# How are American series shown on British TV? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 28, 2013, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-american-series-shown-on-british-tv/669853 "2013-09-28T04:29:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2013, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-american-series-shown-on-british-tv/669853/1 "2013-09-28T04:29:20Z")
TV shows in the U.S. are traditionally shown year round, with the episodes rerun after the 20-25 original episodes finish airing. In contrast, British series usually last only 6-12 episodes. When American shows are aired in Britain, are the original episodes all aired in a row or split up in shorter runs? Do the reruns air in the same way? And do all the episodes get shown? ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2013, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-american-series-shown-on-british-tv/669853/2 "2013-09-28T09:36:28Z")
Generally, for a new US drama series, all the episodes are shown in a single, continuous run, with at least one “catch up” repeat later the same week in a different time slot. If it’s a show that’s popular (or expected to be) it’ll often be shown in the same week as the US broadcast – which can sometimes cause problems. _Arrow_, for instance, I think had two breaks in production during the first season: Sky1, which was showing it here on the Tuesday after the US broadcast, put another show in that slot until new episodes became available. First reruns will usually be shown the same way (one episode per week) but later re-showings might be stripped across the week, or shown in banks of several episodes together. ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2013, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-american-series-shown-on-british-tv/669853/3 "2013-09-28T23:05:51Z")
Also note that the UK has a number of continuous dramas in primetime. For example the BBC has the long running soap Eastenders showing four nights a week year round, as well as hospital dramas Casualty and Holby City with hour long episodes once a week. The latter two are set in different departments of the same hospital with occasional crossover scenes and characters. ---
**Author:** ![BrokenBriton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@BrokenBriton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrokenBriton)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2013, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-american-series-shown-on-british-tv/669853/4 "2013-09-29T10:16:21Z")
ratings suggest UK drama is what the audience mostly wants and so the BBC - with its public service mandate - does commission and air UK drama, even not in prime time. The leading commercial station does similarly. Mad Men has been an exception to the general rule on BBC2, and The Americans on ITV. US shows are generally up for grabs as between the lesser commercial stations, whether terrestrial or cable/satellite though, as reality tv grows, the market for imports is squeezed further. Once on air, a series will be shown until it’s completion. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2013, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-american-series-shown-on-british-tv/669853/5 "2013-09-29T14:08:29Z")
> [@BrokenBriton](#): > > Once on air, a series will be shown until it’s completion. So there’s never a “Darn. We thought people would like this one. It was popular in the USA!” cancellation? ---
**Author:** ![BrokenBriton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@BrokenBriton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrokenBriton)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2013, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-american-series-shown-on-british-tv/669853/6 "2013-09-29T14:59:59Z")
I’m not aware of any. There’s generally not to much expectation, it will tend to be picked up quite cheaply and the station will be awre of a steady demographic for US imported drama. Interestingly, the BBC does now have a policy of buying foreign drama for one of its digital channels but it goes for better examples of subtitled Euro drama. Goes out on Saturday night but is proving a success on ever-growing ‘time shift’ viewing. That’s a market that’s seriously growing exponentially. Currently showing the quite novel Italian-made The Young Montalbano: > **[BBC Four - The Young Montalbano, Series 1](https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03b5b5w)** > > Drama series about the early crime-fighting career of the Sicilian detective. ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2013, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-american-series-shown-on-british-tv/669853/7 "2013-09-29T15:33:08Z")
I remember reading “All In The Family” failed in a British run, mainly because viewers thought it timid compared to its British inspiration “Till Death Us Do Part”. Then again that was in the wildly different world of 70s TV. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-american-series-shown-on-british-tv/669853/8 "2013-09-30T14:01:39Z")
> [@BrokenBriton](#): > > ratings suggest UK drama is what the audience mostly wants and so the BBC - with its public service mandate - does commission and air UK drama, even not in prime time. The leading commercial station does similarly. Mad Men has been an exception to the general rule on BBC2, and The Americans on ITV. Surely chasing ratings is the antithesis of a “public service mandate”? As you say, ITV does the same with shows like Downton Abbey, Doc Martin, etc. etc. They’re both chasing ratings. Better examples of public service programming would be more leftfield BBC hits like Springwatch and Who Do You Think You Are? I can’t imagine that anyone else would have commissioned a prime-time programme involving live coverage of birds sitting on eggs and other such excitement, but Springwatch has proven quietly popular. Although I did laugh when I saw a spin-off called, I think, Harvestwatch in the schedules, which said, I shit you not, “live from a potato farm in Lincolnshire”. Woah, set the DVR now! > [@Digital is the new Analog](#): > > So there’s never a “Darn. We thought people would like this one. It was popular in the USA!” cancellation? Cancellations are very rare in British TV. No point, with generally shorter runs - flops just don’t get recommissioned. The ruthless cancellation policy of US networks is alien to us. [Edit] And the US shows that do get shown here are generally the better ones. ---
