British TV shows

[kikie]

I've never watched other shows than Americans. Hollywood is still the biggest film industry but other countries are gaining and closing the gap, slowely.

One thing I never watch are Dutch and Belgian TV shows.

As of lately, I'm starting to get interested in English, of do I have to say British, TV shows. I've been interesting in British documentaries. Nature, scientific etc... . I don't know why or how but they seem (the English) to be able to make the best documentaries on the planet. A few years back, I was very interested in "Meet the ancestors".

What I actually want to say with this thread is that I'm starting to appreciate British TV shows.

• Dr Who, the new series.
• Tourchwood
• Primeval

 

[Neal]

Good to hear it, there’s a lot of rubbish on but there have been some excellent British shows on over the years.

In no particular order here’s a list off the top of my head you may be interested in.

• Father Ted
• The Office
• Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights
• The League of Gentlemen
• Black Books
• Spaced
• The Inbetweeners
• Peep Show
• GBH
• Boys from the Blackstuff
• Cracker
• The Fast Show
• Life on Mars
• The Thick of It
• Cold Feet
• Gavin and Stacey
• Survivors

 

[astrosdude91]

I seem to watch alot of British motoring programs. They seem to be populart on TV here.

-Top Gear (obviously0
-Wheeler Dealers, though I'm not sure how the stay afloat, since the most they ever seem to profit is like a couple hundred pounds.
-Auto Trader. Another Mike and Edd show that I like to watch.

And I do love the American version of The Office, which originally was a British show.

 

[DK]

I love Peep Show, I have series 1-6 on DVD. I also love Little Britain, Mongrels (a show on BBC Three) and Balls of Steel.

 

[analog]

And I do love the American version of The Office, which originally was a British show.

I've got the original 2 British The Office series on DVD and was initially worried when it was announced they would release an American version but I love it as it's "translated" very well in my opinion and I think I like it even more than the original.
The first ( British ) series however are more believable as a "real documentary" as the American version is much more over the top regarding certain characters ( for example I can't believe a real Michael Scott would be allowed to be the manager for more than a week in real life ).
But the "translation" from Gareth ( already creepy ) to Dwight Schrute is hilarious and really works in my opinion with the "beets, bears and Battlestar Galactica" and his German roots.

I also liked Peep Show ( with those first person camera views ) but I like almost anything by Mitchell and Webb as I think they're extremely funny most of the time.
Oh and EvilNeal, I also watched Life on Mars and enjoyed it but somehow Ashes to Ashes didn't do it for me ( maybe I'm more a seventies kind of guy.....).

Although the thing I like most regarding Britsh TV at the moment are the comedic "quiz shows" like Mock the week, Would I lie to you?, Shooting Stars ( they're back! ) and "classics" like Have I got news for you and QI.

 

[drvac]

I seem to watch alot of British motoring programs. They seem to be populart on TV here.

-Wheeler Dealers, though I'm not sure how the stay afloat, since the most they ever seem to profit is like a couple hundred pounds.
.

discovery is probably funding them

 

[Neal]

I also liked Peep Show ( with those first person camera views ) but I like almost anything by Mitchell and Webb as I think they're extremely funny most of the time.
Oh and EvilNeal, I also watched Life on Mars and enjoyed it but somehow Ashes to Ashes didn't do it for me ( maybe I'm more a seventies kind of guy.....).

Although the thing I like most regarding British TV at the moment are the comedic "quiz shows" like Mock the week, Would I lie to you?, Shooting Stars ( they're back! ) and "classics" like Have I got news for you and QI.

Peep Show is pant wettingly funny The First person camera view and internal monologue seem a bit weird at first but really set it apart from other shows. Slightly worryingly there have been a few of those scenes that have been far too familiar to me, usually involving being very drunk and and trying to pull at a party while repeating to myself "this is definitely a good idea, there's no way anything can go wrong". Obviously this is always followed by all kinds of terrribleness...fotunately I don't have to make an arse of myself like this anymore now I'm married!

Even though I grew up in the 80's I was a 70's baby and spent most of my childhood in 70's cars so I prefer Life On Mars too, also John Simm is sorely missed from Ashes To Ashes.

