# British Television Series **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 31, 2009, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-television-series/515824 "2009-10-31T06:39:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![kbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4491bb/32.png) [@kbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kbear)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-television-series/515824/61 "2009-11-03T19:20:03Z")
I always look forward to some of the celebrity panel shows like Mock the Week and Have I Got News for You. Although I don’t know how much I’m going to like the next season of MTW without Frankie Boyle. Sadly the sum total of my knowledge of British politics is based on these two programs. Another vote for Spooks (Series 8 starts tomorrow night!) ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-television-series/515824/62 "2009-11-04T03:19:58Z")
> [@TWDuke](#): > > **Blackadder** is more like a collection of connected miniseries than a series in the U.S. sense. The leads play different (but related) characters in each, and the settings are hundreds of miles apart. In the first series, Rowan Atkinson plays a repulsive, amoral, conniving, and stupid man. In later series he’s still amoral and conniving, but not so much repulsive and stupid. I’d recommend starting with series 2. > > Atkinson also stars in **Mr. Bean** , a very different series in that it has almost no dialogue. It’s not to everyone’s taste, but at least watch the episode “Merry Christmas, Mr. Bean.” It’s hilarious and perfect for the holidays (and it features a very minor but funny “Doctor Who” reference). Mr. Bean is very popular over here, possibly because it’s all visual humor. I once read on imdb that Rowan Atkinson himself blocked the shows from appearing in Italy, because he liked to takes his holidays there and wanted to remain unrecognized. That entry is not there anymore, so I don’t know if he changed his mind or it was false to begin with. We’ve seen three of the Black Adders, the one during King George’s time the missing one. In the fourth series, WWI, the wife really liked that there was a character named Darling. You can imagine her joy at discovering the present British chancellor of the Exchequer is Alistair Darling. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-television-series/515824/63 "2009-11-04T04:53:30Z")
Blackadder III has one of my favorite lines ever (spoiler): Prince George: What can I do to a woman that I can’t do to you? Blackadder: I cannot conceive, sir. ---
**Author:** ![filling\_pages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9bd4f/32.png) [@filling\_pages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filling_pages)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-television-series/515824/64 "2009-11-04T17:25:54Z")
No love for the [Young Ones](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Young_Ones_(TV_series))? Hands down, one of the funniest shows I have ever watched. 4 university students share a house, and various wacky and surrealistic hijinks ensue. It predates Absolutely Fabulous and is almost nothing like it (besides being hilarious), but the two shows shared several actors. ---
**Author:** ![Dublin11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Dublin11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dublin11)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-television-series/515824/65 "2009-11-04T18:07:32Z")
> [@Hippy\_Hollow](#): > > **Peter Serafinowicz** was one of the masterminds behind those series and had his own sketch show - he is an amazing mimic and it was the best series I’ve seen in quite some time. He won a BAFTA for the show and I am praying that he does another. (Right now I think he’s developing a series for American TV.) He was also brilliant in in Hardware, a series with Martin Freeman. Vastly underrated and in my opinion pretty comical. Though I was always a sucker for Ken Morely being silly. And he was never in anything where he wasn’t silly. I think they only made one or two series of it. Set in a hardware shop that was always under threat from the local megahugegigantico DIY superstore up the road. For old school classic comedy, you can’t go far wrong with Porridge and Open All Hours. Both starring the master himself Mr Ronnie Barker with assistance from a youthful David Jason. Though in Porridge his youth was fairly well camouflaged. 😃 For those of us interested in Hollywood glamour and blockbusters, in Porridge, the callow youth Godber is played by Richard Beckinsale who was the father of Kate Beckinsale. He died very young, but as well as being brilliant in Porridge, he was also in another comical old school series - Rising Damp. Seeing as Steve Coogan has been mentioned a few times, what about Sunshine? Comedy and tragedy together. And Coogan’s mates in that were none other than Craig Cash and Phil Mealy, who gave us Early Doors. If you like Sunshine, you’ll like Early Doors and The Royle Family. If you don’t, you won’t. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-television-series/515824/66 "2009-11-04T22:42:49Z")
> [@Dublin11](#): > > For old school classic comedy, you can’t go far wrong with Porridge and Open All Hours. Both starring the master himself Mr Ronnie Barker with assistance from a youthful David Jason. Though in Porridge his youth was fairly well camouflaged. 😃 I’d totally forgotten David Jason was in Porridge! > [@](#): > > For those of us interested in Hollywood glamour and blockbusters, in Porridge, the callow youth Godber is played by Richard Beckinsale who was the father of Kate Beckinsale. He died very young, but as well as being brilliant in Porridge, he was also in another comical old school series - Rising Damp. Only 31 when he died - a great loss to UK acting. ---
