the five best british tv programmes ever

There are loads of other comedies I could have chosen. I note that the two things we might call dramas on there are comedies as well. I was tempted by some Bleasedale and Potter dramas too, but Britain has no long continuing dramas in the Homicide/Buffy/Sopranos/Oz/Twin Peaks class, for me.

And what about Are You Being Served? It's not that grate, but everyone seems to think so.

british humour = unfunny whimsy (largely)

never heard of this so yes, it is anti canon (as long as it was an actualt TV prog).

i liked wheel of fortune too.

that's right! dude!

Certainly not! It is the epitome of crap British humour. I fucking hate Porridge, Steptoe and Son, Reginald Perrin, the Young Ones, Bottom and Dad's Army also. And don't get me started on Harry Fucking Enfield's sketch shows. I prefer American humour: snappy one-liners coming in all the time. Sharper and funnier.

I'll stop ranting now. I also enjoy Inspector Morse and Match of the Day.

Bottom, for instance, is about sadness and waste in a small way, but more about farting and people acting overtly mad. That's why it's not so good. Alan Partridge turned bad when it just became people acting overtly mad.

A lot of the best British comedies aren't supposed to be as constantly funny as US ones. Which sounds daft, but comedy isn't only about laughs.

The very worst British sitcoms seem to be the ones that do try to be constantly funny. They are series of dramatised jokes, whose characters are as empty as "an englishman, irishman and a scotsman".

Keeping up appearances I've actually watched quite a bit but I wouldn't include it in a top 5 if even it meant making it a top 4.

why the hell hasn't anyone said ab fab?

A couple of crime shows, to widen the discussion: the first two or three Prime Suspects were first class, from back in the 70s there was the excellent Z Cars, and any show (there were a couple) where Stratford Jones played a cop called Barlow was worth staying in for (on a weeknight at least). I remember one time Barlow and his off-sider tried to 'investigate' the Jack The Ripper murders.

Under-rated if not absolutely forgotten 70s crime show: The Expert, with Marius Goring. Moody, atmospheric, brooding air of menace (if I was being a pretentious turd I'd probably throw Hitchcock in somewhere around here) and all brilliantly underproduced.

Bad comedies: Men Behaving Badly is crappola ultra maxima. What is even remotely amusing about that useless obnoxious bog-thick emotionally-backward waste of space Tony? AYBS aged badly after not being funny in 1974. Another shocker, that Foxtel have recently resurrected for no obvious reason, was 'And Mother Makes Three'.

1. Cracker - brilliant, creepy, intelligent. And Fitz is oddly sexy.
2. Keeping-up Appearances - I fear I see bits of myself in Hyacinth, Rose, and Daisy. I think the show is good for me to watch, as it shows me some of my flaws.
3. Chef - I rarely caught it, but when I did I'd be rolling with laughter.
4. Hitchhiker's Guide - my first introduction to the marvelous stories were via the BBC shortwave, which was a direct audio feed from the TV.
5. And I am torn between the early Python skits and Jonathan Creek (the latter mainly for the Danse Macabre musical theme) for my last entry.

Maybe I need to move across the pond to broaden my experience? Or would moving to Canada suffice?

1. Gangsters (late '70s) - completely mentalist Birmingham-set series with Saeed Jaffrey and others which ended up looking in its own mirror. does anyone else remember this masterpiece?

2. Perrin - the reversal of the final line of Brief Encounter which ends the first series; the arguably greater ruination of the second series - does he commit suicide for real?

3. The Prisoner, BUT only the seven episodes which McGoohan originally intended should constitute the series, i.e. Arrival, Chimes of Big Ben, Free For All, Dance Of The Dead, Checkmate, Once Upon A Time and Fall Out. I will be doing my own take on these on CoM as soon as Robin's watched 'em.

4. The Singing Detective - owes an AWFUL lot to The Prisoner (lip-synching to Dem Bones, amongst other things) but Potter's hand on the tiller was steadier and less easily appropriable by cultists.

5. Paul Morley's one-off chat show on C4 about ten years ago - Steve Beresford directed the house band, Massive Attack collide with Brian Conley; complete genius, why was there never another?

1. Horizon (chris - this is the show you meant too)
2. Blake's 7 (or Dr Who, depending on my mood)
3. The Golden Shot
4. TOTP
5. The Good Life

It crapped all over the oh-so-self-consciously-edgy-and-disturbing 'One Foot In The Grave', from a height certainly not recommended for elderly persons with respiratory difficulties.

Critics of TV, theatre, music etc here tend to be anywhere the five years either side of 40 and full of their own significance. They tend to come from Sydney, wear sunglasses anywhere with more light than the Black Hole of Calcutta, and demand to be sucked up to.

If the situation is different in the UK, and these types have not yet gained the same strangle-hold, that's one major point the Brits can claim back.

(Actually I worry that this inertia is a sign of my starting to succumb to depression again, so I should resist it, but that's not what this thread is about.)

With the obvious exception of Clive James of course, but he fails the 35-45 test by a fair margin these days as well.

2. Dr Who - See my post on the DW C or D thread. This is really at odds with any view of what is technically best from British TV. Yet, there is just something about it. Changeable and flexible to the absolute in theory; many, many contrasting approaches were taken in its 26 years, but the Doctor stands largely a changeless beacon of alien decency and cheery oddity. The greatest TV hero for children there can have been, say I.

