Black Books
| Fandom | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Black Books |
| Abbreviation(s): | |
| Creator: | Dylan Moran & Graham Linehan |
| Date(s): | First Aired September 2000 - April 2004 |
| Medium: | Television |
| Country of Origin: | UK |
| External Links: | at Wikipedia |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Black Books is a British sitcom set in a badly-run second-hand bookshop in London.
Bernard Black (Dylan Moran), the owner of the shop, is a chain smoking, misanthropic alcoholic who despises the very existence of customers. His friends Manny (Bill Bailey) and Fran (Tamsin Greig) are barely more functional. Much of the series' humour derives from the juxtaposition of Bernard's eternal bitterness and Manny's more innocent eccentricity. While Fran is seemingly the most normal of the three, her awkward reactions to other characters and social situations quickly show that she is strange in her own right, and her drinking and smoking habits are a match for Bernard's own.
Fandom
This article or section needs expansion. |
Black Books is a popular subject of crossover fics, since the strangeness of the characters provides a good comedic foil for characters from almost any other fandom. Crossovers with the Sherlock series are particularly popular, due to a widely shared headcanon that Bernard is the "black sheep" of the Holmes family, a cousin or even a brother to Sherlock and Mycroft.
Good Omens crossovers are also popular, since the angel Aziraphale also runs a second-hand bookshop and shares Bernard's aversion to customers.
Harry Potter crossovers usually assume that Bernard is related to Sirius Black or another member of the Black family.
Example Fanworks
| Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples. |
Fanfiction
- Noble and Most Ancient by Nomad. Popular crossover with Harry Potter, which assumes Bernard is a member of the Black family
- Rough Edges series by Basingstoke, podfic by Mific. Crossover with Sherlock. Sherlock Holmes and Bernard Black: cousins. The rest of the family: terrifying.
- Lost In Space (and time) written and podficced by FayJay. Hilarious crossover with Doctor Who; the Black Books characters meet the Doctor and Jack Harkness.
- Electronic Books Unlimited by pocketbookangel. Crossover with 'The Hunting of the Snark', written for Yuletide 2014
Meta
- What, You Mean Every Time We Bicker We Should Have Sex?, a Bernard/Manny ship manifesto by paranoidkitten (Sep 2004)
Fannish Resources
- Black Books on Archive of Our Own
- Black Books on FanFiction.Net
- black_books, a LiveJournal community