes, yes, yes... yes" and "No, no, no... no".
    • Vera has the world's ditziest sounding "Whaaat?" whenever asked a question.
    • The Padre often mutters, "Oh, tish", occasionally followed by, "And probably tosh".
    • Halfway through his run, Commander Bell gained "Well, you know me... You do know me, don't you?".
    • After a long string of stuttering from Commander Wetherby, he'd often cut himself off by saying, "Oh, to hell with it!", and say something shorter instead.
    • Able Seaman Tiddy had "Good art'noon" and "Just as you say, sir. You know about these things".
    • Vice Admiral Burwasher, after a long rambling external dialogue, goes, "Good morning!", and then after more of the same, "How d'you do?", at which point someone will say, "Can we dispense with the formalities, sir?". Also, he has "Hello, hello, hello. Hello?", whenever startled by new information, and "Yes, well, that should hold them for a bit. Not long, but it'll give me a bit of a breather" after finally saying something that wasn't part of his ramble.
    • Myrtle often moans, "Oh, for steamin' up the river!", when asked to do something.
    • Whenever there is a scene in the House of Commons, at least one old MP will bellow — with no relevance to the topic at hand — "Send a gunboat!".
  • Celebrity Paradox:
    • In "An Exercise in Filming", Pertwee asks Lieutenant Price if they won't be helping to film a sequel to Horrors of the Black Museum. Richard Caldicot had an 👁 This example contains a TRIVIA entry. It should be moved to the TRIVIA tab.
      Uncredited Role in the film, playing nightclub barman Ted.
    • When the series began, Leslie Phillips was still starring in the Carry On... Series, the films of which are mentioned occasionally. In "The Exploding Biscuits", Mr. Phillips, Mr. Murray, and Heather come back from watching Carry On Undertaker — Mr. Murray and Heather liked it, but Mr. Phillips only liked the silly-arse blond with the moustache and the stupid grin who kept saying, "Oh, lumme".
    • Pertwee admits in "Just the Ticket" that his latest scheme of getting Troutbridge to rescue Nunkie to get Mr. Murray to be a hero, win back Heather, and forget to be mad at Pertwee came from an episode of Mrs Thursday, in which Caldicot was appearing as Sir Charles Barker.
    • June Whitfield is the celebrity guessed in the mystery voice game broadcast before the news in "The Talpinium Shell". She had made her fourth and final guest shot in the series that same episode, once more playing the Mistress.
  • Celebrity Resemblance:
    • In "Returning from Leave", Mr. Murray tells Judy that Mr. Phillips looks like "a short, ugly Diana Dors" so she won't fancy him, but gets a taste of his own medicine when he finds out Heather had already told Judy he looked like "a tall, ugly Diana Dors". Later on, Heather sarcastically calls herself "a slightly flatter Diana Dors".
    • Pertwee's sister, Myrtle, is mentioned to have a figure like Gina Lollobrigida in "Sir Willoughby's Party".
  • Characterisation Marches On:
    • While the love of fishing was cemented from the start, Lieutenant Commander Stanton is much gruffer and perpetually annoyed in Series 1 compared to the cheerful, if not absent-minded, character he was for the rest of his run.
    • Goldstein's trigger-happy behaviour from the first two series was dropped in favour of his immense pride in his Welsh roots.
    • The Admiral was never far from a glass of gin in Series 1, something that didn't stick past Series 2.
    • Commander Bracewell didn't have his Annoying Laugh during his first appearance in "Bringing Back the Barge". By his next appearance ("The Mock Action", only one episode later) he had developed one, only nowhere near as exaggerated as it would be later in the series.
    • Judy was introduced at the start of Series 4 as another Wren who was basically a second Heather. By "Leading Seaman Goldstein's Party", midway through Series 4, Judy was established as The Ditz of the two.
    • In the first two episodes of The TV Lark, Vera was just a Sexy Secretary with a sultry voice; this suddenly changed in "Z Ambulances", from which point onwards Vera was even more of a Brainless Beauty than Judy, with a Simpleton Voice to match.
    • In Lieutenant Queeg's first appearance, "Germany's Troutbridge", he doesn't refer to all the dials and gauges in the engine room as "mechanical gubbins". By his second appearance in "Confirming Povey's Rank", they're now the more familiar "mechanical stuff", but "mechanical gubbins" wouldn't be said until "Johnson's Memoirs"... albeit by Queeg's German counterpart — Leutnant Queeg. The first time Troutbridge's Lieutenant Queeg says the words "mechanical gubbins" isn't until "Open Day".
    • Starting in Series 12, Rear Admiral Ironbridge becomes a Dirty Old Man, always going on about women's bodies and the girls in Cairo.
    • Early in the series, Captain Povey was fiercely against the idea of losing his ghastly wife Ramona, such as his jealousy when her old boyfriend Captain "Snogger" Pettigreaves stays with them in "Mr Phillips Has Navigation Tuition" or his breakdown when he thinks she's having an affair in "The Northampton Hunt Ball". However, by the final series' "Helen, The New Wren", he's been worn down enough to change his tune — advising Commander Murray to let Freddie Stanford-Johnson steal Rita away and let her divorce him, as he wishes that would happen between him and Ramona.
  • Cheer Up Episode: In "Sir Willoughby's Party", Mr. Phillips becomes rather miserable and moody because he is lovelorn. To snap him out of it, the rest of the crew set him up with Pertwee's sister, Myrtle, to cheer up their Navigation Officer.
  • Chronically Crashed Car: HMS Troutbridge is chronically crashed frigate thanks to Navigation Officer Sub-Lieutenant Phillips. It's the only ship in the Royal Navy with a corrugated hull, and in "Sequel to the Talpinium Shell", it had its entire superstructure blown clean off, leaving it looking like a miniature aircraft carrier. Despite this, never once over fifteen series did it sink.
  • Chuck Cunningham Syndrome:
    • Commander Shaw was phased out after the first series due to being too similar to Commander Povey.
    • Commander Povey also had Cynthia, a posh secretary, who didn't last long. Her last mention came in the Series 2 opener, "New at the Helm", before Old Thunderguts suddenly had a new secretary, Mabel, in "Gunboat to Goomba" and "Johnson's Diet". She was also dropped by Series 3 when Heather was made Captain Povey's secretary in "In Portsmouth for a Re-Fit", a role she would hold for the rest of the series.
    • Another early Captain Povey-related casualty was his daughter Wren Judith "Judikins" Povey. She only appeared in Series 1's "The Smuggling Spy" and was quickly forgotten about. Once Ramona was established as the strict Apron Matron we all love and fear, it became highly unlikely Old Thunderguts had any chance of having a child anyways. The final nail in the coffin came many, many years later in "The Jubilee Navy Lark", when Mr. Phillips outright states the Poveys haven't got any children.
    • When the series was Retooled into The TV Lark, Heather and Judy disappeared. While Heather returned in the appropriately titled Series 6 opener, "Wren Chasen Returns", which explained she had been sent to work in Scotland, Judy's absence was never noticed.
    • On the topic of Heather's brief absence — Heather Chasen was unavailable for The TV Lark and Series 5, which meant that none of the series' previously established female characters could be used, requiring Janet Brown to join the series as Mr. Murray's secretary, Janet Brown, and Povey's secretary, Vera Timkins. Janet didn't make the transition from The TV Lark back to The Navy Lark, while Vera became the new Wren, only to vanish once Heather was back aboard Troutbridge in Series 6.
    • During The TV Lark, Lieutenant Commander Stanton was promoted to Commander and relocated to work on the Destroyer Makepeace while the rest of the Troutbridge crew were out of the Navy. However, once the Troutbridge lot found themselves sailing again, Stanton wasn't brought back to their ship, being replaced by Commander Bell. Stanton continued to pop up from time to time from Series 5 to 7, following which we heard no more from him.
    • The Admiral and Rear Admiral Ironbridge also disappeared following Series 6, being replaced by Admiral Ffont-Bittocks and Flag Lieutenant Dingle. While Rear Admiral Ironbridge returned in Series 9's "Troutbridge's Silver Jubilee Party" (which explained he had retired years ago), the original Admiral had no such acknowledgment.
    • Second Officer Maclootie took up residence at Portsmouth in Series 9 with a platoon of Wrens under her command. By the following series, she was nowhere to be found and never mentioned again.
    • When Ronnie Barker didn't return for Series 10, Johnson disappeared into fat air, and his role as Pertwee's Bumbling Sidekick was transferred to Able Seaman Tiddy.
    • Another casualty of Barker's departure was Mr. Merrivale, Director of Naval Expenditure. In Series 12, we met his newly appointed replacement, Marvin Ellis, but nothing was said about why Mr. Merrivale had left or where he had gone. In an ironic twist, Ellis didn't last past Series 12.
    • In Series 11, Lieutenant Queeg had been replaced as Troutbridge's Engineering Officer by Lieutenant Sharp, who only appeared in "Stranded" and "Sir Willoughby's Party". While Series 13's "Number One's Married Quarters" had Mr. Phillips mention an unseen Engineering Officer is in charge while he and Commander Murray are off the ship in Hong Kong, Mr. Sharp had officially disappeared for good when Queeg once more appeared in the Series 14 episodes, "The Digital Isles Go Unstable" and "Egbert Hitches a Ride".
    • Lord Quirk, the Sea Lord, was a regular in Series 12 and 13 but absent from Series 14. By the Series 15 episode, "Black is Beautiful", there was a new Sea Lord, Sir Geoffrey Wincanton-Barnes, with no mention of what had happened to Lord Quirk, nor his Sexy Secretary, Wren Simpkins.
    • Samantha took over from Heather as Captain Povey's secretary from "Sidney and the Stamp" to the end of Series 15, but come "The Jubilee Navy Lark", she had vanished without a trace and Heather was back to her original position.
  • The Clan: There are Pertwees in every branch of the UK services, all dedicated to running it for their own profit.
  • Clothing Damage: In "Germany's Troutbridge", Mr. Phillips accidentally catches Heather's skirt in the office door and rips it off:
    Admiral: Creeping ivy! You're running a strip club, saucy boy.
  • Cloudcuckoolander:
    • Sub-Lieutenant Phillips is only rarely on the same plane of reality as the rest of the crew, and likely to go off on the most bizarre tangents, especially in the later series. He's also obsessed with the Noddy books and can't navigate better than "Left hand down a bit" despite being the Navigation Officer.
    • During Commander Bell's time as Troutbridge's CO, he never seems to know where he is on the ship and has a nasty habit of speaking before realising who he is talking to.
  • Comedic Underwear Exposure: Heather is left standing in front of Mr. Phillips and Pertwee in her knickers after the former accidentally rips off her skirt in the office door in "Germany's Troutbridge":
    Pertwee: 'Ere, that saucy lot's never naval issue, surely.
  • Continuity Nod:
    • In "The Morning After", Pertwee scares Johnson off by threatening him with another diet, which he had forced on him earlier in Series 2 in "Johnson's Diet".
    • Series 2's finale, "The Portarneyland Fishing Limit", has two:
      • Mr. Murray remarks to the Admiral, "I'm none too sure Intelligence knows we've got Troutbridge, sir", alluding to how Commander Bracewell was under the misunderstanding that Troutbridge wasn't Royal Navy property in "Johnson's Diet".
      • At the party, Pertwee makes a drunken Commander Povey read the same dreadful recitation he made him read in "Strike Up the Band". Old Thunderguts tries to remind him but ends up reading it all the same.
    • In "Refitting Ebenezer Pertwee", Pertwee asks Johnson if his mum, Min, was sloshing up Humgrummit soup when he was on leave with him, leave which Johnson had invited Pertwee along to at the end of "The Portarneyland Fishing Limit".
    • When Mr. Murray tells Sir Willoughby that Troutbridge will fire a salute to him as they leave the Island in "Sir Willoughby Takes Over the Island", Sir Willoughby urges them to fire to sea this time, as last time they had fired right through his wickerwork seat. This incident happened the first time the Troutbridge lot met Sir Willoughby, in "Gunboat to Goomba".
    • In "Povey's Unexpected Leave", Mr. Phillips tells Captain Povey his wallpaper looks like the dress that Ramona wore at the last party. In the previous episode, "Johnson's Birthday", the Admiral had told Ramona her dress looked like wallpaper.
    • After Mr. Murray promised Goldstein a Rank Up to Leading Seaman in "Onabushkan Flu", three episodes later, Goldstein asks the Number One for an update on it in "The Hitch-Hiking Counterfeiter".
    • In "CPO Pertwee and the Laundry", Mr. Phillips mentions his brother Cedric plays centre-forward on the football pitch. Dear old Ceedy had previously visited him a few episodes earlier in "Families' Day".
    • Two in "Stuck on a Sandbank":
      • While on the phone with Intelligence, Heather recalls his name is "Able Seaman Bright", which he previously told her in "Chasing the Kepeac".
      • As he's going to the train station with Johnson, Pertwee asks if his mum, Min, still makes her Floggle-Toggle cake. Pertwee's love for Min's Floggle-Toggle cake was established way back in "New at the Helm".
    • In "Smugglers in the Solent", Admiral Ffont-Bittocks asks Captain Povey if his rank has been substantiated yet, a nod to the trouble Old Thundeguts had in "Confirming Povey's Rank" one series earlier.
    • Heather angrily calls Mr. Phillips "Octopus Paws" in "Mr Murray is Victimised", the same nickname all the Wrens were mentioned to have for him in "Confirming Povey's Rank". She later tells Veronica of this nickname after she learns he is taking her out on a date in "The Mysterious Radio Signals", while First Officer Puce calls him by the name one final time in "Commander Murray Becomes a Showjumper".
    • At the start of "Captain Povey Reports Sick", announcer Robin Boyle recalls all the fifteen-sided nuts the listeners sent him last series in "Stuck on a Sandbank".
    • Captain Povey references Heather and Pertwee's fling in the second half of Series 7 in "The Police Drop In":
      Captain Povey: Yeah, I don't still understand a word of it...
      Heather: Oh, but it's simple, sir — a villain an' his bird have turned over the central museum an' lifted a bundle. Now, some narc has grassed that they've had it away in a boat to France, an' the fuzz wants us to get one of our lot to feel their collars and shove them in the local nick.
      Captain Povey: (Beat) Have you been going out with CPO Pertwee again?
      Heather: No, sir, but I do watch an awful lot of television.
    • In "The Radio Beacon", Captain Povey tells Heather that whatever scheme Nunkie's up to, Pertwee will be involved with too, reminding her of the floating mobile fish 'n' chip shop they worked on together in "A Fishy Business".
    • When angling for a promotion in "Pertwee Climbs Up the Promotion Ladder", Pertwee puts on the same faux-posh voice he used the last time he wanted a promotion in "The Struggle for Promotion".
    • In "The Anniversary and the Washing", Ramona complains that Captain Povey had worn his father's suit to their wedding, which she first complained about back in "The Surprise Wedding". Adding to this, a few episodes later, Captain Povey offers to wear his father's suit if he is chosen to be Commander Murray's best man in "Number One Gets Married".
    • In "The Mark 31 Radar", Intelligence asks Heather if she'll be washing her hair if he asks her out on Friday — just what she had told him in his last appearance in "The Forbodians Hijack Troutbridge".
    • Discussing The Master in "The Master of Sardinia", Mr. Phillips recalls how he taught him navigation which ended up sinking his hydrofoil back in "Number One's Married Quarters".
    • Captain Povey auditions for It's Your Opportunity Knockers in "Opportunity Knockers" with his farmyard impressions, which he had been established to be a big fan of last series in "Impressions for Survival". He brings up his impressions one final time in "Sidney and the Stamp" when he bores a Ministry of Defence official by talking about them and then does them to an annoyed Heather.