3. The Prisoner - (spoilers for the likes of Robin; beware!) It's true, the McGoohan ones are better and form the core of the series. Yet... I feel a weakness for spins and slight extensions of the concept like "A, B, C and D" (IIRC that name; the dream-based one), "Many Happy Returns" (for me, a very haunting episode; a cyclical return to "Chimes of Big Ben" territory) and "A Change of Mind" (some quite harrowing images are in my memory of this one... I recall also it maybe spins the politics out a bit too obviously at the end; still good though). I can see how things like "Hammer Into Anvil" perhaps deflate the atmosphere of the McGoohan 7, but generally up until about ep. 12/13, it's all of a very good standard. Then, there are few that didn't grab me at all... "Girl Who Was Death" is only really carried off by its amusing disclaimer of a conclusion, "Living in Harmony" I just didn't take to at all (the Western one) and "Oh Do Not Forsake Me..." was just an oddity, seemingly from a different series, in tone and content. But, the last two episodes, *wow* 1000 times over.

4. Rumpole of the Bailey - Again, this is perhaps more the choice of a sentimentalist; but doesn't one sometimes have to go for the less 'important' and less high brow shows? This is always an absolute delight to watch; luxuriate in the poetry of those melancholic little voice-overs McKern delivers over scenes of Rumpole commuting to Chambers. Enjoy the myriad pricelessly comic regulars, the topical yet reassuring plots (though many of the very early episodes were actually quite hard-hitting) and above all the wonderful central character and the sublime actor who brought him to life.

5. Edge of Darkness - This beats political stuff like "House of Cards" trilogy and "A Very British Coup"; as good as those are in their different ways, this seems to cover a far wider canvass, and is politically more affecting precisely because the politics is in the background and indeed the whole thing starts out as a parochial murder mystery. Such a moving, bleak vision, firmly anchored by Joe Don Baker and Bob Peck.

Special mentions go out to:

"Brass Eye" & "The Day Today" (wonderful shows both, and important, but I just feel I watched them too much in the last few years; over-familiarity plays against them for me),

"GBH" (wonderful acting from the lot of them, though of course Lindsay always has to be singled out. Palin is a revelation... this is a really great mix of politics, personal traumas and battles, and bizarre slapstick/pessimistic humour),

"Steptoe And Son" (generally quite consistent, and one of the darker sitcoms, which are generally the best),

"The Office" (a real success story; largely pitched just right),

"Hancock" (one needs to place one's self in the spirit of the times to most fully appreciate it, as some episodes seem very obscure, but the man was a Great in performance and persona... "The Lift", "The Blood Donor" and "The Radio Ham" are delightful and cutting, often simultaneously),

"I'm Alan Partridge" (first season pushes so many of the right buttons, and is a joy to watch; second is very, very disappointing, though a few episodes were good),

"Dad's Army" (oh i know, a very mainstream comedy, but it's largely that sort of thing done the very best it could have been... having said that, far too many location training-exercise-antics episodes which merge into one in my mind. Yet, often it was wonderful, decent if not great writing carried off with the most charming aplomb by its ensemble, particularly Laurie, Lowe and the redoubtable Le Mesurier),

"The Avengers" (seen virtually nothing of the pre-colour stuff, but in general I like what I've seen: a very rarefied, jokey yet somehow sedate depicition of an English neverland... Macnee and Rigg's rapport is insurmountable),

"Moondial" (late 'proper kids tv drama' from 1990 that I saw at the time; was intensely scared by it. Revisiting recently, it was a perfectly crafted piece, and still very moving),

"Boys from the Black Stuff" (important and epochal and sad),

"Our Friends from the North" (a splendid saga of the political and personal; yet to be matched in scope by any drama since).
"Inspector Morse" is worthy of mention; perhaps variable from one episode to another (i'm just about 5 cases in, out of 33 or so, in a bid to watch them all at some point...), but there is a fine overall mood to the show, and Morse and Lewis can't help but engage.

Obvious calls: "TOTP", "MOTD" (both institutions... though I would hesitate to rate sport programmes in general highly, MOTD is/was a fine programme and second to "Test Match Special" in sporting broadcasting terms, from all I have heard), "Grange Hill" (though I didn't get it in its best era, being a child of the late 80s/early 90s. 'Byker Grove' at the time seemed to have stole a march on it, capturing something of the north east in which I lived), the whole Postgate school of children's TV, and so much more.

"Rise & Fall of Reginald Perrin" is really a series I must revisit; saw it as a child and it left an impression... "Gangsters" has never been released I don't think; but surely it will be. Virtually everyone who's seen it proclaims it as great; wish I could see it. "Play for Today" obviously; but, again I have seen only a few, as it's a strand of plays kept gathering dust in the archives rather than ever being shown. "Talking to a Stranger", "I, Claudius", "Mapp and Lucia", "Flambards", "Monocled Mutineer", "Tinker, Tailor"... all stuff I need to watch. Sounds like BBC4 are going to run repeats of "A Very Peculiar Practice" this christmas; another of the acclaimed British shows of the past that sounds excellent. On a different note, I really want to see things like "Catweazle", "The Owl Service", "Penda's Fen" (Robin Carmody's piece on it should be enough to spur every fan of television to rise up and demand a release :)) & that programme I curiously never saw as a child, "Press Gang". British TV did tend to do thoughtful television for young people very well, once upon a time it seems...

On a cosy/quirky note; from what I've seen of them, the "Beiderbecke" saga and "At Home With The Braithwaites" are minor-key delights and the sort of thing we do wonderfully well, but not enough of. Why is the latter not more praised? I've only seen bits of it, but it was purely enjoyable TV; not afraid to play things broad when it helps a scene, not afraid to do odd things with generic conventions etc. Davison and Redman were (were? could it not still return for another run...?) gloriously right in their playing, and the younger cast I really took to.

