# Classic British television shows



## Legatus Legionis (Mar 28, 2019)

.


----------



## Legatus Legionis (Mar 28, 2019)

.


----------



## Legatus Legionis (Mar 28, 2019)

.


----------



## Tonguez (Mar 28, 2019)

I’m not sure you can use Benny Hill and non-vulgar in the same sentence, the guy was one of the stars of British bawdry and a particular style of British humour that came to prominence from the 50s to 70s then died in the 80s with the rise of modern sensibilities. Are You Being Served and the Carry on series fit the same genre. To a lesser extent you have it in Dads Army too and on the racial end you have Ain’t half hot Mum.

All shows that have their appeal but which must be appreciated as relics of a bygone era


----------



## Aeson (Mar 28, 2019)

I remember Benny Hill having topless girls. Here in The US that would be vulgar to many even now. 

The local PBS station that shows the British sitcom used to have Father Ted and The Vicar of Dibley in the rotation. I haven't seen them in years. Are You Being Served, and As Time Goes By, and the one with the Buckets seem to never go away. Red Dwarf was on for a long time too. I can't remember the last time classic Doctor Who was on. Doc Martin, Poldark, Death in Paradise are a few of thr dramas on here.

I want to make a donation with caveat that they change the line up. We want some different stuff. A scifi night might be fun.


----------



## trappedslider (Mar 28, 2019)

Aeson said:


> , and the one with the Buckets seem to never go away.




Ahem, that's 'Bouquet' tyvm..and it's keeping up appearances, Waiting for God was another one that aired on pbs a few decades ago


----------



## Sepulchrave II (Mar 28, 2019)

Off the top of my head:

*Blake's 7* - Sci-fi with 70s social values. Veering on camp but the actors are RADA graduates, so they get away with it and you get completely sucked in. I watched this again last year for the first time in literally 40 years. It is even more awesome than I remember.

*Brass Eye* - Satirical mock news show from the 90s

*I, Claudius* 

*The Singing Detective* - Really, any screenplay by Dennis Potter. Potter died of bowel cancer; rather wittily, he called his tumour "Rupert" because "it invaded the body politic." That was almost thirty years ago; Potter is long dead, but the other cancer has progressed.

*Robin of Sherwood* - Michael Praed as Robin. _Clannad_ soundtrack.

*Arthur of the Britons* - Real high-budget stuff

*The Buddha of Suburbia* - More of a miniseries, I suppose. Great soundtrack.


If you enjoy children's TV paired with altered states of consciousness, I recommend _The Clangers, The Magic Roundabout_ and _Mr. Benn._


----------



## Tonguez (Mar 28, 2019)

Sepulchrave II said:


> If you enjoy children's TV paired with altered states of consciousness, I recommend _The Clangers, The Magic Roundabout_ and _Mr. Benn._




thats an apt description -  I'd forgotten just how trippy some British childrens TV can get


----------



## Dioltach (Mar 28, 2019)

Sepulchrave II said:


> *Blake's 7* - Sci-fi with 70s social values. Veering on camp but the actors are RADA graduates, so they get away with it and you get completely sucked in. I watched this again last year for the first time in literally 40 years. It is even more awesome than I remember.




Fun fact: Steven Pacey, who played Tarrant in the last two series, narrates the audiobooks of Joe Abercrombie's _First Law_ books.


----------



## Dioltach (Mar 28, 2019)

And another one that hasn't been mentioned, but that's one of the cleverest shows ever made (and still very relevant): Yes Minister/Yes Prime Minister.


----------



## Istbor (Mar 28, 2019)

I could watch Red Dwarf all day long. 

Keeping Up Appearances was alright too.


----------



## Ryujin (Mar 28, 2019)

Aeson said:


> I remember Benny Hill having topless girls. Here in The US that would be vulgar to many even now.
> 
> The local PBS station that shows the British sitcom used to have Father Ted and The Vicar of Dibley in the rotation. I haven't seen them in years. Are You Being Served, and As Time Goes By, and the one with the Buckets seem to never go away. Red Dwarf was on for a long time too. I can't remember the last time classic Doctor Who was on. Doc Martin, Poldark, Death in Paradise are a few of thr dramas on here.
> 
> I want to make a donation with caveat that they change the line up. We want some different stuff. A scifi night might be fun.