    • Meeting Pertwee in "The New NAAFI", Professor Clark tells him that his cousin Peregrine from the Ministry of Defence sends his worst. Lieutenant Peregrine Pertwee appeared in the last series during a phone call in "The Slogan Contest".
    • After Mr. Phillips mentions he had wrecked his Mickey Mouse watch in "The POW Escape Exercise", he replaced it with a Donald Duck watch. One series later in "Kangaroo Polka", he complains to Pertwee and Commander Murray that he still hasn't heard back from Disneyland about getting it fixed.
    • When Commander Murray is having marriage problems in "Helen, The New Wren", he goes to the Padre for advice, remembering that he was the one to marry him and Rita back in "Number One Gets Married".
    • Heather's going-away present in "Sidney and the Stamp" is a snap of Captain Povey nodding off in a deckchair on the beach at Broadstairs taken by Ramona — a nod to how they went on leave there back in "The Anti-Submarine Missile".
  • Contrasting Replacement Character:
    • Troutbridge's engineering officer, Lieutenant Queeg, was succeeded by Lieutenant Sharp. While Queeg is Scottish and down to earth, Mr. Sharp is a posh, educated type. Also, while Queeg's incompetence at his job is all his own fault, Mr. Sharp's is simply due to the fact that he is an accountant who has been forced into a job he has no clue how to perform.
    • After the Director of Naval Expenditure, Mr. Merrivale, succumbed to Chuck Cunningham Syndrome, his position was filled by Marvin Ellis. Whereas Mr. Merrivale is a posh man who speaks quickly, Ellis is a former turf accountant who speaks with a Cockney drawl and frequently says things like "Innit?".
  • Corrupt Quartermaster: CPO Pertwee runs a shop out of the Navy's stores. Even when Troutbridge puts to sea, he manages to continue his wheeling and dealing.
  • Cover-up Purchase: In "Number One's Chair", CPO Pertwee has to get Number One a luxury chair that he really isn't entitled to and decides the best way to do it is by indenting for a large quantity of them because the only time he indents for a single anything is when it is a battleship. Ultimately, it fails because everyone else up the supply chain has the same idea, and by the time the request reaches the naval supplier, it has multiplied into every single luxury chair in the Royal Navy.
  • Credit Card Plot: In "Sub-Conductor Phillips", Mr. Phillips receives a credit card to be used in Nunkie's War Surplus Emporium. He racks up a hefty bill using it for all manner of purchases, thinking that when he's spent too much, he'll be able to pay it off on another credit card.
  • Credits Gag:
    • During the end credits of "Refitting Ebenezer Pertwee", announcer Robin Boyle is cut off halfway through "Commander Povey was played by Richard Caldicot" by the cast correcting him that he's been promoted to Captain.
    • The end credits of "A Hole Lieutenant" have Leslie Phillips as playing "practically every rank in the Navy", a nod to Mr. Phillips' never-ending promotions he accidentally received that episode.
    • The end credits of "Germany's Troutbridge" has Boyle remark, "And that was Stephen Murray, Jon Pertwee, and Leslie Phillips navigating their way through Der Navy Larken gerscrite von Laurie Vyman".
    • After reading "Sir Willoughby Todhunter-Brown" during the end credits of "Steamship Day", announcer David Dunhill murmurs, "which I got right..." — a nod to the Running Gag of everyone struggling to say his name.
    • During the end credits of "Off to Sea at Last", Dunhill reads "Captain Atcheson was played-splayed by Michael Bates", a nod to the character's never-ending sneezing.
    • Just as the rest of the cast struggle to say, "Sir Willoughby Todhunter-Brown", announcer Michael de Morgan stumbles over the name during the end credits of "Sir Willoughby Goes to Kawowa". Tenniel Evans can be heard 👁 This example contains a TRIVIA entry. It should be moved to the TRIVIA tab.
      Corpsing at this in the background.
    • During the end credits of "The Anniversary and the Washing", Captain Povey yells out after his name is read out and again at the end of the credits, still flying away on the out-of-control washing machine.
    • After announcer Barri Haynes finishes the end credits of "Kangaroo Polka" saying that Bates played Detective Sergeant Clarke, he puts on an Australian accent to remind us "that's 'Clarke' with an 'E'". The same gag happens in "The Brain Pill" when Haynes reads that Bates played "Lieutenant Claude — with an 'E' — Clarke — with an 'E'".
    • After Heather Chasen gets credited for playing Ramona in "Horrible Horace", the credits are interrupted by a phone ringing. Captain Povey answers, to which it is revealed to be yet another one of Ramona's spot-checks to make sure he isn't trying anything on with Samantha.
  • Cryptid Episode: In "The Loch Ness Monster", Mr. Phillips, Commander Murray, and Pertwee are sent to find the Loch Ness Monster, or in reality, five barrels of ale a certain drunken Sub-Lieutenant and CPO threw into the loch.
  • Curse Cut Short: While rowing across Loch Ness in "The Loch Ness Monster", CPO Pertwee attempts to keep everyone's spirits up by singing a Bawdy Song, only to be forced to miss a rude word by a threatening interjection from Commander Murray:
    Pertwee: There was a young sailor named Kelly
    'Oo, when not reading poems by Shelley
    Used to slide on the grass
    On the seat of his—
    Commander Murray: CHIEF!
    Pertwee: ...Shoutin'... Shoutin', "Look what's tattooed on my belly!".
  • A Day in the Limelight: While Goldstein usually only gets to tag along with Pertwee and Johnson at best, or has a single scene calling the Bridge from Starboard Lookout at worst, "Commodore Goldstein" from Series 3 puts Taffy front and centre when he is mistakenly promoted to Commodore and takes control of Troutbridge, forcing the crew to travel to Wales where he can show off his new status to his family.
  • Did I Just Say That Out Loud?: Vice Admiral "Burbly" Burwasher delivers all of his stream-of-consciousness internal monologues out loud, apparently completely unaware that he is doing it.
  • Diegetic Soundtrack Usage:
    • "Strike Up the Band" ends with a terrible cover of the theme played by Pertwee, Nunkie, Ginger, and Johnson.
    • In "The Return of Sir Frederick Flatley", the theme tune briefly plays when Lieutenant Bates tries to connect Troutbridge to a whaling ship by radio and accidentally connects to the actual radio:
      Lieutenant Bates: Sorry, pardon. I'd got the wrong programme.
      Mr. Phillips: Oh, I don't know...
  • Diet Episode: Pertwee puts Johnson on a starvation diet in "Johnson's Diet". At first, Fatso gets past this by mailing himself food, but after the CPO catches on, he is reduced to eating chewing gum from under tables and sucking old toffee papers. In the end, Johnson sneaks into the galley while Pertwee is busy with his auction and gorges himself silly.
  • Disappeared Dad: Our only mention of Ramona's father comes in "A Deliberate Bashing", when it is mentioned that he went on a works' outing fifteen years ago, and outside of a rude postcard from Africa, hasn't been heard from since. Having been married to a certain Mrs. Jessie Crump, it's hard to blame the poor fellow.
  • Disproportionate Retribution: When Commander Young comes up for leave in "Povey's Unexpected Leave", Wingate from the records office remembers how the Commander went off at him for coming back late from leave, so he decides to have him posted to Iceland.
  • Double Entendre: In "Cine Cameras at Sea", when Mr. Phillips is introduced to the gorgeous actress Felicity May Hope:
    Nigel Scott-Hanson: Gentlemen, allow me to introduce Felicity May Hope.
    Mr. Phillips: "Felicity may hope" for what?
  • Dragon Lady: The Master has a Distaff Counterpart, the Mistress, who is another head of a sinister spy organisation and played by June Whitfield using an accent she described as "sort of being foreign".
  • Dreadful Musician:
    • Whenever Captain Povey and Ramona perform a duet at a Naval function, both the singing and piano playing are horribly off-key.
    • In "Strike Up the Band", Pertwee has to get a band together quickly when his relatives with musical talent are arrested. He ends up with himself, Nunkie, Ginger, and Johnson, and the result... isn't pretty.
  • Drill Sergeant Nasty: When recalling his days at Dartmouth in "When Sub-Lt Phillips Was at Dartmouth", Mr. Phillips recalls a certain CPO Bull, a typical, tyrannical type who had it out for the cadets (and him in particular).
  • Drinking on Duty: Vice-Admiral Prout has never knowingly been sober in his entire career.
  • Drives Like Crazy: Mr. Phillips is incompetent as a Navigation Officer and always sends Troutbridge colliding into every obstacle that can be found.
  • Dropped After the Pilot: "Operation Fag End" features Wren Joyce (played by Pamela Buck) in place of the more familiar Heather Chasen as 👁 This example contains a TRIVIA entry. It should be moved to the TRIVIA tab.
    Wren Chasen. As the Pilot was aired after "The Missing Jeep", it meant that audiences would be introduced to Heather, suddenly meet Joyce in her place, and then be back to Heather for the rest of the series.
  • The Drunken Sailor:
    • In "The Multiple Mines", Johnson and Ginger get plastered and decide to chuck an old, decommissioned Sea Mine used as a coinbox for the Royal Lifeboat Service into the ocean while plastered. This sets up a forced hunt by Troutbridge for the box, which turns up a real mine that was just floating in the ocean...
    • According to Admiral Ffont-Bittocks, Vice Admiral Prout is an alcoholic, and he claims in "Son of a Sea Lord", "The Digital Isles Go Unstable", "Operation Showcase", and "Commander Murray Becomes a Showjumper" that his liver can be used to sole and heel army boots.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness:
    • Anyone used to the antics aboard Troutbridge from the later series would be shocked to find out Series 1 and 2 were mostly set on land. Troutbridge itself didn't even appear until "The Fairground Lights", the fourth episode.
    • Series 1 also didn't have Lieutenant Murray as the Number One, instead it featured Lieutenant Price, who was nowhere near as close to Sub-Lieutenant Phillips and CPO Pertwee, often trying to drop them in the dirty great doodah.
    • It's easy to forget that Captain Povey and Leading Seaman Goldstein started off as Commander Povey and Able Seaman Goldstein prior to being promoted early on (Series 3's "In Portsmouth for a Re-Fit" for Povey and Series 4's "Leading Seaman Goldstein's Party" for Goldstein).
    • The plot of "The Missing Jeep", the first episode broadcast, hinges on the fact that Mr. Phillips is able to drive a jeep down to the pub and back. This was before it was established that the silly-arse had no sense of navigation beyond "Left hand down a bit".
    • Series 1 featured many Pertwee uncles nicknamed "Nunkie" and all voiced by Tenniel Evans. By mid-way through Series 2, Uncle Ebenezer became the only Nunkie to make consistent appearances for the sake of simplicity.
    • Shockingly, Mr. Phillips wasn't the navigator aboard Troutbridge at first. This never-seen navigator is first mentioned as not being aboard in "The Fairground Lights" and goes on leave just before "Stuck Up the Inlet", allowing Mr. Phillips to give us the series' first "Left hand down a bit". The original navigator succumbed to Chuck Cunningham Syndrome, and was finally Retconned out when Series 9's "When Sub-Lt Phillips Was at Dartmouth" established that Mr. Phillips was sent to the Troutbridge crew straight after (hardly) learning navigation at Dartmouth.
    • Before Lady Todhunter-Brown was introduced, the Admiral was the series' resident gin-obsessed alcoholic.
    • When Johnson first mentions his mother in "The Gun Mechanism Test", she hadn't yet gotten her more familiar title of "My Mum, Min". She did in her next mention in "The Whittlesea Carnival and Fete", only here we now find out that she was unmarried, and Johnson was adopted, whereas later Johnson would also bring up "My Dad, Dan".
    • Before Lieutenant Queeg was introduced in Series 6, Troutbridge had a different Scot running the engine room briefly pop up in "The Whittlesea Carnival and Fete" and "New at the Helm". He was nicknamed "Jock" and played by Michael Bates rather than Ronnie Barker.
    • During Commander Bracewell's first appearance in "Bringing Back the Barge", he worked for Movement Control. The next episode, "The Mock Action", suddenly put him in charge of Naval Intelligence, before he was back to Movement Control in "The Charter Trip to Antarctica". Starting in "Johnson's Diet", Bracewell was permanently working for Intelligence.
    • Sir Willoughby and Ramona were called "Sir Wilberforce" and "Millicent" during their first appearances in "Gunboat to Goomba" and "Strike Up the Band".
    • In "The Portarneyland Fishing Limit", Goldstein mentions his Great Aunt Morpeth who is married to Uncle William. As early as "Refitting Ebenezer Pertwee", she became just an aunt, while later on she would be married to Uncle Edwin, the solicitor/ironmonger, who was first mentioned in "Hijacked!" and first appeared in "Are Captain and Mrs Povey Married?".
    • Lieutenant Commander Stanton's wedding in "The Surprise Wedding" and the Poveys' second wedding in "Are Captain and Mrs Povey Married?" are both officiated by the local Vicar. Had the episodes been written any time after Series 6, there is no doubt it would have been done by Troutbridge's Padre, who Bates gave a near-identical voice.
  • Embarrassing Middle Name: As mentioned in "Open Day" and "Number One Gets Married", Commander Murray's middle name is "Butterfield", something he finds humiliating but everyone else thinks is a riot.
  • Epic Fail: In "A Deliberate Bashing", Captain Povey is stuck with his mother-in-law, Mrs. Crump, and desperately wants to go out to the Fireman's Bucket and Bell. So, he "arranges" for Sub-Lieutenant Phillips to take Troutbridge out for a run, with the confidence that Mr. Phillips will inevitably crash the ship, giving him the excuse he needs to escape. For once, Sub-Lieutenant Phillips can't hit anything and ends up circling the destroyer Makepeace 42 times flawlessly, followed by missing the same sandbank another 42 times. After this, Mrs. Crump gets laid up with the flu, and Old Thunderguts is free to go — just as Mr. Phillips finally manages to crash the ship.
  • Estranged Soap Family: Series 3 introduced Lieutenant Commander Stanton's sister, Charlotte, in "Families' Day", but she was curiously absent from his wedding in the Season Finale, "The Surprise Wedding", possibly owing to the unavailability of June Tobin.
  • Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep":
    • The first Admiral's name was never given, and so he was just called "Admiral" by the others.
    • The Padre's name is never revealed, and so is just known to the crew as "Padre".
    • Willie, the only member of Troutbridge's engineering crew who actually knows how the ship runs, is almost always referred to as "the lad who understands the mechanical gubbins or whatever they are" by Lieutenant Queeg and the others.
  • Explosive Instrumentation:
    • In "A Hole Lieutenant", the Admiralty gains a new computer, nicknamed "Fred Computicals", that has all Navy personnel in a database of punch cards. Pertwee loses Mr. Phillips' card and makes him a new one by jabbing little holes in it with a pen. However, Fred doesn't like this new card, and every time he is switched on, he incorrectly gives Mr. Phillips a Rank Up. Once Mr. Phillips becomes Admiral of the Fleet, there is nowhere else for his card to go, and Fred blows up.
    • Due to a previous dropped clanger from the T-tv team in "Opening Night", Johnson has to send them video signals from all around the world from the studio to their transmitting van. Fatso quickly finds himself out of his depth, however, and decides to punch up all the pictures at once, causing the control panel to blow up.
  • Eyebrows Burned Off: When Johnson tests his explosive oxtail soup in "A Strange Hobby", it blows up in his face and takes his eyebrows off. Pertwee helps him out by drawing some on with a pen, albeit a royal blue one...
  • Fake Facial Hair: Trying to beat Commander Murray in growing a full beard first in "The Beard-Growing Race", Sub-Lieutenant Phillips glues a fake one to his face to make it seem as if he has done it quicker. Commander Murray sees right through him, however, and gets his own fake beard just to show him up.