**Author:** ![MJinks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@MJinks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MJinks)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-television-series/515824/67 "2009-11-05T00:14:50Z")
My favourite comedy series is **Red Dwarf**. It might be a little long in the tooth now but if I could wipe my mind it would be first on my list to re-watch. Other honourable mentions: **Black Books**. Bill Bailey and Dylan Moran are fantastic in their own right and play off each other brilliantly. The third series is a bit shit but the first two are great. I enjoy **Blackadder** and lots of people love it. The **I.T. Crowd** is fantastic, as is **The Mighty Boosh**. Other comedy programs that I will watch if I find them on but wont seek out: **Father Ted** , **Young Ones** and **Fawlty Towers**. I’m not sure if you have any access to British radio shows but if you do then I recommend **Old Harry’s Game** , which features Andy Hamilton as the devil trying to get mankind to behave itself due to hell overcrowding. **That Mitchell and Webb Sound** is a sketch show that’s much better than the TV series. **Revolting People** is a comedy set in Baltimore just before the American civil war, It also features Andy Hamilton, which is how I was introduced to it. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-television-series/515824/68 "2009-11-05T03:18:16Z")
> [@filling\_pages](#): > > No love for the [Young Ones](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Young_Ones_(TV_series))? Hands down, one of the funniest shows I have ever watched. 4 university students share a house, and various wacky and surrealistic hijinks ensue. > > It predates Absolutely Fabulous and is almost nothing like it (besides being hilarious), but the two shows shared several actors. I remember _The Young Ones_ very well. It played in the US back in the early days of MTV. And _Young Ones_ actors Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson both starred in the excellent [Bottom](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103376/), which we also watched courtesy of our English friend. The wife hated _Bottom_ but could not tear her eyes away, sort of like you do at a bad traffic accident. I thought it was great. And then there was their [Filthy Rich & Catflap](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092351/), which was almost as good and also featured another _Young Ones_ veteran, Nigel Planer. Saw that one, too. ---
**Author:** ![Dublin11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Dublin11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dublin11)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-television-series/515824/69 "2009-11-05T10:44:24Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > I’d totally forgotten David Jason was in Porridge! How can that be remotely possible, with your name? You, Baron Greenback, are the arch enemy and sworn nemesis of David Jason’s very finest creation in a long career of iconic characterisiations that are woven into very fabric of modern British life. God, I love Danger Mouse. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-television-series/515824/70 "2009-11-05T12:19:40Z")
> [@Dublin11](#): > > God, I love Danger Mouse. 😃 So, if I was to casually mention Super Ted and Bananaman in casual conversation, you’d get some of those Happy Childhood Memories™? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Hrududu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Hrududu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hrududu)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-television-series/515824/71 "2009-11-05T13:23:48Z")
> [@](#): > > He was also brilliant in in Hardware, a series with Martin Freeman. Vastly underrated and in my opinion pretty comical. Though I was always a sucker for Ken Morely being silly. And he was never in anything where he wasn’t silly. I think they only made one or two series of it. > Set in a hardware shop that was always under threat from the local megahugegigantico DIY superstore up the road. I always felt that the crap sitcom in Extras was a dig at Hardware and other comedies like that. Most of the ones I’d recommend have been covered already. I’m a bit miffed at all the Peep Show love. I never warmed to it at all. The Office, as cringeworthy as it was, always made me laugh. But Peep Show, for me just has the cringe and none of the laughs. More recent series I enjoyed have been The Thick of It and Being Human. ---
**Author:** ![hammos1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba8739/32.png) [@hammos1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hammos1)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-television-series/515824/72 "2009-11-05T13:24:21Z")
I don’t think anyone’s mentioned **The Smoking Room** yet. I missed it when it first came out but I’ve been catching up on it recently. Its set entirely within the dingy smoking room in an office building, with various characters drifting in and out to have a ciggy and/or avoid doing any actual work. It stars _Peep Show’s_ Robert Webb. It’s all talk, no action, you hear of but never see events outside the room; it sometimes feels like a low-IQ comedy version of _12 Angry Men_. ---