2. "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" (I adored this program from its conception up until it started becoming utterly Hollywoodian, but that was at least seven or eight good years there!)

3. "As Time Goes By" (Laugh or scoff if you will, but this is the only sitcom I've seen featuring an older couple as a fully functional, active, ordinary, regular couple.)

4. "Have I Got News For You" (I LOVED every single ep that I've gotten to see of this program. It's a brilliantly original idea and the regulars all have/had such sharp and wonderful wit.)

5. "Are You Being Served?" (THE classic Britcom-that-gets-shown-all-the-time-on-American-TV. Hilarious, with humor that's easily accessible and characters who were lovable and OTT at the same time.)

Hm. Interesting. The comedies seem to dominate. Hmm.

Penda's Fen
Made in Britain
Contact
Elephant
The Firm

Though I would quite like to have "Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads" in there somewhere too.

A few sitcoms have actually taken up the challenge and added a darkness and human uncertainty to their japes; "I'm Alan Partridge" I, "The Office", in places "Phoenix Nights"... I sense "Marion and Geoff" (which I've not yet seen). I think a problem with "Spaced", from what I recall of it, is that its irreverance and myriad pop culture references seemed to be without contrast. It had its fairly amusing characters, absurd plots and air of oddity, yet how far was it anchored in anything more than that? I can see why people enjoy it, and I do on a certain level, but I'm left wanting something more...
In some ways I always thought "Black Books" was more promising; yet, never saw much of the second series, and what I did seemed a little tepid.

Yet, I'd like to see some really ambitious, oddball sagas on TV... presumably starting apparently in one fairly established genre; for "GBH" it was the local political drama, for "Edge of Darkness" a parochial mystery about a death, "At Home with the Braithwaites" was a family-based 'comedy-drama'... In terms of US TV, "Twin Peaks" is the ultimate in this ideal I have of TV that does what the hell it likes (that only faltered from ep. #17/18 through to about ep. #24, where it became more of a defined 'quirky soap').

2-5 i dont care.

1 Fawlty Towers
2 Only Fools and Horses
3 Blake's 7
4 Young Ones
5 Citizen Smith

Porridge
Ever Decreasing Circles
A Paul Morley Show
The Day Today
A Very Peculiar Practice

Top five non-canonical choices:

Space: 1999 (first season counts as UK and is the good one)
A Bit of Fry & Laurie (first two series)
Shoestring
Ripping Yarns
Absolutely (NOT Absolutely Fabulous)

is 'our friends in the north' really that good?

'Our Friends...'; in my view, yes... it's generally rather a grave, gritty piece, but in the best possible way; an intricate, perfectly-made saga of lives and the *times* as they change from 1964-95. Reminds me of something like David Edgar's 1975/6 play, "Destiny" (and there are strong resonances of Lindsay Anderson in some of the casting), which takes place over several time periods and settings, covering *many* key political/social situations post-WW2/end of imperialism. Of course, OFITN does this in rather more hours, and with more heed to detailed naturalism, in the ageing characters/changing fashions/soundtrack et al. But politically it resonates for me as something of a continuation of Edgar's (subtly) Brechtian politicking, with rather more deeply essayed/acted human parts... and of course, the poignancy of the north-eastern setting - and its contrasts with London. McKee, Ecclestone, Strong, Craig etc. anchor things, and grip you on a gut level. And how about other key players *actually from* the 1960s and 1970s? Malcolm McDowell, Peter Vaughan, Alun Armstrong, Peter Jeffrey, and on.

I think on balance its epic gravity just wins out for me over "GBH", the other drama (well, lunatic mixture of farce, tragedy, nostalgia, deadpan comedy and thriller...!) with major political themes that I would rank in the top order. Something like "A Very British Coup" is rather an enjoyable piece of agit-prop to watch, but is limited in a few ways. Likewise, at the opposite end of the political - and moral, eh? ;) - spectrum, the "House of Cards" trilogy (I thought the second of these by far the best and a real edge-of-t'-seat triumph, but the last - 'The Final Cut' - suddenly sees the same elements lose all lustre).

Reginald Perrin hasn't been repeated in a few years but it always gets so much love - really should get the DVD and see what the fuss is about.

Great to see praise for Our Friends In The North. I was about 15 when it was on and it gave me an excellent social history, as well as being brilliant character led drama. The 80s episodes were particularly grim, especially the 1986 with the hurricane. Jeez. Came across an episode on an old video a while back. It was the one where Christopher Eccleston's character runs as the Labour candidate in the 1979 election, but is undermined by the Militant Tendency and Tory dirty tricks.
Definitely a classic - hope it gets a proper 10th anniversary repeat at the end of 2005.

Father Ted is the greatest British sitcom ever. Its finest episodes - the one with the rabbits, Speed 3, the Christmas Special, Lent - are the funniest things ever. By the time of the second series it was true event television.
The sustained farce episodes of Fawlty Towers are sublime (Corpse and the Kipper in particular), but some episodes are a bit flat (the one with the conman sucks).
Blackadder is a total favourite. The fourth season was especially great for its satire and pathos. It's a tragedy what has become of Curtis and Elton since (fucking Love Actually, Vicar of cunting Dibley, Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals about Northern Ireland??!!). Did someone lobotomise them? Did the devil renege on his deal?

