Hey there all you UK dopers, are there any new TV shows from your fair isle that I should be aware of?
No particular genre, just good quality and maybe a little bit quirky.
QI, of course
If you like panel/game shows more or less about current events, there’s:
Argumental
8 out of 10 Cats
Mock the Week
Have I Got News For You
The Bubble
Going back a few years, the best recent comedies are:
Spaced
Black Books
Green Wing
Sold
Thick Of It
Being Human will no doubt be mentioned, which is a badly-mixed mashup of comedy and drama about a werewolf, a vampire, and a ghost who share a flat.
Misfits has sort of the same mood, but is about a bunch of hoodlum teenagers who get super powers.
Oh, and Dr Who, of course.
Beyond that, you’ll have to give us some pointers about what you like.
Ah, and I’m not actually British.
You forgot Peep Show, Smeghead, you smeghead!
Dammit, yes. That’s a good 'un.
anything really.
i liked the recent Whitechapel revamping of Jack the Ripper, for example.
and survivors. Dr Who and Torchwood are givens. I thought Apparitions was crap.
I watched In The Thick of It after seeing the spin-off movie, In The Loop. I love both the movie and the series, but YMMV depending on how much you like awkward humour and creative swearing.
It’s set in an imaginary department of the current government (the Department of Social Affairs), and while I’m sure there’s nuances I miss, I enjoy it despite not being British or terribly familiar with UK politics.
And the sketch show from the same guys, “That Mitchell and Webb Look”, is also fantastic. I think a bunch of the sketches are on youtube.
Search for the “Armstrong and Miller” sketch show. They’re a bit overlooked in the UK, for reasons unclear to me, but I think they’re the funniest thing on the TV at the moment - much funnier than Mitchell and Webb, IMO.
Their RAF Pilots* series is absolutely inspired.
If you’re familiar with Flanders and Swann, they rip them mercilessly too.
They also do superb pastiches of John Wyndham type British disaster films, my favourite of which is “Water! From the skies!” (a meteorologist discovers the horrifying truth that it’s going to rain, but is unable to persuade the authorities of this terrifying eventuality. “It’s going to PISS DOWN!!!”) which has sadly been removed from YouTube, and another one where the entire world appears to have become drunk (“Everyone’s ratarsed!”). There may be ::wink wink:: ways to access their entire series online.
*In case cross-cultural comprehension is required to get the joke at first:
They are officer-class pilots in World War Two, but they exhibit the attitudes and vocabulary of the contemporary young British urban underclass, replete with British ebonics, rap-speak and revolving around a compensation culture. Weird idea, but brilliantly executed.
I must admit I have always flicked past Armstrong and Miller before and never stopped to watch, but that is just brilliant. They have completely nailed contemporary yoof-speak and attitudes.
I particularly like:
Keep an eye out for The IT Crowd, The Mighty Boosh, and Posh Nosh… The Boosh is more than a little surreal and weird, but if you liked Black Books you should enjoy The IT Crowd, and Posh Nosh is a great piss-take on pretentious “Brewpup-Gastronome” cooking shows.
Keep your eye out for the new ashes to ashes series starting next friday Doctor Who on Sat with the new doctor.
Seconded. They are hit and miss, of course, as are all sketch shows, but when they get it right, they are very, very hard to beat. The street-wise RAF pilots are the jewel in the crown, of course, but there is much else to enjoy in the A&M world, including the disaster prone Arts Historian (the disasters become enjoyably more creative and harder to anticipate as the series goes on) and the man utterly oblivious to his wife’s infidelity with his best friend despite the abundant evidence.
Mitchell & Webb came up with a pretty strong first series of That Mitchell and Webb Look, but the second series was woefully below par and suggested a massive dip in creativity.
I’d heartily recommend all the above, especially “the thick if it” and “the Mighty Boosh”
At first glance it may seem that the former won’t translate well for anyone not familiar with British politics…but no, I reckon that the characters are universal and the inventive swearing and surreal banter is pure Ianucci.
“look out…it’s the beige power ranger!”
(bonus points for anyone who can connect my username to “the thick of it”
I’m hooked on Skins, & I’m not British either.
I thought the first groups of students were fantastic, but this second lot have been nowhere near as good. The fourth series was a disaster IMHO.
Thanks for the info. I’ve only made it through the 1st season, & the first two eps. of the 2nd. I figured it would be hard to maintain that quality level for any decent stretch.
I hear they’re making a movie, too.
They’re a few years old by now, but Little Britain and Little Britain USA.
Peep Show is one of the best comedies in the past decade, though I don’t think the Mitchell and Webb Look is anywhere close to being as good. Armstrong & Miller is great. I’m currently watching The Inbetweeners and it’s fab as well.
These shows are a little older, but the Peter Serafenowicz Show and Saxondale (starring Steve Coogan) were fab. I also enjoyed Harry & Paul, which might be the wrong title but it was the sketch show with Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse.
I found The Mighty Boosh to be pants, actually. They were showing it on Adult Swim in the US, which is about right - I imagine it would be riotously funny if I was half-baked out of my mind.