For something I’m writing, I need the name of a television show that was produced and aired in England and is universally acknowledged as having been bad. Preferably a scripted series, not “reality” TV.
If U.S. examples would help, I’m looking for the British equivalent of Manimal, Viva Laughlin, or According to Jim.
Thank you in advance for your help.
Only know Manimal of those examples, and that sounds plain awesome, like a hot dog.
I’m assuming that you’re asking about mediocre sitcoms. For my money, you want My Family, which was passable early on but became tedious as hell later on (about a dentist and his family…adventure ho!).
My Hero was pretty shocking, bad jokes and flimsy premise (a super-hero tries to live an ordinary life, hilarity doesn’t ensue). Got particularly bad after a main cast change later on and talking baby shite.
Red Dwarf was a classic but really ran out of steam in its dying seasons; some argue that the rot started in Series 6, but 7 and 8 are the real stinkers for me, after one of the main writers left and unfunny executive meddling. A tragic demise of what was a great piece of sci-fi comedy.
Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps is about as awful as it sounds, about a gang of tedious morons doing tedious moronic things. Notable only because one of the female leads had a nice pair on her.
Last of the Summer Wine, a controversial choice but I find it interminable. Went on for about 15 billion series. About some old fellas and their wacky skylarkings, the joke everyone remembers is riding a bath down a hill. YMMV on this one, it has its fans.
See also most things put on BBC Three; particularly shows devised as a vehicle for one particular comedian. Lee Nelson’s Well Good Show and Little Miss Jocelyn were both about as entertaining as watching close-up eyeball surgery as far as I’m concerned.
There are loads more that are just plain forgettable and before my time.
I utterly disagree with all these choices except My Hero which most people probably won’t have heard of.
Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps was killingly funny.
Now if you want real crap there is always the Benny Hill show to point at.
Plenty. I remember this hilarious example:
Mostly because of how it tried so hard to be like an American show. My favourite moment is when the teenage hero runs to the rescue of his girlfriend, Ruby, and the background music was… well, take a wild guess.
I find it hilarious that most of the shows mentioned were very successful. Last of the Summer Wine ran for 31 series between 1973 and 2010. Hardly a dog.
Tastes differ. I knew I wasn’t BBC Three’s target audience when The Wrong Door, which I loved, sank like a stone but Coming of Age, the only television show to make me physically ill while watching it, keep getting renewed.
If you want infamously bad, you definitely want this:
Maybe TPOLAAPOC had its funny moments, but they are few are far between as far as I’m concerned. Benny Hill at least had the theme tune.
And if you like My Family (or those BBC3 abortions), you must have had a humour bypass, sorry. In its early days, maybe, it at least had novelty on its side. Once that wore off, well, I’ve had more fun watching documentaries on the drying of paint whilst keeping an eye on grass growing.
“Ruby (Don’t Take Your Love to Town)”?
Honestly, I have no idea.
Gosh, I didn’t want to start any arguments here. I’m honestly looking for a show that is universally acknowledged as bad. That’s a punchline for comics. That the actors who starred in it are ashamed to talk about.
You do have shows like that over there, don’t you?
Torchwood.
I can’t think of a single one that isn’t “reality”. The reason being that if a drama/sitcom is bad it sinks without a trace and nobody remembers it, so comedians wouldn’t rely on the recognition factor. Example: The Borgias, from the 1970s, is often cited as a truly shitty British drama, but it is only remembered by the critics who cite it (and by me because I was allowed to watch it and it had tits in it).
Here you go (I’m assuming it doesn’t have to be comedy)
Best thing to do is probably to check out some clips on YouTube, one man’s gold is evidently another man’s turd. Although when we’re capable of shows of such quality (see this list for example…although the Vicar of Dibley isn’t half as good as most of those, particularly Fawlty Towers) it makes the mediocre stand out even more. Apologies to Galanthus if I seemed a bit…empassioned.
Another good place to look is telly itself, in the form of a comedy show called TV Heaven Telly Hell (all up on YouTube - my favourite is David Mitchell’s episode “…came on the show, and came out as a Fascist pedo!”), where a comedian is invited to talk about what they like and don’t like on the box. Among some I agree with for the ‘Hell’ part are;
David Mitchell’s picks of The Heaven and Earth Show, a wishy-washy look at religion which is about as hard-hitting as a soggy shit and Judge John Deed, which is about a judge who likes to assault people.
Jack Dee’s picks of City Hospital, which is just someone taking a camera into a hospital - entertaining stuff - and A Question of Sport which is basically the sports section of Trivial Pursuit televised.
Alan Carr picked The Mint - which is my least favourite out of all picks so far, I think. See this for an example. He also picked 10 Years Younger, an awful cosmetic-surgery themed make-over show which aims to destroy a womans confident before persuading her to slice herself open.
Jimmy Carr picked Derek Acorah and his various vehicles, he’s basically a poor, poor man’s John Edward. He also picked Babestation, which is exactly what you’d think it is.
Nice one Mangetout, though again I don’t think it would be a watchword for shit as few will remember it. In the same vein there’s the failed soap El Dorado.
I’ve thought of one that was loved despite being universally acknowledged as having bad scripts, bad acting and low production values: the long-running soap Crossroads.
(Which was parodied beautifully by Victoria Wood and Julie Walters in hte Acorn Antiques sketches.)
Brighton Belles was a tragically bad mid-90s attempt to do a UK version of The Golden Girls…
This new one on Sky at the moment, ‘The Cafe’ looks dreadful.
Hollyoaks is dreadful and is widely acknowledged as such.
I’d vote for El Dorado. That really was pretty much universally decried as awful (and when I say universally, I mean it - there were aliens in distant galaxies that were driven to war by the horror that was El Dorado).
Yeah but it’s full of absolute hotties so isn’t so easily dismissed. You can’t say the same for Last of the Summer Wine. 
ETA: Nora Batty’s erotically wrinkled stockings aside.
Thank you, everyone.
I think I’m going to use Triangle, but I’m also going to check out as many of the others as I can, just because I love torturing myself.
Is it supposed to be a show people have heard of? Triangle is pretty obscure. El Dorado would fit perfectly.