It's time for a NEW round of "Name your favorite British TV show"!!

Monty Python’s Flying Circus is a classic. I also liked the old shows “One Foot in the Grave” and. “Keeping Up Appearances” which taught me that “Hounslow” is not just a London suburb.

Keeping Up Appearances. (Richard!) (Sheridan, you must come to my candlelight supper!)

Thanks, Mardee!

Traitors!!! It's a new reality show based in the UK and I love it!!

Very impressive spreadsheet, thanks for putting that together!

A new show I am enjoying right now is "How Are You? It's Me, Alan (Partridge)" the latest in a long series of Alan Partridge programmes starring Steve Coogan. I love all the Partridge entertainments (including podcasts) going all the way back to the classic comedy series "The Day Today" where the character of Alan Partridge was introduced. I also really recommend the series before this one "This Time with Alan Partridge" which was some of the best tv I've seen in a while.

There's also a new series of Mitchell and Webb which I enjoyed tho I don't think it's as good as their previous one.

that must have been a real labour of love!!

Time for legs up and a nice cup of tea

I don't think it is mentioned anywhere but Father Ted is an absolute comedy classic. 30 years after it was made and it is still quoted especially when offering a cup of tea, "Go on, go on, go on".

I'm not sure if he particularly 'travels' but Peter Kay has written some brilliant stuff. Phoenix Nights is set in a northern working man's club. The episode with the family fun day is hilarious. "Chorley FM Coming in your ears".
Car Share is equally funny and sweet. The soundtrack on the car radio is also brilliant if you are of an early 70s vintage. Peter Kay really knows his music.
Finally, i think it has only been shown once on TV but a one off he did for Christmas is one of the best p1ss takes of TV talent shows you will ever see. It is genuinely called 'Britain's Got the Pop Factor....and Possibly a New Celebrity Jesus Christ Soapstar Superstar Strictly On Ice". He gets the ridiculousness of these types of competitions bang on but with affection. The 'real' people like Simon Cowell and Cat Dealey play themselves in it.

Time for legs up and a nice cup of tea.

Ha ha, yes, indeed, Nigel - and that's exactly what I did!

Thank you for organizing that thread! I used it to find some new shows for my folks to watch, they're avid Brit murder show fans.

A few more that I don't see on the list:

The Cleaner - irreverent comedy about a crime scene cleaner (BritBox/Roku, IMDB 7.1)

Durrells in Corfu - Brits in Greece in the 1930s (PBS, Amazon, IMDB 8.2)

Fleabag - cringy comedy, in a good way (Amazon, IMDB 8.7)

The Thick of It - cringy government political drama (Britbox, Peacock, IMDB 8.7)

No Offence - another crime drama (Pluto, BritBox, Acorn, IMDB 8.0)

Wow, Mardee, that's some amazing dedication to the forum!

I don't see Heartbeat. I give it a 100 ;) for music, 10 for scenery, and maybe 6.5 for writing/plot??

Over decades usually via PBS on American TV:
Dr Who
The Avengers
Benny Hill ( my dad loved that show)
The Prisoner
Vera
Inspector Morse
Scott and Bailey
Happy Valley
Midsomer Murders
Annika
Hetty Wainthrop
Touching Evil
MI 5
Prime Suspect
Unforgotten
Taggert
McDonald and Dobbes
Lovejoy
DI Ray
No Offense
Magpie Murders
Shetland
Shakespeare and Hathaway
Monty Python
Poirot
Sherlock Holmes with Jeremy Brett
Whitsable Pearl
Magrait with the late, great Michael Gambon. Loved that it was filmed in Budapest doubling for WW2 Paris. Ah the magic of location filming.

Watching PBS is part of my DNA.

EDIT 1: Forgot Inspector George Gently and Endeavor
EDIT 2: I Claudius with Derek Jacobi

There are a few shows that did not make their way onto the list because I didn't know which one it was. For example, Heartbeat had about. 3-5 different entries on IMDB, and without knowing which one it was, I was reluctant to put it in there. So if someone wants to let me know more details about it, I'd be happy to flesh it out more.

The problem is some shows that people named had no time period, description or cast members, or anything that would help to identify it. And there are a lot of shows out there with the same name, lol!

The same thing with "No Offense". There were at least five shows named with the same title. I was trying to do more searching in the beginning, but by the time I was 60% of the way through, I was just trying to get through the list. So I admit I did not make the same effort towards the end as I was in the beginning. 😊

There have been 3 ‘civilian’ series of British Traitors and the first celeb series is currently showing. The US series is shot back to back with the British version and features the same tasks and Scottish location but a different presenter. I’m a huge fan and have watched all the English language versions currently available!