The Benny Hill Show is enough part of the zeitgeist that others do homages to it in movies. "V for Vendetta" had their chase scene on the set of a talk show, in which Sutler chases V. I can't remember the other movie's name, but the scene involves someone requesting execution by being chased off a cliff by a group of topless women in bicycle helmets.

*EDIT* Of course, it was "The Meaning of Life."


----------



## Tonguez (Mar 28, 2019)

heh this thread has inspired a bit of nostalgia as I recall some old shows

The Rise and Fall of Reginald Perrin - _about a middle managers midlife crisis_
All Creatures Great and Small - _about a vet_
Worzel Gummidge - _Jon Pertwee as a scarecrow_
Allo Allo - _the French Resistance in WW2_
Hi-De-Hi! - _a British Holiday Camp_
The Good Life - _Urban Farmers in London_
Last of the Summer Wine - _three old gents in Yorkshire_

and more recently
_Doc Martin_ - a doctor in a Cornish village


----------



## Ed Laprade (Mar 28, 2019)

And before The Prisoner, Danger Man (or Secret Agent here in the States).


----------



## MarkB (Mar 28, 2019)

One that's come to mind for me recently is Star Cops - a short-lived and little-known series with an interesting twist, being a police-procedural series that happened to be set in near-future Earth orbit in a reasonably hard-SF setting. Like a lot of BBC series it pushed well past the limitations of both its budget and the FX technology of its time, but it had a lot of charm - I really liked the characters, and it did a good job of presenting a plausible vision of human expansion into space.


----------



## Legatus Legionis (Mar 28, 2019)

.


----------



## GreyLord (Mar 29, 2019)

Space 1999 was a British show?

I did not know that.  You learn something new everyday.


----------



## Ryujin (Mar 29, 2019)

GreyLord said:


> Space 1999 was a British show?
> 
> I did not know that.  You learn something new everyday.




Speaking of the Andersons, does anyone remember "UFO"? Some of the sets were repurposed for "Space 1999."


----------



## Richards (Mar 29, 2019)

To throw in a couple more favorite British comedies I haven't seen mentioned yet:  "The Goodies" and "The Two Ronnies."  I was a big fan of both, thanks to my local PBS station.

Johnathan


----------



## Ryujin (Mar 30, 2019)

Richards said:


> To throw in a couple more favorite British comedies I haven't seen mentioned yet:  "The Goodies" and "The Two Ronnies."  I was a big fan of both, thanks to my local PBS station.
> 
> Johnathan




Grand Island, NY PBS ran those back-to-back.


----------



## Zardnaar (Mar 30, 2019)

Ones I like.

Blackadder I-IV
The Young Ones (hasn't aged to well)
Bottom
Red Dwarf
Early Mr Bean
The New Statesman


----------



## Dannyalcatraz (Mar 31, 2019)

I’ve seen a good many of the shows listed here.

I’d like to add a science show- IMHO second only to Carl Sagan’s _Cosmos_- James Burke’s _Connections._


----------



## Richards (Mar 31, 2019)

That was an awesome show!  I only wish he had made more of them.  I did pick up a book of his called _Circles_, which had a similar theme.

Johnathan


----------



## Ryujin (Mar 31, 2019)

Dannyalcatraz said:


> I’ve seen a good many of the shows listed here.
> 
> I’d like to add a science show- IMHO second only to Carl Sagan’s _Cosmos_- James Burke’s _Connections._




if we're going for science shows, then let's add "Don't Ask Me." The last that I'd hears Rob Buckman was at the University of Toronto.


----------



## Dannyalcatraz (Apr 19, 2019)

_Posh Nosh_, anyone?  _Chef_?  _Whites_?


----------



## Ryujin (Apr 19, 2019)

Richards said:


> To throw in a couple more favorite British comedies I haven't seen mentioned yet:  "The Goodies" and "The Two Ronnies."  I was a big fan of both, thanks to my local PBS station.
> 
> Johnathan




I really need to learn that ancient Lancastrian art of self defence, Ecky Thump.


----------



## Morrus (Apr 20, 2019)

It's like you're all my (sadly passed) mum. Shows I heard her talk about but never saw, and probably wouldn't watch. You know more about 60-year old British TV than I ever will!


