British TV Shows...

[roadtripboy]

So...I have weird taste in TV shows. With that in mind here's my two favorites.

Being Human
and re-runs of Ballykissangel and Waiting for God

 

[freefall]

Being Human is awesome. I usually have little taste in supernatural themes, but I fell in love instantly with the show from the very first episode. The U.S. remake is just dull compared to the British.

The IT Crowd is a rad. Can't believe the series ended after only 4 seasons (and a special episode). Damn, we need more intelligent and brainless humour in a scene.


And nobody mentioned Absolutely Fabulous?

 

[lolalola70]

I feel in love with Are You Being Served? I had to go out and buy the whole series and have almost completely finished. The whole cast is hilarious but the older lady is one of my favs. She does some very physical comedy for her age and size and I also like Mr Humphries. He was doing drag long before drag became popular, lol. The only thing that I found odd was that a hit show had main characters who's teeth were as jacked as some of theirs were.

love this show too, there was a sequel when they all retired to a farm together it was pretty funny too. as for the teeth, i guess that's what you got in Britain in the '70's.
just think, if they were good enough FOR tv, think of the ones that weren't!

 

[redfox70]

The new Upstairs Downstairs is worth a look

I don't know why I didn't suggest that earlier, but maybe it's because people seem to prefer Downton Abbey instead. I, however, prefer Upstairs Downstairs. Admittedly I haven't wached Downton, apart from the first episode.

So...I have weird taste in TV shows. With that in mind here's my two favorites.

Being Human
and re-runs of Ballykissangel and Waiting for God

I remember enjoying Ballykissangel when it was first shown, particularly the earlier episodes, not so much the latter ones though. Mention of that brings to mind a couple of other shows which were of the same genre, Hamish MacBeth (starring Robert Carlyle) and Monarch of the Glen.

And nobody mentioned Absolutely Fabulous?

Sweetie, Darling, I didn't mention that as I thought everyone already knew about it!

Thank you for the recs. I am especially intrigued by Criminal Justice and will def check it out. It looks super good.

You're welcome I enjoyed the first series more than the second, but I would still highly recommend it.

...Anyway, I watch a wide range of things, old or new, from a variety of genres but tbh not a lot of UK period dramas. Still, I try to keep an open mind about them. For example, I'm glad I gave Downton Abbey a chance even though it didn't initially catch my interest.

You gave Downton more of a chance than I did!

Have you seen the BBC's 2005 production of Bleak House? I absolutely loved that.

I can think of some other not so recent shows, but you've probably already seen them or know about them, such as Cracker and Prime Suspect. I can't believe the Americans dared to remake these brilliant shows! Blasphemy! Another older series that I loved was Rome. Again, you probably know this one.

I can recommend more, if you're interested?

 

[IMPALA]

You could try Whitechapel, i watched the first 2 series last weekend and thought it was brilliant.

 

[LuvFindsAndyHardy]

I can think of some other not so recent shows, but you've probably already seen them or know about them, such as Cracker and Prime Suspect. I can't believe the Americans dared to remake these brilliant shows! Blasphemy! Another older series that I loved was Rome. Again, you probably know this one.

I can recommend more, if you're interested?

Since we're going back into the archives, how about one of the grandaddys? Still one of the very best shows in television history (IMO):

How do you top Diana Rigg with a gun?

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeK3Lkd_XL4"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeK3Lkd_XL4[/ame]

 

[timboy]

Since we're going back into the archives, how about one of the grandaddys? Still one of the very best shows in television history (IMO):

How do you top Diana Rigg with a gun?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeK3Lkd_XL4

Fabulous

 

[broadshoulder]

This cracks me up laughing. Gimme Gimme Gimme is one of my guilty pleasures. Kathy Burke as Linda LaHughes is a great comic creation.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnvjEnuxSr8&list=FLw7lFJbtU7F4nowUqyv6vzQ&index=3&feature=plpp_video[/ame]

 

[Phlash]

How has QI not been mentioned? I swear I've learned more from this than in all my years at school



And Peep Show. Epic!

Peep show is amazing. I burned through the first 5 series in about a week. Completely hilarious. Jaz is my favorite person ever. I want every shirt that he wears.

 

[redfox70]

Aw. Give Downton Abbey another shot. I only started to like it after 3 episodes in to S1. Then it started to pick up.

Maybe some day, when I’ve got through all the other shows I need to catch up on!

Um, lol, Bleak House looks so corny in the trailer but then I saw that it is critically acclaimed and has a high rating on imdb. Now I'm intrigued.

In my opinion no trailer could do justice to this wonderful drama, it thoroughly deserved all the plaudits. I would urge you to give it a try if you can. If you do manage to watch it and enjoy it, you might want to check out a few more BBC adaptations of Charles Dickens' work.

Don't kill me y'all but I have never watched Cracker or Prime Suspect. I really should. I remember they'd marathon them on tv sometimes but I was too young to even care about them at the time. I will totally get on those.

You’ve never watched these brilliant shows! More blasphemy! If you were too young to be interested in them that’s understandable, but again I can’t recommend them highly enough, particularly Prime Suspect.

And yeah, anytime you feel like recommending something feel free to. Especially comedies, nerdy shows, supernatural shows, or psychological thrillers. Gritty dramas are cool as well.

I'm struggling to think of comedy shows, but I don't think anyone has mentioned The Fast Show, Extras, or The Vicar of Dibley, have they?