I believe the BBC is going to start showing .the Irish Traitors once the UK celeb Traitors finishes. Their ‘Claudia’ is Siobhan McSweeney, Sister Michael from Derry Girls.

This is awesome mardee! Thank you so much! Scrolling through the other thread for new show ideas was getting crazy! Really appreciate you!

It was sad to learn that Patricia Routledge (Hyacinth) from Keeping Up Appearances passed away a couple weeks ago.

We still enjoy Midsomer Murders and the new Lynley series as well as the new Karen Pirie series.

I looked at the spread sheet earlier in the day, and now its completely different? With the same shows repeating?? Is it me?

Really nice interview, hosted by Matthew Bannister, on the BBC podcast Last Word from Samuel West about his mother Prunella Scales. I found out about the Great Canal Journeys show from this thread!

https://www.bbc.com/audio/play/p0mcscr8

jules,

oh dear! it's not you. something happened to the spreadsheet. seems like a sort problem or something.

The Young Ones :)

edit: And some British Police drama with an older Detective and his younger partner who was almost like a monk. Don't remember the name but the younger partner was my kind of character.

ATTENTION!!!!!

I should have thought of this and warned you, so that's my fault. The reason the copy is getting edited is that I allowed edits on the copy, not the original, but didn't think about the fact that you probably wouldn't think about making your own copy.

So what I've done is changed the link above to the spreadsheet in my first post. Go ahead and open that one up. That will be view-only, and no one will be able to edit it.

For those who are editing the old document, please remove your edits so that it won't show up, and make your own copy. That way, you can just make edits for yourself.

TO MAKE YOUR OWN COPY: Use the old link, then click on File-->Make a Copy, and that will copy the link so you have it for your own. But as I said, if you don't care about creating your own copy to edit, just use the NEW link upthead in the original post.

I, Claudius; Sunset Song; A Town Like Alice and so many more from over four decades ago.
This is so much fun, Mardee. I can't imagine the amount of time and effort you've put into your spread sheet!

No Graham Norton? Especially the turn of the century risqué 'So Graham Norton'.

No where near the bizarre of my pick of "The Young Ones". I didn't expect anybody else to agree but I'm surprised it was as popular as it was:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Young_Ones_(TV_series)

"The show was voted number 31 in the BBC's Best Sitcom poll in 2004.[1]"

Though, like with Monty Python, the BBC had difficulties:

[snip]
According to Jackson, the finished project was met with complete disbelief by the BBC, but the recent arrival of Channel 4 led the broadcaster to air what had been created a week after its opening night, on 9 November.[7]

To help make it stand out, the group opted to combine traditional sitcom style with violent slapstick, non-sequitur plot turns, and surrealism.

edit: Also:
Last of the Summer Wine
Some of "Doc Martin"
That Judi Dench series with Lionel (can't remember the name)

And of course, can't forget the British Tim Hunkin and his wonderful "Secret Life of Machines"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_Life_of_Machines

RobertH, many British Gen Xers have a great affection for the Young Ones. it was like nothing we had ever seen on the BBC, felt really quite subversive and most importantly was very funny.
I was 10 when it was first shown and would sneak into my bedroom to watch it on the black and white TV I was allowed to have I my bedroom for my ZX81 computer.

Emma, you can be excused for your (very) young and impressionable age. I was over 40 when I first saw it. :)

That Judi Dench series with Lionel (can't remember the name)

"As Time Goes By"

Thanks for the Judi Dench tip.

This is so much fun, Mardee. I can't imagine the amount of time and effort you've put into your spread sheet!

Thanks! It was a labor of love, I will admit! Although I'm sorry for the mixup with the first version...

Mardee, thanks so much for putting this together. I feel like I watch a lot of British tv, but there are loads more on your list that I was unaware of. I owe you a glass of wine for this!

Well for me it’s a toss up between

• 24 hours A&E which was previously mentioned
• Wheeler Dealers and its various offshoots. Really enjoy the old episodes with Edd Chyna.

For all the Slow Horses fans, Stephen Colbert went to the UK and interviewed the four major cast members of Slow Horses. He tests them on their American accents among other things. I didn't realize that Jack Loudon was Scottish! At any rate, it was pretty funny.

https://youtu.be/YjKqXfH2OY8?si=zD1r5UouWZ21eVUK

Gotta say British and Australian actors are stellar at adopting American accents. When I first saw Toni Collette on an interview show following the release of the film The Sixth Sense and learned she was Australian I was totally shocked. Same with Hugh Laurie who played House.