----------



## Dannyalcatraz (Apr 20, 2019)

We’ll take it as a compliment.


----------



## MarkB (Apr 20, 2019)

Dannyalcatraz said:


> _Posh Nosh_, anyone?  _Chef_?  _Whites_?




Chef, I remember. With Lenny Henry, right? I did enjoy that one.


----------



## Dioltach (Apr 20, 2019)

MarkB said:


> Chef, I remember. With Lenny Henry, right? I did enjoy that one.




The first two series were excellent. The third was pretty terrible.


----------



## Dannyalcatraz (Apr 20, 2019)

Dioltach said:


> The first two series were excellent. The third was pretty terrible.




I didn’t like some of the changes- especially in the cast.  But it still had its moments.


----------



## Richards (Apr 24, 2019)

Ooh, here's another one I thought of: _Trigger Happy TV_, featuring absurdities performed in public specifically to get a reaction from unsuspecting passersby.  Stuff like two people in dog costumes fighting it out in the park, or fixing up an elevator interior like a bathroom and having some unsuspecting soul looking to head downstairs see an aggravated-looking guy sitting on the toilet when the doors open.

I still do a pantomime of the "sad penguin" from that show whenever my wife turns down any of my romantic impulses.  (She used to watch the show with me, so she gets the reference.  And since she enjoys my "sad penguin" performances, I suspect continuing to do them is not particularly working in my own best interests as it's only encouraging her to turn me down....)

Johnathan


----------



## CarolynDenton (May 17, 2019)

Just found this great topic. Thank you all guys for so many great show suggestions. I have many hours of joy to come


----------



## Dannyalcatraz (May 17, 2019)

Anyone remember _Brittas Empire_?


----------



## Nagol (May 17, 2019)

_Ghosts of Motley Hall_ -- a troupe of ghosts from different times confined to a manor house
_Sapphire and Steel_ -- a sort of Twilight Zone-ish show about two probably non-human agents who "repair" temporal/dimensional problems often to the detriment of those caught up in them
_Not the Nine O'clock News_ -- an ensemble comedy skit show


----------



## Dioltach (May 17, 2019)

Nagol said:


> _Sapphire and Steel_ -- a sort of Twilight Zone-ish show about two probably non-human agents who "repair" temporal/dimensional problems often to the detriment of those caught up in them
> 
> I saw one series of that, when I was 5 or 6. It gave me nightmares for years.


----------



## Olgar Shiverstone (May 19, 2019)

Tonight, on _Masterpiece Theatre_ ...


----------



## Tonguez (May 19, 2019)

Dioltach said:


> Nagol said:
> 
> 
> > _Sapphire and Steel_ -- a sort of Twilight Zone-ish show about two probably non-human agents who "repair" temporal/dimensional problems often to the detriment of those caught up in them
> ...


----------



## Dioltach (May 19, 2019)

Tonguez said:


> Dioltach said:
> 
> 
> > "As I was going up the stair, I met a man who wasn't there, He wasn't there again today, I wish I wish he'd stay away"
> ...


----------



## Dannyalcatraz (May 22, 2019)

Another couple of good ones: _Absolutely Fabulous _and _Vicious._

AbFab’s lampooning of vapid, dissolute, shallow, vain, wealthy women declining from their peaks into the lower ends of the high fashion industry is one of the funniest I’ve seen.  One of my all-time faves.

In _Vicious _, Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi are Freddie and Stuart, aging partners who have lived together in a London flat for close to 50 years.  Freddie is a C-list actor with an overdeveloped ego, and Stuart is he formed bar manager who loves/hates/loves him.


----------



## Aeson (May 22, 2019)

I can't stand Absolutely Fabulous, but Vicious sounds interesting. Now I have to see if I can find it streaming somewhere.


----------



## Dannyalcatraz (May 22, 2019)

What about AbFab turns you off?  I ask because _Vicious _shares certain stylistic similarities.


----------



## Aeson (May 22, 2019)

The characters. I realize they're supposed to be a parody and over the top. It's just too much for me.


----------



## Dannyalcatraz (May 22, 2019)

Well, they’re not as outré as the characters in AbFab, but still outraaaaaaaaageous.


----------



## Morrus (May 22, 2019)

I was watching early GoT and a lot of the Winterfell stuff really reminded me of Robin of Sherwood.


----------