How could I forget Mock The Week that show is genius, such a shame that Frankie Boyle isn't on it anymore. Russell Howard's Good News is also class but not quite up to the standard of Mock The Week.

 

[analog]

How could I forget Mock The Week that show is genius, such a shame that Frankie Boyle isn't on it anymore. Russell Howard's Good News is also class but not quite up to the standard of Mock The Week.

Frankie Boyle is missed on Mock the Week by me as well, he took political incorrectness to a whole new nasty level and all the better for it .
As for Peep Show, one of the funniest lines I can remember was an episode where they smoked a spliff ( or used another substance ) the night before whereby the character played by Webb ( can't remember the actual names ) couldn't remember they did which prompted the Mitchell character to freshen up his memory by saying: "Well last night you claimed the table was being ironic".

 

[Neal]

I've seen Frankie Boyle live and he was even less PC, very very very funny

Brilliant Mitchell is Mark and Webb is Jez (Jeremy)...in the past I've been accused of being like Jez which gives some insight into my user/nick name! Fortunately I'm not such a **** any more

 

[Smallhorses]

We rent quite a lot of British stuff from Netflix to keep us up to date on what's happening in our homeland.
Some other good stuff we've seen recently, in addition to everything EvilNeal has mentioned:

• Hustle
• Jekyll
• Skins

Red Dwarf is an oldie (relatively) but a goodie, as too are Blackadder & Men Behaving Badly.

Also for good documentaries The Long Way Round & The Long Way Down are well worth a watch. 👍

 

[NISM0_SKYLINE]

British comedies are the best by far. We have some good ones, well the non copied ones, but the Brits just have better ones in my opinion.

The Young Ones
Little Britian
Only Fools and Horses
The Office
Trigger Happy TV, the American one was no where near as funny
Vicar of Dibley
Monty Python

Not a huge list, but there's something about them that hasn't caught on over here and I can't tell what it is.

 

[kikie]

It seems that I have a lot of catching up to do. There are many shows mentioned I haven't even heard of.

 

[Mark T]

Also check a comedy series called Bottom with Adran Edmonson and Rick Mayall. If it's documentaries you like check out Life and Planet Earth.

I also like Ray Mears and Bear Grylls for there survival in the wild series.

 

[boiltheocean]

Shooting Stars is my absolute favourite comedy panel show of all time. Vic and Bob never cease to make me laugh.

For some good documentaries check out the True Stories series broadcast across Channel 4 and More 4.

 

[Joey D]

I really like the IT Crowd, it's so true in so many ways that I just love it.

 

[Speedy Samurai]

Red Dwarf
French And Saunders

Those two are about the only shows I made effort to follow.

 

[Cap'n Jack]

I've been getting into The Inbetweeners since it started airing down here earlier this year, also a bit of a fan of The Mighty Boosh and The IT Crowd. I didn't mind the first season of Skins but the seasons following didn't quite do it for me. Also Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, while short lived, was awesome.

 

[kikie]

Which channels have the best shows, documentaries etc... ?

We can receive

• BBC1, 2, 3, 4
• BBC World
• BBC entertainment
• Nat Geo
• most to the Discovery channels

 

[Neal]

We rent quite a lot of British stuff from Netflix to keep us up to date on what's happening in our homeland.

Red Dwarf is an oldie (relatively) but a goodie, as too are Blackadder & Men Behaving Badly.

Also for good documentaries The Long Way Round & The Long Way Down are well worth a watch. 👍

I didn't know you are from the UK, how long have you been over there?

Red Dwarf is awesome, I'd assume the overwhelming majority of people on a forum like this would have seen it (i.e.geeks)

Long Way Round was brilliant, I even have it on DVD. It's a lot like a buddy story which really adds to it.

Also check a comedy series called Bottom with Adrian Edmonson and Rick Mayall. If it's documentaries you like check out Life and Planet Earth.

I also like Ray Mears and Bear Grylls for there survival in the wild series.

Bottom was very "British humour", low production cost, quite immature and enormously funny.

