# Is the BBC(entertainment stuff) as inbred as it seems? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 23, 2009, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-bbc-entertainment-stuff-as-inbred-as-it-seems/500751 "2009-06-23T19:27:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-bbc-entertainment-stuff-as-inbred-as-it-seems/500751/21 "2009-06-29T20:14:45Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > Yeah, my wife and I joke about how there are only about 12 British actors, and they all have to work on each others’ shows. My wife makes the same kind of joke, only hers is about U.S. shows filmed in Vancouver (many of which, she’s a fan of). It seems like there’s a relatively small community of actors based out of that region, and so, they keep popping up on various series. When my wife is watching, say, Supernatural, she’ll frequently say, “hey, that guy was on Stargate”, or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-bbc-entertainment-stuff-as-inbred-as-it-seems/500751/22 "2009-06-29T20:16:06Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Imagine how foreigners felt when Paris Hilton or Kim Kardashian first started getting media notice… “wait, so she does what, exactly?” I’m American and I still have no idea what Kim Kardashian does. All I’ve been able to puzzle out is that she posed for Playboy at least once. But if that was before or after her show began, I couldn’t tell you. ---
**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:** [June 29, 2009, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-bbc-entertainment-stuff-as-inbred-as-it-seems/500751/23 "2009-06-29T20:20:38Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > My wife makes the same kind of joke, only hers is about U.S. shows filmed in Vancouver (many of which, she’s a fan of). It seems like there’s a relatively small community of actors based out of that region, and so, they keep popping up on various series. > > When my wife is watching, say, Supernatural, she’ll frequently say, “hey, that guy was on Stargate”, or something like that. If you watched the HBO prison drama Oz, you’ll see many of the same actors appearing on one of the Law & Order series, often playing different characters from episode to episode. I think that’s because these shows film in New York and draw on the same crowd of theater actors. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-bbc-entertainment-stuff-as-inbred-as-it-seems/500751/24 "2009-06-29T20:26:07Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > I’m American and I still have no idea what Kim Kardashian does. All I’ve been able to puzzle out is that she posed for Playboy at least once. But if that was before or after her show began, I couldn’t tell you. She acts a little, models a little. Daughter of Robert Kardashian (one of O.J. Simpson’s defense attorneys), step-daughter of Bruce Jenner, girlfriend of football player Reggie Bush. Mostly, she seems to be one of those who is famous for being famous. And, for having a notably curvy butt. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-bbc-entertainment-stuff-as-inbred-as-it-seems/500751/25 "2009-06-29T21:19:09Z")
Whenever Joel McHale\* mentions her he says she’s known for, “having a big ass and a sex tape.” \*from the tv show [The Soup](http://www.eonline.com/on/shows/thesoup/) ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-bbc-entertainment-stuff-as-inbred-as-it-seems/500751/26 "2009-06-29T21:27:08Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > She acts a little, models a little. Daughter of Robert Kardashian (one of O.J. Simpson’s defense attorneys), step-daughter of Bruce Jenner, girlfriend of football player Reggie Bush. > > Mostly, she seems to be one of those who is famous for being famous. And, for having a notably curvy butt. Thanks to The Soup, I have something else to contribute to this thread: [fiancee](http://www.celebrity-gossip.net/celebrities/hollywood/is-kim-kardashian-engaged-to-reggie-bush-202593/) of Reggie Bush. Just like Paris Hilton, she got famous for her [sex tape](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Kardashian#Sex_tape_scandal), although hers was with a boyfriend instead of a one-night stand. ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-bbc-entertainment-stuff-as-inbred-as-it-seems/500751/27 "2009-06-29T21:43:32Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > Two or three years ago I was told that England is about the size of the **coastal area** of Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi that was so heavily damaged by Katrina. That area can produce phenominal writers and musicians, but not one Robert Hardy or Ralph Richardson. Or Judi Dench. Bless you for naming Robert Hardy in there. I’ve been rewatching/binging on _All Creatures Great and Small_ and yet again I’ve rediscovered my adoration for this incredibly talented man. He invests so much _brio_ into every role he portrays. (And that’s a lot of roles…and a lot of _brio_!) ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-bbc-entertainment-stuff-as-inbred-as-it-seems/500751/28 "2009-06-29T22:37:11Z")
BBC America initially did air EastEnders, and I have hated them forever since they stopped. In the case of a long running soap, you just start airing it and showing all of the EastEnders Revealed episodes so people can catch up. I started watching again after stopping in 1986 and enjoy it, I’m sure, as much as anyone else who’s been watching it continuously. Fortunately there are other ways of following the show besides their poxy channel. I’ve said this a million times before, but I don’t know who the fuck selects the shows for BBCA. There are tons of great shows on the BBC and ITV that would be fantastic (Cutting Edge, Horizon) that never show up. Do we need more “How Clean is Your House” or “Cash in the Attic?” I will say this, though: once you’ve established yourself as a TV personality in the UK, that never goes away. I understand Noel Edmunds has a show still. And I think I heard that Jeremy Beadle was hosting a show as recently as a few years ago. Not to mention Terry Wogan and Michael Parkinson. _These guys were all on the telly when I was a child in the 70s_. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Badger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/848f3c/32.png) [@Dead\_Badger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Badger)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-bbc-entertainment-stuff-as-inbred-as-it-seems/500751/29 "2009-06-29T23:15:55Z")