Dancing In The Street was about as good as a 10 part history of pop n rock can be. Wasn't perfect (wot, no Beefheart, Can?) but was admirably inclusive (soul, funk and hip-hop given their due) and beautifully put together. Classic moments included Lou Reed being interviewed in a Noo Yawk boxing gymn. That bit began with a tracking shot through the gymn soundtracked by Sweet Jane, the camera eventually resting on Lou sitting on a stool, puffing a huge cigar.
Or Jonathan Richman in a Boston park, wearing a dodgy jumper, talking about the BU girls with their afghan coats and Gauloises.
Or Afrikaa Bambaata sitting in his African throne in front of a big graf mural talking about his love for "those funky white boys from Germany", Kraftwerk.
Iggy Pop describing the sound of the Detroit car factory presses and how that was the sound he was after.
The Motown "finishing school" mistress.
Eddie Holland and Lamont Dozier at the piano, singing the most gorgeous song.
The soul episode was hugely powerful, tracing the development of the music and its parallels with the civil rights movement.
Brilliant TV. Hope it comes out on DVD sometime, cos my tapes are worn out.

A current Top 10 for me:

1. The Singing Detective
2. Press Gang (the second series is possibly the best sustained run of 12/13 episodes of anything I've seen... yet to see series 3-5, which will clearly alter the overall picture)
3. The Fall & Rise of Reginald Perrin (let down by a sadly deflated third series... the first two are sublime comedies pitched between Python and Kafka)
4. The Prisoner
5. The Day Today (perhaps its more varied focus and recent, fine DVD release make me put this in just ahead of 'Brass Eye')
6. Fawlty Towers (yes, a few weaker episodes... but not 'weak' ones those, even)
7. Ever Decreasing Circles
8. Our Friends in the North
9. Steptoe and Son (have seen far less Hancock, so this goes in)
10. Rumpole of the Bailey (epitome of the sort of well-made, intelligent, jovial - even 'One Nation' - popular drama that couldn't be made now)

Recent-ish things I've really liked: Mine All Mine (Bob and Rose and The Second Coming too... but this is laudably barmier than even those. I like this man's writing), At Home with the Braithwaites (sparkling lunacy in the writing; great turns by the cast).

Bubbling under: Auf Wiedersehen, Pet (the 80s series were landmarks of a kind; sitcom, social 'realism', gentle comedy-drama, all merged perfectly... only problems came when Gary Holton died. The first BBC series in 2002 was surprisingly successful, if understandably a rather different beast for different times. The recent Cuba-set one was, however, an outright failure...), Dr Who (it remains a favourite, but not watched any for ages... will be interested to see how the new series fares).

Things still to see: 'Talking to a Stranger', 'A Very Peculiar Practice' and if it's ever released, 'I Didn't Know You Cared'.

Revive in opposition to...
the five best american television shows ever

Anything in the last 4 years?

the thick of it pushes for all-time top-15 status

maybe even top-10

another vote for edge of darkness

Rentaghost

Apparitions

1. People Who Don't Like Their Co-Workers Hurl Loud Insults At Each Other
2. Some Stupid Outer Space Bullshit
3. People Who Don't Like Their Co-Workers Stare Uncomfortably At Each Other And Fidget
4. People Who Don't Like Their Co-Workers Hurl Loud Insults At Each Other... In Outer Space!
5. Horny Idiot Chases Around Girls With Big Boobs

6. People Who Don't Like Their Co-Workers Stare Uncomfortably At Each Other Underwater

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/anderson/stingray/gallery/images/340/11stingray.jpg

http://matthewfrost.co.uk/benny.jpg

Brasseye
Top of the pops
Jam
Boys from the Black stuff
Our friends in the north (it really is that good)

the world at war
life on earth
the secret war
hollywood
blood of the british

edge of darkness at 6, maybe.

planet earth anyone?

that episode of south park wasn't real

The Prisoner
The Likely Lads/Whatever Happened to?
Monty Python
Play for Today
eitherI Didn't Know You Cared or The Home Front

Monty Python
Dad's Army
Something by David Attenborough but can't decide which.
Something by Alan Bleasdale but can't decide which.
Something by Dennis Potter but can't decide which.

Probably Life on Earth, GBH and Pennies From Heaven actually.

This Life
Spaced

That's all I've got.

feels wrong picking feature-length things, but it's also really hard/wrong-feeling to pick all the many good but ephemeral things that tv does.

perhaps 'newsnight' is one of the best programmes ever, but you obviously wouldn't pick an episode and say it's 'as good as' the focus-group episode of 'the thick of it'. or whatever.

there's too much seventies stuff i want to see before deciding in any case.

Oh how I hated This Life.

DARK PLACE

overrated

If Won Ton hears about that your ass is grass.

1. People Who Don't Like Their Co-Workers Hurl Loud Insults At Each Other
2. Some Stupid Outer Space Bullshit
3. People Who Don't Like Their Co-Workers Stare Uncomfortably At Each Other And Fidget
4. People Who Don't Like Their Co-Workers Hurl Loud Insults At Each Other... In Outer Space!
5. Horny Idiot Chases Around Girls With Big Boobs

― chatz palminteri (Whiney G. Weingarten), Sunday, 28 December 2008 16:23 (7 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Don't worry, I'm sure Channel 4 will commission a sitcom in which Kid Cudi and The Cool Kids run competing florists so you'll have something on screen over here to enjoy.

That's ethan's fake insult, not yours.

House of Cards
Blackadder (Series 2)
Auf Wiedersehen Pet (any series!)
Top Gear (also any series)
Monty Python's Flying Circus

Easy!

I did that without reading the thread... I see I've been beaten to proposing all but Top Gear!

... dark place.

i weep for the future.

