SYNOPSIS:

The primal focus is on these four as they co-operate with the other villages to take down the local psychotic business magnate they’ve ended up in a dispute with, whilst also dealing with their own flaws. Dave’s main conflicts are with Sarah, as she begins to wonder whether Dave really has got it all right and tries to get him to at least ditch Paddy O’Brien’s meat products if not go completely vegan, his colleagues at work, as they create a tablet that can do literally anything; even bring about nuclear Armageddon, and his two children; Will and Eleanor, who really aren’t best pleased with being sent to a comprehensive school where everyone hates them for being posh, instead of the schools they wanted to go to. Sarah’s main conflict is with Mabel and Guy Smith, a couple newly moved to the area who wonder why Sarah has sent her children to a dodgy comprehensive school known for terrible Ofsted results when she could easily have sent them to the top independent schools in the country. Janet’s main conflicts are with her girlfriend Jo, who is concerned she’s spending too much time with notable cannibalistic psychiatrist Dr Scamander Trout (based on Dr Hannibal Lecter), her colleagues at Warwickshire Police, after she risks the life of a vulnerable teaching assistant at Will and Eleanor’s school, and Patrick O’Brien (based on Mason Verger), after he tasks her with giving him Dr Scamander Trout, otherwise he will kill his sister’s horse; the vulnerable teaching assistant whose life she risks (a loose parody of Hannibal). John’s main conflict is with his daughter, Adele, a pagan vegan and co-founder of vegan militant terrorist organisation Vegan Rebellion, who clashes with John carnivorous pagan mindset. She also wants to turn the family pub, the Hangman’s Noose, into a trendy vegan gastro pub. But the central conflict throughout is between the entire village and local meat CEO Patrick O’Brien, after they enter a dispute with him unwillingly following Adele’s involvement with blowing up one of his meat processing factories outside Guildford. His retaliation begins by murdering four people in Lower Strangling, and it only gets worse from there. But he’s only doing it because they’re some of his most loyal customers, and he needs to keep them onside somehow. The lower Strangling Chronicles also pulls back the curtain on today’s society and the absurdity of it, particularly how small-minded Middle Englanders can be, even if they mean well. All Dave wants to do is stop his colleagues from creating a device that could end the world, and make sure everyone in his life knows that he is always right and knows what is best. But his colleagues are adamant that the eDavies is the best device they’ve ever come up with, and Dave’s family are beginning to doubt that he really has everything under control. Sarah wants to prove to Mabel and Guy that there is absolutely nothing wrong with Zanzibar school and comprehensive education, and that they’re just being snobs. But Mable and Guy are determined to persuade her that Zanzibar is a dodgy school, and that Will and Eleanor would thrive in the local independent schools. Janet wants to become a fully qualified Detective Inspector and gain the trust of Gloucestershire Constabulary Chief Constable Stuart Kennedy, the most temperamental Police Officer in England. But Janet is prone to taking stupid risks and endangering people’s lives, not to mention she’s all too eager to trust dangerous individuals. John wants to preserve his beloved pub, and bounce back following Patrick O’Brien’s murders, whilst also preventing his daughter from making any major changes to the pub before his death. But Adele is tenacious and is determined to force her dad to at least add some vegan items to the menu. The one thing that links Dave, Sarah, Janet, and John, is their stubbornness, and refusal to budge. Dave is adamant that he will never go vegan and that sending Will and Eleanor to Zanzibar was the best thing to do, Sarah is absolutely certain that her husband knows what’s best for his children, Janet is insistent that what she does is fine, because she’ll always win in the end, and John is firm in his belief that the Hangman’s Noose would not survive if it ever became vegan. If Dave, Sarah, Janet, and John fail to see the error of their ways and change their views, then their relationships with their friends and loved ones will be fractured, and some people may even die. And if the whole village of Lower Strangling don’t band together to win out over Patrick O’Brien, then four of their own being brutally murdered may be the least of their worries. But it will not be that easy, as everyone seem to think that they are in the right, and that everyone else is wrong, and none of them believe that perhaps it might be worth listening to those around them. The series has several surreal, absurdist elements and dry humour is used throughout. Parodies of Silence of the Lambs, Psycho, and Hannibal are incorporated into the main storyline.