# Why so few episodes of British TV series? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [April 21, 2025, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-few-episodes-of-british-tv-series/1017311 "2025-04-21T15:26:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2025, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-few-episodes-of-british-tv-series/1017311/61 "2025-04-23T17:58:16Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I’ve wondered if 1960’s BBC actor’s salaries (per episode) were considerably lower compared to William Shatner, Robert Vaughn, and Dick Van Dyke in America. They were the stars of Star Trek, Man from Uncle, and Van Dyke show). They had to work in more episodes and that requires more salary. But William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton were very popular at the same time in England. Doctor Who in the 1960s did not have shorter seasons, by any means. William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton both made between 40-45 episodes per season (or “series,” as they would have called them). In fact, that’s part of the reason Troughton decided to leave when he did; he didn’t like the grueling work schedule. It wasn’t until Jon Pertwee took over in 1970 that Doctor Who’s seasons got shorter. And even then, seasons had between 20 and 25 episodes, so “shorter” was a relative term. I also always like to point out the ITV police procedural show _The Bill_, which often had 80 or 90 episodes per season, and at its height had even more. Its longest season had 156 episodes (it was on several times per week, from January through December). ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2025, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-few-episodes-of-british-tv-series/1017311/62 "2025-04-23T17:59:34Z")
> [@Smid](#): > > do any of these channels produce successful 24 episodes a season original dramas or comedies Do you count _Annika_, _Magpie Murders_, _Miss Scarlet and The Duke_, _The Miniaturist_, _Death Comes to Pemberley_, _The Marlow Murder Club_, _Alice & Jack_, _Grantchester_, _Van der Valk_, _All Creatures Great and Small_, _Call the Midwife_, _Wolf Hall_, _Victoria_, _World on Fire_, _Marie Antoinette_, _The Boleyns: A Scandalous Family_, _Around the World in 80 Days_, _The Durells in Corfu_, and _Unforgotten_? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2025, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-few-episodes-of-british-tv-series/1017311/63 "2025-04-23T18:05:37Z")
> [@Smid](#): > > Ok, so do any of these channels produce successful 24 episodes a season original dramas or comedies? PBS produces documentary series, like the science-oriented _NOVA_, and children’s shows, like _Sesame Street_, but its dramas and comedies are mostly imported from Britain. [Here’s a list](https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/shows/#). ETA: Wendell, aren’t those all British? Is even one made in America? Independent films and music productions are common, but the “series” run across years, not 22 episodes a season. [Here’s what they brag about](https://www.pbs.org/about/producing-pbs/content-priorities/continuing-series/). Individual stations also produce their own programs, which can be syndicated to other PBS outlets. Overall, PBS is in no way comparable to any American network and never has been. It runs closest to BBC America of any of the cable channels. ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2025, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-few-episodes-of-british-tv-series/1017311/64 "2025-04-23T18:06:27Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Do you count _Annika_, _Magpie Murders_, _Miss Scarlet and The Duke_, _The Miniaturist_, _Death Comes to Pemberley_, _The Marlow Murder Club_, _Alice & Jack_, _Grantchester_, _Van der Valk_, _All Creatures Great and Small_, _Call the Midwife_, _Wolf Hall_, _Victoria_, _World on Fire_, _Marie Antoinette_, _The Boleyns: A Scandalous Family_, _Around the World in 80 Days_, _The Durells in Corfu_, and _Unforgotten_? Seriously? I really don’t know what bee you have in your bonnet. I recognise a few of these, Magpie Murders, Wolf Hall, Call the midwife are original BBC dramas, Van Der Valk (both the 70s and 2020 one) , and Grantchester are original ITV drama series. I’m not going to bother looking up the rest. Are you seriously saying you think that PBS has produced this original content? ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2025, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-few-episodes-of-british-tv-series/1017311/65 "2025-04-23T18:08:57Z")
> [@Smid](#): > > these channels I’m sorry, but I assumed that you were asking if the British channels produced 24 episodes a year. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2025, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-few-episodes-of-british-tv-series/1017311/66 "2025-04-23T18:31:56Z")
Incidentally, PBS pays something to BBC, ITV, or whatever for the rights to show British television shows. I suspect that the money paid to BBC, ITV, and whatever from PBS and the networks in other countries to show those British shows is a lot of the profit of those shows. PBS doesn’t consider it to be their job to do ordinary fiction shows or talk shows. They let the commercial networks take care of that. ---
