The Great British Television Hunt
Submitted by xfanatic50 on Sun, 08/10/2008 - 08:38
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- Blackpool - No wonder Viva Laughlin failed in America! How anybody could possibly think a series like this would appeal to an American audience is beyond me, it's so uniquely British. Brilliant though, even if the singing was a bit odd.
- Doctor Who - Love (love!) the new Doctor Who. I have attempted to enjoy the classic who. They're good, but the 1/2 hour format is putting me off a bit. I can't believe the show has never been successful in North America though, it's got such a winning combination of adventure, horror, science fiction and comedy! It makes me sad that I never got to enjoy it as a kid - North American kids are missing out!
- Recovery (TV Movie)
- Learners (TV Movie) - Both of these films I watched mainly due to them having Tennant in them, but Recovery in particular was excellent! It made me cry!
- Spaced - One of the best British series I've seen so far... so surreal and odd and funny. (I'm so glad it's now available on DVD here! I'm going to buy it ASAP)
- Torchwood - It's actually very rare to find a queer-friendly sexy adult science fiction show (with the exception of maybe Battlestar Galactica or Buffy), and Torchwood gets points for pushing the envelope for sure. Especially considering it's a spin-off of such a family-friendly program. The acting is great, the ideas are always interesting. It's too bad that the writing is so inconsistent, because that's the only thing standing between the show and greatness. It reminds me of the X-Files in it's early seasons, when it was just figuring out what kind of show it wanted to be.
- Extras and the Office - Even though I credit Who with jumpstarting my interest in British TV, the real credit I guess has to go to Ricky Gervais, whose two series are absolutely among my favourites of all time. I should also add that anybody who loves his series and hasn't listened to his unbelievably hilarious podcast is really missing out.
- Fawlty Towers - A classic for obvious reasons. Incredibly funny.
- Little Britain - Very funny, but in a way that makes me feel ashamed for laughing, because it is just so vulgar. I like the way that it almost feels like a sitcom disguised as a sketch comedy, due to each episode following the same characters. Tom Baker's narration is my favourite part though, it's just so dry and non-plussed - it reminds me of Ron Howard's narration of Arrested Development.
- The IT Crowd - Another show where the writing has consistency problems, and it's a little too wacky for my tastes. But Richard Ayoade kills me, every time.
- Secret Diary of a Call Girl - I watched the first couple of episodes, but was never really that bowled over by it. I would like to point out that it's hilarious that so many series that air on broadcast channels in the UK have to be aired on premium cable in the States due to their content, this being one of them. I'm consistently surprised by how explicit British television is, but not in the same exploitative way that American TV seems to be, and it leans towards being explicity sexual, as opposed to violent like the US stuff. Interesting.
- Black Books -Really funny. Wacky, but for some reason didn't annoy me as much as The IT Crowd. I think it's because it's also really smart and dark. Dylan Moran is brilliant.
- The Robinsons -I watched this series because I love Martin Freeman. Short-lived, but really really good. If it had continued, it could have been the UK's answer to Arrested Development which it did remind me of, actually. Too bad it didn't last.
- Hardware -Also watched due to the presence of Freeman. Not nearly as funny as The Robinsons though. In fact, kind of generic. And thus, more successful apparently.
- Life on Mars -One of the greatest science fiction series, ever. And yet, the science fiction element is so incredibly subtle. John Simm rocks my world in this, but Philip Glenister... what can I say? An impressive and brilliant performance, portraying one of the most complex and layered characters on television. Kind of worried that the Americans are going to massacre this show in the fall.
- Ashes to Ashes -I love that they spun off Glenister's character in Life on Mars. And flash-forwarding to the 80's is a brilliant idea. That alone is enough to make the show awesome. However, I wish that they would have done more with the main character Alex. She was the weak link really. Not as good as Life on Mars, but still really interesting.
- Casanova -I came to this miniseries with a preconceived idea about what it would be, knowing that it aired as part of Masterpiece Theatre in North America. It then shattered those notions. A period piece that manages to be raunchy, post-modern, funny, moving and engaging. Not at all the stuffy, sophisticated drama I was expecting. Really enjoyable.
