Amph British TV Shows Discussion

Besides Doctor Who which deserve its own thread in this topic because that british sci-fi show is its whole universe but there are various british TV shows that I would like to think other people would love to chat about. Ones whose universe isn't big enough to have its own thread. So I would hope this becomes a nice thread for people who are anglophiles like myself who love british culture and tv. What are some of your favorite british tv shows?

Most of the ones I have seen on BBC America which is obviously where I get my fix on british tv shows are mostly there crime dramas like the ones that have been airing most recently like Broadchurch starring David Tennant and also stars Arthur Darvill from Doctor Who. It also stars some familiar actors from Doctor Who as well but its a very interesting series. I am also looking forward to Series 3 of Luther starring Idris Elba which the episodes will air this week on BBC America. I also love Sherlock and am looking forward to the new series I just wish it didn't take as long to get televised in america. I honestly think BBC America should have the rights to broadcast it because I feel we would get it so much sooner. I also enjoy Being Human its alot more interesting to me. In short I enjoy alot of there sci-fi, supernatural and drama shows and etc. But I think I have babbled enough for the beginning post of this thread.

 

Luther is weird. I feel compelled by it, but it's actually pretty cliche and dumb. I guess Idris Elba and that redhead serial killer make it.

I watched the first episode of Broadchurch about a week or so ago and I haven't started the second. It seems alright, though I wasn't exactly hooked. Obviously.

One you didn't mention is Wallander starring Kenneth Bra-AWHELLNAW. It's usually more subtle than Luther, and it has beautiful Scandinavian Sinematography.

 

Well there are so many british tv shows its hard to mention them all and I felt I was saying a bit too much anyways. Its obvious I am into british crime dramas and I love the ones that I have seen I have felt more quality over quantity. The shows I have seen are the ones that have aired on BBC America and ones I have felt curious I have tried watching online. And I guess because of there roles in Doctor Who I guess you could say I take more of a notice to certain tv shows that may have an actor from Doctor Who. Like there is the BBC show called Room at the Top if I remember right that starred Jenna-Louise Coleman where she has a topless scene in it. I also must mention I like Torchwood as well just so I put out the british tv shows I like. I also saw Spies of Warsaw and thought it was an interesting period drama that starred David Tennant. I also would really love to check out Secret Diary of a Call Girl starring Billie Piper.

Make note though I am not just interested in shows with an actor from Doctor Who in it those just make me more curious about the show. I also enjoyed Whitechapel and more but its hard to remember all the british tv shows I have seen off the top of my head.

 

There are already threads about Sherlock and Downton Abbey. Both excellent shows.

 

Downton got awful after the first season. No real consequences, no semblance of realism (WHY DOES NO ONE AGE), and its ahistorical worship of aristocracy (oh, it's okay that someone's gay even though there was a near-universal stigma because Lord Grantham is a saint!).

 

Sapphire and Steel up in here, y'all. Back when kids tv was basically horror. Damn you Ducky and Patsy.

 

That show scared the crap out of me as a kid, particularly the first serial.

 

I grew up watching Mystery! on PBS and I still have an abiding love for British crime television. And Poirot with David Suchet actually still holds up; it's one of the best mystery series ever.

And then there's comedy. I mean, Fawlty Towers and The Office are just . . . astonishing. The Germans may indeed be the funniest thing ever aired on television.

 

I love Merlin and Downton Abbey.

However, both shows do have their flaws. I was so ticked off when the BBC and the the production team waited so long last fall to announce that Merlin was ending after five seasons. They should have come right out and said they were ending the show's run as planned instead of keeping us dangling with all the will they-won't they back and forth about a sixth series. I think the rush to end the show meant that the later Series 4 and 5 episodes suffered. Series 4's "Lamia" and "Lancelot du Lac" were dreadful beyond belief. Series 5's four episode Dark Gwen arc was no better, and I was steamed that they waited until the finale to have Merlin reveal his magic to Arthur and we never got to see the rise of Albion or Merlin as Court Sorceror. Still, Merlin is much better than most of the trash on American TV today.

 

The UK version of Being Human.

 

Benny Hill


Thread over.

 

The Prisoner

Possibly the only show in history where the mystery is explained to you and you don't understand there's punctuation.

 

Couldn't care less about Dr. Sherlock Abbey. The best British show is Dragons' Den.

 

Apprentice UK > Apprentice US
The Office UK > The Office US
TV UK > TV US

 

Monty Python. Always Monty Python.

 

Yeah, your crap reality shows are better. Really stuck it to the Yanks there.

 

And even then the finale only kind of makes sense.

Ah well.

 

The classic UK TV comedies of old are great.

Blackadder, Red Dwarf, The Good Life, Porridge, Dad's Army, Fawlty Towers, Monty Python's Flying Circus, The Two Ronnies and more are brilliant funny shows that are unmatched by anything done today.
Problem is that such shows are old, US TV comedy in recent years has surpassed what we do with stuff like Big Bang Theory & The Simpsons & Friends.

We do however still make unsurpassed Dramas. Numerous adaptations of Charles Dickens & Jane Austen books have been highly regarded over the years, as have the mystery dramas such as Agatha Christie's Poirot with David Suchet and various Sherlock Holmes incarnations (famously with Jeremy Brett and now the modern take with Benedict Cumberbatch).

We still do excellent Shakespeare stuff too, as was showcased with The Hollow Crown.

I did like Merlin, but the Robin Hood series that preceded it was very problematic. Primeval started well and then went rather downhill.

 

Cadfael with Derek Jacobi was also very good. Was that one BBC?

 

THIS.

(Also Tom Hiddleston )

 

My first real exposure to UK TV was the Gerry Anderson shows and "The Avengers" (the classic that my poor, young, deprived associates at work have never even heard of), which still hold up pretty well. After that, it was the first wave of Brit-Coms (Python, Goodies, Fawlty, Perrin, Dad's Army). Shortly after that came "Doctor Who", during the Time-Life syndication (with show intros by Benjamin Franklin!). It was later that I started up with "Masterpiece Theater", "Mystery" and "The Prisoner" (when CBS ran it late-night), followed by "Blake's 7" and the second Brit-Com wave (mainly "Blackadder"). It's only recently that I started watching "Sapphire and Steel".

As for my favorites, pretty much everything I've mentioned, with some provisions. For example, I prefer season 1 of "Space:1999" over season 2, I lost track of NuWho shortly after the Tennant Era started, and I prefer the Brett version of Holmes. And my Mom had trouble watching "House" because Hugh Laurie was perfect as Bertie Wooster.

I don't necessarily believe UK TV is on the whole better than US TV (I've seen several clunkers come over the pond). I treat the matter on a case-by-case basis.

 

Being Human started out alright but then the writers seemingly stopped giving a **** and the last season was a total mess and I stopped caring about the characters. The vampire guy ended up being really stupid.

 

Life on Mars
Ashes to Ashes
Sherlock
Jekyll
State of Play
Blackadder
Monty Python's Flying Circus
Fawlty Towers
A Bit of Fry and Laurie
Jeeves and Wooster
Fortysomething
Doctor Who
Downton Abbey
The Hollow Crown
The Devil's Whore

 

I felt Bedlam was interesting too bad it won't have a Series 3 so we won't really know how it may have continued since if you saw it the ending was kind of a cliffhanger basically saying more weird stuff would be happening.

I also enjoyed Whitechapel the thing that was so interesting is how they at first showed the murders as being supernatural almost but then in the end they explained how it actually happened realistically.

 

I'm severely disappointed that not one of you ****ers have mentioned The Thick of It. One of the best political satires ever.