**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:** [April 24, 2025, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-few-episodes-of-british-tv-series/1017311/67 "2025-04-24T06:41:45Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > I’m not sure what you’re saying here. It’s not true that all American television channels are only advertising funded. There’s PBS (Public Broadcast Service) that is partly funded by the federal government. 99% of Americans can receive a PBS station purely by broadcast television (i.e., by using an antenna rather than cable). I presume that all cable systems can show the main PBS channel (i.e., the one that’s broadcast). On my choice of my cable system (which the cable company calls “basic cable”), I get several additional PBS channels. One more channel that I get is funded entirely by the city I live in. It has no commercials. The shows that it runs are limited, but there are no commercials. Public television (PBS stations, and the occasional municipal station) is pretty much the only exception to the rule, when it comes to U.S. broadcast or cable networks being either (a) funded by advertising, or (b) funded by subscription fees (e.g., HBO, Showtime). > [@Smid](#): > > Ok, so do any of these channels produce successful 24 episodes a season original dramas or comedies? Not really, but the answer isn’t entirely “no.” For PBS, the vast majority of their shows originate from one of four sources: - Original programming produced by one of PBS’s member stations or regional networks. For example, _Nova_ (a long-running science documentary series) is produced by WGBH, the PBS affiliate in Boston. - Original programming produced by independent non-profits; the big example here is _Sesame Street_ (produced by Sesame Workshop, formerly known as Children’s Television Workshop) - Foreign programming, mostly English (and a bit of Canadian); most of these are dramas (e.g., the _Poirot_ and _Father Brown_ mysteries) or comedies (e.g., _Doc Martin_). Two famous British shows largely got their first exposure in the U.S. by being shown on public television: _Doctor Who_ and _Monty Python’s Flying Circus_. - A fourth, which is really a subset of the third, are two of PBS’s most popular shows: _Masterpiece_ and _Masterpiece Mystery_, which are produced by individual PBS stations, but are essentially packaging British (BBC or ITV) dramas with short, US-produced introductions. Nearly all of the U.S.-produced PBS content (i.e, the first two groups) is either educational, cooking, travel, cultural (music, theater), or news. I’ve seen a few scripted, original comedy and drama series on PBS that were produced by local public broadcasting stations, but very few – a notable one was _Mystery!_ producing and airing adaptations of three of Tony Hillerman’s Navajo Tribal Police novels (and that was over 20 years ago). ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2025, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-few-episodes-of-british-tv-series/1017311/68 "2025-04-24T08:22:17Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > There’s no absolute difference between the amount of television with commercials in the U.S. and the U.K. What are your rules about how long ad breaks should be? Over here, it seems to be no more than four minutes, plus maybe a minute for channel trailers. The number of breaks seems to vary with the show. A two-hour mystery might have no more than four breaks, a popular half-hour comedy or drama just the one. Only the BBC broadcast channels and streaming service have no commercial advertising, just their own programme trailers. But they are trying to optimise income from their back catalogue on commercial archive channels, where they partner with the commercial broadcasters (as, I believe, with Britbox). ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2025, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-few-episodes-of-british-tv-series/1017311/69 "2025-04-24T08:55:59Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > There’s no absolute difference between the amount of television with commercials in the U.S. and the U.K. The amount of television that has commercials is much more in the U.S. than in the U.K., but both have both commercial and publicly-funded television. I am confused. You say one thing with the first sentence, and then the opposite with the second sentence. In reality the main channels in the UK (the most watched), are 50% advert free. BBC1 + 2 are advert free and ITV + Channel 4 have adverts (I don’t count Channel 5, it’s not a real channel, you have to have more original content than 15 hours of South Grimthorpes crack traffic police).. If I want real drama or comedy in the US, as far as I remember from when I used to be able to go there without being arrested for believing the 2020 election was valid, it was ALL advertising apart from the subscription based channels given free at the hotel. I won’t be watching Sesame street or documentaries (I am not sure if I have ever stopped on a PBS). (There are lots of digital channels in the UK too, which are advertising based, but really, not many people watch them.) ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2025, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-few-episodes-of-british-tv-series/1017311/70 "2025-04-24T10:14:42Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > That’s what the original leads of _The Big Bang Theory_ were making > [@RivkahChaya](#): > > IIRC, the actors on _Friends_ were making that much per ep I think you missed my slightly later post. There was zero question about the pay American actors starring in hit shows make. **Exapno** ’s chicken feed comment was on a _British unknown-at-the-time_ actor’s pay, which is a completely different ball game. Even if they were known actors, it would be. American standards do not apply. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2025, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-few-episodes-of-british-tv-series/1017311/71 "2025-04-24T10:30:58Z")
> [@Toxylon](#): > > **Exapno** ’s chicken feed comment was on a _British unknown-at-the-time_ actor’s pay, which is a completely different ball game. Even if they were known actors, it would be. American standards do not apply. I just meant that in the world of lead actor salaries, it wasn’t necessarily “a lot.” ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2025, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-few-episodes-of-british-tv-series/1017311/72 "2025-04-24T14:16:34Z")