  • Fat and Skinny: Skinny and vulture-like CPO Pertwee and Able Seaman "Fatso" Johnson often pair up on nefarious schemes, with poor Johnson usually the butt of the joke or Pertwee's fall guy.
  • Fat Idiot: Able Seaman "Fatso" Johnson is just bright enough to work out he is being done rotten by CPO Pertwee and just dumb enough not to be able to see it until it's too late.
  • Fee Fi Faux Pas: Whenever Commander Bell's chatting, he'll inevitably bring up someone else's misfortune or mistake and start having a right old laugh about it... before realising they're right in front of him, leading to him having to awkwardly trail off.
  • Fictional Document: The most popular magazine in the Wardroom is Girls, Giggles, and Garters.
  • Final Season Casting: For the second half of the fifteenth and final series, April Walker joined the cast as Wren Samantha Barrett.
  • Flanderisation: From Series 2 to 5, Commander Bracewell was a bit of a Smug Snake who mocked Captain Povey's misfortunes with an admittedly Annoying Laugh. Starting in Series 6, Bracewell's laugh becomes exaggerated beyond belief making the character sound like a total idiot.
  • Forgotten Anniversary: Announcer Robin Boyle forgets his wedding anniversary during the introduction for "Rescuing Admirals":
    Robin Boyle: Now, as a married man myself, I can tell that women are funny like that. Well, they don't seem to realise when's a chap's busy, he's liable to forget little things like... What's the date?
    Pertwee: The 25th.
    Robin Boyle: Oh, clang! If my wife is listening... happy anniversary, darling. I hadn't forgotten, I just thought this would be a lovely surprise.
  • Forgotten Birthday: Before getting the idea to throw her a party, Mr. Phillips initially forgets it is Heather's birthday in "The Comfort Fund":
    Mr. Phillips: I say, you've got a lot of letters there. Who are they for?
    Heather: Me. As a matter of fact, they're birthday cards.
    Mr. Phillips: Oh, I see. It's somebody's birthday, hm? Anyone I know?
    Heather: Well, mine actually.
    Mr. Phillips: Yours? Oh, good gracious.
  • Funny Foreigner: The two Portarneylanders, Lieutenant Managing Director Harold Golfball and Sub-Lieutenant General Samuel Pepys Washington-Burt, are shining examples. From their hilariously long ranks in the Portarneyland Navy to Ronnie Barker and Michael Bates' ridiculously over-the-top Indian accents, it is clear that these two are meant to be nothing more than comic relief in an already ludicrous programme. Their spotty English is also Played for Laughs, as they describe everything as either "fine and magnificent" or "tatty old" and constantly spout off friendly cries of "Bung ho!".
  • The Ghost:
    • Mentioned in the early series was Cookhouse Clara, the vast woman in charge of the cooking on the Island. Johnson is terrified of her.
    • Willie, "the lad who understands the mechanical gubbins or whatever they are", who works under Lieutenant Queeg is never heard as he is always stuck in the WC suffering the side effects of something he has eaten the night before.
  • Given Name Reveal:
    • The two Portarneylanders were unnamed until Captain Povey finally asks what they are called in "The Exploding Biscuits" — the one voiced by Ronnie Barker is "Lieutenant Managing Director Harold Golfball" while Michael Bates' Portarneylander is "Sub-Lieutenant General Samuel Pepys Washington-Burt".
    • Lieutenant Commander Stanton's first name went unknown until his sister Charlotte called him "Archie" in Series 3's "Families' Day", while "The Suprise Wedding" at the end of that series revealed that was short for "Archibald".
    • For almost six series, the closest we got to Able Seaman Johnson's first name was the Embarrassing Nickname "Fatso". This ends in "Johnson's Memoirs", when Pertwee finally learns his first name is "Jeremiah", something the Chief finds hilarious.
    • Commander Wetherby was introduced in Series 8's "Buoys Will Be Buoys" with only his surname given. It would take until the Series 9 opener, "Back from the Antarctic", for it to be finally stuttered... uttered as "Ambrose".
    • Although introduced in the Series 7 opener, "Taking Some Liberties", it took until "The Security Clampdown" midway through Series 11 for the Admiral Superintendent's surname — "Ffont-Bittocks" — to be uttered.
    • "The USA Navigator Swap" introduced a new Bates character, an Admiralty member who whenever he started talking would be meek before flying off the handle in a self-important rage. The next episode, "Son of a Sea Lord", named him "Vice Admiral Prout".
    • Wren Barrett went by her surname for a few episodes until her Christian name was revealed to be "Samantha" in "Horrible Horace".
  • Go to Your Room!: The Padre tries to send Mr. Phillips out of the Wardroom in "Just the Ticket" after he makes a vulgar comment:
    Mr. Murray: Terence Rattigan's Seperate Tables turned out to be an abandoned performance by a well-developed lady called "Betty Flanagan" in sexy tableaus!
    Padre: Oh, how terribly unfortunate. I must confess that it appears unto me that you are not having the greatest of good fortune in your noble efforts to provide your delightful Wren friend with an evening's entertainment... and snog.
    Mr. Murray: Beg your pardon?
    Mr. Phillips: Oh, perhaps you'd have had more luck with Betty Flanagan, sir. Hyah, hyah, hyah.
    Padre: Mr. Phillips...
    Mr. Phillips: Uh, yes, Padre?
    Padre: Go to your room.
    Mr. Philips: Why, is she there?
  • Green Around the Gills: In "Commander Trotter Takes Charge", Pertwee remarks that Commander Trotter goes bright green when he's seasick.
  • Handsome Lech: Sub-Lieutenant Phillips, playing off Leslie Phillips' common screen persona, is very dashing in a thin, moustached sort of way, but very prone to chasing the ladies.
  • Happily Married: Compared to the rest of the couples in the series, Commander Murray and his lovely wife, Ritakins — I mean, Mrs. Murray — are absolutely crazy about each other. While Rita does sometimes focus too much on her horse, Bouncing Betty, and Commander Murray can often get jealous of other men, the two never row long and always make up afterwards.
  • Help, I'm Stuck!: In "The Cornish Exercise", a Naval exercise results in Mr. Phillips, Mr. Murray, Pertwee, Johnson, and Goldstein being mistaken for Adolf Hitler and his Nazi top brass and subsequently locked in the larder of "Private" Charlie Granthemum, a Home Guard soldier who never stood down in the sixteen years since World War II ended. The five of them eventually escape through the larder window, with the exception of Fatso, who finds himself stuck halfway. The others head back to Captain Povey to get help, but are too late as when they do, Old Thunderguts gets a call from Police Constable Fred Tiddy telling him that he's just pulled "Hermann Göring" out of a larder window and needs him to confirm if he really is an Able Seaman from Troutbridge.
  • Henpecked Husband: Captain Povey is completely under the thumb of his overbearing wife, Ramona. He does all the housework, has to ask permission to go out, and even must beg for pocket money as she controls the family purse.
  • Hesitation Equals Dishonesty: In "The Northampton Hunt Ball", Pertwee buys himself a flashy new car with the money from his floating bingo fiddle, and as a cover-up, he tells Mr. Phillips that he got a legacy from his dear, white-bearded old grandpa; tells Judy that he dabbled on the stock exchange; and tells Mr. Murray that a relative of his won the pools and shared it out. When Judy and Mr. Phillips realise that he's been telling everyone a different story, Pertwee says that he hasn't the fainted idea of how they all connect and tells them to hang on before spinning the tale that his dear, white-bearded old grandfather won five quid on the pools, the shock killed him, so he left it to the Chief, which he used to buy shares that rocketed overnight, hence the new car. He then asks Mr. Phillips, "How's that?", to which Mr. Phillips tells him it's not bad, given the time he had to think it up.
  • Historical Character Confusion:
    • In "The Figurehead", when Pertwee is trying to rush Johnson to carve more figureheads for him to flog, Johnson grumbles at him that "They didn't rush 'Enry Moore when 'e painted The Mona Lisa, you know".
    • In "Opening Night", Mr. Phillips thinks that TV was invented by John Yogi Baird. After hearing this, Mr. Pertwee responds, "Mr. Phillips, sir, I think you've made a bit of a Boo-Boo".
  • Honest John's Dealership: CPO Pertwee will be glad to sell you anything from smuggled French goods to the furniture from your own office.
  • Horny Sailors: For the first four series, Sub-Lieutenant Phillips is in desperate pursuit of Heather. Despite getting engaged to her in "Mr Phillips Gets Engaged", he still can't stop himself from a bit of freelance womanising and innuendo if any other gorgeous bird is around, leading to a fed-up Heather finally giving him back his ring in "Making a Right Pig's Breakfast".
  • Hypocritical Humour: In "A Russian Rendezvous", DAUPS tells Flag Lieutenant Dingle that he has a funny-sounding voice. The fact that they both sound like irritating Upper-Class Twits isn't lost on the others.
  • Iconic Sequel Character:
    • While the series' iconic trio will always be remembered as Sub-Lieutenant Phillips, CPO Pertwee, and Commander Murray, it wasn't always so. Instead of Mr. Murray, Series 1 featured Lieutenant Price as Troutbridge's Number One; when Dennis Price was unavailable for Series 2, Stephen Murray was brought in to replace him, and went on to never miss an episode for the rest of the series.
    • Captain Povey's battleaxe wife Ramona was one of Heather Chasen's best remembered roles on the series, thanks to her bombastic performance and the cartoonishly over-the-top way she treats him like a naughty child. Despite this, she wasn't introduced until "Strike Up the Band" midway through Series 2.
    • By the end of the series, Michael Bates' most often played character was the Padre, a kindly old man with a funny Verbal Tic. However, the Padre wasn't introduced until "Troutbridge's Party" at the start of Series 6.
    • Other than CPO Pertwee (obviously), Jon Pertwee's best remembered role from the series was the ever-stuttering and damn near incomprehensible Commander Wetherby, who made his first appearance shockingly late in Series 8's "Buoys Will Be Buoys".
  • Inconsistent Spelling:
    • Looking at behind-the-scenes material from the early series, it seems no one could decide if Sir Willoughby's name should be spelled as such or "Sir Willerby".
    • The booklets included with the complete series CD box sets alternate between "Nunkie" and "Nunky" for the Affectionate Nickname of Pertwee's Uncle Ebenezer.
    • Later digital releases of "Gunboat to Goomba" change the location in the title to "Gumba".
  • Insane Admiral:
    • The Admiral from the first six series is a gin-obsessed crackpot who is nearly completely deaf and never seems to know who anyone is.
    • His sidekick, Rear Admiral Ironbridge, is no better — he's a doddering old wreck who can barely make it through a whole sentence without stammering. Then, starting in Series 12, he becomes a Dirty Old Man forever having flashbacks to the girls in Cairo from his youth.
    • Vice Admiral Buttenshaw is another ancient scatterbrain who doesn't seem to realise how often he repeats himself-self-self-self-self.
    • Another mentally checked-out Vice Admiral is "Burbly" Burwasher, who has no sense of inner thought at all, and so goes on long mumbling tangents to himself in front of company over such trivial matters of whether he should buy petrol or not.
    • Finally, there's Vice Admiral Prout, who, despite seeming like a meek old man, is a violent alcoholic who will fly off the handle at absolutely nothing at all.
  • Insane Troll Logic: Sub-Lieutenant Phillips has a Ph.D. in Insane Troll Logic. Starting in "A Strange Hobby" and becoming a Running Gag from Series 12 onwards, Mr. Phillips would take a word said by the announcer or another character and craft an insanely tortured etymology around it based on the sounds of the word's syllables. Pertwee would then chime in, trying to knit the thought together in some form of coherence. In "The Master of Sardinia", Pertwee's job went to the Master instead:
    Mr. Phillips: Yes, "sacrosanct". Now, that's an interesting word. Funny enough, they gave the derivation of that word in my comic last week.
    Commander Murray: Oh, dear, Noddy's off again!
    The Master: In my opinion, he's a raving nut!
    Mr. Phillips: No, no, this is jolly interesting. "Sacrosanct". "Sack", as in "race", or "the thing you fill up with coal", if you've got any, that is, "rose", as in "cod" or "to smell as sweet as", unless you happen to be sitting on two thorns at the time, and finally "sanked", which is the past tense of "sink", as in "washing up" or "where you do your smalls".
    The Master: Now, let me see if I've got this right, clever boy. According to you, the word "sacrosanct" means that somebody called "Rosie" is sitting in the sink with a sweet-smelling cod, who's just delivered a sack of coals in her smalls.
    Mr. Phillips: Exactly. Now, that's another interesting word...
    The Master: What is?
    Mr. Phillips: "Exactly". "Eggs", the things that people lay... uh, I'm sorry, the things hens lay. Well, "act"—
    Commander Murray: Oh, shut up!
  • In-Series Nickname:
    • Sub-Lieutenant Phillips is often called "Lovable Leslie", earnestly by himself and sarcastically by everyone else.
    • Able Seaman Ginger is called so because of his red hair.
  • Interactive Narrator: The cast would often interact with the Announcer at the start of the episode:
    • The longest-running was Robin Boyle, who had Story Arcs of his own in Series 6 and 7:
      • In the former, he'd lost a fifteen-sided nut off his vacuum cleaner, and every episode following would reference his quest to find a new one, with the crew often popping up to laugh at his misfortune.
      • In the latter, his "saucy Lillian Gish calendar" had been stolen from his office, and the crew would pop up to leer over Miss Gish and joke about Boyle being a Dirty Old Man.
    • Midway through Series 10, Mr. Phillips, CPO Pertwee, and Mr. Murray began interrupting Michael de Morgan to criticize anything from his clothing, whether or not he wore a wig, or his pronunciation, much to his frustration.
  • Ironic Name:
    • Captain Povey is frequently aboard the destroyer Makepeace.
    • As revealed in "Chasing the Kepeac", the dimwitted voice of Intelligence is Able Seaman Bright.
  • Irony:
    • Commander Shaw is a high rank in the Royal Navy, yet as shown in "Operation Fag End", he struggles with seasickness. In Series 10, Troutbridge gains a new Captain, Commander Trotter, who suffers the same problem.
    • Phone calls from Intelligence come from Able Seaman Bright, who speaks in the most gormless, uneducated voice one could imagine.
    • Taking Rear Admiral Ironbridge's new dinghy out for a spin in "Rescuing Admirals", both the Admiral and Rear Admiral crash it and end up stranded as neither of them knows how to drive a boat despite their high-ranking naval positions.
  • Jerkass Ball: After taking the brain pill in "The Brain Pill", Mr. Phillips temporarily becomes a genius, but at the expense of also becoming a total nightmare to be around:
    Mr. Phillips: You will excuse me, gentlemen. I must circulate amongst our honoured guests — the drunken slobs and pompous pricks.
  • Kicked Upstairs: "Number One's Chair" reveals where Commander Shaw had been relocated to — he was promoted to the Admiralty, where he would now be working as Commander Povey's immediate superior officer.
  • Lady Drunk: Lady Todhunter-Brown is completely plastered every time she appears, and whenever she arrives aboard Troutbridge, she'll dash off to the Wardroom to see what else she can knock back down her, such as in "Mutiny Aboard Troutbridge":
    Sir Willoughby: Oh, tell you what, is there a bar in the Wardroom?
    Mr. Phillips: Oh, yes, sir.
    Sir Willoughby: Oh, good show. We'll follow the wife. Off you go, dear.
    Lady Todhunter-Brown: Hm, all right. Here we go. This way. Turn left. Left again. Through here. Mind your head. There we are — Wardroom. Now mine's large gin.
    Sir Willoughby: Never fails.
    Mr. Phillips: Lumme. Sort of radar...
