# British TV Shows That Have Been Popular In The U.S **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 11, 2023, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-tv-shows-that-have-been-popular-in-the-u-s/978018 "2023-01-11T08:35:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2023, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-tv-shows-that-have-been-popular-in-the-u-s/978018/161 "2023-01-14T19:48:14Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > But as I said upthread, the 1981 version kept in the jokes, and the 2005 version didn’t. Compare: The problem may have been that I had heard the jokes already from the radio version. Where your imagination filled in the effects. And I’m definitely not saying the 2005 version was good. I don’t remember if I read the books before or after the TV version. I don’t much care for cheesy effect Dr. Who either, so that might be a problem. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2023, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-tv-shows-that-have-been-popular-in-the-u-s/978018/162 "2023-01-14T19:53:01Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Add Gerry Anderson’s _ **Stingray** _ to the list in 110. I also remember _ **Supercar** _ being on CBS Saturday mornings in the early '60s. Supercar is the only Gerry Anderson puppet show I watched, due to scheduling, I think. Except for Space 1999 with its live action puppets. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2023, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-tv-shows-that-have-been-popular-in-the-u-s/978018/163 "2023-01-14T19:54:54Z")
Are you suggesting Martin Landau and Barbara Bain were wooden? 🤨 ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2023, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-tv-shows-that-have-been-popular-in-the-u-s/978018/164 "2023-01-14T19:57:09Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Alderton was in another sitcom, the name of which escapes me at the moment, in which he played an elementary school teacher, IIRC. _Please, Sir!_ [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/44ElLnnG_Tg/hqdefault.jpg "Top TV Soundtrack Themes. Please Sir. (Please Sir)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44ElLnnG_Tg) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2023, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-tv-shows-that-have-been-popular-in-the-u-s/978018/165 "2023-01-14T19:58:01Z")
Thank you! 👍 ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2023, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-tv-shows-that-have-been-popular-in-the-u-s/978018/166 "2023-01-14T21:32:41Z")
> [@John\_W.Kennedy](#): > > Remember, we have no tradition of music hall I thought you called it _vaudeville_. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2023, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-tv-shows-that-have-been-popular-in-the-u-s/978018/167 "2023-01-14T21:52:44Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I’ve always wondered who Marina was modeled after: Like Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward and Doctor Venus, she was probably modelled after Sylvia Anderson. [![](https://www.nme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/2016_SyliaAnderson_Getty80747379_160316-696x462.jpg) ](https://www.nme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/2016_SyliaAnderson_Getty80747379_160316-696x462.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2023, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-tv-shows-that-have-been-popular-in-the-u-s/978018/168 "2023-01-14T21:58:30Z")
I like the high-production miniseries that crop up now and then, like The Hollow Crown, The Night Manager, The Serpent, and even Kenneth Branagh’s Wallander (not as good as the original, but interesting). I don’t know how many of those reach the US. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2023, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-tv-shows-that-have-been-popular-in-the-u-s/978018/169 "2023-01-14T22:12:19Z")
Nope. Brigitte Bardot! > **[Stingray (TV Series 1964–1965) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057786/)** > > Stingray: Created by Gerry Anderson, Sylvia Anderson. With Ray Barrett, David Graham, Robert Easton, Don Mason. Follows the adventures of the World Aquanaut Security Patrol, particularly the crew of its most advanced combat submarine called Stingray. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2023, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-tv-shows-that-have-been-popular-in-the-u-s/978018/170 "2023-01-14T22:27:41Z")
