Second Being Human. Also not mentioning anything previously listed), Skins and Shameless. (Oddly, all three were adapted for the North American market. Being Human and Shameless did OK, while the MTV version of Skins was cancelled after only one season.)
The Young Ones
Bottom
Spaced
Peep Show
Flying Circus
The IT Crowd
Ideal
Father Ted
Vicar of Dibley
Blackadder
Red Dwarf
The Office
Life on Mars
Doctor Who
Sherlock
Jam & Jerusalem
Little Britian
Royle Family
The Inbetweeners
The Graham Norton Show
Broadchurch
Doc Martin
Black Mirror
Outnumbered
Moone Boy
Hustle
Jonathan Creek
Sherlock Holmes (with Jeremy Brett)
Jeeves & Wooster
That Mitchell & Webb Look
A Bit of Fry & Laurie
QI
Would I Lie to You
8 out of 10 Cats
Big Fat Quiz of the Year
Never Mind the Buzzcocks
Mock the Week
Skins (the first series)
Shameless (I couldn’t finish it but I made it almost all the way through)
Midsomer Murders
Inspector Lynley
Morse
Lewis
Endeavor
Bletchley Circle
Mr. Selfridge
I watch a lot of television.
In no particular order:
Brideshead Revisited
Morse
Danger UXB
Prime Suspect
All Creatures Great and Small
Downton Abbey
Call the Midwife
The Bletchley Circle
House of Cards
The Fall
Luther
An Englishman Abroad (not a series but a brilliant TV film)
And many more. I have lived in England at various times, and there are some series that AFAIK have never been shown in the US. But most of the good stuff is exported to the US.
In random order as I remember them:
Misfits
Doctor Who
Monty Python
Star Cops
Blackadder
Fawlty Towers
The Book Group
Green Wing
Outnumbered
Sherlock
Coupling
The Prisoner
The Avengers
I, Claudius
Red Dwarf
Hustle
Grouped by … whatever.
*Monty Python’s Flying Circus
Coupling
The Prisoner* (original)
The Avengers (Mrs. Peel era)
Luther
DCI Banks
(More of the last 2 are on their way!)
And no doubt many, many others of old that aren’t just coming to mind now.
Lots of good ones have been mentioned, but I haven’t seen anyone mention Extras or Yes, (Prime) Minister.
Upstairs, Downstairs remains my absolutely favorite British series, although I have a ton of other shows on DVD: Brideshead Revisited, the Prisoner, Monty Python, the Pallisers, both versions of the Forsyte Saga, Blackadder, Midsommer Murders, and all the Poirots.
One UK show I’ve absolutely fallen in love with the last year or so is the archeology show Time Team. It’s hardly available in the U.S. and I’ve been scouring Amazon UK and Ebay to get hold of earlier episodes released on Region 2 or 4 DVDs.
Yes! Yes! (for series 1 and 2)
She was gorgeous, and the dialogue was great. Super acting and writing. We still re-watch. Series 1 and 2. Three–not so much.
Canadian here. Most of my favourites have been mentioned:
QI
Prime Suspect
Broadchurch (Series 1)
Life on Mars
Midsomer Murders (if Jason Hughes is in it)
Would I Lie To You
I feel very lucky to live in a time where I can watch stuff that isn’t only what PBS shows for British TV, thanks to the, mm, internet.
Very fond memories of the original Upstairs, Downstairs on PBS, though!
Just started Moone Boy, and I have some Welsh stuff (crime drama) lined up, as I was completely mesmerised by “35 Diwrnod”.
Bookmarking thread for further viewing suggestions.
There’s a remake currently being aired on BBC1. Aidan Turner plays Ross Poldark, and it’s pretty much ideal Sunday night viewing - lots of windswept smouldering and riding along cliff tops.
Some of them that I’ve loved. All watched on DVD.
Merlin
Pie in the sky
Monarch of the Glen
Cracker
Inspector Morse
Rosemary & Thyme
Inspector Lynley Mysteries
Jonathan Creek
Midsomer Murders
A Touch of Frost
MI5
Are You Being Served
Being Human
Keeping Up Appearances
As Time Goes By
The Darling Buds of May
Robin Hood
The various Blackadders (don’t make me pick a favorite) and Red Dwarf, then in no particular order:
Absolutely Fabulous
Are You Being Served?
Monty Python’s Flying Circus
The Sandbaggers
Keeping Up Appearances
The Prisoner
the new Sherlock with Cumberbatch
That Mitchell And Webb Look. (I need to see more episodes, or I’d put it up top: “Hans…are we the baddies?”)