  • Lampshade Hanging:
    • When Rear Admiral Ironbridge tries his hand at navigating Troutbridge in "The Admiral's Accident Report", he uses Mr. Phillips' classic "Left hand down a bit" method, just as seemingly every other visiting navigator has also done, so Mr. Murray finally voices his opinion that it's all rather odd:
      Mr. Murray: There's a funny thing, Mr. Phillips. No matter who comes aboard us to carry out tests, they all seem to navigate the same way...
      Mr. Phillips: And why not, sir? Is there any other way?
      Mr. Murray: Well', I've heard rumours there might be...
    • After several plots involving Troutbridge transporting government officials, Mr. Phillips finally had something to say about it in "The Return of Sir Frederick Flatley":
      Mr. Phillips: Well, they're right about one thing though. We are a bloomin' floating taxi. If we're not carting Sir Willoughby Todhunter-Brown and his wife about, it's this bloke Sir Frederick Flatley and his lot.
      Pertwee: Yes, an' not so much as a threepenny tip from any of 'em!
    • Mr. Phillips briefly forgets Ginger's name in "The Struggle for Promotion", a sly dig at the fact he had been increasingly Out of Focus since early in Series 3.
    • After many series of only playing CPO Pertwee, Jon Pertwee was eventually given a few minor characters to play regularly, including Commander Wetherby and Vice Admiral Buttenshaw. "CPO Pertwee's Long Service Medal" revolves around the Chief impressing Goldstein with his impressions of them, which he then uses on the phone to Captain Povey to trick him into obeying several ludicrous orders until he finally gives him the long service and good conduct medal he was owed.
    • Goldstein is the series' token Welsh character but has a Jewish surname. This was poked fun at in "The Security Clampdown", after Pertwee accidentally calls Raquel Welch "Rachel":
      Mr. Phillips: "Rachel"? She can't be Welsh with a name like "Rachel".
      Pertwee: Why not, sir? Taffy Goldstein is.
    • Aside from his famous "Left hand down a bit", Mr. Phillips' other standard navigation direction is "Right hand up a bit"... which would logically send Troutbridge the same way. It takes until "Sub-Lt Phillips to Leave for Dartmouth" at the very end of Series 11 before Commander Murray finally snaps at him that those two commands mean the same thing, but Mr. Phillips just brushes it off.
    • Series 15 has a Running Gag where the Padre finally acknowledges his odd Verbal Tic of chanting his words like an Anglican hymn.
    • In "Relief for Station 150", Comrades Igor and Ivan become the only characters to question why Admiral Ffont-Bittocks has such an unusual name. The latter theorises that at his christening, The Vicar slipped and dropped him in the font on his "bittocks".
  • Later-Installment Weirdness: While the pre-episode introductions had included the characters Breaking the Fourth Wall and interacting with the announcers since Series 4, Series 14's introductions had the cast doing wholly Navy Lark-unrelated sketches. In Series 15, this was changed completely — now the announcer would only give the series' title and list the stars Leslie Phillips, Jon Pertwee, and Stephen Murray before the cast would perform a Teaser leading into the episode's plot.
  • Laughing at Your Own Jokes: Commander Murray has a habit of laughing at his groan-worthy puns and wordplay — and is usually the only one.
  • Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
    • The characters often interacted with the announcers at the beginning of episodes, interrupting them as they try to read their introductions.
    • While trying to listen to the news on The BBC General Overseas Service in "Gunboat to Goomba", Pertwee manages to switch on to the end of an episode of The Navy Lark:
      Mr. Murray: Ah, haven't you ever listened to the news on the General Overseas Service of The BBC, sir?
      Sir Willoughby: "Overseas Service"? Oh, they've started that up, have they? I knew they'd been talking about it for some time.
      Lady Todhunter-Brown: Oh, how exciting. Shall we see if we can get it now, shall we?
      Pertwee: Yeah, allow me, your lady expert-ship.
      Announcer: That was Stephen Murray, Jon Pertwee, and Leslie Phillips working their passage in The Navy Lark by Laurie Wyman. The Number One was played by Stephen—
      Mr. Phillips: Oh, switch it off, Pertwee.
      Announcer: —Chief Petty Officer—
      Mr. Murray: Oh, pity. I rather enjoy that show.
      Mr. Phillips: Well, it's ridiculous. I mean... the chap who plays the Sub-Lieutenant doesn't know what he's talking about. Well, it-it's just not true to life.
      Mr. Murray: Oh, I don't know...
      Pertwee: Well, I know. What gets me is that Chief Petty Officer, whatever 'is name is. I dunno, proper nit 'e is. It's all wrong.
      Mr. Murray: You mean that's not true to life either?
      Pertwee: I mean it is, sir. 'E never gets away with a flaming thing. Gives me the 'orrors, it does.
    • After getting stuck on Mount Rumpus Atoll during a NATO exercise in "Mount Rumpus Atoll", Lieutenant Bates' portable radio starts up a discussion about The Navy Lark between the crew:
      Lieutenant Bates: As a matter of a fact, I've been trying to get my portable radio going, ac-tually.
      Mr. Phillips: I say, what a jolly good idea. We might be able to get The Navy Lark on the Overseas programme.
      Mr. Murray: "The Navy Lark"? What a strange man you are, Mr. Phillips...
      Pertwee: Yes, sir. No accountin' for some people's tastes, is there?
      Mr. Murray: No, I suppose, no.
      Mr. Phillips: I dunno what's the matter with you lot. I like The Navy Lark.
      Pertwee: Eugh.
      Mr. Murray: Really?
      Mr. Phillips: Oh, yes. You know, that chap who plays the silly-arse Sub-Lieutenant is jolly funny. Jolly funny, ha-ha-ha.
      Mr. Murray: Oh, him. Very poor.
      Pertwee: Oh, yes, sir. Very poor.
      Mr. Phillips: He certainly is. Last week, they were on a NATO exercise, and he ran them aground on this remote island, you see, and then, well, ha-ha-ha... what they didn't know, hm-hm, ha-tis-ha-ha... was that this was going to be the same deserted isle that was going to be shelled by all the other ships in the... I don't think I feel very well.
    • In "The Return of Sir Frederick Flatley", Lieutenant Bates tries to radio a whaling ship but accidentally switches to an episode of The Navy Lark. The theme plays briefly before an embarrassed Batesy shuts it off.
  • Left Out a Piece: A Running Gag is that any time a Floggle-Toggle is removed from a piece of machinery, it will either go wrong or stop working entirely.
  • Lethal Chef:
    • Johnson's attempts at cooking never end well:
      • His oxtail soup in "A Strange Hobby" is highly explosive and works as fuel, owing to Fatso mistaking ground Humgrummit coffee for gravy browning.
      • His steak and kidney pies stuck in their baking tins also produce some very convincing substitutes for limpet mines in "The Mysterious Pudding Mine".
    • As mentioned in "Number One's Married Quarters", Rita's cooking gives Commander Murray indigestion all day long.
  • Lighthouse Point:
    • "The Lighthouse Lark" has Pertwee and Johnson getting stranded at Clodwilly Rock Lighthouse, after which Pertwee tries to become a wrecker — someone who either shows a false light by making it seem dimmer and farther away than it is or fails to show a light at all — to lure ships onto rocks and loot them.
    • In "Rescuing Admirals", the Troutbridge crew set out to rescue the Admiral and Rear Admiral Ironbridge, who went out in the latter's dinghy and crashed it onto a lighthouse's rocks.
  • Limited Advancement Opportunities: While temporary promotions come and go, nobody saw any promotion for fifteen series except for Commander Povey (promoted to Captain in "In Portsmouth for a Re-Fit"), Able Seaman Goldstein (promoted to Leading Seaman in "Leading Seaman Goldstein's Party"), Lieutenant Commander Stanton (promoted to Commander between "Over the Sea to Rosyth" and "Back to Portsmouth"), and Lieutenant Murray (promoted to Lieutenant Commander in "Commander Murray and the Squatters"). In all fairness, everyone in the Troutbridge crew is either an idiot (Able Seaman Johnson, Commander Bell), dangerously unqualified (Sub-Lieutenant Phillips, Lieutenant Queeg), rather quirky (Able Seaman Ginger, Lieutenant Bates), or CPO Pertwee...
  • Lost at Sea: "Sequel to the Talpinium Shell" has Commander Murray, Mr. Phillips, and Pertwee stranded in the ocean in a rubber dinghy after the talpinium shell test blows up Troutbridge.
  • Maiden Aunt:
    • During the introduction for "Families' Day", announcer Robin Boyle complains that he has a certain maiden aunt who shouldn't even happen to an ITV announcer. He then mentions that at ITV, they don't have announcers, they have presentation personnel, which is rather like calling his maiden aunt a sex kitten.
    • In "On the Carpet", Mr. Phillips recalls how his maiden aunt was still getting him Mickey Mouse watches and Noddy bikes into his early twenties under the belief he was still under ten.
    • In "The Padre's Birthday", Pertwee's second attempt to get the Padre a present is a copy of Grand Walks 'Round Canterbury by the Reverend Ignatious Golightly... which unfortunately had already been gifted to the Padre by his maiden aunt.
  • Married at Sea: As revealed in "Are Captain and Mrs Povey Married?", the Poveys were married at sea by a liner Captain. They return to the very same spot where they were married to renew their vows, and trouble brews when Mr. Phillips checks his charts and realises that they were married within the three-mile limit, meaning for the last fifteen years the Poveys' marriage hasn't been official. After both trying to go on the pull to no success, Captain Povey and Ramona are about to remarry when Mr. Phillips drops a bombshell — they were married outside of the three-mile limit, and the charts only looked wrong because ten years ago, some land was reclaimed, which pushed the sea a quarter of a mile out! Oh, lumme, indeed...
  • The Master:
    • Series 13 and 14 had a recurring oriental villain known only as "The Master". Funnily enough, the Master was played by Jon Pertwee, who would star in another series with an archvillain called "The Master"...
    • Also, the Master had a Distaff Counterpart in the form of the imaginatively named "The Mistress", played by June Whitfield (with an equally exaggerated accent).
  • Mean Boss: Captain Povey has it out for the entire Troutbridge crew and will try any trick in the book to have them all court-martialled out of the Navy.
  • Meaningful Name:
    • Captain Povey's Apron Matron of a wife is Ramona — putting emphasis on the "moan" perfectly fits such a nagging woman who is never pleased.
    • Captaining Troutbridge from Series 5-9 was Commander Bell, a name that fits a man who can't seem to go a sentence without dropping a clanger...
    • Captain Atcheson has a name that sounds like "atchoo", which fits someone like him who is always sneezing.
  • Military Academy: "When Sub-Lt Phillips Was at Darmouth" is a Whole Episode Flashback in which Navigation Officer Sub-Lieutenant Phillips recalls how he tried to join the army and got lost on his way to Sandhurst, ending up at Dartmouth instead and (somehow) becoming a Naval Officer.
  • Motor Mouth: Admiral Ffont-Bittocks' Bumbling Sidekick, Flag Lieutenant Dingle, suffers from a near-constant stream of words whenever he opens his mouth. Naturally, he is the Phrase Catcher for Admiral Ffont-Bittocks' "Shut your cakehole".
  • Musical Episode: "The Ship's Concert" sees the Troutbridge crew preparing for — and performing — a ship's concert. Hilarity Ensues as the Poveys, Mr. Phillips and Heather, Pertwee and Johnson, and the Admiral and Rear Admiral Ironbridge perform some truly questionable duets.
  • My Hovercraft Is Full of Eels: During a visit to Hong Kong in "Number One's Married Quarters", CPO Pertwee purchases Charlie Chan's Complete Chinese Phrasebook, which is... less than helpful:
    Pertwee: "'Onourable and 'umble apologies, Flower of the East...".
    Mr. Phillips: Hmm?
    Pertwee: "...but will you kindly stop Rover doin' that up against my rickshaw?".
    Tropes N-Z 
  • The Navigator: Sub-Lieutenant Phillips is HMS Troutbridge's Navigation Officer... who doesn't understand how to read charts, can't use radar, and gets all his information from Noddy's Book of Boats. As a result, he can't navigate better than giving the order "Left hand down a bit".
  • The Neidermeyer: Captain Povey openly hates the Troutbridge crew and never stops trying to have the lot of them court-martialled or split up for good. In all fairness, Old Thunderguts has good reason to, seeing that the Troutbridge lot are a load of idle scroungers and know-nothing clots.
  • Nepotism:
    • In "Frenchmen in J.41", it is revealed that the only reason Admiral Ffont-Bittocks keeps Flag Lieutenant Dingle as his Bumbling Sidekick is because he is the Admiral's wife's nephew.
    • After Commander Murray marries Admiral Ffont-Bittocks' daughter, Rita, in "Number One Gets Married", the Admiral starts sending Troutbridge on less dangerous missions to keep his son-in-law out of harm. Naturally, the rest of the crew all mock him for getting special treatment from Daddykins.
  • Never My Fault: Whenever Troutbridge ends up hopelessly lost, Sub-Lieutenant Phillips simply can't believe it is the fault of his "Left hand down a bit". It just has to be that they're early, or the other ships are lost, or he wasn't properly told where to sail to.
  • New Job Episode: Captain Povey starts running a shop out of his office in "Captain Povey's Shop", using Heather and Judy as his shop assistants, in order to raise money to buy Ramona a birthday present after he loses his two shillings for a gift down a drain.
  • No Celebrities Were Harmed:
    • "The Prestige Show" has the T-tv production team working with aggressive interviewer Bernard Yeast — a clear riff on Bernard Levin, who was notorious for his own aggression when interviewing politicians.
    • "On Safari" features Maggie and Arnold Crump, a send-up of Armand and Michaela Denis, who were known for making wildlife documentaries around the world. Unlike the Denises, the Crumps are more focused on getting themselves on camera instead of the animals.
  • Noisy Shut-Up: A bickering meeting of Mad Brass is brought to silence by the shout of "SHUT UP or I'll lock up the Gin".
  • Noodle Implements: The words "Floggle-Toggle" and "Humgrummit" are used throughout the series as a stand-in term for anything from machinery parts to wine-making material.
  • No Sense of Direction: Sub-Lieutenant Phillips, the Navigation Officer, has never once had a clue where the blue blistering brick dust he's sending Troutbridge on any given voyage. Over the course of the series, he has followed the Mauretania to New York ("The Mock Action"), ended up in Holland ("Going Dutch"), gotten wedged in the Manchester Ship Canal ("Tug-of-War")... twice ("Ship Ahoy!"), stranded the crew in Gotland on a planned trip to Scotland ("Over the Sea to Rosyth"), and mistaken Shanklin — Isle of Wight, just off England — for Shanghai ("Sir Willoughby at Shanghai") amongst other blunders, such as his instructions at the beginning of "The Master of Sardinia":
    Sub-Lieutenant Phillips: Assuming that we're not going down a one-way channel... and allowing for a nor'easterly up our Faroes — they're the people who live next door to the Cromarties. They often play Whist together. Not the Egyptian Pharaohs, because they're dead anyway. Now... now, if we hoist over our fast nets, I reckon that, um... I reckon that Portsmouth should be that way, or that way, or that way, but definitely not that way, 'cos that's where we've just come from. So, what we need now is a little touch of the old, um... left hand down a bit...
    CPO Pertwee: Left 'and down a bit — eventually — it is, sir!
    Commander Murray: The awful thing is, he calls this "navigation".
    Sub-Lieutenant Phillips: If you think you can do better, sail on! See if I care!
    Commander Murray: No, no, no, no! I hate to interfere! The only thing that baffles me is how you know that Sardinia is behind us, and why we're not sailing that way?
  • Offscreen Moment of Awesome: After the Troutbridge crew end up with what they believe to be a Sea Mine tangled in a tennis net fouling their propellers in "The Radio Beacon", it is Able Seaman Ginger of all people who valiantly dives over the side, frees the propellers, and helps get the mine stowed aboard. Unfortunately, we only get Mr. Phillips' recollection of Ginger's heroics.
  • Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Jon Pertwee slips into Pertwee's usual Cockney a few times while playing the German CPO in "Germany's Troutbridge".
  • Out of Focus:
    • Once the series was relocated to Portsmouth in Series 3, Ginger went from appearing as much as his fellow Able Seaman, Goldstein, to practically vanishing from the series. Despite this, almost every series until the end managed to have at least one appearance or mention of good old Ginger.
    • The Potarneyland natives had been recurring characters during the first few series, but from Series 5 onwards would only appear once or twice a series. This was due to information from The BBC Transcription Services that it was hard to sell episodes featuring such stereotypical characters to overseas stations.
    • After Commander Stanton was transferred to Makepeace in The TV Lark, his airtime dropped off significantly in Series 6. Afterwards, he had one final line of dialogue in Series 7's "The Poveys Move House" before disappearing for good.
    • A stock plot from Series 2 to 4 involved Troutbridge transporting Sir Willoughby and Lady Todhunter-Brown from one new job assignment to another. As Heather Chasen wasn't in Series 5, Lady Todhunter-Brown couldn't be used, so Sir Willoughby was also ignored in that series. The couple made their return in Series 6's "The Submerged Island", but from this point on, the pair barely appeared, with Sir Willoughby popping up once or twice each series, while Lady Todhunter-Brown would be lucky to appear Once a Season, even missing Series 9 and 11 completely. The Todhunter-Browns then made one final insignificant appearance in Series 14’s "Povey — An Admiral at Last", sadly only appearing during the pre-episode introduction.
    • A side effect of the Padre becoming Michael Bates' most frequently used character in Series 7 was that his previous, Lieutenant Bates, quickly became irrelevant (only appearing in "Making a Right Pig's Breakfast" and "Going On Leave to Croydon", as well as a final surprise return in Series 10's "Troutbridge Electrifies Portsmouth").
    • When Admiral Ffont-Bittocks was introduced in Series 7, he was given Flag Lieutenant Dingle as a Bumbling Sidekick, who would accompany the Admiral and annoy him with his Motor Mouth and Yes-Man tendencies. However, halfway through Series 10, Rear Admiral Ironbridge (the second-in-command of the previous Admiral) was suddenly revealed to be back in the Navy in "The Radio Beacon", meaning the Flag Lieutenant was dropped without any fanfare. Dingle wasn't quite gone for good however, finally making a comeback in the last few episodes of Series 11, before making one final brief appearance early in Series 12 (in "Impressions for Survival"), and disappearing for good after.
    • While her relevance to the episode's plots had begun declining as early as Series 10, Heather was left out of nearly all of Series 13! To make matters worse, her only appearance in Series 14 was during the pre-episode introduction for "Bungled in the Rattle" (as Series 14 followed a Story Arc of Troutbridge going around the world as part of a goodwill mission, Heather was sadly left behind at Portsmouth). Series 15 returned Heather to Series 10's level of importance, but not for long, as halfway through the series in "Sidney and the Stamp", Heather was unceremoniously Put on a Bus and replaced with Samantha.
    • The Padre himself started to see a decline in appearances starting in Series 12. By Series 15, he only appeared in two episodes ("Helen, The New Wren" and "Officers and Gents' Lib") out of eleven!
  • Out-of-Genre Experience: Series 4's "Spy Catching in Casablanca" has a very different tone to the rest of the series. It plays out as a more serious smuggling drama/spy thriller with the Troutbridge crew lingering around as comic relief.
  • Overranked Soldier: Sub-Lieutenant Phillips is both improbably old for a Sub-Lieutenant (which is the lowest active service officer rank) and improbably incompetent to hold a rank at all, having done more damage to the Royal Navy than both world wars. Rule of Funny is in effect.
  • Paranormal Episode: In "The Phenomenal Pertwee Tug", the Troutbridge crew are sent to investigate strange glowing objects reported by the Needles Lighthouse, unaware that the "strange glowing object" is just Nunkie and his tatty old tug.
  • Pirate Episode: "Long Jonathan Pertwee" has CPO Pertwee tell Johnson the story of his pirate ancestor, Long Jonathan Pertwee, and how he got the better of the Royal Navy after Captain Povey proposes compulsory PT sessions every morning at six.
  • The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything:
    • Troubridge's first three Commanding Officers never seem to do any of their duties involved with captaining the ship:
      • Lieutenant Commander Stanton is rarely on the Bridge, more often than not he'll be found fishing off the stern.
      • Commander Bell doesn't seem to be able to find the Bridge most days owing to his incompetence.
      • Commander Trotter is almost always stuck in the toilet on voyages as he suffers from seasickness.
    • Lieutenant Queeg is similar to Mr. Phillips in that they are both totally unqualified for their positions aboard Troutbridge. The difference, however, is that while Mr. Phillips tries his hardest as a navigator, Lieutenant Queeg never does anything as an engineering officer. Whenever he is called from the Bridge to do something, he claims that he doesn't know how the "mechanical gubbins or whatever they are" work and that the lad who does has just eaten something bad and is unable to do it for him. In "The Digital Isles Go Unstable", he explains this was because he joined the Navy as an accountant and ended up stuck in a position that he was unsuitable for — the same excuse his brief replacement Lieutenant Sharp had in "Stranded".
  • Pity the Kidnapper: In "The USA Navigator Swap", Mr. Phillips is kidnapped by The Master and ends up aboard the brand-new Forbodian warship, the Boris Badenov. After one afternoon of his navigation, the Forbodians beg Troutbridge to take him back.
  • Porky Pig Pronunciation: Commander Wetherby, head of Naval Security, has a stutter so severe he can't seem to finish a single sentence in less than a minute. It's believed that he's head of Security, as by the time he'd finished giving away secrets to a foreign power, they'd be out of date. Wetherby himself is irritated by his stutter, and often cuts himself off with something shorter and easier to say if he's taking too long, such as in "CPO Pertwee Climbs Up the Promotion Ladder":
    Commander Wetherby: Ah, how-how-how-how-how-imbr-how-how-how-how delighted, ah, delight-imbr-delight-delighted to uh... Yes, I-I-imbr-I-I-imbr-I'm delighted. Delighted to make your acquain-quain-thur-acquain-quain-thur-acquain-uh-imbr-acquain-acquainta-tan-tan-imbr-acquainta-tan-tan-tan... Oh, to hell with it — wotcha.
  • Pretty in Mink: Ramona isn't impressed after seeing loads of pictures of lovely German actress Frieda in mink coats in "The TV Documentary":
    Captain Povey: It's the TV Watchers Weekly. I got it because of this documentary film we're making aboard Troutbridge.
    Ramona: I know why you got it, all right. Look at it! Page after page of half-dressed pictures of that German harpy, Frieda somebody or other. I mean look at that for a start!
    Captain Povey: But she's wearing a mink coat?
    Ramona: Exactly! We can all guess how she got that! I could've had a wardrobe full of mink coats, anytime, if I'd been prepared to divulge my anatomy to the public gaze.
    Captain Povey: You wouldn't have made a second-hand rabbit...
  • Punny Name:
    • In "Captain Povey's Wig", Commander Murray introduces the crew to a game called "Mixed-Up Marriages" where you take a famous girl's Christian name and put it with a famous chap's surname and get a funny answer. Here are some of the highlights:
      • Tuesday Weld marries David Knight and becomes Tuesday Knight ("Tuesday night").
      • Annie Ross marries John Laurie and becomes Annie Laurie (an old Scottish song).
      • Winnie Shaw marries Lot and becomes Winnie Lot ("win a lot").
      • Chelsea Brown marries Lloyd Bridges and becomes Chelsea Bridges (a bridge over the River Thames).
      • Catherine Parr marries Charles Lamb and becomes a Parr-Lamb (a horse).
      • Dinah Sheridan marries Robert Shaw and becomes a prehistoric Dinah Shaw ("dinosaur").
      • Goldie Hawn marries Tony Lock and becomes Goldie Lock (Goldilocks).
      • Honor Blackman marries Richard Todd and becomes Honor Todd ("on her tod").
      • Queen Victoria marries Mark Twain and becomes Victoria Twain (a nod to London Victoria Station).
      • The daughter of King William of Orange marries Robert Peel and becomes Orange Peel (fruit rind).
      • Susan Hayward marries Edward Heath and becomes a Hayward-Heath (a town in West Sussex).
      • Cigarette marries Sydney Box and becomes Cigarette Box (where cigarettes are stored).
      • Barbara Windsor marries Roy Castle and becomes a Windsor-Castle (a castle in Berkshire). Alternatively, she becomes Barbara Castle (a British Labour Party politician).
      • Fanny Craddock marries Graham Hill and becomes Fanny Hill (Fanny Hill).
      • Glynis Johns marries Bill Pertwee and becomes a Johns-Pertwee (Jon Pertwee).
      • Robert Stephens marries Barbara Murray and she becomes a Stephens-Murray (Stephen Murray).
      • Leslie Caron marries Sid Phillips and becomes Leslie Phillips (Leslie Phillips).
    • "Mixed-Up Marriages" is played again in "The Talpinium Shell" with a whole slew of new couples:
      • Queen Victoria marries Danny Street and becomes Victoria Street (a street in London).
      • Cyd Charisse marries Henry James and becomes Cyd James (Sid James).
      • Una Stubbs marries Doctor Who in secret and becomes "Shh!" Una Who ("you know who").
      • Sonny Liston marries Doris Day and becomes Sonny Day ("sunny day") — Commander Murray tells off the Padre for cheating by giving the names the wrong way round.
      • Ella Fitzgerald marries U Thant and becomes Ella Thant ("elephant").
      • Belle Starr marries Ted Tinling and becomes "a Belle that had gone ting-a-ling" (the onomatopoeia for a bell's ringing).
  • Put on a Bus:
    • The first Number One (Lieutenant Price) is put on loan to the US Navy between Series 1 and 2. He returns briefly to fill in for Mr. Phillips in Series 4's "A Hole Lieutenant".
    • "Mount Pot Erupts" introduced the new British ambassador to Portarneyland, Sir Frederick Flatley; his wife, Lady Alice Flatley; and her maid, 'Ackett. In the next appearance of Portarneyland, "The Return of Sir Frederick Flatley", Sir Frederick and his lot were urgently recalled to England and never appeared again, leaving Portarneyland without an ambassador. Another ambassador is mentioned in "The Portarneyland Election", but we don't find out if it is once more Sir Fred. By "The Submerged Island", the job had gone to Sir Willoughby.
    • In "Z Ambulances", Mr. Murray's mention of Compact leads to Mr. Phillips and Mr. Pertwee discussing actors being written out of their series:
      Mr. Murray: No, Compact.
      Mr. Phillips: Yes, yes, that-that's the one where, where the characters get promoted or, or receive fabulous offers to go to America, or suddenly get the chance to rejoin their husbands in Tibet.
      Mr. Pertwee: Yeah, that's right, an' the actor in that part knows that after the next episode, 'e'll be currently appearin' at the labour exchange.
      Mr. Phillips: Again.
    • As Ronnie Barker left following Series 9, it was unknown happened to his characters from the start of Series 10 onwards. This didn't apply to Commander Bell, when four episodes into the new run (in "Commander Trotter Takes Charge") it was discovered that he was missing from Troutbridge. After Pertwee started up the conspiracy theories that he had been abducted by the Russians, Mr. Murray set the record straight, explaining that he had been granted compassionate leave to visit a relative in Scunthorpe and would be gone for some time.
    • After filling the role of Troutbridge's Captain in Series 10, Commander Trotter was written out in the first episode of Series 11, "Commander Murray and the Squatters", with the explanation that he was recalled to Whitehall for special duties — Captain Povey jokes that it's to make the tea.
    • Sometime between "Troutbridge in Quarantine" and "Stranded", Lieutenant Queeg left the Troutbridge crew and was replaced by Lieutenant Sharp. While we never learn where Queeg went, it just managed to avoid being a case of Chuck Cunningham Syndrome, as Mr. Phillips recalled that Queeg was nothing like Mr. Sharp.
    • In "Sidney and the Stamp", Heather is sent away on a temporary course that may lead to promotion, and for the rest of Series 15, her job is filled by Samantha.
  • Rank Up:
    • The Series 3 opener, "In Portsmouth for a Re-Fit", has Commander Povey promoted to Captain.
    • After saving the day in "Onabushkan Flu", Able Seaman Goldstein was promised a promotion to Leading Seaman. After Mr. Murray made no moves towards granting his promotion for a few episodes, Goldstein ended up promoted to Commodore in "Commodore Goldstein". In the end, his promotion to Commodore was revealed to have been a mistake, but Goldstein did get his much-deserved rank of Leading Seaman in the next series' "Leading Seaman Goldstein's Party"... just in time for him to start demanding he now wanted to be a Petty Officer.
    • Lieutenant Commander Stanton didn't return as a regular for The TV Lark, but did pop up in "Back to Portsmouth". Stanton had been the only member of the Troutbridge crew not demobbed out of the Navy, but instead, he had been promoted to Commander and stationed aboard the destroyer Makepeace.
    • Sometime between "The Portarneyland Training Exercise" and "Picking up the Poppadom", Harold Golfball of the Portarneyland Navy went from a Lieutenant Managing Director to an Admirable Managing Director.
    • After Commander Trotter has been recalled to Whitehall in "Commander Murray and the Squatters", Lieutenant Murray is promoted to Lieutenant Commander and made Captain of Troutbridge. However, rather than also promote Sub-Lieutenant Phillips to Number One and CPO Pertwee to Sub-Lieutenant, Captain Povey decides to have Commander Murray act out the roles of both a Number One and a Captain.
  • Read the Map Upside Down: One of the many, many navigational blunders involving Mr. Phillips involved him reading the map upside down, backwards, or, in some cases, entirely fictional maps, although the other cast members highlight that his reading it the right way up would hardly make a difference.
  • Reassigned to Antarctica:
  • Refuge in Audacity:
    • CPO Pertwee's plans usually end up revolving around refuges in audacity to varying degrees:
      • In "Number One's Chair", Pertwee explains that the secret to scamming the Navy out of money is never to indent one of anything unless it is a battleship. If you need one special luxury chair, order half a dozen. He ends up inadvertently requisitioning every chair in the Navy, including the First Sea Lord's chair before Lieutenant Price puts a stop to it.
      • In "Johnson's Diet", he gets Commander Povey to believe is selling Troutbridge to derail his plans to get the entire crew Reassigned to Antarctica, as thanks to a clerical error in Commander Bracewell's records, the Royal Navy have no actual record that they own Troutbridge — with no ship, Commander Povey reasons that he can get the entire crew of thorns in his side reassigned to whatever far-flung hellhole was the furthest distance from him. When Commander Povey's plans to throw the book at Pertwee fail (since the ship wasn't techically Navy property at the time, Pertwee couldn't be charged with selling a Frigate at an auction), Pertwee tricks Old Thunderguts into outbidding everyone at the auction, an auction otherwise completely composed of Pertwee's relatives. After Commander Povey wins, he then finds out what he'd actually bought — the "veteran, ex-naval vessel" in the advertisement was actually Nunkie's old tug, who demands Commander Povey pay up. When he refuses, Pertwee has him over a barrel because not paying lawful debts is conduct unbecoming of an officer!
    • Lieutenant Price himself dabbled in a refuge in audacity in "Number One's Chair" with his "Not Received file", in which he sticks every signal from Portsmouth that he'd rather not obey and doesn't intend to reply to. The sender eventually gets transferred, promoted, retires, or just plain gives up long before the Number One does. In the rare instances it doesn't work, Lieutenant Price will then send a top-priority, double-urgent, angry memo demanding to know why the sender hasn't responded to his questions (which he hasn't sent) about said orders. That generally shuts them up in embarrassment, and he hears no more about it.