I cosign ur weeping

I haven't laughed that hard at any show in years. Dark Place is aimed right at me.

the fact that AndytheScot voted for Top Gear made me want to weep. But I'm glad that we can probably kill his kind without too much effort.

Top Gear is great

1. I. Claudius (my and many of my friends intro to Masturpiece Theatre and purrfect for the 70s!) 2.Cracker (cop's shrink-ho cracks the self-delusions, confessions of perps trickle out-occasionally he cracks the wrong guy, oops but nobody's innocent, certainly not manic fatass gambling-addict lady-cop-fertilizing, faithless daddy Cracker)(last one, set in Hong Kong, very rong though) 3. Dr Who (often great, from early 60s through whenever Sylvester McCoy was Dr., but not that into recent--will they never leave the UK? It's okay though) 4. Prime Suspect (last couple series just there to tie in with publicity for other Mirren projects, as she admitted unnecessarily) 5. Monty Python (but do you have to be American to tolerate this)

xpost. No, it isn't.

Coronation Street
our friends in the north
early brookside
victoria wood as see on tv
chocky

Oh how I hated This Life.

― Not me I'm the Emotional Type (Ned Trifle II)

How come?

Because I didn't like any of the characters and therefore couldn't care less what happened to them. I could see that it was good, well-written, (fairly) well acted, blah-de-blah, but I just got bored and then because everyone around me was loving it and talking about it I started to despise it. OK, so I'm childish.

Top Gear would be in my top five worst brit tv progs ever. But then I have a pathological dislike of Clarkson and "Hamster" and their lying lies.

Really good ep of Top Gear last night.

Did they say something rude about namby-pamby environmentalists and then smash some old cars up?

a very peculiar practice
daytoday/brasseye/fridaynightarmistice
spaced
doctor who
only fools & horses

The Natural World
999 Lifesavers
The Day Today
Live Snooker
Father Ted, if "not British" then University Challenge

ROCKIST

The list from the BFI in 2000 is an interesting reminder of stuff pre-2000.

1. Fawlty Towers BBC2 1975-1979
2. Cathy Come Home (The Wednesday Play) BBC1 1966
3. Doctor Who BBC1 1963-1989, 1996, 2005-
4. The Naked Civil Servant ITV 1975
5. Monty Python's Flying Circus BBC2 1969-1974
6. Blue Peter BBC1 1958-
7. Boys from the Blackstuff BBC2 1982
8. Parkinson BBC1/ITV 1971-1982, 1998-2007
9. Yes Minister / Yes, Prime Minister BBC2 1980-1988
10. Brideshead Revisited ITV 1981
11. Abigail's Party (Play for Today) BBC1 1977
12. I, Claudius BBC2 1976
13. Dad's Army BBC1 1968-1977
14. The Morecambe & Wise Show ITV/BBC1 1961-1983
15. Edge of Darkness BBC2 1985
16. Blackadder Goes Forth BBC1 1989
17. Absolutely Fabulous BBC2/BBC1 1992-1996, 2001-2004
18. The Wrong Trousers BBC2 1993
19. The World at War ITV 1973-1974
20. The Singing Detective BBC1 1986
21. Pennies From Heaven BBC1 1978
22. The Jewel in the Crown ITV 1984
23. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? ITV 1998-
24. Hancock's Half Hour BBC1 1956-1961
25. Our Friends in the North BBC2 1996
26. 28 Up ITV 1985
27. The War Game (The Wednesday Play) BBC1 1965 (transmitted 1985)
28. The Magic Roundabout BBC1 1965-1977
29. That Was The Week That Was BBC1 1962-1963
30. An Englishman Abroad BBC1 1983
31. The Royle Family BBC1 1998-2000, 2006
32. Life On Earth BBC2 1979
33. The Old Grey Whistle Test BBC2 1971-1987
34. University Challenge ITV/BBC2 1961-1987, 1994-
35. Porridge BBC1 1974-1977
36. Blue Remembered Hills (Play for Today) BBC1 1979
37. Mastermind BBC1/BBC2 1972-1997, 2003-
38. I'm Alan Partridge BBC2 1997, 2002
39. Cracker ITV 1993-1996, 2006
40. Coronation Street ITV 1960-
41. Top of the Pops BBC2/BBC1 1964-2006
42. Inspector Morse ITV 1987-2000
43. Grange Hill BBC1 1978-2008
44. Steptoe and Son BBC1 1962-1965, 1970-1974
45. Only Fools and Horses BBC1 1981-1996, 2001-2003
46. Auf Wiedersehen, Pet (series 1) ITV 1983-1986
47. Tiswas ITV 1974-1982
48. Elgar BBC 1962
49. Nuts in May (Play for Today) BBC1 1976
50. Father Ted Channel 4 1995-1998
51. The Avengers ITV 1961-1969
52. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy BBC2 1979
53. The Forsyte Saga BBC2 1967
54. Hillsborough ITV 1996
55. Dennis Potter: The Last Interview (Without Walls Special) Channel 4 1994
56. Bar Mitzvah Boy (Play for Today) BBC1 1976
57. Edna, the Inebriate Woman (Play for Today) BBC1 1971
58. Live Aid for Africa BBC1 1985
59. World In Action ITV 1963-1998
60. Thunderbirds ITV 1965-1966
61. Talking Heads/Talking Heads 2 BBC2 1987, 1998
62. Ready Steady Go! ITV 1963-1966
63. Z-Cars BBC1 1962-1978
64. Culloden BBC1 1964
65. The Ascent of Man BBC2 1973
66. A Very British Coup Channel 4 1988
67. Civilisation BBC2 1969
68. Prime Suspect ITV 1991-1996, 2003-2006
69. The Likely Lads / Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? BBC2/BBC1 1964-1966, 1973-1974
70. Have I Got News for You BBC2/BBC1 1990-
71. The Snowman Channel 4 1982
72. Walking with Dinosaurs BBC1 1999
73. Nineteen Eighty-Four BBC1 1954
74. The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin BBC1 1976-1979
75. Quatermass and the Pit BBC1 1958-1959
76. Between The Lines BBC1 1992-1994
77. Blind Date ITV 1985-2003
78. Talking to a Stranger (Theatre 625) BBC2 1966
79. The Borrowers BBC1 1992
80. One Foot in the Grave BBC1 1990-2000
81. Later with Jools Holland BBC2 1992-
82. Tutti Frutti BBC2 1987
83. The Knowledge ITV 1979
84. House of Cards BBC1 1990-1995
85. This is Your Life BBC1/ITV 1955-1964, 1969-2003
86. The Tube Channel 4 1982-1987
87. The Death of Yugoslavia BBC2 1995
88. Till Death Us Do Part BBC1 1966-1975
89. A Very Peculiar Practice BBC1 1986-1992
90. Michael Moore's TV Nation BBC2 1995
91. This Life BBC2 1996-1997
92. Death on the Rock (This Week) ITV 1988
93. The Nazis: A Warning from History BBC2 1997
94. Drop the Dead Donkey Channel 4 1990-1998
95. Arena BBC2 1975-
96. The Railway Children BBC1 1968
97. Teletubbies BBC2 1997-2001
98. Spitting Image ITV 1984-1996
99. Pride and Prejudice BBC1 1995
100. Made in Britain ITV 1982