The Thick Of It (same as Mitchell and Webb)
Edit: I’m sure I forgot some more, but add Fawlty Towers, Masterpiece Theater, Mystery, and Antiques Roadshow, though I may be confusing shows produced in the UK with the US
Doctor Who
Broadchurch
Father Ted
Sherlock
Sherlock Holmes (the one with Jeremy Brett)
Considering how much of an Anglophile I am, I haven’t really watched that many British TV shows. I should remedy that.
Holy crap, Flambards mention in the OP! Big props for that.
Rolls up sleeves:
In alphabetical order, and only counting series/miniseries w/4 or more episodes. Also I know I’m forgetting things:
1900 House
Absolutely Fabulous
All Creatures Great and Small
The Aristocrats
Around the World in 80 Days (Michael Palin’s travel show)
The Avengers (esp. w/Diana Rigg, but I also liked The New Avengers)
The Barchester Chronicles
Blackadder I - III
A Bit of Fry and Laurie
Bleak House (2005)
Bramwell (first 3 series only… what the hell happened to the writers?!!)
Cadfael
Call the Midwife
Campion
Coupling (only first 3 series)
Cranford
Daniel Deronda
Doc Martin
Doctor Who (Original version, esp. Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor)
Downton Abbey
Duchess of Duke Street
Elizabeth R
Ever Decreasing Circles
Fawlty Towers
Flambards
Foyle’s War
Gavin and Stacey
The Good Life (aka Good Neighbors here in the U.S.)
He Knew He Was Right
Hot Metal
House of Cards trilogy
I, Claudius
I’m Alan Partridge (both series)
Island at War
The IT Crowd
Jeeves and Wooster
Kingdom
Lark Rise to Candleford
Lillie
Little Dorrit
A Little Princess (1986)
Manor House
Marion & Geoff
Martin Chuzzlewit
Mid Morning Matters (if you count webseries)
Middlemarch
Miss Marple (Joan Hickson)
That Mitchell and Webb Look
Monty Python’s Flying Circus
Mother Love
Mr. Selfridge
Outnumbered
The Paradise
Peep Show
Poirot
Pole to Pole
Pride and Prejudice (1995)
Prime Suspect
QI
Red Dwarf
Ripping Yarns
Saxondale
Sherlock Holmes (Jeremy Brett)
The Six Wives of Henry VIII
The Thick of It
This Is David Lander
To the Manor Born
Upstairs, Downstairs (1970s)
A Very Peculiar Practice
The Way We Live Now
Whose Line Is It Anyway?
Wives and Daughters
Would I Lie to You?
Yes Minister
Yes Prime Minister
Top three are undoubtedly Monty Python, The Good Life, and Yes Minister. With The Thick of It coming up very close behind.
If I were to recommend one series that very few Americans have probably seen, it’d be Marion & Geoff. Episodes are only about 10 minutes long, and they’re monologues, just a man (Rob Brydon) in a car. But OMG. Funny and devastatingly heartbreaking. If you’ve only seen Brydon in Gavin & Stacey or Would I Lie to You, you will not believe how astonishingly good he is at creating a sympathetic character doing nothing but talking while driving (or parked). Unfortunately it’s not on DVD (Region 1) and it’s exceedingly hard to find online. But worth the exploration if you can.
Crap, forgot The Day Today. A scabrous satire of a TV news magazine w/Chris Morris, Steve Coogan (the earliest TV appearance of Alan Partridge), Stewart Lee, Richard Herring and Rebecca Front among others, created by Chris Morris and Armando Iannucci of The Thick of It and Veep fame.
The Prisoner
Monty Python’s Flying Circus
Blackadder (by series, probably 2, 4, 1, 3)
Mastermind (although only the 1995 season ever aired in the USA)
The Young Ones (RIP Rik)
Doctor Who
Fawlty Towers
Dad’s Army
To the Manor Born
Absolutely Fabulous
Blake’s 7
does The Muppet Show count as British?
Top Gear
Ripper Street
Doctor Who
and any full 15 match I’m lucky enough to catch.
(Throw in past shows and add Monty Python to the list at number one)
I told you how much I hate making lists like this, only to remember something I left off…
How did I leave off:
Red Dwarf
The Goodies
Still others I’m recalling, with my memory jogged in part from some of the other posts in this thread:
Black Books
Bottom
Filthy, Rich and Catflap
The Prisoner
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
The Young Ones
All Creatures Great and Small
And many more, I’m sure. I do love my British series.
Yes, Minister/Yes, Prime Minister
Elizabeth R
Monty Python
Fawlty Towers
All Creatures Great and Small
Brideshead Revisited
Inspector Morse
Inspector Lewis
I, Claudius
Good Neighbors
The Jewel In The Crown
Sherlock Holmes (Jeremy Brett)
Adam Dalgliesh (Roy Marsden)
Jeeves and Wooster
A Bit of Fry & Laurie
Whose Line Is It, Anyway?