  • Reluctant Retiree: Captain Povey tries to have Mr. Murray made redundant on grounds of age in "The Redundancy Drive". Unfortunately for Old Thunderguts, Mr. Murray and Mr. Phillips manage to successfully appeal, with the kicker being that if Captain Povey wants to make Mr. Murray redundant, then he himself would end up redundant on account of his age too.
  • The Remnant:
    • In "Going Dutch", Troutbridge ends up in Holland, where the crew discovers a U-boat full of Nazis who are unaware that they had lost World War II. As the episode aired in 1959, fourteen years after the war had ended, the question was raised of how they managed to get supplies for that long, which was revealed to be Ingeborg Pertwee, yet another member of the Pertwee family.
    • On the other side of the war is Charlie and Martha Granthemum from "The Cornish Exercise", a Cornish couple who refuse to believe the war is over until told by Neville Chamberlain. During a Naval exercise, they mistake Mr. Phillips and the rest of the Troutbridge crew for Adolf Hitler and other high-ranking Nazis, so they imprison the lot of them in their larder.
  • Retcon:
    • "Opening Night", the first episode of The TV Lark, established that the Troutbridge crew had all been thrown out of the Navy, leading to their employment by T-tv. However, by "Back in Portsmouth" only a few episodes later, the production team was stated to merely be on "demob leave", setting things up for their return to the Navy in "Back in the Navy".
    • "Mr Murray is Victimised" dropped the bombshell that Admiral Ffont-Bittocks was Mr. Murray's godfather, which the Troutbridge crew used to get one over on Captain Povey. This tidbit was never mentioned again (not even when Commander Murray starts going out with the Admiral's daughter Rita in "The Security Clampdown"), possibly as using the Admiral as a quick fix to get out of any trouble would have become repetitive fast.
    • While Series 1 had a different, never-seen navigator mentioned in "The Fairground Lights" and "Stuck Up the Inlet" before Mr. Phillips took the position full-time, Series 9's "When Sub-Lt Phillips Was at Dartmouth" later states that Mr. Phillips was sent to the Troutbridge crew to be their navigator as soon as his time at Dartmouth was up.
  • Retool:
    • From Series 3 onward, the Troutbridge lot were relocated from the Island to Portsmouth. The episodes that followed had a lot more emphasis on their antics at sea, rather than their adventures and dropped clangers mostly being landlocked.
    • By 1963, The BBC thought forces-based humour was becoming dated, so what should have been Series 5 became The TV Lark, in which the entire main cast is cashiered from the Navy and start working for Troutbridge Television. This was so unpopular with listeners that it didn't even last a whole series; by the tenth episode, "Back in the Navy", they learn their demobbing was a scheme set in motion by a certain Commander Tobias Pertwee, meaning they never left the Navy after all, and the following episode, "First Day out of Dock", sees the series once more called The Navy Lark.
  • Riddle for the Ages: In "Commander Trotter Takes Charge", Commander Trotter mentions he was reassigned to Troutbridge for two reasons. One was for losing all of Troutbridge's accident report forms and claims, while the other is never revealed, much to Pertwee's frustration.
  • Right in Front of Me: In "The Portsmouth Kiosk", Goldstein doesn't realise he's on the phone with Captain Povey and calls him "Old Thunderguts" without a second thought:
    Goldstein: Starboard Lookout an' temporary blower answerer 'ere. Leadin' Seaman Goldstein chattin'. What's up, then?
    Captain Povey: Goldstein, this is Captain Povey.
    Goldstein: Ah-he-he-he-he-hee, get away. Never in a million years. I know 'oo that is. Is you, Chief. I'd recognise your impersonation of Old Thunderguts anywhere.
    Captain Povey: Goldstein!
    Goldstein: Ah, it's very good, but you don't go off bang enough.
    Captain Povey: Goldstein, this is "Old Thunderg...", this is Captain Povey!
    Goldstein: (Beat) Is it? Well, in that case, this is Chief Petty Officer Pertwee doin' an impersonation of Leadin' Seaman Goldstein... 'oo wishes he was dead.
  • Right Through the Wall: As shown in "Operation Recovery", while Commander Murray and Rita are sharing a home with her parents, she refuses to do any bedroom activities with him because the bed springs squeak and her parents will hear them. Commander Murray's frustration levels are not helped when he puts his back out attempting to fix the bed and Mr. Phillips assumes he put it out doing something dirty.
  • Ripped from the Headlines:
    • "Mount Pot Erupts" (which was recorded in November 1961) revolved around the evacuation of Portarneyland — based on the evacuation of the island of Tristan de Cunha that had occurred in October that same year. For this reason, it was 👁 This example contains a TRIVIA entry. It should be moved to the TRIVIA tab.
      held back a month after the airdate of "Cine Cameras at Sea", which was recorded on the same day.
    • "Wren Chasen Returns" has a Running Gag of Pertwee being blamed for the Great Train Robbery, which by the time of recording and transmission, had only happened a month prior.
  • Salvage Pirates: In "The Lighthouse Lark", Pertwee and Johnson become stranded at Clodwilly Rock Lighthouse, so Pertwee tries to use this as an opportunity to lure ships onto the rocks and loot them.
  • Scatterbrained Senior: Vice Admiral "Burbly" Burwasher takes the biscuit, the set of chunky tumblers, and the collection of World Cup medal coins with two Bobby Moores and still no Bobby Charlton. He never stops talking to himself and spends most of his time wondering when he should buy petrol.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here!:
    • In "Stormy Weather", Johnson delivers a signal to the Bridge from the Admiral demanding that Troutbridge braves the big storm to come and collect him and his party of Naval top brass. Just before Mr. Phillips starts his navigating, Johnson tells his superiors that he knows what's going to happen and is going back below deck. Pertwee shouts out "Coward!" as he retreats.
    • In "The Hovercraft Training Course", Mr. Murray, Mr. Phillips, and Pertwee are sent on a course to learn to drive a hovercraft, which is run by Commander Ward and Able Seaman Stonehouse, who know of the Troutbridge crew's reputation for crashes and dropped clangers. Once the trio are in the hovercraft, Pertwee remarks that Commander Ward is pretty nippy — after all, he's never seen anyone clear an eight-foot fence from a standing jump before. Mr. Murray is impressed that he was still able to "run like fun" afterwards, to which Mr. Phillips theorises that he was trying to catch up with Able Seaman Stonehouse.
  • Sealed Orders: In "The Bungalese Spies", Troutbridge sets out with sealed orders from the Admiral about rescuing the Right Royal Prince of Kwazikhyber that are only to be opened at a specific coordinate. As Mr. Phillips' navigation can't pinpoint precision for love nor money, they open them in the middle of open water, luckily not too far from their designated rendezvous point.
  • Sea Mine:
    • In "The Multiple Mines", Johnson and Ginger get drunk and chuck an old, decommissioned mine used as a coinbox for the Royal Lifeboat Service into the ocean, requiring Troutbridge to hunt for the mine, unaware that a real mine is in the ocean at the same time.
    • The Troutbridge crew accidentally comes across a sea mine during their hunt for a marker buoy in "The Morning After".
    • Goldstein mistakenly spots a mine during "Families' Day" after Pertwee raffles away his binoculars and bifocal glasses. Only after Troutbridge runs aground, does Mr. Murray realise it was the buoy marking the sandbank they've stuck on.
    • During the filming of Muck Mates in "Cine Cameras at Sea", a rubber sea mine is used for star Felicity May Hope to sit on in her scenes, until Rear Admiral Ironbridge catches wind of this and calls up Captain Povey to have it disposed of. Old Thunderguts sends Troutbridge to deal with it, and despite already knowing it is rubber, the crew manages to pop it. Before the Muck Mates production team notices, they put a real sea mine in its place. The shoot goes according to plan, despite Felicity complaining about how cold it was, until they realise Mr. Phillips left it behind after the shoot wrapped. Felicity then lets slip that she heard a ticking noise after she twiddled "that metal thing", leading to an inevitable BOOM!
    • While filming Ship Ahoy! aboard an old minesweeper in "Ship Ahoy!", Mr. Phillips gets them stuck in the Manchester Ship Canal. After this happens, Janet warns the others that the "big fat round thing onboard" has started ticking. Once they realise what it is, Nunkie arrives to tow the minesweeper out to open sea so they can throw it overboard, only for Nunkie to try and take the mine for himself to sell for scrap. Luckily, the production crew warns him off just in time before the mine explodes.
    • In "The Radio Beacon", Nunkie goes trawling and catches what at first is assumed to be a mine, mistaking it for a whale. A report from Commander Wetherby later reveals said "mine" to be a homing device for a Home Fleet exercise.
    • One of the phony orders Pertwee tricks Captain Povey into following in "CPO Pertwee's Long Service Medal" is to get in a children's paddle boat and paddle around Gosport Park searching for an unexploded mine. Obviously, there is no mine for Old Thunderguts to find, but Pertwee has some fun lighting two Whizz Bang fireworks from behind a tree and giving him a nasty turn.
  • Second Episode Introduction: Able Seaman Ginger was in the Pilot, "Operation Fag End", but not the second episode, "The Missing Jeep". However, the two episodes were aired 👁 This example contains a TRIVIA entry. It should be moved to the TRIVIA tab.
    Out of Order, meaning Ginger was retroactively introduced in the second episode.
  • Second Episode Substitute: As the Pilot, "Operation Fag End", was the only episode to include Wren Joyce, it wouldn't be until the next episode, "The Missing Jeep", which brought in the much better remembered Wren Chasen. However, these two episodes were aired 👁 This example contains a TRIVIA entry. It should be moved to the TRIVIA tab.
    Out of Order, meaning that "Operation Fag End" being aired second meant Joyce became a substitute for Heather before succumbing to Chuck Cunningham Syndrome.
  • Series Continuity Error:
    • The Pilot, "Operation Fag End", establishes that Lieutenant Commander Stanton has a side hustle supplying the fish for the Jubilee Fish Café but in "Tug-of-War" from Series 2, he is horrified by the idea of Mr. Phillips eating fish.
    • When Lieutenant Price briefly returns in "A Hole Lieutenant", Pertwee is horrified by the idea of him starting up the Unit Comfort Fund again, despite the fact that Mr. Murray had already started it back up in "Strike Up the Band".
    • In "Stuck on a Sandbank", Johnson complains that Pertwee has tagged along with him without being invited the last eight times they've gone on leave. Despite that, three leaves ago in "The Portarneyland Fishing Limit", Pertwee actually was invited by Fatso.
    • Heather mentions in "Just the Ticket" (aired in 1966) that she's been listening to Mr. Phillips for eight years, which would be 1958... even though she first met him in "The Missing Jeep", which aired in 1959.
    • Heather tells Captain Povey in "Off to Sea at Last" that she was six in 1939, giving her a birth year of 1933 and a current age of 33. However, Heather mentioned she was 23 during her introduction to Mr. Phillips in "The Missing Jeep", which means she would've been born in 1936 and (going by her birthdays in "The Comfort Fund" and "Mr Phillips Gets Engaged") should now be 31.
    • Mr. Phillips' time at Dartmouth is the topic of the Whole Episode Flashback "When Sub-Lt Phillips Was at Dartmouth" from Series 9... contradicting what Mr. Phillips himself said in Series 3's "Mr Phillips Has Navigation Tuition" that he never went to his navigation course due to sickness. Later on, in Series 15's "Relief for Station 150", this is once more contradicted when Mr. Phillips claims that after three years on the course at Dartmouth, he passed out with flying colours... at Biggin Hill, an RAF Station.
    • Mr. Phillips recalls in "The Anniversary and the Washing" that he and Pertwee have known Commander Murray for the last twelve years. As the episode aired in 1970, that would mean they met him in 1958... one year before his introduction in "New at the Helm".
    • Mr. Phillips and Pertwee find out Commander Murray's Embarrassing Middle Name is "Butterfield" in "Number One Gets Married"... forgetting they had already learned that back in "Open Day".
    • The first series' "The Comfort Fund" gives Mr. Phillips' age as 33, and "When Sub-Lt Phillips Was at Dartmouth" revealed that he started at Dartmouth at 18, and after four years, passed as a Navigation Officer and straight onto service aboard Troutbridge. However, in "Sub-Lt Phillips to Leave for Dartmouth", Mr. Phillips says he was in the class of '59, meaning he joined Troutbridge the same year the series began and been 22 at the time — 11 years too young for Series 1!
    • Mr. Phillips claims to have never been to Shanghai in "Sir Willoughby at Shanghai", despite visiting only one series prior in "What is the SSE?".
    • Commander Wetherby has no idea who Captain Atcheson is in "Friday the 13th", even though from Series 8-11, Captain Atcheson was a member of a board of inquiry with him, where they interacted frequently. It was also established in "When Sub-Lt Phillips Was at Dartmouth" that they had been working together since at least the late '50s, making Commander Wetherby forgetting his colleague even more of a headscratcher.
    • While Ramona is unconscious in "The Montezula Revolution", Captain Povey claims it's the first time she's had her big mouth shut in 38 years, which would be 1937. This contradicts "Are Captain and Mrs Povey Married?" which saw the Poveys celebrate their fifteenth wedding anniversary — this happening in 1961 means they would have been married in 1946.
    • In Series 4, we met Ramona's "dear sister", the equally ghastly Valentina, while the Series 9 episode "Cuthbert Joins the Navy" showed off Ramona's rude nephew, Cuthbert Spinks — presumably Valentina's son. Despite this, in Series 14's "Povey — An Admiral at Last", Captain Povey gets ready to meet Ramona's sister again... a certain Clarissa Lumley, who is very obviously a different character to Valentina (Valentina lives in England and is voiced by Judy Cornwell, Clarissa lives in Singapore and is voiced by Heather Chasen).
    • After announcer Barri Haynes says the word "game" during the introduction for "Captain Povey's Wig", Commander Murray claims he's been waiting fourteen years to hear that word during an opening announcement, despite the fact Haynes used the word only a few episodes earlier in "Bunged in the Rattle". Similarly, "games" was uttered in "The Mickey Mouse Toothbrush" and "The Put-a-Horse-out-to-Graze Fund", and "gamekeeper" in "The New NAAFI".
    • The late Admiral Sir Benjamin Troutbridge is given a birth year of 1741 early on in "Johnson's Birthday", which, being transmitted in 1960, means that he was born 219 years ago. However, thirteen years later in "The Brain Pill", Admiral Troutbridge's 225th birthday is celebrated, when by this point in time it should be his 232nd instead.
    • In "Helen, The New Wren", Commander Murray claims that he and Rita live with her father, Admiral Ffont-Bittocks, despite the fact that they moved out into the house next to the Poveys back in "Number One's Married Quarters".
    • The Troutbridge crew and Commander Wetherby seem to be unfamiliar with each other in "The Jubilee Navy Lark", despite the fact that they had been meeting frequently since Series 8.
  • Servile Snarker:
    • Leading Seaman Goldstein makes a point of snidely pointing out every mistake the Bridge crew makes and talking endlessly about how Wales is superior to England to the majority-English senior staff.
    • Wren Chasen takes delight in pointing out the idiocy of the Royal Navy to everyone senior to her, especially Captain Povey, whom she directly reports to.
  • The Show Must Go Wrong: Throughout The TV Lark, every broadcast attempted by T-tv ends up as a dismal failure:
    • In "Opening Night", the transmitting van has an accident with a train down at Twigley Minor, leading to Johnson having to link to all the other channels all by himself, which causes the control panel to explode.
