I am an American (and rather drunk) and I just want to say: shotguns and sweatpants? is that really a fair comparison of Americans to Brits? (of course not, but British screenwriters seem to enjoy exacerbating the violent tendencies of americans [in television shows] such as 'Starlings', which is most likely directed at an old, white British demographic.) Can anyone say 'implied nationalism'? this is unfair to those of us Americans who have never held (and will never hold) a gun in their hands. Do not prejudge... it make a judge out of pre... and... WELL, IT'S JUST FUCKED UP!!! is all...

You're possibly right, we may overdo the gun bit there but we've been fed a diet of US made cop shows which all have guns and shooting, so if anyone's over done the reality, it's your own TV makers.

But don't forget it's TV, people don't want to watch cops drinking tea and doing paperwork which is all our lot do.

Hah, totally unfair. But everyone does it! The amount of times we've been represented as repressed tea-obsessives with bad teeth in American shows.

Quote: zooo @ 22nd September 2014, 10:56 AM BST

Hah, totally unfair. But everyone does it! The amount of times we've been represented as repressed tea-obsessives with bad teeth in American shows.

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Yes, and as a repressed tea-obessive with bad teeth I have always found that crude stereotype deeply hurtful.

I don't recall the line, or indeed context, when this was mentioned in the series, but let's face it, the US American stereotype for us Europeans tends to involve guns in one way or another.

Just like the Brits with bad teeth and tea-drinking, Swedes being blonde, Germans lacking a sense of humour, the Irish being drunk, and so on. It's something with perhaps a grain of truth, but exaggerated for comedic purposes. Especially in a comedy drama setting, like "Starlings".