# The best mini series in TV history? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 8, 2005, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-mini-series-in-tv-history/298453 "2005-04-08T03:55:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2005, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-mini-series-in-tv-history/298453/61 "2005-04-10T04:08:19Z")
**The Singing Detective**. Totally brilliant. Although I hear the movie version (which I have yet to see) was rancid. ---
**Author:** ![MizQuirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/94ad74/32.png) [@MizQuirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MizQuirk)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2005, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-mini-series-in-tv-history/298453/62 "2005-04-10T06:27:42Z")
I can’t believe no one’s mentioned the _Inspector Morse_ series. Or wouldn’t that qualify as a mini-series? ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2005, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-mini-series-in-tv-history/298453/63 "2005-04-10T07:21:45Z")
I second Tinker, **Tailor, Soldier, Spy** and \*\*Smiley’s People \*\*. I have both series on DVD and watch them every six months or so. ---
**Author:** ![Gozu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gozu/32/6615_2.png) [@Gozu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2005, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-mini-series-in-tv-history/298453/64 "2005-04-10T10:18:14Z")
**The Grid** and **Traffic** are two good recent miniseries. The first one deals with terrorism and the second with drugs. Taken and Band of Brothers are good too. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2005, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-mini-series-in-tv-history/298453/65 "2005-04-10T10:55:56Z")
Three good series which probably didn’t find their way to the US were **The Beiderbecke Affair , The Beiderbecke Connection** and **The Beiderbecke Tapes**. They were comedy dramas , set in the north of England and starred Barbara Flynn and James Bolam. Full of witty, clever dialogue all three were written by Alan Plater. An added bonus was a cracking jazz score played by Kenny Baker and his band. For those Brits who are interested, they are being broadcast again on ITV3, starting last week. ---
**Author:** ![Astacey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f05b48/32.png) [@Astacey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astacey)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2005, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-mini-series-in-tv-history/298453/66 "2005-04-10T11:12:04Z")
I loved **North and South**. I don’t know if it is the best ever, but I have watched it over and over again and loved it each time. ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2005, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-mini-series-in-tv-history/298453/67 "2005-04-10T11:59:47Z")
**Band of Brothers** is by far the best mini-series I’ve seen. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2005, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-mini-series-in-tv-history/298453/68 "2005-04-10T14:15:26Z")
> [@Astacey](#): > > I loved **North and South**. I don’t know if it is the best ever, but I have watched it over and over again and loved it each time. I have that on tape. N&S II was not as good, and N&S III was terrible. They’d wandered so far away from the books, they had to whip up some last minute plot devices to get back on track. ---
**Author:** ![monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monster)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2005, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-mini-series-in-tv-history/298453/69 "2005-04-10T15:04:15Z")
I was absolutely riveted by North and South. While all my friends were drooling over Patrick Swayze, I had James Read all to myself. And it was more than just hot guys, the story was so great. I remember after it was over I borrowed the novel from the library. Oy, that was hard for a 13 year old girl to read! Of course, The Stand is also one of my favorites. The only thing they got wrong was Harold. Parker Lewis is way to hot to pretend to be some loser. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2005, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-mini-series-in-tv-history/298453/70 "2005-04-10T15:21:35Z")
> [@Rayne Man](#): > > Three good series which probably didn’t find their way to the US were **The Beiderbecke Affair , The Beiderbecke Connection** and **The Beiderbecke Tapes**. They were comedy dramas , set in the north of England and starred Barbara Flynn and James Bolam. Full of witty, clever dialogue all three were written by Alan Plater. An added bonus was a cracking jazz score played by Kenny Baker and his band. For those Brits who are interested, they are being broadcast again on ITV3, starting last week. I thought James Bolam died after _The Likely Lads_ and then I thought he died after _When The Boat Comes In_ and now you tell me he lives again. I bought a retrospective about _The Likely Lads_ for my parents last year. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2005, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-mini-series-in-tv-history/298453/71 "2005-04-10T16:02:01Z")
The Beiderbecke trilogy was made in the 80’s but even so James Bolem is still around and appears in many TV productions. His latest was a BBC series about a doctor father and son partnership set in the 50’s. Bolem has had a much more successful career than Rodney Bewes (his fellow star on Likely Lads) in fact after that series Bewes virtually disappeared from sight. [Here](http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/faces/james_bolam.shtml) is James Bolem’s biog ---
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2005, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-mini-series-in-tv-history/298453/72 "2005-04-10T16:23:54Z")
I just saw **Love For Lydia** on DVD, which really hooks you. It’s been years since I’ve seen **Flambards** but I wanted to add another vote for it. I’m also a big fan of both **Pride and Prejudice** versions—the 1995 BBC/A&E one, and the 1980 BBC/Masterpiece Theatre one. Both are good in their own way. The 1980 seems to follow the book more closely, but a lot of people don’t like Darcy because he was such a cold fish compared to Colin Firth’s Darcy. I liked the 1980 Darcy [David Rintoul] because he you really did hate him at the start of the series, and then gradually grew to like him by the end. I also liked **Captains and the Kings** and **The Stand**. And I even liked **The Langoliers** —it made sense enough to me, though it did drag a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2005, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-mini-series-in-tv-history/298453/73 "2005-04-10T16:38:44Z")
**yosemite** , If you’re a fan of BBC costume dramas ,you might like to know that that they recently dramatised **North and South**. This is not the series of the same name discussed earlier on the thread but is taken from the novel by the Victorian writer Mrs. Elizabeth Gaskell. I notice that is out on DVD but I don’t know if it has reached the American TV networks yet. [This Link](http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/northandsouth/) gives all the details. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-mini-series-in-tv-history/298453.md?page=3)