Some stuff I had completely forgotten about but which was really great like World in Action and A Very British Coup.

first two episodes of our friends in the north done today and am very impressed so far

all the oliver postgates basically

I preferred his pregate stuff /ilx

The last 80's/90's eps are embarrassingly shite, good luck with them: child Joyriding scene soundtracked by Pulp :O= Watching fucking future james bond walking over bridge to Oasis soundtrack :O=

oof ok I'll try to get over those but so far it's v good- I didnt know much going in which is nice for a change

It wasn't a spoiler, he just literally walks over the bridge.

ha no worries

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Play_for_Today

Does anyone have any favourites they'd like to recommend?

no mention of league of gentlemen in this whole thread. tsk tsk

xp loads that are mentioned in that Wiki link; Our Day Out, Brimstone And Treacle, Blue Remembered Hills, Spongers, etc but The Comedians is the all-time classic IMO. one of the best things i've ever seen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUEB4PAZMRk

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Play_for_Today

Does anyone have any favourites they'd like to recommend?

Penda's Fen
Kisses at Fifty
Just a Boys Game
Just Another Saturday
Double Dare

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Play_for_Today

Does anyone have any favourites they'd like to recommend?

Penda's Fen
Robin Redbreast
Nuts in May
Abigail's Party

I thought 'the Year of the Sex Olympics' was a PfT but apparently it was for something slightly different. Would still recommend it for fans of PfT format. Also 'Whistle and I'll Come to You' was for Omnibus, but is amazing.

loads that are mentioned in that Wiki link; Our Day Out, Brimstone And Treacle, Blue Remembered Hills, Spongers, etc but The Comedians is the all-time classic IMO. one of the best things i've ever seen

I know. This looks great: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edna,_the_Inebriate_Woman

Dir by Ted Kotcheff, who did Wake in Fright.

But of course I wanted to see what everyone was feeling strongly towards..

Big Jim and the Figaro club

http://the-void.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/sir-patrick-moore-as-the-gamesmaster.png

otm

other great UK TV plays:

Licking Hitler
Blade on the feather
psy-warriors
just a boys game

just a boys game was one of the PFTs, no?

yeah and "psy-warriors" was too

lol I have been looking to ask the same question as comrade alphie 8 years ago

having recently seen Nuts In May and The Saturday Party both of which are delicious, glorious, brutal fun in markedly different ways and with Penda's Fen already firm favourite, what are some more obscure Plays for Today people have been digging

side-order of sheepish olive branch to a certain PFT acolyte I may have waged unseemly beef on earlier :/

https://mubi.com/en/lists/play-for-today

it might be worth looking through the nicely formatted chronological Mubi list for PFTs, but watch them on Mubi - nah you need the torrent sites or YT to actually bloody watch them.

I'm not a big Loach fan but love The Price of Coal

yeah it's been Youtube and Dailymotion for me lol

dunno about obscure but if you haven't watched Blue Remembered Hills then that

I love all 3 of the released Play for Today volumes that the BFI has put out. Frustrating that Z for Zachariah and Trevor Griffith’s Comedians aren’t on any of them, though

Was going to mention "Comedians".

I was going to suggest Robin Redbreast for more folk horror but looking upthread I see I would just be repeating myself.

Red Shift is another great PfT - an adaptation of Alan Garner's novel, it's a time-shifting story that gets quite weird.

I imagine Z for Zachariah might have legal issues due to being adapted again as a feature film

It pains me that so many of Dennis Potter’s works are still only available as bootlegs (Blackeyes, Tender is the Night, etc.)

the surviving ones were all up on uknova 😕

Even Son of Man? I’d love a Potter box set, but I’m not holding my breath due to music clearance issues

I used to make lists of everything by certain writers on there, in order to get ratio points as my connection in China was awful. Did Dennis Potter, Alan Plater, Nigel Kneale, David Nobbs, and each one was 70-90% complete for surviving work. A load of work for nothing, though I should check if I ripped any DVDs at the time.