- Clocking Off -Interesting, because it has the feeling of a procedural in that the episodes are somewhat insulated from one another, even though it's a drama about characters. Some excellent performances, and even better writing.
- State of Play -Incredible. A brilliant political thriller with an outstanding ensemble cast, including the amazing Bill Nighy. Had me on the edge of my seat, beginning to end. Smartly thought out, gripping drama.
- Skins -Only watched the pilot. Really racy, over the top teen soap opera. Not really my thing, but still very interesting. My roommates fell in love with it, they keep pushing me to watch it, so maybe I'll come back to it and watch a few more episodes later on down the line.
- Never Mind the Buzzcocks -The panel show is actually something that I had only encountered before in the form of the American remake of Whose Line is it Anyway? with Drew Carey, which I did like. Apparently though, it's an insanely popular format across the pond. I watched the last couple seasons of this show hosted by Simon Amstell and like it a lot, even if I don't know who a lot of the celebrities are, and have no idea who half the people he references are. (Can a Brit reading this please tell me who Katie Melua or Blue are? It surprised me how many musicians there I've never heard of!) Mostly I like it because when I do know who he's referencing, Amstell is vicious! He really takes the piss out of people, and it's pretty funny to watch.
- Q.I. (Quite Interesting) - Another panel show that I found out about and thought sounded interesting. I really love Stephen Fry and Alan Davies. The interplay between Fry and his guests, especially Davies is great. The guests are always pretty funny. And I always learn something new when I watch it, which is awesome.
- Jonathan Creek -I love Alan Davies on Q.I. and wondered what he had done prior to that, which led me to this. I really like it. It's absolutely charming and funny and unusual. It reminds me of a really classic detective series, like Murder She Wrote or Columbo, only with a really interesting twist to it.
- Kingdom -This one I came to through my love of Stephen Fry, who I have a feeling will turn out to have been a part of many many great TV series I will love, as well as probably as the author of a couple of great books which I'm looking forward to reading. So far, this show seems to be enjoyable enough. It's charming and quirky (but in a good way).
- Gavin and Stacey -Really really sweet and very funny... the title characters are alright, but the supporting cast are all scene-stealers, especially Ruth Gordon as best friend Nessa and Rob Brydon as Uncle Bryn - something about the way he delivers his lines, in that Welsh accent, absolutely makes me bust a gut laughing every time.
- Vic Reeves Big Night Out -Bizarre, absurd and almost off-putting when you start watching it, but it definitely grows on you the more you watch, to the point where now I absolutely love it. People say Family Guy is random, but this show is unbelievably nonsensical - Vic Reeves is like the Dali of comedy. There is no American equivalent to this series either, it's just so unique and wonderful.
- 8 Out of 10 Cats -I cannot for the life of me understand why panel shows as a format are not common in North America when they are so prominent in the U.K. Especially when some of them are so winning, like this one hosted by Jimmy Carr.
- A Bit of Fry and Laurie -I thought this would be interesting, if only because I love Stephen Fry and seeing a young Hugh Laurie is neat, but it was so so funny. Very British, though. I've been reading a lot of Douglas Adams lately, and this is British humour in the same vein - completely dry, absurd, intellectual and demonstrating some incredibly clever wordplay. The language itself is the joke in many of the sketches, and not the plot or the characters. That kind of humour is rare in North America, we tend to be less subtle, more vulgar, and base our comedy more around characters.
- Peep Show - Shows like this make me really really glad I've been trying to watch different British stuff, because this show is absolute genius, and I can't imagine having never seen it... it's just unbelievably funny. Here, finally, is a comedy that equals Arrested Development or the Simpsons in terms of being a complete classic. Brilliant.
- That Mitchell and Webb Look - Loving Peep Show, I was unsure about watching those same two guys try sketch comedy, but apparently they are just really funny no matter what they do. Hilarious, and really quotable. I especially love the Numberwang sketches from first series, and the bits when they play themselves talking between filming.
