British and Irish TV recommendation and discussion

Wintertriangles - these are tv I've liked over the years, and I guess Honeykid, Tacitus, Daniel M, iRhys, Nausicaa and others will chip in with their favourites. I tend to have a chunk of the 90s missing - that's what having kids does for you , my tv diet consisted of He-Man and Thundercats

No doubt I'll be missing loads, but these are the ones I thought of on the way home from work

Boys from the Blackstuff five part story of unemployed tarmac workers in Liverpool at the height of Thatcherism in the 1980s. Funny and heartbreaking

Call the Midwife talked about this series last week. Won't be to everyones taste but it's a fine portrayal of the 1950s in the East End of London when the NHS was all fresh and hopeful and doctors and midwives knew their patients.

Life on Mars and the follow up Ashes to Ashes great characters

The Trip Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon ostensibly as themselves take a road trip to review restaurants for a Sunday newspaper. Funny and strangely moving at times

The Singing Detective this was groundbreaking in its time. A six part drama with music, imaginative and mysterious!

What Remains gripping mystery with the excellent Davis Threlfall as the detective who wouldn't let things lie. A bit melodramatic at the end but forgivabley so as it was very atmospheric

Being Human I'm not much of a one for modern day vampire stuff, but as this was set in Bristol and filmed within a mile of so of our house I liked it. Quirky characters, but tailed off in later series.

This is England 86 and This is England 88 carries on after the film This is England. Great naturalist direction by Shane Meadows and acting from some of our best youngsters.

Southcliffe an intense four part drama set in the bleak marshes of Kent, about a lone shooter in a small town.

Moone Boy talked about this recently too and I know Hun doesn't like it but I think it's hilarious. It's set in Ireland in the late 80s, and is about a 12 year old boy who has a grown up imaginary friend (Chris O'Dowd) . The boy is full of ideas and gets into lots of scrapes and his 'friend' isn't much help! He also has a great eccentric family.

The IT Crowd both my sons are in IT geeky jobs, and this one just makes me laugh

Broadchurch drama about the murder of a young boy and the police investigation in a small seaside town. A good whodunnit, which kept you guessing to the end

Utopia we've discussed this before, good programme

Father Ted now a classic

The Hour about a current affairs programme set in the early days of the BBC. Lots of great actors, and beautifully recreated sets and costumes

I always watch Storyville too. You couldn't call it a British programme, but it's a collation by the BBC of some great documentary programmes from all over. I've watched things on here over the years I'd never even been interested in, but somehow they always draw you in. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storyville_%28TV_series%29

Then there's all the nature programmes over the years too numerous to mention but justifiably famous world wide.

I'd just like as well to mention Radio 4 which is the BBC's wonderful talk station. There's so many great programmes on there. If you can listen to it online, then the things to look at include Desert Island Discs which has an archive that goes back decades. Famous people from all over the world and from many different backgrounds and professions talk about themselves and choose 8 pieces of music to take to a desert island.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features...t-island-discs

Also In Our Time is an excellent programme that takes an idea every week and has a 45 minute in depth debate about the topic with several experts. Science. Philosophy, Religion, Culture, History. You'd never believe what you can learn from these!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qykl

I barely watch any British TV for one reason or another but there's a very distinct brand of slightly surrealistic, misanthropic comedy I think we do extremely well, of which Blackadder (seasons 2-4) and Black Books are probably the best, or at least my favourite, examples. I just finished re-watching the latter about a week ago and it's as good as ever.

I'll certainly second the Life on Mars/Ashes to Ashes recommendation as well, though it's been far too long since I've seen them.

Good call Skepsis, they're both very good series .

I forgot to mention The Great British Bake Off and The Great British Sewing Bee. Both competitive programmes but in a gentle way. The production isn't slick, rushed and over commentated like some other cookery shows you see from other countries. The very lack of polish together with the down to earth competitors gives them a lovely warm feeling.
Last years Sewing Bee winner was an 81 year old lady whose dressmaking skills were awesome

Seen Utopia, Father Ted, Black Books, Blackadder, and Faulty Towers. The rest I will get on asap. Thanks for the whole thread haha. Pretty excited for In Our Time actually.

The Singing Detective is great!

Have you seen Riley: Ace of Spies, christine? That's another classic (probably my second favorite tv of all time after The Singing Detective).

Didn't know about the This is England series. I'll have to check those out.

Hope you like it I'm a bit of a radio 4 junkie meself . Does give you a head full of useless knowledge tho....but good for quizzes

No not seen that one, will check it out - thanks

An excellent start, Christine. I was thinking of putting a list together for WT, but this is a much better idea.

I've posted plenty of stuff over the years about the best British tv, as well as my favourites, so if you're interested enough I'm more than happy to go through everything. However, as you (or anyone else) is unlikely to be able to get/see it all, I'll just stick to the 'greatest hits'.

Drama:

Our Friends In The North. A 9 part drama spanning 30 years. Superbly written and starring Christopher Eccleston, Gina McKee, Mark Strong and Daniel Craig as the four friends.

I, Claudius: I think you have seen this, actually, but if you haven't, it's a must see.

Cracker: A much-flawed, self-destructive criminal psychologist, who happens to be the best. It's now a much trodden path, but the writing and acting elevate this far beyond all but the best this genre has to offer. For me, this is about as good as it gets in the criminal profiling/criminal psychology genre.

House Of Cards Trilogy: I'm sure you're aware of the Kevin Spacey version and I've no idea how they compare, but I can't recommend this enough. Political thriller par-excellence.

