Dammit, somebody always mentions Keeping Up Appearances! Now you’ve made me cry.
One sitcom that hasn’t been mentioned so far is the best one of the last 15 years or so, IMO - The Royle Family. Has that Seinfeld thing of making comedy out of absolutely nothing (but apart from that it’s absolutely nothing like Seinfeld). The follow-up Early Doors isn’t bad either. You’d have to be a real Anglophile to like them, I imagine.
Just looking through my DVR’s list of searches, there’s
Derren Brown - urbane mind reader magician who’s shows are always entertaining and surprising
Howard Goodall’s music documentaries
Charlie Brooker’s Screenwipe - very funny and sometimes savage dissection of current TV. Some British emphasis but he also looks at US TV and general media trends.
Look Around You (first series) - brilliant spoof of educational films. I also liked The Peter Serafinowicz Show, made by the same people.
TV Heaven, Telly Hell - because it’s presented by Sean Lock
It was only around for six episodes, but we loved Jekyll.
The actor (James Nesbitt) also went on to do Murphy’s Law, which is something of a cop show (but BBC America didn’t carry the whole thing, so I could be wrong).
I’d also second the MI-5 recommendation, though it seemed to go less heady and more 'spolody in its later seasons.
Thanks for the heads up on Spaced!
(ETA: Whoa – Spaced stars Simon Pegg!)
I like many of the recommendations mentioned upthread, and add my heartiest recommendation for Doc Martin, of which I have become a drooling fangirl.
Premise: brilliant but Aspergers-y London surgeon moves to a small quirky Cornish village to take up practice as a GP for a reason as spoilered below. This series combines some recognizable elements of House, Monk and Frasier. It’s beautifully filmed on location in a real Cornish village and you’ll see many great Brit actors you’ll recognize. And Martin Clunes is perfectly perfect as Doc Martin.
He can’t practice surgery anymore because he has developed a phobia of blood.
I like British cop shows and I am a fan of Robson Green so I would recommend both *Touching Evil *and Wire in the Blood. Both are available on Netflix. I also add my recommendation to MI5.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, YES! It’s an outstanding show that certainly takes some risks (not all of them work out), but is amazingly quick witted, intelligent, and damn funny. And you can watch each episode numerous times, because you will always catch a new witty remark or visual gag. I highly, HIGHLY recommend Green Wing.
After the fashion of (but not as good as) choie’s excellent summaries:
Jonathan Creek is a series of modern day mysteries featuring the eponymous character, a likable and eccentric originator of stage magic effects who lives in a windmill and works for ego-centric and womanizing famous illusionist Adam Klaus. Jonathan is “encouraged” to undertake solving these apparently supernatural mysteries (for “encouraged” read convinced, tricked, forced, etc) by ambitious investigative journalist and author Maddie Magellan (Series 1-3). I haven’t seen the later series, but 1-3 are very good.
And one other, if you liked Yes Minister and Blackadder, you might well enjoy:
The New Statesman an irreverent black humour/satire series lampooning the then Conservative British government, starring Rik Mayall as Alan B’Stard, a (to quote Wiki) “selfish, greedy, dishonest, devious, lecherous, sadistic ultra-right-wing Conservative back bencher”, and his self-serving ambitions to rise in politics.
“Maybe” in the sense of I wasn’t sure if it fit within his own likes or dislikes. I enjoy Jonathan Creek rather a lot, and thought it got better after Maddie left and Julia Sawalha came along. There was a new special out last year, which I also enjoyed rather a lot, so I’m hoping it will mean more is on the cards. (Ah, I see there will be an Easter Special next year)
This is a good thread to ask if anyone can recommend a show starring Robbie Coltrane: Cracker, I believe it’s called. A friend of mine told me about it. Does anyone like it?
Cracker is great, in a rather House-ish sort of a way. Lead character is brilliant, but rather a dick, and somewhat personally fucked up. Gets very dark in places. Coltrane’s a damn good actor.
The BBC nature programmes are compelling viewing i.e. Life On Earth, Planet Earth, Blue Planet, Life in the Freezer etc. (especially those presented by David Attenborough), and Louis Theroux’s various documentary subjects are also worth investigating.
There was a British comedy called One Foot in the Grave. There were a few episodes that were a single, unbroken scene from start to finish. 30 minutes of just the two main characters waiting in an airport or stuck in traffic, and it worked.
If you ever run across Murder Most Horrid give it a try. It was an anthology with Dawn French playing a different character in every episode. (It pretty much had to be an anthology, most episodes killed off a signifigant portion of the cast.) The one with Amanda Donahoe as an assassin had one of the funniest moments I’ve ever seen on television.
There’s also an Australian series called The Games that was excellent. It was a mockumentary set among the organizing committee for the Sydney Olympics. Think British satire but a bit more in-your-face. (Just a tiny bit.) A highlight is when two of the committee members have a meeting with the stadium contractor and ask him how long their 100 meters track is. “About 100 meters” was not the answer they were looking for.
I mentioned in a recent thread that Cracker may be the single best TV series I have ever seen.
Looking for something from far, far left field that is a cult favorite with me and my friends Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace. There are only 6 episodes but they are unforgettable. It’s an experience.
I the same vein as Cracker, The Prime Suspect series was also excellent.
The thing I actually like about British TV is that the series runs are much shorter than in North America. A story arc stretched over 6-10 episodes doesn’t become tedious like a 20 episode season can. Prison Break and that endless Scylla storyline comes to mind.