    • In "The Prestige Show", the first episode of Head-On Challenge ends in a punch-up between host Bernard Yeast and guest Sir Jimson Whittaker-Smythe, followed by the two cameras crashing into one another. To make matters worse, the next day it is discovered that the broadcast never went to air, but instead, T-tv aired thirty minutes of content from The BBC over the ITV network thanks to a certain drunken Mr. Pertwee's Alcohol-Induced Idiocy.
    • In "Z Ambulances", Mr. Bates joins T-tv on the design team but designs the hospital ward set for Z Ambulances with four walls and no way to get a camera inside. With mere minutes to broadcast, Goldstein is trapped inside the set without his camera, so Johnson is sent up on the camera crane to try to film from above. Unfortunately, the crane can't lift Fatso and gets stuck, with his and Mr. Pertwee's arguing getting picked up by the microphone. The studio's power booster is then turned on, causing the crane to spring into life and shoot Johnson through the roof, cutting the transmission after only a few seconds on the air. As a further insult to injury, no one remembers to free Goldstein from the set until the day after.
    • In "House of Commons", Sir Jimson Whittaker-Smythe's party political broadcast is interrupted by Mr. Phillips dressed as Guy Fawkes fleeing from a constable who thinks he is a ghost.
    • In "Back to Portsmouth", T-tv are tasked by the Admiral with covering the arrival of Field Martial Sir Mortimer Bullingham-Trench in Portsmouth. Commander Stanton takes the production team along in the destroyer Makepeace but forgets to let Admiralty know that it is now being crewed by civilians, so when the Field Martial and his wife are collected from the Empress of Portarneyland ocean liner, it is believed the T-tv lot are kidnapping them. After being fired at by the Home Fleet, things are cleared up and they all make it back to Portsmouth safely... just in time for Mr. Phillips to run Makepeace into the dock and send Goldstein's camera overboard.
    • In "On Safari", Mr. Phillips recalls last week's cookery class which none of the viewers could see because of all the smoke coming out of the oven. After this, Mr. Povey tells his production team that their viewership has been going up since they took over — everyone tunes in just to see when the inevitable clanger will be dropped.
  • Show Within a Show:
    • In "Cine Cameras at Sea", Troutbridge is used by Nigel Scott-Hanson to film a new naval TV series, Muck Mates.
    • In "Opening Night", Mr. Phillips mentions T-tv's Light Entertainment Department has a delectable little offering called The Fred "Let's Hear You Laughing, Ma" Fosdyke Show. Mr. Pertwee retches after hearing the title.
    • In "The Prestige Show":
      • Mr. Murray mentions seeing an advert after an episode of Handsome Dr. Killjoy.
      • Later in the episode, the production team starts production of Head-On Challenge, a frank interview series hosted by Bernard Yeast.
    • "Z Ambulances" sees the production of the titular Z Ambulances, a weekly serial that is to be a realistic take on a hospital drama, starring Alastair Scott-Hanson as Jock, one of the drivers.
    • In "On Safari", the production team joins Maggie and Arnold Crump in Africa to film Up the Creek with the Crumps — a nature program that shows more of the Crumps than the animals.
    • Starting in "Ship Ahoy!", Ironbridge (T-tv's new Director General) orders the production team to begin producing a Naval series — Ship Ahoy! with Jolly Jack. The series staggers on for a few episodes until "Back in the Navy", when an episode set at Admiralty Records drops the bombshell that the T-tv production team was never supposed to be on demob leave, presumably ending production.
  • Sickeningly Sweethearts: Sub-Lieutenant Phillips and Wren Chasen become insufferable when they finally get engaged in Series 4. At the start of Series 6, they fall out after Mr. Phillips ignored Heather for her entire posting to Scotland during the events of The TV Lark and Series 5, but they're back to their overly lovey ways by "Rescuing Admirals" — by this point, Pertwee responds with audible retching.
  • Sick Episode:
    • In "Mr Murray Goes Sick", Mr. Murray ends up stuck in sick bay after Lieutenant Commander Stanton thinks he looks green about the gills. While the Number One is away, Mr. Phillips takes charge, which goes to his head immediately, while Pertwee desperately tries to catch whatever Mr. Murray has so he can avoid a terrible posting.
    • In "Captain Povey Reports Sick", Captain Povey catches a cold, so Admiral Ffont-Bittocks has him sent home and makes Mr. Murray take over Old Thunderguts' usual work.
  • Signature Laugh:
    • Sub-Lieutenant Phillips' has a "silly-arse" laugh whenever he amuses himself.
    • Johnson has a deep giggle whenever he knows Pertwee's in the muck. As a result, it's earned him the nicknames "Giggle-Niggle" and "Giggle-Gurgle" from the annoyed CPO.
  • Sneeze Interruption: Captain Ignatius Aloysius Atcheson suffers from a tendency to sneeze himself through his sentences. He apologises for this in "Mr Phillips' Promotion":
    Captain Atcheson: Now then. Mr. Phillips, if you don't understand any of the... questions, I put you in my, uh... interrogation... it's because I'm suffering from a... vicious... attack of hay fever.
    Mr. Phillips: Thank you, sir. I had noticed.
    Captain Atcheson: Really? Well, it's most kind of you, Sub-Lieutenant! It's not often one meets people who appreciate... my... unfortunate... situation!
    Mr. Phillips: Th-that-that's not a "vicious attack", you're a one-man epidemic!
  • Soldiers at the Rear: In "Secret Mission to Calais", CPO Pertwee is horrified when he hears he may be promoted for helping to smuggle Fifi out of Calais. He quickly passes all the praise for his action to Commander Povey, knowing that if he weren't a Chief Petty Officer, he wouldn't be able to flog the goods from the Island Draft's stores.
  • Sound-Effect Bleep: Leading Seaman Riddle's constantly transmitted messages to himself to report to the Bridge cause quite a few conversations in "The TV Documentary" to be interrupted:
    Mr. Phillips: Oh, well, if that's the case, all I've got to say is—
    Leading Seaman Riddle: Leading Seaman Riddle, report to the Bridge. Leading Seaman Riddle, report to the Bridge.
    Mr. Phillips: —and that goes for your father, too.
  • Sound-to-Screen Adaptation: There was a film from 1959, but it replaced virtually all the voice cast (barring Leslie Phillips) with better-known film actors and is pretty much an In Name Only adaptation. According to Jon Pertwee's autobiography, the film production company wouldn't employ Dennis Price for the film because of his sexuality. Pertwee insisted that Price would join them for the film, only to be dropped alongside him.
  • Special Guest:
    • When former Series 1 star Dennis Price made a one-off return in "A Hole Lieutenant", he was given special mention in that episode's credits as "our old friend, Dennis Price".
    • "Pertwee and the Tratvian Beer", which was a Crossover with the Spin-Off series The Embassy Lark, gave special guest billing to Derek Francis and Frank Thornton, playing their Embassy Lark characters.
    • Thornton was once more given special billing at the start of "The Phenomenal Pertwee Tug", explaining he was filling in for an ill Jon Pertwee.
    • June Whitfield appeared in the Series 13 episodes "The TV Documentary" as Frieda and "Hypnotising Ramona" as Madam Elvira Pertwee; both times, the end credits mention "the ship's company gave a special welcome to June Whitfield". One series later, when she played the Mistress in "Captain Povey's Wig", announcer Barri Haynes gave her a special welcome at the end of the credits.
  • Speech Impediment:
    • CPO Pertwee has a habit-t-t-t of rolling his 't's, either when nervous or mocking.
    • Commander Wetherby has a nasty case of Porky Pig Pronunciation that makes it damn near im-imbr-imbr-imbr-imbr-imbr— Oh, to hell with it! Hard to have a conversation with him.
  • Spin-Off: The Embassy Lark and The Big Business Lark were spin-offs, of the "concepts" rather than "characters" type. The Embassy Lark had two Required Spin Off Crossover episodes called "National Grumpshog Week" (featuring Mr. Murray, Commander Bell, Johnson, a Potarneylander, and Able Seaman Tiddy) and "Sub-Lt Phillips Drops In" (featuring Mr. Phillips).
  • Springtime for Hitler: When Captain Povey needs a distraction to get away from his domineering mother-in-law, Mrs. Crump, in "A Deliberate Bashing", he orders the Troutbridge to let Sub-Lieutenant Phillips do what he does best, so that he would be compelled to go out and "investigate" (or rather, go out for a pint). The only snag is that somehow, Sub-Lieutenant Phillips is unable to crash into anything, missing the destroyer Makepeace 42 times and then avoiding a sandbank another 42 times. In the end, everything seems to work out for Old Thunderguts irregardless and Mrs. Crump comes down with the flu... just as Sub-Lieutenant Phillips finally crashes the ship, meaning no pints for Captain Povey.
  • Staircase Tumble: When Pertwee and Johnson get stranded at Clodwilly Rock Lighthouse in "The Lighthouse Lark", poor old Fatso takes a nasty tumble down the steep staircase. The CPO is actually worried for his fat friend for once until he realises Johnson is fine. Then, when the two have finally been reunited with the Troutbridge crew, Johnson takes another tumble on his last trip down.
  • Stopped Reading Too Soon:
    • Johnson enters a contest for a chance to win either a boat or a knitting machine in "Mutiny Aboard Troutbridge", much to the delight of Pertwee, who wants the boat for himself. It's only when Johnson wins the prize that Pertwee realises Johnson didn't read everything — the prize wasn't a boat... it was a boat trip!
    • In "The Redundancy Drive", Captain Povey's scheme to force Mr. Murray into retirement falls apart because he only read the front of his signal — there was information on how he could appeal on the back. Even worse, Admiral Ffont-Bittocks admits that he makes the same mistake constantly and only notices important information when he turns his papers over to use as a coaster.
  • Sucksessor: The Island Draft sees Commander Povey as a much worse higher-up to report to compared to Commander Shaw. Whereas the latter was always quickly scared into letting them get away with their bone idleness and petty schemes, Old Thunderguts proves a much tougher nut to crack and finds ways to make life hard for the Troutbridge crew in ways Commander Shaw could never have dreamt of.
  • Sudden Name Change:
    • Two characters introduced in Series 2 changed names soon after:
      • Sir Willoughby Todhunter-Brown was originally called "Sir Wilberforce Todhunter-Brown" when introduced in "Gunboat to Goomba".
      • Ramona Povey was "Millicent" only in her first appearance, "Strike Up the Band".
    • Series 3's "Refitting Ebenezer Pertwee" gives Nunkie's tatty old tug the name "HMS Pertwee". This name wouldn't be used again and starting in Series 8's "Just the Ticket", his tug would now be "Hortense".
  • Surprise Sibling: We meet Mr. Phillips' sister, Letita, in "Open Day", which is just as much of a surprise to the audience as it is to Mr. Murray, seeing as the only sibling of the Sub-Lieutenant previously known was Cedric, who appeared in "Families' Day".
  • Suspiciously Similar Substitute:
    • The Number One was changed from Lieutenant Price to Lieutenant Murray after Series 1. Over time, however, Mr. Murray became less like Mr. Price and was much easier going and ready to work with Mr. Phillips and Pertwee than Mr. Price ever could be.
    • Heather Chasen and Judy Cornwell weren't in The TV Lark and Series 5, which meant that their characters — sensible Heather Chasen, ditzy Judy Cornwell, and Captain Povey's bossy wife Ramona — were replaced with similar characters played by Janet Brown — sensible Janet Brown, ditzy Vera Timkins, and Ramona's equally overbearing mother Mrs. Crump.
    • Whenever Ronnie Barker was unavailable, Johnson wouldn't be included in a script, and instead, writer Lawrie Wyman 👁 This example contains a TRIVIA entry. It should be moved to the TRIVIA tab.
      voiced Able Seaman Tiddy, yet another dim Able Seaman who found himself working in the unglamorous position of Pertwee's Bumbling Sidekick. When Johnson succumbed to Chuck Cunningham Syndrome in Series 10, Tiddy became an Ascended Extra, now generally stationed in Troutbridge's W/T room.
    • In Series 8 and 9, Commander Wetherby, Captain Atcheson, and Captain Hardcastle had appeared in scenes at Admiralty as a comic trio — the former two playing the fools with the latter as the blunt, Northern Straight Man. After Barker left the series, Captain Hardcastle was replaced by Captain Ormanroyd in "The Redundancy Drive" and Captain Titchwell in "Pertwee Climbs Up the Promotion Ladder", both of whom acted just as Captain Hardcastle would have.
    • While Lord Quirk and Wren Simpkins didn't appear past Series 13, Series 14's "Operation Showcase" had One-Shot Characters Mr. Titchwell and Miss Feltbody. These two were also voiced by Stephen Murray and Chasen using the exact same voices, and Miss Feltbody used Wren Simpkins' Running Gag of answering a question with something sensual in a sexy, breathy voice before remembering where she was and snapping out of it.
  • The Tape Knew You Would Say That: In "The Figurehead", Commander Povey sends Troutbridge a signal that predicts how Mr. Murray will react to his order in advance:
    Goldstein: Starboard Lookout here again, sir. Another signal, sir.
    Mr. Murray: Mm, go ahead.
    Goldstein: Signal reads, "Frogmen 'ave cleared most of wreck. Fire depth charges to clear remainin' superstructure".
    Mr. Murray: "Depth charges"? Fancy Old Thunderguts letting us do that. He must have gone barmy.
    Goldstein: Signal continues, "I 'aven't gone barmy, I've no choice".
    Mr. Murray: Oh.
    Goldstein: Signal ends, sir.
  • The Teetotaler: Ramona refuses to drink, and she doesn't let Captain Povey drink in her presence either, such as during the Padre's party in "The Padre's Birthday":
    Ramona: Young man, alcohol never touches my lips.
  • Temporary Substitute:
    • While Sub-Lieutenant Phillips is being erroneously promoted through every rank of the Navy in "A Hole Lieutenant", Lieutenant Price is brought back aboard Troutbridge to fill the vacant position of Navigation Officer until Mr. Phillips is demoted back to a Sub-Lieutenant.
    • Able Seaman Tiddy fills Johnson's role as Pertwee's Bumbling Sidekick in "The Struggle for Promotion" during Pertwee's effort to get himself promoted as Fatso "won't have no truck with officers".
    • "Taking Some Liberties" sees Heather away from Portsmouth, with Wren Jan Waters filling in for her as Captain Povey's secretary. Naturally, Mr. Phillips instantly goes on the flirt, which ends in disaster when Heather returns at the end of the next episode, "Smugglers in the Solent", and catches him taking Jan out on a date.
    • As Pertwee is stuck in sick bay during "The Phenomenal Pertwee Tug", his cousin Nathaniel is sent aboard Troutbridge to fill in as Chief Petty Officer.
  • Tempting Fate: Commander Povey speaks too soon during yet another frustrating call from Intelligence in "Johnson's Diet":
    Intelligence: 'Ang on a tick. Commander Bracewell... wants a word.
    Commander Povey: "Hang on a tick"?! Well, I wonder he didn't call me "old man"!
    Commander Bracewell: Hello, old man.
  • Those Wacky Nazis: In "Going Dutch", Troutbridge manages to capture a straggler U-Boat from World War II. They'd been convinced the war was still on and were being resupplied by a certain Ingeborg Pertwee...
  • Token Minority: Goldstein is the only Welshman in the Troutbridge crew, a fact he never fails to find a chance to remind the "English oppressors" of.
  • Train Problem:
    • While struggling to read his charts in "Are Captain and Mrs Povey Married?", Mr. Phillips briefly thinks of a train problem:
      Mr. Phillips: And now then, um... latitude and, erm... ah... longi... w-whatever the other one is.
      Pertwee: "'Tude".