Not sure it would be in the "five best," but no love for Life on Mars?

nah

gleinster and simms ... both extremely dud.

the crude class caricatures of Mike Leigh's Who's Who is saved by the anally retentive royal obsessed character who tries to impress his bored work colleague (a young Phil Davies) with his knowledge and total deference to the upper classes and a signed photo he got from Russell Harty.

Gene Hunt, a dud? WTF?

had to listen to that fucker doing his gruff voiceovers for whatever... car insurance ads, terrible documentaries for years after LOM had disappeared from memory

Well, I suppose I can count myself fortunate for having missed that, but that character was classic.

There was a short-lived American version with Harvey Keitel in the Gleinster role. Terribly miscast.

youtube.com/@playforforever/videos

worth a look when you have the odd hour to kill

saw Just A Boys' Game for the first time recently and enjoyed it

just watched this, The Black Tower from 1987, a short (23 minute) art film of the sort you used to encounter on Channel 4 when they needed something to fill the schedule. Highly recommended.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hw6exAfUWMI

currently watching The Out of Town Boys. It's a gritty Irish building contractor in the Midlands drama with corruption, family intrigue and shit plus a young Stephen Rea in it. Probably one of the more average ones so far but still very good.

If I had to pick 5 based on pure enjoyment...

A Very Peculiar Practice
Callan
Public Eye
Doctor Who (which doesn't really deserve it on quality but definitely for cultural impact/nostalgia reasons)
Max Headroom: 20 Minutes Into The Future

With honourable mentions to Penda's Fen, The Power Game, Spindoe (amazing), various Out Of The Unknowns...

side-order of sheepish olive branch to a certain PFT acolyte I may have waged unseemly beef on earlier :/

accepted, sorry if my reaction felt disproportionate

Thead just reminded me that I have that chunky Alan Clarke box and I never really cracked it open (although I did see a bunch of his work at a film festival decades ago).

*osamathumbup.jpg @ NV and no, deserved*

These are all great ty! Shall delve into these as far as low-res free streaming permits

The Black Tower is one of my favourite things ever, no joke. Cheers CAAL for posting it. So great

As for Alan Clarke, in addition to Penda's Fen, Made In Britain and Scum are ofc superb, but the latter in particular is also monstrously upsetting

I can't rewatch some of the Clarke ones like Scum, The Firm and Made In Britain. I knew a wannabe hooli who wore out his VHS tapings of these and would put them on all the time and he ruined them all for me.

Public Eye

yes^ sad that so few of the earlier episodes are still extant, but really comes into its own during the post-prison brighton set series.

The Black Tower is one of my favourite things ever, no joke. Cheers CAAL for posting it. So great

same. recommendations for anything in a similar vein very appreciated.

Mubi has 7 of John Smith's short films up, I've only watched a few of them (including The Black Tower), but I liked them - https://mubi.com/en/cast/john-smith/films/available

Even Son of Man? I’d love a Potter box set, but I’m not holding my breath due to music clearance issues

I have Son of Man from a shitty youtube rip - and I think at this point I have almost every Potter drama that currently exists, including Emergency Ward 9, if you need anything.

(Apparently a new HD master of Double Dare was struck for that Play For Today documentary a couple of years ago, but annoyingly it hasn't surfaced since)

God, The Black Tower is so good.

I didn't know any of these were currently on Mubi. But I was a web search and wasn't signed into the app.. durr. That's great because a lot of the YT rips are piss poor.

from the BBC's Wednesday Play series, Drums Along The Avon (1967), experimental race relations satire featuring Leonard Rossiter. The script is by Charles Wood who wrote the screenplay for the Beatles Help!, and also adapted The Knack ...and How to Get It, The Bed Sitting Room, Red Monarch and An Awfully Big Adventure for the screen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehxczKg1Sk0.

I thought 'the Year of the Sex Olympics' was a PfT but apparently it was for something slightly different. Would still recommend it for fans of PfT format. Also 'Whistle and I'll Come to You' was for Omnibus, but is amazing.

― emil.y

apparently they _could_ do chromadot colour recovery on it, it just seems insane to me that they haven't yet

from callan i've only seen "a magnum for schneider" thus far but god, joseph furst. i'd only previously seen him in "the underwater menace"...

Thead just reminded me that I have that chunky Alan Clarke box and I never really cracked it open (although I did see a bunch of his work at a film festival decades ago).

― meat and two vdgg (emsworth), Tuesday, 8 August 2023 03:07 (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

I rented the two Clarke box sets in the dying days of Love Film. The standout for me was Christine, one of the late Steadicam jams, about teenage heroin addicts. Combination of long walking sequences with dead, airless shooting up sections, is very powerful - alive and enervated. Annoyingly, the BFI have not issued it on a separate disc as they did with Penda's Fen and Contact.

UK Mubi also has John Smith's hilarious The Girl Chewing Gum, which still seems like an idea waiting to be exploited/explored.