**Author:** ![filling\_pages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9bd4f/32.png) [@filling\_pages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filling_pages)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-television-series/515824/73 "2009-11-05T17:02:09Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > And then there was their [Filthy Rich & Catflap](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092351/), which was almost as good and also featured another _Young Ones_ veteran, Nigel Planer. Saw that one, too. And, just to make this whole thing a little bit geekier, Planer is heavily tied into Discworld. He does the reading for the audiobooks and appeared in both Hogfather and The Colour of Magic. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-television-series/515824/74 "2009-11-05T17:39:23Z")
> [@Dublin11](#): > > How can that be remotely possible, with your name? > > You, Baron Greenback, are the arch enemy and sworn nemesis of David Jason’s very finest creation in a long career of iconic characterisiations that are woven into very fabric of modern British life. > > God, I love Danger Mouse. 😃 \*Excellent. The brainwashed colonel has send his greatest agent to his doom. And when that dim-witted desperately deluded duo reach the end of their wild goose chase, they will discover, the wildest, wickedest goose the world has ever seen!!! \* To be fair when I changed my username I asked Tuba about all sorts of variations on Danger Mouse, but they were all taken. So then, I turned to the dark side… _Croaks_ ---
**Author:** ![FawltyRyan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9f8e36/32.png) [@FawltyRyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FawltyRyan)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2009, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-television-series/515824/75 "2009-11-06T22:57:56Z")
If you are looking for British comedies, then you have to check out Fawlty Towers. It is widely accepted as one of the best, if not the best, sitcom. And there is a BBC Video Fawlty Towers Remastered ‘lookalike contest’ where you can win a SIGNED DVD from John Cleese, with winners being selected by the man himself! If you’re game, head over to [http://tr.im/fawltycontest](http://tr.im/fawltycontest) before 11/15 to get in on this bloody awesome opportunity! ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2009, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-television-series/515824/76 "2009-11-06T23:07:39Z")
Is _Doc Martin_ classified as a comedy? Perhaps it’s more of a dramedy. Whatever it is, I love it. Martin Clunes is as funny as hell in his role as a stodgy, socially clueless small village doctor. I only recently learned that he’s Jeremy Brett’s cousin, and got into acting as a result of Brett’s encouragement. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2009, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-television-series/515824/77 "2009-11-07T00:30:58Z")
> [@FawltyRyan](#): > > If you are looking for British comedies, then you have to check out Fawlty Towers. It is widely accepted as one of the best, if not the best, sitcom. And there is a BBC Video Fawlty Towers Remastered ‘lookalike contest’ where you can win a SIGNED DVD from John Cleese, with winners being selected by the man himself! If you’re game, head over to [tr.im](http://tr.im/fawltycontest) before 11/15 to get in on this bloody awesome opportunity! I recall PBS running _Fawlty Towers_ in the US way back when. From time to time, I stumble upon it showing in a bar or pub here, usually one that’s British-owned. ---
**Author:** ![MarkF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@MarkF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarkF)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2009, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-television-series/515824/78 "2009-11-07T02:14:11Z")
What a great thread. W/regard to the OP, I also loved the premise of **Life on Mars** but don’t feel it stands the test of time and **Ashes to Ashes** was instant sharkbait. I’ll second **Dr. Martin** and proffer **Men behaving badly**. On the drama front I would recommend to you **City of Vice**. As it’s a channel 4 show I imagine it can be found using the 4OD link upthread. It’s basically the very early days of introducing lawmen to London in the 1700’s. Filthy, depraved and enormous fun 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2009, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-television-series/515824/79 "2009-11-07T12:41:18Z")
> [@MJinks](#): > > My favourite comedy series is **Red Dwarf**. It might be a little long in the tooth now but if I could wipe my mind it would be first on my list to re-watch. Tell me it gets better than the first episode and I’ll try it again. I couldn’t make it through the first one. I was trying to be completist and starting from the beginning. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2009, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-television-series/515824/80 "2009-11-07T12:56:31Z")
> [@Cardinal](#): > > Tell me it gets better than the first episode and I’ll try it again. I couldn’t make it through the first one. I was trying to be completist and starting from the beginning. The second, third, and fourth series are, IMHO, the “best”, but otherwise I think they’re all pretty good. Series II is pretty much set solely aboard the _Red Dwarf_, but they spend a mixture of time on and off the ship in series III-IV, spend most of their time in Starbug in series V (followed by the entirety of their time being aboard Starbug in series VI and VII…) series VIII is back on Red Dwarf\* and off it as well, there is no series IX (don’t ask), and series X consists so far of three episodes, although they have apparently greenlit the rest of the series and it should start shooting next year. Or, to put it another way: Give it another go; you could even try starting at series II or series III (which are bit more “interesting” than the first series, which is really about the interaction between Lister and Rimmer) and see how you go from there. 🙂 \*Yes, I know. Don’t complicate it for the non-Dwarfers, OK? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-television-series/515824.md?page=3)