      Mr. Phillips: Thank you. Ah, ah, l-lon-lon-longitu-tude and um... a hundred and a... take away two, that leaves, um... ah, now double the number you first thought of, and... if, uh, two men empty a bath, it— No, no, erm... uh, a train travelling at— Cor!
    • While reading from his First Steps for a Young Navigator book in "A Deliberate Bashing", on page six, Mr. Phillips briefly reads out "There's a train from the north approaching a level crossing halfway" before he cuts himself off.
  • Treasure Hunt Episode:
    • In "Johnson's Birthday", Pertwee has the crew go back to the Island to try and find the late Admiral Troutbridge's buried treasure under the cover of darkness. In the end, it all ends up being a waste of time as when the treasure is found and the box is opened, all that is left is a letter that reads, "To whom it may concern, I'm not unduly perturbed by your predicament, Jack. I got here first. Signed, Anastasia Troutbridge, Mrs".
    • "The Tonipouhaha Treasure" has Troutbridge sent to Tonipouhaha to show the flag. Unfortunately for the Troutbridge lot, The Master's schemes and Mr. Phillips' bizarre imagination have them forced to look for buried treasure.
  • Trivial Title:
    • "Fatso's Box Brownie" refers to the camera Johnson gets for his birthday that he spends most of the start of the episode bothering everyone with. It quickly falls to the sideline though, and the rest of the episode revolves around Pertwee awaiting a delivery of Pierre's smuggled wine at the same time as a recruitment film is due to be shot.
    • "Johnson's Diet" is only the sub-plot of its episode — the main plot revolves around Commander Bracewell's reveal that the Royal Navy doesn't actually own Troutbridge, Commander Povey's attempts to have the crew split up, and Pertwee's scheme to drop Old Thunderguts in the muck with a fake auction.
    • Despite the title, the tug of war between Nunkie and the Manchester Ship Canal's tugman in "Tug-of-War" doesn't happen until the last third of the episode, and even then, that plot point is resolved almost as quick it comes up!
    • While "Johnson's Birthday" is set on Johnson's birthday, the bulk of the episode is about CPO Pertwee leading a hunt to find the late Admiral Troutbridge's treasure.
    • Although "Onabushkan Flu" is kickstarted by an outbreak of Onabushkan Flu sending most of Troutbridge's crew to the sick bay, the episode soon shifts gears to the arrival of Queen Jaratoga aboard the ship and the crew having to bust out of an Onabushkan prison.
    • "A Strange Hobby" refers to Lieutenant Bates flying a model aeroplane that runs on Johnson's oxtail soup. Despite this, that is only the opening scene — the rest of the episode has the crew trying to recreate Johnson's soupy fuel and using it to run Troutbridge.
  • Troubled Production: Happens In-Universe in The TV Lark:
    • In "On Safari", the T-tv production team heads out to Africa with Maggie and Arnold Crump to film an installment of Up the Creek with the Crumps, only for Mr. Phillips' "helpful" tips to the skipper to get them stuck on a sandbank. Nunkie turns up to rescue them, but Angus from the local trading post refuses to lose his salvage, and the two tugs rip the cruiser in half. After everyone swims for dry land, filming begins until a lion is spotted, and the Crumps scarper... until Mr. Murray realises the "lion" is just Mr. Phillips. Finally, on the flight home, Goldstein leaves the film tins too close to the plane's engines, causing the vibration to take the storage tins' lids off, ruining the picture, while the magnetic fields take out the sound. As a final last-ditch effort, the production team heads down to London Zoo to film the African animals in an attempt to fool Mr. Povey and Jervais Batsford Shaw... which obviously doesn't work.
    • In "Ship Ahoy!", the production team is tasked with filming the first episode of Ship Ahoy! aboard an old minesweeper on its way to the breakers' yard. In just a few hours, they find themselves stuck in the Manchester Ship Canal, reactivate a Sea Mine that had been left aboard, and get towed into the middle of a Home Fleet exercise where they get fired at.
    • In "The Portarneyland Election", the production team set off to Portarneyland to cover their first election, only for all their cameras and film to be nabbed by customs. To make matters worse, a revolution led by candidate Samuel Pepys Washington-Burt breaks out, and as Portarneyland is now under military law, the production team is all conscripted into the Portarneyland Navy to serve aboard the Poppadom. They only manage to escape Portarneyland thanks to the leader of the opposition, Mrs. Washington-Burt.
  • True Companions: Once Mr. Murray joins the Island Draft, he, Mr. Phillips, and Pertwee stick together no matter what Captain Povey and Admiralty throw at them, whereas Lieutenant Price was more willing to let Mr. Phillips and Pertwee take the fall for their misdeeds. It's telling that it was during Lieutenant Price's time as Number One that the four words most dreaded by CPO Pertwee were "the Unit Comfort Fund" — which was Lieutenant Price's way of relieving Pertwee of his ill-gotten gains or otherwise punishing him for his latest scheme. Pertwee thought those logbooks were lost for good, and it wasn't until mid-way through Series 2 (in "Strike Up the Band") that Mr. Murray used the fund, albeit far more sparingly, as a club to keep the Chief in line.
  • Tuckerisation:
    • HMS Troutbridge was named after the vessel HMS Troubridge (without the "t").
    • Marvin Ellis, the new head of Naval Expenditure from Series 12, was named after a Commander Mervin Ellis, who became a friend of Lawrie Wyman and suggested a few story ideas.
  • Two-Headed Coin: Sneaky CPO Pertwee has a two-headed penny he uses when he wants to trick others into paying for the next round of drinks. Johnson manages to beat him at his own game in "The New Barmaid", however, calling "heads" and then asking for a small scotch.
  • Unseen No More:
    • Before making his first appearance in Series 6's "Troutbridge's Party", the Padre was mentioned in Series 2's "The Charter Trip to Antarctica", when Mr. Phillips claims the Padre had some of the soupçon sauce in the Wardroom and it melted his tonsils.
    • Before their first appearances in Series 3's "Commodore Goldstein" and Series 4's "Are Captain and Mrs Povey Married?", Goldstein mentions his Aunt Morpeth and Uncle Edwin as early as Series 2's "The Portarneyland Fishing Limit" and Series 4's "Hijacked!", respectively.
    • In the Series 3 episode, "The Efficiency Expert", Ramona mentions a sister she spent the weekend with. In the following series' "Relatives and Reservations", we meet her — Valentina — when she comes to stay with the Poveys.
    • Captain Povey mentions his sister in the Series 3 finale, "The Surprise Wedding". Late into Series 4, we finally meet Clarissa when Ramona tries to marry her off to members of the Troutbridge crew in "The Invitation".
    • Episodes such as "Secret Mission to Calais" from Series 2 and "The Ship's Concert" from Series 4 had Ramona mention "m'dear mother", who finally appeared in the flesh in Series 5's "A Deliberate Bashing".
    • Admiral Ffont-Bittocks' wife is first mentioned in Series 9's "Frenchmen in J.41" when she is revealed to be Flag Lieutenant Dingle's aunt. We finally meet Netta in Series 11's "CPO Pertwee and the Lead Half Crowns" after she becomes Commander Murray's mother-in-law.
  • The Un-Smile: Captain Povey's smile is so rare and horrific that in "Relatives and Reservations", both Valentina and Captain Pettigreaves' first reaction to seeing it is to ask if he's been stuffed.
  • Verbal Tic:
    • Lieutenant Bates often quacks mid-sentence *QUACK* and always stretches the word "rather" into "raaaaaather".
    • The Padre tends to repeat his words in the manner of an Anglican hymn. An An-gli-can hymnnnnnnn!
    • Vice Admiral Buttenshaw constantly repeats the last syllable of his sentences-ces-ces-ces.
  • The Vicar: A member of the Troutbridge lot is the Padre, an amicable man of the cloth who often disapproves of the crew's deceitful and lecherous habits. He also tends to repeat the ends of his sentences, singing them in the style of an Anglican hymn.
  • Vocal Evolution:
    • Rear Admiral Ironbridge's voice lacked its gruff, scratchy sound when he was introduced in "Captain Povey's Spy". It was gruffer by "Humgrummits on the High Seas" and by "Are Captain and Mrs Povey Married?", it had reached the peak it would stay at for the rest of the series.
    • In The TV Lark, Vera started off as a Sexy Secretary with a smokey, sultry voice to match. Following her rapid transformation into a Brainless Beauty in "Z Ambulances", she now gained a ditzy Simpleton Voice.
    • When the Padre was introduced in Series 6, Michael Bates hadn't yet perfected his voice, and in his second appearance in "Rescuing Admirals", he gives him a stutter he has in no other episode.
    • Vice Admiral Buttenshaw had a different Verbal Tic at first, always repeating the last word of his sentences. It wasn't until his third appearance in "The Brick Smugglers" that it was changed to repeating the last syllable three times.
    • Rita was introduced in "The Security Clampdown" with a case of Elmuh Fudd Syndwome. This was gradually toned down over the rest of Series 11 and was completely gone by Series 12, with the exception of when she calls Commander Murray a "Wampaging Womeo" in Series 13's "Number One's Married Quarters".
    • Ramona's voice becomes noticeably deeper in Series 14.
    • Captain Atcheson's voice sounds meeker in Series 14. In "Operation Showcase", Bates seems to be doing the same voice for him that he uses for Vice Admiral Prout.
  • Wall of Locks: When getting drinks in "The Anniversary and the Washing", Commander Murray takes ages getting all the locks off the cocktail cabinet in his cabin. Once he's finished, Pertwee mutters, "At last, Ali Baba's cave is open".
  • Wedding Episode: "Number One Gets Married" has Commander Murray marry Rita, the daughter of Admiral Ffont-Bittocks.
  • Wedding Finale: Series 3's Season Finale, "The Surprise Wedding", sees Lieutenant Commander Stanton invite the rest of the crew to his last-minute wedding before they're all due for leave.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: At the end of Series 14's finale, "The Talpinium Shell", The Master, the Mistress, and their agents are all still on the loose after the test of the new talpinium shells blows up Troutbridge. However, we never find out what happens to them following this, as none of them returned for Series 15.
  • What the Hell Is That Accent?:
    • While Heather Chasen did splendidly in almost every voice she used over her long run in the series, it was the Welsh accent she had to use for Goldstein's Aunt Morpeth where she came unstuck. Despite Tenniel Evans training her on the tones, she still sounds noticeably off when she plays the character in "Commodore Goldstein", "Are Captain and Mrs Povey Married?", and "Getting Rid of Pertwee".
    • Ronnie Barker's German accent used for Herr Kapitan Glockenspiel in "Germany's Troutbridge" shifts more towards almost Swedish or Norwegian by the end of his scene.
  • Whole Episode Flashback: "When Sub-Lt Phillips Was at Dartmouth" recounts how Mr. Phillips got lost on his way to Sandhurst and landed at Dartmouth Naval College.
  • Who's on First?: In "The Police Drop In", the name of a certain Chief Detective Inspector Sharpe ("with an 'E'") causes confusion when he is introduced to Captain Povey:
    Admiral Ffont-Bittocks: Now, this civilian twit here with "copper" written all over him, is Chief Detective Inspector Sharpe.
    Chief Detective Inspector Sharpe: With an "E".
    Captain Povey: Oh.
    Chief Detective Inspector Sharpe: No, not "O". That would make it "Sharpo". (Beat) "Sharpe" with an "E".
    Captain Povey: Oh, "E".
    Chief Detective Inspector Sharpe: Not "O, E", no. 'Ooever 'eard of anyone named "Sharpo-e"?
    Heather: Excuse me, sir, I think he means it's just plain "Sharpe" with an "E".
    Chief Detective Inspector Sharpe: That's right.
    Captain Povey: I see, "E".
    Chief Detective Inspector Sharpe: "I, C, E" makes it "Sharpice"!
    Captain Povey: Ah.
    Chief Detective Inspector Sharpe: Not "R", "E"!
  • Who Would Want to Watch Us?: When Mr. Phillips tells Heather that Troutbridge is to be used to shoot a film in "An Exercise in Filming", she asks if there'll be actors playing naval officers. Mr. Phillips tells her there will be, then dismisses the idea of actors playing naval officers as ridiculous.
  • Wire Dilemma: Troutbridge is sent by NASA to retrieve a lost American warhead in "Operation Recovery", having been given ludicrously complicated disarming instructions from an American Colonel. In the end, they never even get a chance to try the wires as the warhead self-destructs before they can touch it.
  • Working Through the Cold: A Real Life example — Heather Chasen was suffering from a nasty cold during the recording of "Mr Phillips' Wrong Uniform", but as Heather had such a small role in that episode, Chasen still valiantly turned up to do her job, albeit sounding noticeably under the weather.
  • Work Off the Debt: At the end of "Making a Right Pig's Breakfast", Pertwee and Heather stick Mr. Phillips with their bill at the Café Romantica, which Lovable Leslie can't possibly pay off. The episode ends with a protesting Mr. Phillips being dragged away by the manager and told he can wash dishes instead.
  • Written-In Absence:
    • Goldstein was absent from "Wren Chasen Returns" with the excuse that he was held up in the Cardiff nick being asked when he last saw Pertwee regarding the Great Train Robbery, as Tenniel Evans had been released from his contract for the recording session. Goldstein returned from leave a week late in "On the Carpet", the following episode, blaming it on Dr. Beeching shutting down Llanbolgetley Station.
    • Able Seaman Tiddy tags along as Pertwee's Bumbling Sidekick as he aims to get his commission in "The Struggle for Promotion", as according to Pertwee, Johnson is a first-class snob and "won't have no truck with officers". The real reason is that Ronnie Barker was unavailable for the recording, and series writer Lawrie Wyman had to step in.
    • Heather Chasen wouldn't be able to make the recording session for "Taking Some Liberties", so Jan Waters joined the cast as Heather's temporary replacement secretary, Wren Jan Waters, with the explanation that Heather's application for extended leave had been approved (much to the jealousy of Pertwee). Chasen was happily able to do the rest of Series 7, so Heather returned at the very end of the next episode, "Smugglers in the Solent", catching Mr. Phillips taking Jan to the pictures, thereby setting up the Story Arc that would lead to the end of their engagement.
    • Evans also missed out on Series 8's "Farewell to HMS Varsity", reflected in-episode when Captain Povey explains to Flag Lieutenant Dingle that Admiral Ffont-Bittocks has left the dockyard for a meeting.
    • Jon Pertwee was ill for the recording of "The Phenomenal Pertwee Tug", CPO Pertwee was mentioned to be away in sick bay, while his cousin Nathaniel filled in for him aboard Troutbridge.
  • Yellow Peril: The Master, a stereotypical Fu Manchu style villain, showed up from time to time in Series 13 and 14 with his three bumbling spies to theatrically threaten the crew.
  • Zany Scheme: Pertwee is the master of the zany scheme, either to make a profit (flogging the Island Draft's cement to build a cinema in the village in "Cementing Relations") or to get the Troutbridge crew out of trouble (tricking Commander Povey into thinking he was going to sell Troutbridge at an auction in "Johnson's Diet" so Old Thunderguts wouldn't be able use a bogus clerical error in Commander Bracewell's files — that made the Royal Navy think they had no documentation of ever paying for Troutbridge — to split up the crew).
"That was Jon Pertwee, Leslie Phillips, and Stephen Murray working their passage in The Navy Lark, written by Lawrie Wyman. Jon Pertwee was the Chief Petty Officer, Leslie Phillips was the Sub-Lieutenant, Stephen Murray was the CO, Captain Povey was played by Richard Caldicot, Heather was Heather Chasen, Able Seaman Johnson was Ronnie Barker, Taffy Goldstein was Tenniel Evans, the Padre was Michael Bates, the Number One was Dennis Price, Judy was Judy Cornwell, Vera was Janet Brown, and Samantha was April Walker. The recorded production was by Alastair Scott Johnston".

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