British telivision shows

[jewelerman]

Good morning everyone,
I have a question about Television in the United Kingdom.In the last several months my friends and i have been watching programs that aired originally on British stations.Programs like Masterpiece theater(we will start watching upstairs,downstairs tonight) Doc Martin, silk, Dr.Who and a few others .Are these programs popular also in the U.K.?what are the top rated television shows in Britain currently and are period mini-series like Upstairs-Downstairs popular there as well?What American television is popular currently?Thanks for the info.

 

[Pandora II]

Good morning everyone,
I have a question about Television in the United Kingdom.In the last several months my friends and i have been watching programs that aired originally on British stations.Programs like Masterpiece theater(we will start watching upstairs,downstairs tonight) Doc Martin, silk, Dr.Who and a few others .Are these programs popular also in the U.K.?what are the top rated television shows in Britain currently and are period mini-series like Upstairs-Downstairs popular there as well?What American television is popular currently?Thanks for the info.

Yes, these are all hugely popular in the UK.

Others that I can think of offhand are 'Spooks', the modern 'Sherlock', 'Midsomer Murders', 'Casualty', 'Holby City'. Anything by Agatha Christie is very popular (my great-aunt was Joan Hickson who played Miss Marple so I'm also biased towards these! )

We also like documentaries and science series. Factual entertainment like 'Top Gear' is also popular as are the gazillions of cookery and doing up/buying houses programmes. Medical programmes - nasty diseases, babies being born, plastic surgery score highly.

Also popular are various soaps like Eastenders, Coronation Street etc which I don't think would travel well so you guy's probably don't have them. Sadly we have ghastly X-factor type things with Celebrities competing in ball-room dancing, ice-skating etc

American TV shows don't tend to be on the main channels but are on the freeview extra channels other than daytime TV things like 'Murder She Wrote' and 'Diagnosis Murder'. Ones I can think of are 'Scrubs', 'Friends', 'Family Guy', 'The Simpsons' and my personal favourite 'The Big Bang Theory'. Most of what we get from the USA is films rather than TV series...

Hope that helps!

 

[SapphireLover]

Most HBO programmes go on a cable channel called Sky Atlantic.

When you ask about Upstairs Downstairs, do you mean the original one from the 70s or the new remake that was on last year?

I was in NYC recently and noticed that a few of the big new programmes are actually remakes of UK programmes.

The Office- originally done by Ricky Gervais, only did 2 series over here
Being Human- just finished its third series over in the UK. US version is a really watered down version of it.
Top Gear- been going for years over here
Shameless- about 7 years old. There was such hype over this when we were over in NYC. It had an awesome cast (William H Macey etc) but we watched an episode and were quite disappointed. The first two UK seasons of Shameless were amazing and then it all went terrible and silly jokey. I thought that the US version might have some of that grittiness that the first few ones had, but unfortunately not. Oh and William H Macey is NEVER drunk enough to be Frank Gallgher!

 

[zoebartlett]

I think "Spooks" is called "MI:5" here in the US. My husband and I watched the series a few years ago on Netflix and we loved it. If you've ever seen the Fox TV show "24," it's similar to that, but much better than "24."

 

[ksinger]

Most HBO programmes go on a cable channel called Sky Atlantic.

When you ask about Upstairs Downstairs, do you mean the original one from the 70s or the new remake that was on last year?

I was in NYC recently and noticed that a few of the big new programmes are actually remakes of UK programmes.

The Office- originally done by Ricky Gervais, only did 2 series over here
Being Human- just finished its third series over in the UK. US version is a really watered down version of it.
Top Gear- been going for years over here
Shameless- about 7 years old. There was such hype over this when we were over in NYC. It had an awesome cast (William H Macey etc) but we watched an episode and were quite disappointed. The first two UK seasons of Shameless were amazing and then it all went terrible and silly jokey. I thought that the US version might have some of that grittiness that the first few ones had, but unfortunately not. Oh and William H Macey is NEVER drunk enough to be Frank Gallgher!

I'm in the US - Love Dr Who. I remember watching Tom Baker as The Doctor back in the 70's. I'm glad it is still on, and glad they finally got a decent budget (those old shows were just ghastly cheap sets and costumes, but so fun anyway). Better effects (at least now the Dahleks' plungers look like they're custom made, instead of purchased at the local hardware store), surprisingly good drama, but still with just the right touch of cheesy camp to make it all work.

The US Top Gear sucks beyond sucking and should be sucked into a deep hole to die a lonely death. The US version of Being Human is meh. Why bother when you can watch the real thing?