Ray Mears 👍 Bear Grylls 👎 He's got a stupid name and an incredibly inflated ego.

Which channels have the best shows, documentaries etc... ?

We can receive

• BBC1, 2, 3, 4
• BBC World
• BBC entertainment
• Nat Geo
• most to the Discovery channels

BBC 1 & 2 for main stream entertainment/drama and documentaries (BBC 1 has Penguin Island on at 7.30pm tonight)
BBC 3 a bit more off beat and were shows are piloted
BBC 4 More serious high brow programmes

I usually watch documentaries when they're first on BBC 1 or BBC 2 but I think they are repeated on other channels. Just look for anything narrated by David Attenborough such as this collection and Planet Earth, Blue Planet, Life etc.

 

[TheCracker]

I've got the original 2 British The Office series on DVD and was initially worried when it was announced they would release an American version but I love it as it's "translated" very well in my opinion and I think I like it even more than the original.
The first ( British ) series however are more believable as a "real documentary" as the American version is much more over the top regarding certain characters ( for example I can't believe a real Michael Scott would be allowed to be the manager for more than a week in real life ).
But the "translation" from Gareth ( already creepy ) to Dwight Schrute is hilarious and really works in my opinion with the "beets, bears and Battlestar Galactica" and his German roots.

The UK version of the office works best IMO because Ricky Gervais is an easy person to hate. Where as Steve Carell seems like a decent, likeable person.

 

[kikie]

I'd like to see 'meet the ancestors' again. I loved to see what they came up with when the skull was recontructed.

 

[analog]

Bottom was very "British humour", low production cost, quite immature and enormously funny.

Thought I might be alone in still liking Bottom as it's basically immature slapstick with goofy soundeffects, still remember that Halloween episode vividly with the cattle prod: "Trick or bloody treat......"

The UK version of the office works best IMO because Ricky Gervais is an easy person to hate. Where as Steve Carell seems like a decent, likeable person.

I can easily seperate a fictional character from the actor who plays it, Steve Carell might be a likeable person in real life but the character Michael Scott is annoying ( in a funny way ) beyond belief, and although Ricky Gervais apparantly has some of those annoying elements which characterise David Brent himself too, that doesn't affect my judgement.

 

[homeforsummer]

discovery is probably funding them

Correct. Wheeler Dealers is funded by Discovery, which is funded by advertising revenue. Given that WD is a 45-min programme (well, two 20-odd minute programs) separated by adverts, that's a lot of coverage. The money they make from selling cars is just pocket change!

Great program though. One of my favourite motoring shows.

As for other stuff, I can recommend any of the big-budget BBC stuff - documentaries such as Blue Planet, Life, Planet Earth etc - all absolutely excellent, and well worth trying to watch on Blu Ray too since it was all recorded in hi-def and looks absolutely amazing.

 

[kikie]

There is another one I watch the other day and I watched until the end. I don't know if you know this one but it's called; Strange.

 

[YSSMAN]

Some of my favorites off the top of my head:

• Doctor Who
• Gordon Ramsay's F Word
• The Inbetweeners
• Being Human
• Extras
• Friday Night w/ Johnathan Ross

I'm spoiled by BBC America, I think.

 

[kikie]

I just watched an episode of 'Waking the dead' and I very much liked it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006r9ys

 

[Archangel]

If you are into comedy then there is of course "Fawlty Towers" which is well known.

In addition there is also "Coupling" which I didn`t see anyone mention in this thread, its brilliant in my opinion and very clever writing for a comedy show, it is often compared to "Friends" but honetly I think "Coupling" is far superior.
I do not know how many times I have re-watched but it ain`t few.

 

[Neal]

Kikie: You should definietely check out Green Wing. It's like a very odd british version of Scrubs.

 

[Robin]

My votes go to...

The I.T. Crowd
The Inbetweeners
Black Books

 

[DK]

I'm starting to get into "Pete vs. Life" and "Young, Dumb and Living Off Mum". Something about rich people struggling in the real world where all us mere mortals live makes for an hour's worth of good TV.