The only supernatural show I can think of is Afterlife. Sadly, only two series (consisting of 14 episodes in total) of this were made

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xmGVfaG27s[/ame]

Another crime thriller that's a good watch is Messiah. It's pretty gory, but for the most part the storylines were very good. I can't find a decent trailer for this so I'll let Wikipedia tell you a little bit about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messiah_%28TV_series%29

Speaking of crime shows, another is Scott and Bailey (pretty dull title, eh? lol) but don't let that put you off. This is a recent one, in fact the second series is currently being broadcast. Here's a taster from the first series:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beJGiFnqCP0"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beJGiFnqCP0[/ame]

A good gritty drama that's an enjoyable watch is Unforgiven, the only trailer I could find isn't very insightful though.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxn__mjTX0g[/ame]

Have you ever watched Spooks or Hustle?

 

[redfox70]

I forgot about Black Books! I loved that!

There are actually quite a number of comedy shows that I’ve never seen for one reason or another or tried watching and couldn’t get into. Green Wing falls into the second category and it was basically the filming style which put me off, but give it a go, you'll probably like it.

I thought Afterlife might appeal to you when you saw that Andrew Lincoln was in it!

I haven’t seen Misfits, but I’m into the others, including Torchwood, even though it’s not as good as it used to be. Apart from the shows already mentioned I can think of only one other supernatural type. Have you heard of Hex? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hex_(TV_series)

Yeah, I can understand how Hustle might cause you to lost interest as it can be rather irritating at times, but that was another show that was probably better in its earlier days. Even so, when it finished for good a few weeks ago I was sad to see it end and will miss it.

I loved Spooks from start to finish. There were 10 series in total. The cute blond guy you’ve got your eye on is Rupert Penry-Jones and doesn’t appear till season 4, I believe. I would recommend that you watch it from the very beginning, it’s worth it.

I’m really, really pleased you enjoyed Inside Men. Yeah, the ending was a bit weird, wasn’t it? I suppose the writers wanted the viewers to draw their own conclusions.

 

[redfox70]

lol, thanks for the heads-up about it's filming style. i'll keep that in mind.

Don’t let that put you off though, it might not bug you like it did me. It was probably just me being fussy.

You def should check out Misfits sometime. The premise seems really stupid & childish but it's a lot of fun.

Hopefully I will get around to it some day. Trouble is every time I turn on my computer I automatically come to JUB or end up doing something JUB-related!

Omg, Michael Fassbender is in that Hex show. Looks cheesy but I'm tempted. Damn these hot men, luring me in. What kind of sorcery is this...

I wondered if you were an admirer of his and whether his presence would draw you to the show!

LOL. I won't skip to S4 just because of Rupert The Hot Blond Guy (;__; so dreamy). Like, I'm shallow but not that shallow. I promise.

I believe you

Anyway, just thanks so much you've been a such great help. Srsly.

I've made up a nice little to-do list of Brit Shows I Need To Watch and it's made up of classics and new shows which should keep things interesting. I sound so nerdy but w/e.

You’re very welcome I’m always happy and willing to help where I can

Nothing wrong with being nerdy! Besides, you don’t really sound nerdy, just someone who enjoys and appreciates good quality television

 

[likecharlie]

Another vote for the BBC's Bleak House. It was excellent!

 

[subsonic]

The other show I want to recommend is The Promise. Again, I don't know if it's your kind of thing, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oR4jtQGIYc

I have recently just seen this show actually by accident. I only have the last episode left. I'm really impressed at how good it is. I haven't really seen that many British shows besides the comedy ones. Have to change that, because I really love everything British.

Thank you for the recommendations all

 

[redfox70]

^ I'm glad you're enjoying The Promise so far and I'm sure you won't be disappointed by the final episode

Thatgirl , how is your viewing coming along? Watched anything good lately?

 

[subsonic]

The last episode was great and I generally really liked "The Promise". Made me want to see more of Peter Kosminsky's work. And of Christian Cooke's of course ;-)

I accidentally found out that "Misfits" was premiered here yesterday and I was really excited since I've heard you guys mention it. I'm already hooked and I've only seen the pilot so far. Can't wait for the next episode.
I've developed quite a crush on the "weird" guy Simon - those eyes, wow! On the other hand I just can't stand Nathan - he gets on my every nerve!

Oh, and I've recorded the movie "Magicians" on my DVR and I was wondering if any of you guys have seen "Peep Show" and could recommend it?

 

[redfox70]

Subsonic, I'm really pleased you liked The Promise Sorry, haven't seen Peep Show.

Thatgirl, that's great! So glad you enjoyed them, even the ones I'm not a fan of! I agree about Spooks being addictive. Even though some people over here thought that it flagged in later years I absolutely loved it

 

[braex27]

Trollied is a really great show, if you get a chance to watch it.

Jane Horrocks is fantastic!!

 

[goldenmoth]

I saw a trailer for Hunted yesterday which is about a British, female spy (Melissa George) from the creator of Spooks. Looks pretty good!

 

[redfox70]

Thatgirl, welcome back, it's really good to see you. You've been missed

I didn't enjoy Line of Duty as much as I did The Shadow Line, but I think that the Beeb set the bar so high with that wonderful show that all programmes since then have a tough act to follow. That's just my personal opinion though.

We're coming into a new season of dramas here, so there should hopefully be a few more good recommendations before too long. One that has just started last week is called Accused. This is actually the second series (I can't recall if this show has been mentioned previously?) Each episode is a stand-alone story and begins with someone on trial. Thereafter we see their story and the outcome of the trial. The first episode has Sean Bean in it and you can see glimpses of him in this trailer