Just read a new season of In Line of Duty is in the works!!! I’m chuffed!

Toni Collette was brilliant in Muriel’s Wedding - the movie which launched hers (and Rachel Griffiths, ‘Six Feet Under) careers. Favourite British Show was the Blackadder Series (The trenches, WW One). Keith Michell (another Australian) in the Six Wives of Henry V111. Slow Horses is an excellent series (currently showing). Upstairs Downstairs, from the 1970s, looks dated now, but more authentic than Downton Abbey, however not as glamorous. And of course, Spooks. Roddy from Slow Horses is an Australian actor and a Town Like Alice, not British, but Australian mini series with some British actors in it

Up Pompeii!

I miss that style of cheeky humor so much.

-- Mike Beebe

Gotta say British and Australian actors are stellar at adopting American accents.

I wholeheartedly agree. I'm always amazed when I find out some of the actors I see on a lot of American shows are either British, Australian, Welsh, or Scottish.

Kate Winslet was recently in the wonderful limited series "Mare in Easttown" on HBOMax. Not only did she speak with an American accent, but it was a very localized accent from a specific area outside of Philadelphia. It was very impressive.

I’m in London at the moment, and stepped into the Waterstones bookstore on Piccadilly a couple of days ago, to get out of the cold for a few minutes until our bus came. A couple of new Monty Pyrhon alum notes:

John Cleese was at the store just a few days earlier, talking about, and signing his new book, Fawlty Towers Fawlts and All. A sign for the November store events noted that it had been Sold Out. The book is from his recollections about the show (in which he and former wife - and a fellow-Hoosier - Connie Booth co-wrote and co-starred), and celebrates the 50th anniversary of the show … all 12 episodes!

On a shelf just inside the entrance were copies of a new Michael Palin book about his recent travelogue show to Venezuela. Glad that he wasn’t in a speedboat in the Caribbean! He’s made many travel shows over the past 30+ years, starting with Around the World in 80 Days, and also a recent visit to North Korea.

At the V&A museum, next to a video of Monty Python’s Silly Walks sketch, was the completely unexpected waiter’s uniform from the Manuel character on Fawlty Towers. The harried character was Spanish, but was played by German-born British actor Andrew Sachs, who sadly died 9 years ago. His daughter donated the costume to the V&A after he passed.

Also passing away less than a month ago, Prunella Scales played Sybil, the wife of the hapless John Cleese/Basil Fawlty. For a show with such a short run, it’s had a huge impact. So many treasured TV people are gone.

The BBC had an excellent series called Secrets of the Museum where they showed how the curators at the V&A looked after long standing and new exhibits. One of the ones they focussed on was the Manuel waiter’s outfit, showing the processes they went through to get it ready to show.

If you have any interest in museums it really is worth a watch..

This week I've been rewatching one of my favourites, "Look Around You," which is a satire of educational science programming (featuring one of the best, Peter Serafinowicz, and in series 2, Olivia Coleman early in her career). It's not available on any streaming service but luckily it is on the internet archive!
https://archive.org/details/look_around_you/

This week I've been rewatching one of my favourites, "Look Around You,"

Hah! It's great!. My favourite from Look Around You is probably "Synthesiser Patel". The sniffles, and the obsession with the security of his synthesisers :)

https://youtu.be/z2myFLUDB74?si=GRdOCcrfbqrQJ03K (YouTube, 2m 44s)

Peter Serafinowicz's series was pretty out there too. Lots of clips on Youtube.

Another couple of my Peter Serafinowicz favourites - T-Wog$, Terry Wogan's secret pirate radio show.

https://youtu.be/3z9uLdARaNU?si=LY0tkBaoUJdpdgbp (YouTube, 27m 24s)

Also, his Zaphod Beeblebrox-esque video for Daft Punk's Get Lucky.

https://youtu.be/P-bcnVU_NAU?si=j3fU5daVj4YvIlJe (YouTube 1m 52s)

I love that I just stumbled on this thread! My husband and I are huge fans of British telly (thank you, Britbox!).
Some faves, off the top of my head:
-- Broadchurch (especially series 1) and Fleabag are my favorite things I've seen on TV.
-- other top shows for me are Karen Pirrie (especially series 2), Slow Horses, Sherwood, A Confession, Happy Valley, and Ludwig (can't wait for the next series!).
-- we really enjoy Traitors UK, especially series 1 and the recent Celebrity Traitors UK (we like the UK series more than the US series)
-- we're currently enjoying Dept Q and This is Going to Hurt -- though these are on Netflix, not Britbox.
-- AND, Gogglebox is always wonderful for unwinding after a long week!