Imago, you should check this out. Great play about a tense post-war class stand off. Better and more powerful than most Brit films from that era

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0233488/

I thought 'the Year of the Sex Olympics' was a PfT but apparently it was for something slightly different. Would still recommend it for fans of PfT format. Also 'Whistle and I'll Come to You' was for Omnibus, but is amazing.
― emil.y

apparently they _could_ do chromadot colour recovery on it, it just seems insane to me that they haven't yet

― Kate (rushomancy), Wednesday, 9 August 2023 06:22 (five hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

I know it was originally made in colour and that only a black and white version survived, but I really like how it looks in black and white, the lighting and the shiny make-up everyone in the hi-drive city is wearing make everything look glamourous and shiny and shimmering, and really shows the contrast with the footage on the island, also Tony Vogel really looks like a silent-movie leading man in this with all the dramatic horrified looks he keeps giving, and I think the b&w helps sell that.

there are some (colour) drawings of the original costume designs here: https://www.facebook.com/1174000892772676/posts/the-year-of-the-sex-olympics-no2more-of-joyce-hammonds-costume-designs-for-the-y/1187459238093508/

xp will definitely see that, after watching 'the country party' ofc because god knows we all need to know what befalls our favourite dysfunctional family

tinker tailor
monthy python
university challenge
yes minister
civilization

if i had to pick today

youtube.com/@playforforever/videos

worth a look when you have the odd hour to kill

saw Just A Boys' Game for the first time recently and enjoyed it

― Windsor Davies, Monday, 7 August 2023 bookmarkflaglink

Impressive how much there is on that channel. Just from a skim (not sure about quality, nevertheless..)

Here's my top five:

Brideshead Revisited
The Jewel in the Crown
Our Friends in the North
Edge of Darkness
Can't Get You Out Of My Head

edge of darkness was sneaking around my list too def

I never heard of Edge of Darkness before. I must seek it out.

I don’t have much confidence that my own list of programmes would stand up to scrutiny if I re-watched them, but at the time these were what most interested me:

The Tomorrow People (mid-70s children’s tv)
The London Weekend Show (mid-late 70s documentary series with Janet Street Porter)
A Very Peculiar Practice (1980s)
Spaced (late 90s)
This Life (late 90s)

Ok, let's have a go then

The Prisoner
The Singing Detective
The Beiderbecke Affair (& sequels)
Abroad In Britain (& sequels)
Peep Show

Excluding one-offs and long series that ebbed and flowed in terms of quality, for the sake of sanity.

i don't know, just some random picks

ways of seeing
late night line-up
spyder's web
king of the castle
and, i don't know, snuff box. because why not.

yeah i mean i have kind of a thing for the 1970s.

no wait "look around you" instead of "snuff box".

Brookside (1982-1994)
Peep Show
I'm Alan Partridge
The Nazis: A Warning from History
The Power of Nightmares

Omega Factor
Out of the Unknown
Trumpton/Camberwick Green/Chigley
The Prisoner
Dr Who

I can’t think of anything that hasn’t been mentioned already so here’s what I would’ve picked in 1991:

Boon
Taggart
Red Dwarf
Press Gang
El CID
Nightingales

…although I’d probably still pick “Press Gang”

MaresNest - i want to love Omega Factor but i find it flat sadly - maybe i need to watch it with a different mindset? as often with old UK TV I love the pacing & incidental details (sets, clothes, occasional mystifying directorial choices) - but i can't really get into the plotting and don't really warm to the characters - all of which would be fine if it was genuinely unnerving but it doesn't quite hit that note for me? i'm stuck about halfway through the series, I will knock it over one of these days!

no lime tangier - yeah that Brighton series is exceptional - slight reduction in quality after that but the whole series (or what remains) is consistently great - I remember being so taken with Alfred Burke's performance, and the idea of Marker as a loner who was happy enough to be that way - he was a compelling character without needing to be saddled with a tragic backstory or personal problems that required solving for cheap catharsis

re Alan Clarke - I remember particularly enjoying Beloved Enemy (1981) - a Play For Today about backroom relationships between government and multinational companies - very deliberately talky and undramatic, but super compelling - it is still a personal yardstick for "I can't believe they got to make this for prime time TV" - and it is nice to see Graeme Crowden in serious mode

No I Clavdivs?

(i clavdivs starts on bbc4 next week)

One I'm going to watch again is the Sartre wartime trilogy adaptation The Roads to Freedom. Last time it was on i-player I didn't finish it before it disappeared again. Found a big 12 GiB and still active demonoid torrent of it. The gay character in it would have caused Mary Whitehouse to have a brain stroke, incredible that this was broadcast in 1970 without causing huge controversy.

That was on recently, BBC4 I assume.

yeah it comes and goes on bbc4

Footballers Wives
Night & Day
As If
Bad Girls
The Chart Show

I don’t think anyone had mentioned Howard Brenton’s extraordinary Dead Head (1986), which came out within months of The Singing Detective and Edge of Darkness. The peak of Thatcherism was an incredible time in British broadcasting.

Also shouting out Mr. Wroe’s Virgins (1993) starring Jonathan Pryce and directed by Danny Boyle

Ahhhh Blue Remembered Hills is on the iPlayer ahhhh. Finally get to see it tonight!

Is it odd that my family used to sit down every Thursday night to watch the latest episode of The Singing Detective? Best show ever obv

I've never seen Blue Remembered Hills

No, it’s not odd at all. British television, particularly in the mid-80’s, was just extraordinary. Edge of Darkness, Tutti Frutti, The Boys from Blackstuff-virtually nothing from America can touch them

I really love Karaoke and Cold Lazarus. Potter’s scripts, like Tom Stoppard’s plays, are just as exciting and dazzling on page as they are to watch, and I have most of his works on paper, including some I produced scripts (The White Hotel, which David Lynch would’ve made if Twin Peaks had not been greenlit, and Cradle Song)

We watched Traitor last week cos that's on the iPlayer too. Excellent stuff

going to have re-watch Cold Lazarus, not seen it since it was originally aired.

Karaoke is on BBC4/iPlayer next weekend. (I think it might be on All4 with Cold Lazarus already, though?)