- The Inbetweeners - Another one that I just instantly fell in love with - so funny that I seriously get stomach pains. I love how easy it is to relate to the kids in this show, they're just so painfully awkward and weird. Really really great.
- Garth Marenghi's Darkplace - Surprised by how bizarre this show was. It's absurdist nonsense in the same vein as Vic Reeve's Big Night Out, but I just couldn't get into it, despite my deepening crush on Richard Ayoade. Not really my thing, but it did have it's moments.
- Father Ted - Definitely very funny, and really wacky. Graham Linehan's series are all like that though, so I wasn't surprised. Very enjoyable and fun.\
- Outnumbered - I really liked this show a lot. It reminded me of my own family growing up, and I thought it was adorable. I liked the realist aspect of it, where it's not done like a sitcom so much as an improvised hidden camera show. There's no real plot, there's just moments in the life of the family. Really sweet and funny.
Author Comments:
Recently, I've become obsessed with modern British television and the BBC. Being Canadian, I've always had an obsession with American TV, but after falling in love with Doctor Who I decided to see what British TV had to offer by playing a game of following various actors I liked to other projects, starting with David Tennant. Membership with the brilliant torrent site Thebox.bz helped with this. This then led to me being obsessed with Life on Mars, which led to the brilliant State of Play and Clocking Off by Paul Abbott, and so on. If any Brits on Listology have any suggestions as to brilliant stuff I should check out, let me know. This list is of all the things I've discovered so far, in no particular order to start, but with things added as I go.
Next up:
Primeval, Hex, Blackadder
Here's my list of UK children's drama:
UK children's drama
Also of note:
The Stone Tape
The Woman in Black
The Avengers (mostly the Peel years)
The Prisoner
Strange (only one series, but I thought it was alright)
Beasts
Sea of Souls
Primeval (you can catch this on BBCAmerica)
Omega Factor
various ghost stories for Christmas; there's a lot, they include:
The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral 1971
A Warning to the Curious 1972
Lost Hearts 1973
The Treasure of Abbot Thomas 1974
The Ash Tree 1975
The Signalman 1976
Stigma 1977
The Ice House 1978
The Withered Arm
Whistle And I'll Come To You
That's a start...
For sketch comedy, check out A Bit Of Fry and Laurie.
For sitcom, Only Fools and Horses, Peep Show, Father Ted, Blackadder, One Foot In The Grave and I'm Alan Partridge are all absolute musts.
For comedy-drama, try Hustle. For all-out drama, try Cracker.
In the vein of Never Mind The Buzzcocks and QI, check out Have I Got News For You and Mock The Week. However, both rely on British current events, so I suppose you might not get some jokes.
for Christmas:
Hogfather and this year, The Colour of Magic
Some others I forgot about:
Red Dwarf
The Young Ones
Garth Marenghi's Darkplace (you can catch this on Adult Swim I think)
Blake's 7
Sapphire & Steel
Department S
Ghostwatch
Strange Report
Adam Adamant Lives!
Ultraviolet
One of the things I'm doing to help find British TV to watch is reading various interviews with people like Simon Pegg or Edgar Wright or Anthony Head that they've done with online magazines like the AV Club or Entertainment Weekly.com. Wright actually recommended Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, as did Simon Pegg, so I'll probably check that one out. (Although, being Canadian I don't get Adult Swim.)
I've found that a good source for the kind of British TV shows I'm mostly interested in (current & past) is SFX. Yes, they cover a lot of U.S. stuff, but also plenty of UK tv/movies that you'd never hear of otherwise.
I picked up on Spaced a year or so early (early enough that I had to wait for the second series dvd set to come out) because of the write-up they gave it.
It's a large glossy magazine (monthly) and it's expensive. About $90-$100 U.S. for a year, $22ish for a quarter, but it's worth it.
SFX
Some good sites you can check out are:
Zetaminor
Mausoleum Club forum
Action TV
I love dr. who! i do love the 10th doctor, he's cute. its what got me into british tv too. i also love spaced. -go simon and edgar-