> [@Hippy\_Hollow](#): > > I understand Noel Edmunds has a show still. Indeed, albeit not on the BBC (which he “quit” on the grounds that it had a “lack of quality programming”). He currently presents on the culturally impoverished Sky One, and the actually impoverished Channel 4. And he had a lot of years in the wilderness before his recent (inexplicable) comeback. Incidentally, it gives me no end of pleasure that my website is the number one google result for “noel edmonds life story,” primarily because the resulting article is a pack of utter lies. Terry Wogan is actually amusing, and while no longer really a TV presence still holds down a Radio 2 slot quite nicely; he’s neatly following the typical transition into UK media senescence. Parkinson recently retired, and to be honest went on no longer than a lot of American TV personalities; he really is a television grandee. Jeremy Beadle had pretty much disappeared from view before his recent death; I don’t believe he’d been on TV as a presenter in at least a decade. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-bbc-entertainment-stuff-as-inbred-as-it-seems/500751/30 "2009-06-29T23:32:24Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > Yeah, my wife and I joke about how there are only about 12 British actors, and they all have to work on each others’ shows.. The same seems to be true of Canadian shows. There very well may only be 20 or so Canadian actors and they’re all in everything. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-bbc-entertainment-stuff-as-inbred-as-it-seems/500751/31 "2009-06-30T00:27:03Z")
I notice a lot of the same characters in the US shows I watch, too. Particularly if an actor’s been in anything vaguely SF, they turn up in a lot of other shows that are vaguely SF. We’re just more likely to notice someone who has been in something we’ve seen before, ignoring all the dozens of actors who haven’t. > [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > No, it doesn’t show any of them. I think _Footballer’s Wives_, maybe? > > Here’s the current list of [programming](http://www.bbcamerica.com/shows_az.jsp), but it lies. 99% of the time they’re either showing _Primeval_, How Clean Is Your House or something of a similar name, something with Gordon Ramsey and flambeed omelettes, or a one-off documentary special called _My Fake Tits Paid For Themselves In Free Drinks And I’m A Man_ or somesuch. I wouldn’t class Footballer’s Wives as a soap - not in the British sense, at least - primarily because it has seasons, rather than running on and on and on like our soaps do. The other programmes you mention aren’t BBC originals. Obviously, there’s no reason you’d know that; it’s weird that BBC America is showing so many non-BBC programmes. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-bbc-entertainment-stuff-as-inbred-as-it-seems/500751/32 "2009-06-30T01:20:12Z")
Well, I forgot _Top Gear_, which is IMHO BBCA’s only redeeming quality. And Graham Norton. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-bbc-entertainment-stuff-as-inbred-as-it-seems/500751/33 "2009-06-30T01:23:06Z")
> [@amarinth](#): > > The same seems to be true of Canadian shows. There very well may only be 20 or so Canadian actors and they’re all in everything. BBC Brits aren’t nearly as inbred as Hollywood Brits. One thing I learned from the movies is that 86% of all Britons are Hugh Grant, Michael Caine or Sean Bean. ---
**Author:** ![maplekiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@maplekiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maplekiwi)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-bbc-entertainment-stuff-as-inbred-as-it-seems/500751/34 "2009-06-30T01:41:47Z")
You ought to try being somewhere as small as New Zealand. There was a builder called Cocksy. He turned up on a diy show & as he was quite personable he started turning up on everything. Didn’t take long before he was overexposed. Now he is just on a series of ads for Carter Holt, thank God. & almost every NZ actor at some point appears on our soap \*\*Shortland St. \*\* ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-bbc-entertainment-stuff-as-inbred-as-it-seems/500751/35 "2009-06-30T21:40:56Z")
> [@scifisam2009](#): > > it’s weird that BBC America is showing so many non-BBC programmes. IIRC, BBCA just licensed the name (and of course some of the programs) from the real BBC. I think they’re actually owned and run by the Discovery Channel. ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-bbc-entertainment-stuff-as-inbred-as-it-seems/500751/36 "2009-06-30T22:48:47Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > Yeah, my wife and I joke about how there are only about 12 British actors, and they all have to work on each others’ shows. My wife and I play the “How many actors from the Harry Potter movies can you spot in Brit movie X?” game. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-bbc-entertainment-stuff-as-inbred-as-it-seems/500751/37 "2009-07-01T01:35:52Z")
> [@kelly5078](#): > > My wife and I play the “How many actors from the Harry Potter movies can you spot in Brit movie X?” game. Ian McKellen is the other 14% of British actors. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-bbc-entertainment-stuff-as-inbred-as-it-seems/500751.md?page=1)