By the term “absolute difference”, I mean that you can’t say that American television is completely funded by commercials, nor can you say that British television is completely publicly funded. The relative proportions are greatly different. The proportion of television that is commercially funded is greater in the U.S. The proportion of television that is publicly funded is greater in the U.K. ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2025, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-few-episodes-of-british-tv-series/1017311/73 "2025-04-24T15:57:12Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > The relative proportions are greatly different. Would that be a similar proportion as roughly 24 to 6? ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2025, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-few-episodes-of-british-tv-series/1017311/74 "2025-04-24T16:16:13Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > The Golddiggers were a singing and dancing group of twelve women put together for the show who filled in between the acts on the show. They were like such dancers as the June Taylor Dancers. I’m a little confused about this. I’ve looked them up and I see multiple group photos of them, and there are usually 13 in the photos. Like here: [![](https://i.pinimg.com/236x/2f/4e/b3/2f4eb3f45fb499dd3c4b520e34e5e0c5.jpg) ](https://i.pinimg.com/236x/2f/4e/b3/2f4eb3f45fb499dd3c4b520e34e5e0c5.jpg) [![](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQErh_cuHvPoP7MSHIDhwPWoXWgBnC1w4xxtj04aAQL48OJocJq0R8ExaQqeYVvQnKB0YQ&usqp=CAU) ](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQErh_cuHvPoP7MSHIDhwPWoXWgBnC1w4xxtj04aAQL48OJocJq0R8ExaQqeYVvQnKB0YQ&usqp=CAU) I also see images that show only 10 of them, but I don’t know if that’s just not all of them available for that photo. But you’re not the only one who claims there were twelve. Maybe that was the original group and then the membership fluctuated? (Sorry about the tangent but I found it curious.) ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2025, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-few-episodes-of-british-tv-series/1017311/75 "2025-04-24T16:19:35Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > I’ve seen a few scripted, original comedy and drama series on PBS that were produced by local public broadcasting stations You just reminded me of that very short lived animated show starring Click and Clack from _Car Talk_. I assume that was probably produced by WGBH, since the radio show was produced by WBUR, Boston’s NPR station. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2025, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-few-episodes-of-british-tv-series/1017311/76 "2025-04-24T16:43:15Z")
I don’t really know how many members there were. I remember watching the comedy sketches on _Dean Martin Presents the Golddiggers_ in London. I don’t remember watching the Golddiggers perform. ---
**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:** [April 24, 2025, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-few-episodes-of-british-tv-series/1017311/77 "2025-04-24T16:53:10Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > You just reminded me of that very short lived animated show starring Click and Clack from _Car Talk_. I assume that was probably produced by WGBH, since the radio show was produced by WBUR, Boston’s NPR station. I remember that one, too. The [Wikipedia entry on the show](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Click_and_Clack%27s_As_the_Wrench_Turns) doesn’t indicate a particular station which was behind the production of it (seeming to suggest that it was produced by PBS itself), but [the show’s IMDB entry](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1190760/) lists WETA (the Washington DC PBS station) as the “production company.” ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2025, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-few-episodes-of-british-tv-series/1017311/78 "2025-04-25T00:01:29Z")
> [@Toxylon](#): > > **Exapno** ’s chicken feed comment was on a _British unknown-at-the-time_ actor’s pay, No, I said he was “not yet a star.” He had more than 30 credits up to that time as a busy working actor. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2025, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-few-episodes-of-british-tv-series/1017311/79 "2025-04-25T01:56:30Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > But you’re not the only one who claims there were twelve. Maybe that was the original group and then the membership fluctuated? (Sorry about the tangent but I found it curious.) IMDB shows [there were 30 separate performers listed as “Golddiggers.”](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062553/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_cst_sm) Some of them were billed by name, others only billed as a Golddigger. There were a total of 28 episodes over three summers, but no Golddigger appeared in more than 19 episodes (some are listed, but not shown as having any appearances.) Don’t think of them as regular actors, but more like chorus girls in old movie musicals. It’s possible there might not have been the same dancers in every number on an individual episode. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2025, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-few-episodes-of-british-tv-series/1017311/80 "2025-04-25T02:53:08Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > chorus girls in old movie musicals The comparison I made in one of my posts above was with the June Taylor Dancers, which you can learn about here: > **[June Taylor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_Taylor)** > > Marjorie June Taylor (December 14, 1917 – May 16, 2004) was an American choreographer, best known as the founder of the June Taylor Dancers, who were featured on Jackie Gleason's various television variety programs. > Taylor was born in Chicago, the daughter of Percival Guy Taylor and Angela Taylor. She started taking dance lessons at age eight; by age 14, she lied about her age and became one of the dancers at the Chicago nightclub, Chez Paree. At age 19, she was touring the US and Europe as a da... [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-few-episodes-of-british-tv-series/1017311.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-few-episodes-of-british-tv-series/1017311.md?page=5)