 

[jewelerman]

We will be watching the new Upstairs-downstairs and after that we may watch another episode of Foyals War on Disc.We just finished all the seasons of Doc Martin which was hilarious.

 

[Pandora II]

Ooh, I like Foyle's War!

Another one I thought was great and is available on DVD - there are 5 series- was 'Cold Feet'. We were given them for Christmas one year as a gift and were totally hooked.

 

[jewelerman]

I will have to check COLD FEET out and let you know what i think.we watched Upstairs-Downstairs tonight and everyone is hooked for the next several episodes!

 

[Jennifer W]

For fans of British TV drama, can I suggest the original UK version of Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes? I don't remember ever enjoying anything on tv so much. I don't know if people overseas will 'get' it, but I loved it.

 

[mayerling]

What about classics like "Blackadder", and "Yes, Minister"? I've watched them dozens of times and still tune in when they're on.

Also, American sit-coms are on every day on one of the main stations, Channel 4.

 

[zoebartlett]

I wanted to check out Upstairs Downstairs last night, but I wasn't sure if I should watch the original one from the 70s first. Anyone know?

 

[GamerGirl]

For fans of British TV drama, can I suggest the original UK version of Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes? I don't remember ever enjoying anything on tv so much. I don't know if people overseas will 'get' it, but I loved it.

Ooo - I second Life on Mars. The original UK version was awesome. The US version was so bad I couldn't even make it through the first half of the first episode

 

[TooPatient]

Good morning everyone,
I have a question about Television in the United Kingdom.In the last several months my friends and i have been watching programs that aired originally on British stations.Programs like Masterpiece theater(we will start watching upstairs,downstairs tonight) Doc Martin, silk, Dr.Who and a few others .Are these programs popular also in the U.K.?what are the top rated television shows in Britain currently and are period mini-series like Upstairs-Downstairs popular there as well?What American television is popular currently?Thanks for the info.

Yes, these are all hugely popular in the UK.

Others that I can think of offhand are 'Spooks', the modern 'Sherlock', 'Midsomer Murders', 'Casualty', 'Holby City'. Anything by Agatha Christie is very popular (my great-aunt was Joan Hickson who played Miss Marple so I'm also biased towards these! )

We also like documentaries and science series. Factual entertainment like 'Top Gear' is also popular as are the gazillions of cookery and doing up/buying houses programmes. Medical programmes - nasty diseases, babies being born, plastic surgery score highly.

Also popular are various soaps like Eastenders, Coronation Street etc which I don't think would travel well so you guy's probably don't have them. Sadly we have ghastly X-factor type things with Celebrities competing in ball-room dancing, ice-skating etc

American TV shows don't tend to be on the main channels but are on the freeview extra channels other than daytime TV things like 'Murder She Wrote' and 'Diagnosis Murder'. Ones I can think of are 'Scrubs', 'Friends', 'Family Guy', 'The Simpsons' and my personal favourite 'The Big Bang Theory'. Most of what we get from the USA is films rather than TV series...

Hope that helps!

OMG!!!
We just watched Miss Marple a couple of months ago -- they are AWESOME! Joan Hickson was perfect in them!


We're currently watching Cadfael and Poirot.
Foyles War was really good too.

The original Upstairs Downstairs series started a little slow but got to be rather good. There was a sequel to it.... Gah! Blanking on the name, but it was good too.

 

[Scorpioanne]

[Others that I can think of offhand are 'Spooks', the modern 'Sherlock', 'Midsomer Murders', 'Casualty', 'Holby City'. Anything by Agatha Christie is very popular (my great-aunt was Joan Hickson who played Miss Marple so I'm also biased towards these! )

We also like documentaries and science series. Factual entertainment like 'Top Gear' is also popular as are the gazillions of cookery and doing up/buying houses programmes. Medical programmes - nasty diseases, babies being born, plastic surgery score highly.

Also popular are various soaps like Eastenders, Coronation Street etc which I don't think would travel well so you guy's probably don't have them. Sadly we have ghastly X-factor type things with Celebrities competing in ball-room dancing, ice-skating etc
[/quote]

I love the show Silent Witness. I loved Joan Hickson as Miss Marple and thought she was perfect in the role. Despite the act I am not really into cars I enjoy Top Gear and love how funny it is and the relationship the 3 guys have with one another. I love Relocation Relocation and Cracking Antiques as I am a big renovation fan. I enjoy Nigella and Sophie Dahl on the cooking shows (Sophie Dahl has a fabulous engagement ring that is huge!). I have been watching Corrie for over 30 years which has a huge following here in Canada BTW.