> [@eburacum45](#): > > Kenneth Branagh’s Wallander After watching the original, I couldn’t stomach Branagh’s version. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2023, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-tv-shows-that-have-been-popular-in-the-u-s/978018/171 "2023-01-14T22:31:57Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Nope. Brigitte Bardot! Makes sense. Bardot was never one for great speeches. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2023, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-tv-shows-that-have-been-popular-in-the-u-s/978018/172 "2023-01-14T22:51:33Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > No love for Foyle’s War? A favorite of my late mother’s, and I like it too. I loved it! Somehow I missed the final post-war season and only watched it a few years ago. Ellie Haddington, who typically plays such juicy bad-guy roles, was such a hero in the final episode. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2023, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-tv-shows-that-have-been-popular-in-the-u-s/978018/173 "2023-01-14T22:54:47Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > straight from _Whisky Galore_ Loved this movie! And _I Know Where I’m Going_ – I think of them as kind of a matched set. Does that HUGE whirlpool actually exist? ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2023, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-tv-shows-that-have-been-popular-in-the-u-s/978018/174 "2023-01-15T01:38:15Z")
No, neither American vaudeville nor American burlesque is really equivalent to British music hall. Apart from productions of _The Entertainer_ and those early episodes of _Upstairs Downstairs_ in which Pauline Collins’ character went on the stage, most Americans have never been exposed to music hall. (In fact, when those episodes first aired in the States, they were accompanied by little 10-minute documentaries giving examples of music-hall numbers. Oh! and I forgot—there are the opening minutes of _Evergreen_ in which Jessie Matthews does “Daddy wouldn’t buy me a bow-wow”.) My wife knows a bit more than most of us, as her classical-theatre professor at university, a native of Glastonbury, used to do a one-man act that he called “The Cheerio Show”, so that she can rattle off “Oh! mister porter!”, “There I was, waiting at the church”, and “If you want to know the time, ask a policeman” like anything. ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2023, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-tv-shows-that-have-been-popular-in-the-u-s/978018/175 "2023-01-15T01:45:13Z")
Yes, the Corryvreckan Whirlpool is quite real, and the strategems and devices used to get it on camera were non-trivial. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2023, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-tv-shows-that-have-been-popular-in-the-u-s/978018/176 "2023-01-15T01:53:34Z")
> [@John\_W.Kennedy](#): > > In fact, when those episodes first aired in the States, they were accompanied by little 10-minute documentaries giving examples of music-hall numbers. Now that I’d like to see. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2023, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-tv-shows-that-have-been-popular-in-the-u-s/978018/177 "2023-01-15T02:04:28Z")
> [@John\_W.Kennedy](#): > > …whereas “Oh yes it is!” and “He’s behind you!” are quite alien. On no it isn’t! ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2023, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-tv-shows-that-have-been-popular-in-the-u-s/978018/178 "2023-01-15T02:28:46Z")
> [@John\_W.Kennedy](#): > > No, neither American vaudeville nor American burlesque is really equivalent to British music hall. Apart from productions of _The Entertainer_ and those early episodes of _Upstairs Downstairs_ in which Pauline Collins’ character went on the stage, most Americans have never been exposed to music hall. (In fact, when those episodes first aired in the States, they were accompanied by little 10-minute documentaries giving examples of music-hall numbers. I was too young to watch Upstairs, Downstairs when it first aired, but I vaguely remember seeing Alastair Cooke introduce the UK shows. In part, he was there to translate the weird customs and words for the Americans. Later, they had other people doing the same thing. (Sometimes it was more necessary than others, like that whole thing about the entail in Downton Abbey.) ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2023, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-tv-shows-that-have-been-popular-in-the-u-s/978018/179 "2023-01-15T07:27:30Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > Does that HUGE whirlpool actually exist? Yes > **[Gulf of Corryvreckan](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Corryvreckan)** > > The Gulf of Corryvreckan (from the Gaelic Coire Bhreacain, meaning 'cauldron of the speckled seas' or 'cauldron of the plaid'), also called the Strait of Corryvreckan, is a narrow strait between the islands of Jura and Scarba, in Argyll and Bute, off the west coast of mainland Scotland. > It is possible for tourists to visit the site by way of boat trips from local harbours or sightseeing flights from Oban Airport. > Strong Atlantic currents and unusual underwater topography together produce a pa... ---
**Author:** ![Bashorian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bashorian/32/3546_2.png) [@Bashorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bashorian)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2023, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-tv-shows-that-have-been-popular-in-the-u-s/978018/180 "2023-01-15T07:36:48Z")
I watched a few episodes of New Tricks, at least it was on in the background. It seemed alright, and i was pleased to see Amanda Redman, who I know from Good Karma Hospital. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-tv-shows-that-have-been-popular-in-the-u-s/978018.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-tv-shows-that-have-been-popular-in-the-u-s/978018.md?page=10)