These series often go from being a small, centralized favorite to an enduring worldwide favorite like Doctor Who. Or, they instantly win people over all around the world, dominating the telly and streaming services akin to Ted Lasso. Either way, the influence, charm, and signature wit of British television shows is worth exploring and honoring. Here are the best British TV shows from the past and present.
My Family
The Book Group – When a young American woman moves to Glasgow, she starts a book group to meet people. Hidden stars David Suchet and Philip GlenisterHidden – David Suchet and Philip Glenister star in this series about a London solicitor who’s unwittingly drawn into the investigation of his own brother’s murder and a massive political conspiracy. Not to be confused with the Welsh Hidden over on Acorn TV. Camomile Lawn – Felicity Kendal stars in this series about a family spending the summer of 1939 together, just as World War II begins. The flagship show of the Selling franchise, Sunset, began in 2019, with the fifth season rumored to come out this year.
Best Sitcoms of All Time That Are Still Funny Today
I’d argue it’s one of the most unique British comedies on Netflix. Tamsin Greig plays the family’s long-suffering mum, Jackie, who loves her boys but still treats them like children, much to their constant embarrassment. Created, written by, and starring real-life siblings Daisy May and Charlie Cooper, the mockumentary follows the day-to-day lives of cousins Kerry and Lee “Kurtan” Mucklowe, in their snoozy little Cotswolds village. Anyone who’s ever found themselves stuck in a dead-end job won’t help but feel a shuddering sense of reality watching this mockumentary based on the mundane lives of colleagues at Slough-based paper merchant, Wernham-Hogg. “This time next year, we’ll be millionaires,” Del pledges in almost every episode – tune in to find out if the Trotters ever did make their fortune.
Torn between two women, Daniel embarks on a quest to discover his true identity. Ancient Greek myths and legends are brought to life in this thrilling fantasy drama. A wondrous place; a world of bull leaping, of snake haired Goddesses and vast palaces – this is the lost city of Atlantis. The disappearance of a woman and her two children sets off a media frenzy and a frustrating police investigation in this HBO miniseries. Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon playing not-really-them versions of themselves pottering around Europe eating at fine-dining restaurants while doing impressions for each other and eyeing up the waitresses may sound teeth-itchingly smug, but it isn’t.
The grumpy complainer and accident prone Victor Meldrew takes early retirement and finds he has far too much time on his hands. His long suffering wife and neighbours just have to grin and bear it. After Tom Good becomes disillusioned with his life, he packs in his job and he and his wife attempt to live a completely self-sufficient life in suburbia.
It was watched by 7m viewers, who sat in stunned, terrified silence when the credits rolled two hours later. Apart from the horrors of nuclear war, Threads should be remembered for raising concerns about economic stability and the possibility of social collapse. Less a detective series, more a cultural phenomenon, there was an operatic scale and complexity to these two-hour mystery sagas based on the late Colin Dexter’s popular crime novels.
Creators Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss have released 9 episodes across 3 series since 2010, and the third series is the UK’s most watched drama series since 2001.Sherlock’s popularity goes beyond just the UK, having been sold to over 200 territories. Sherlock’s triumph was confirmed when the show took home seven Emmy awards this year, hailed as 2014’s standout winner. British situational comedy Only Fools and Horses was written by John Sullivan www.matchreview.org and broadcast over seven series on BBC One between 1981 and 1991. Set in Peckham in south London, the show stars David Jason as an ambitious market trader, Nicholas Lyndhurst as his younger brother Rodney, and Lennard Pearce as their elderly Grandad. The series tells the story of Trotters’ lives, in particular their ill-advised and generally dodgy attempts at getting rich. Blackadder Goes Forthaired in autumn/winter of 1989 on BBC One.
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This is more of a ‘hitting people with frying pans’ thing than a ‘hit you in the feels’ thing. It’s Looney Tunes violence perpetrated by sordid overgrown man-children, and it’s brill. Bob Newhart was the king of the sitcom during the 1970s and 1980s, thanks to both The Bob Newhart Show and Newhart, the latter of which ran from 1982–1990. The Bob Newhart Show starred Newhart as a Chicago therapist named Bob Hartley and Suzanne Pleshette as his wife, Emily. When Newhart was coming to an end in 1990, that series closed with Newhart’s character, Dick Hartley, getting hit on the head by a golf ball and knocked unconscious, later waking up next to Emily in the bed they shared on The Bob Newhart Show. When he opened his eyes, he told Emily he just has the strangest dream, and he recalled the plot of Newhart to her.
Most of the storylines featured Rene trying to balance his political allegiance, his professional life, and his many personal dalliances. Considering it was set around a notable time in English history, there was always a steady threat of apocalypse breezily looking over the tonality of the show, which made the comedy very interesting. ’s success was quite unpredictable as no one expects a World War-led comedy to resonate with the commercial audiences, but the sitcom managed to stay on the air for nine seasons, which is a big deal for British television.
The humor would be absurd and childish if it wasn’t so genuinely smart and well-constructed, and that’s why Fawlty Towers remains one of the most beloved British comedies of all time. A sitcom about everyday family life may sound like an overdone bore, but Outnumbered strips everything cheesy away with an incredibly naturalistic style that most American shows would never attempt. No laugh track, stage, makeup, or model homes, plus messy kitchens, barefaced actors, and semi-improvised jokes allow everything about Outnumbered to be better than any show that has ever attempted the family sitcom before it. In that uniquely British way, the parents of Outnumbered are stressed out and tired, the kids all present their own unique chaos, and everything feels groundbreaking purely because the series manages to look so much like your own real life. Little Britain began as a humble radio series, but it eventually proved too successful not be transferred to the small screen. The TV show first aired in 2003 and, before long, its recurring characters had to share their catch phrases with the British public, who saw them as hilarious heroes.
The story follows a group of young convicts who gain supernatural powers whilst they were serving their sentence. If you’d like to add to this collection, please upload public domain classic TV shows to the Community Video collection and put the subject keyword “classic tv” on them. If you’d like, post to the forum at the bottom of this page to let us know they’re up, and we’ll move them over. Search the history of over 801 billion web pageson the Internet.
If you can get through the “Vaseline” filter of season 1, feel free to start from the beginning, as the series becomes more self-referential as the series goes on. But if you can’t, start with season 4 and bounce around from there. Another “catch it on a marathon” one — you can even start from whatever episode’s on this week. If you’ve ever used this GIF of Tiffany “New York” Pollard indignantly saying “BEYONCE?” you can give your thanks toFlavor of Love. After falling in love with Brigitte Nielsen onThe Surreal Life, Flavor Flav decided reality tv found him love once, why not try it again?