**Author:** ![BrokenBriton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@BrokenBriton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrokenBriton)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-american-series-shown-on-british-tv/669853/9 "2013-09-30T14:15:48Z")
> [@Ximenean](#): > > Surely chasing ratings is the antithesis of a “public service mandate”? As you say, ITV does the same with shows like Downton Abbey, Doc Martin, etc. etc. They’re both chasing ratings. > Better examples of public service programming would be more leftfield BBC hits like Springwatch and Who Do You Think You Are? I can’t imagine that anyone else would have commissioned a prime-time programme involving live coverage of birds sitting on eggs and other such excitement, but Springwatch has proven quietly popular. The ratings they get - on the main chanels! - for watching birds in nests live is pretty remarkable - I guess it’s that nice crossover market of kids and parents (well, mums). Countryfile, since being moved to the early evening and jazzed up a bit, gets outrageous ratings. Despite the promo, WDYTYA is pretty niche, tbf. High ratings basically means that, crossover demographics. While the public service mandate means servicing every niche and societal demographc (tv and radio), serving two or three at once is no bad thing, esp. on Saturday night e.g Strictly, or in the US Dancing with the Stars - mums, kids, middle and working class, etc. ---
**Author:** ![alexandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@alexandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alexandra)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-american-series-shown-on-british-tv/669853/10 "2013-09-30T16:47:37Z")
I seem to remember Sky deciding to run Glee in line with the US schedule, or maybe just a week or a few days behind, and the audience complained about the gaps within the season. So they changed back to running it all in one go and starting a few weeks behind the US. ---
**Author:** ![Charley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/97f17d/32.png) [@Charley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charley)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-american-series-shown-on-british-tv/669853/11 "2013-10-02T12:39:39Z")
Just to add to what’s already been said: the idea of showing repeats, particularly of the current season, in the mid-season break seems (mercifully) not to have caught on. As mentioned above, the season will either be delayed until there is no need for a break, or something else gets put in the time slot to fill the break. I’m sure there are exceptions, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-american-series-shown-on-british-tv/669853/12 "2013-10-02T12:45:15Z")
> [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](#): > > So there’s never a “Darn. We thought people would like this one. It was popular in the USA!” cancellation? I remember an interview with poor Michelle Ryan where the interviewer had to simultaneously congratulate her on the imminent UK premiere of her Bionic Woman show and offer condolences for the fact that the show had just been cancelled in the US. The network had paid for the show and they were damn well going to show it. (Whatever happened to her? She’s gone off the radar since that Doctor Who episode.) ---
**Author:** ![BrokenBriton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@BrokenBriton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrokenBriton)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-american-series-shown-on-british-tv/669853/13 "2013-10-02T13:19:34Z")
You mean you didn’t see _Cockneys vs Zombies_, I don’t Adam and Eve it … ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-american-series-shown-on-british-tv/669853/14 "2013-10-02T14:15:56Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > (Whatever happened to her? She’s gone off the radar since that Doctor Who episode.) She was just too impossibly hot for any screen to contain her. Seriously, not taking up Lady Christina as a companion was perhaps one of the Doctor’s dumbest moves. ---
**Author:** ![BrokenBriton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@BrokenBriton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrokenBriton)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-american-series-shown-on-british-tv/669853/15 "2013-10-02T14:20:47Z")
I call your Lady Christina, and raise you Amelia Pond … ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-american-series-shown-on-british-tv/669853/16 "2013-10-02T14:33:03Z")
Seems to me that there’s a fundamentally different concept of TV series in the US and UK. In the US, a “Series” is the show itself. A “Season” is a discrete run of episodes in a 12 month period, classically 22 more or less consecutive episodes shown starting in September. The general idea is that once a series has started, it’ll run consecutive seasons until cancelled; i.e. every September a new block of 22 episodes begins. Not all shows are 22 episodes- some cable dramas are as few as 10 episodes- Game of Thrones, for example. In the UK, a “Series” is similar to a US “Season”, except that it’s usually 5-15 episodes shown consecutively as a standalone unit, without any expectation of a follow-on set of episodes in any defined time period. The networks commission “series” of a particular show, and they may be separated by years in between. It sounds to me like a US show’s “season” is treated much like a “series” on UK tv- they show a 22 episode block straight through in a particular time slot.