The War Game/Threads: Both showing the fears and horrors of a nuclear attack on Britain. The first was made in 1965 but was deemed too horrific to be broadcast, both by the BBC and the Government. It did win an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature in 1966, but was not shown on tv here until 1985.

Threads is, essentially, a British version of The Day After, except, y'know, British.

The Sweeney: The quintessential 70's British cop show and the spiritual father of Christine's recommendation, Life On Mars. Good writing and great chemistry between its two leads makes this a personal favourite and, IMO, the best cop show ever.

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: I'm guessing you've seen the film, so you'll probably have a good idea whether you'd like this or not. Needless to say there's plenty more here than in the film. Also, if you do see and like this, there's a follow up called Smiley's People.

Miss Marple: There's only one Miss Marple, IMO, and it's Joan Hickson. Those are the ones I'm recommending here (1984-1992).

The Naked Civil Servant: John Hurt as Quentin Crisp.

Edge of Darkness: Again, as with TTSS, you may've seen the film version of this. I've not, but I'm guessing this is much better.

State of Play: I've not seen the film version of this, but this 6 episode series is very good indeed. Again, the cast is superb.

Bleak House (2005): A great, 15 part adaptation of the Dickens novel.

OK, so classic British tv drama which, whether I like it or not, it much respected.

Prime Suspect: Helen Mirren in, what was for the time, an extremely unusual role. Any programme which has been made since the late 80's which has a strong "no nonsense, hard headed woman in a man's world" owes, at the very least, a debt of gratitude to this. Again, this has won praise and awards everywhere.

Tutti Frutti: I've not seen this, I couldn't get into it when it was broadcast and haven't tried since, but it's a well respected drama and I know a good few people who'll tell you it's excellent.

Pride and Prejudice(1995): Probably the most famous adaptation of a Jane Austin novel over here and the one every adaptation since has wanted to be.

Inspector Morse: Kind of like Midsomer Murders... With real class.

Pennies from Heaven: Possibly the other great Denis Potter series, along with The Singing Detective.

Brideshead Revisited: Adapted from Evelyn Waugh's novel and responsible for more teddy bears appearing at Oxford University during the 80's than anyone would want to remember.

The Jewel in the Crown: The last days of the British Raj and based on Paul Scott's, Raj Quartet novels.

Made in Britain Tim Roth's first and breakout performance. Everyone knew he was class from the start.

I'll be back with comedy/cult/sci-fi and God knows what else at another time.

I'll add I'm Alan Partridge. Im not sure how anyone not British or Irish would take to this but its certainly worth a go.

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Too weird to live, and too rare to die.

I'm American and I thought I'm Alan Partridge was pretty damn good.

Good to hear JJ but you know your still not forgiven.

There is only so much a man can do to gain forgiveness.

Partridge - Best Brit comedy since Porridge.

Agree with a lot of what's been said and here are a few which are sitting on my shelf. If they've been already mentioned ... tough.

GBH - Better than Boys From The Blackstuff? I think so.

Edge of Darkness - I know it's hard to put that dreadful Mel Gibson remake from your mind but the original is a Cold War classic.

The Thick of It - Yes Minister on poppers.

Yes Minister - The Thick of It on tea.

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"Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how the Tatty 100 is done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves." - Brendan Behan

Did anyone like The Brittas Empire? I loved it as a kid.

also, had Red Dwarf been mentioned?



Awesome!

Yeah, the Brittas Empire had it's moments, but it's no Ever Decreasing Circles.

I'll mention Alan Clarke here, even though his TV work is pretty hard to come by.

Elephant - Still the most violent film/short I've seen. A young Danny Boyle (working for BBC NI at the time) produced it.

Contact - More Ulster strife, this time from the Army's side.

The Firm - Like any football hooligan film that came after, only not sh*te.

Made In Britain - Oi Oi

And a load more. I've got quite a few on home-taped VHS (with no VCR to play them on) and picked up an import of Elephant/The Firm a few years ago.

Tac, Ive never heard of Elephant, must check it out, also, had no idea Danny Boyle worked for BBC NI?!

I like Alan Partridge too. He's become part of the culture over here!

Great list Hun!
I can't imagine how I missed off The Sweeney. If my husband read these boards he'd be mad at me now! He'd probably insist onThe Professionals being on this list too - at the time 1977-1981 they were the envy of every lad with their buddy good looks, their car chases (particularly in the Capri) and their insouciant ways with women .


You're right to include Bleak House. We do tend to make brilliant period dramas , but then the source material is so rich. Dickens was the most brilliant storyteller of his day, specially across all classes as more and more people could read. This one was such a great atmospheric adaptation, chock full of great actors.
The melodrama may be too much for some people, but watch with an eye on Dickens social commentary and beady humour, they're very rewarding.

Other good adaptations are:

The Mystery of Edwin Drood an interesting BBC adaptation of the last unfinished Dickens novel with the last missing half well imagined.

Little Dorrit 2008 another excellent Dickens BBC production with the girl playing Amy Dorrit being very sympathetic to the role

I've never seen Lark Rise to Candleford but lots of people I know loved this costume drama full of eccentric characters, an adaptation of novels about the writers childhood.

The Darling Buds of May was a well loved series in the family slot on Sunday evening tv. Loved by lads at the time for the breakout appearance of the young and gorgeous Catherine Zeta Jones. Gentle humour.


I'll try and think of some more

I'll loan you the DVD if I can find it - still in a 'moving' box probably, was looking for it just now and can't place the thing. If that's gone missing I'll be annoyed as I don't think it was ever released on Region 2. I'll have another look once I get back later.

Yep, DB speaks fondly of his time here.

Cheers Tac

Interesting stuff here.

I like Black Books, Luther, Fawlty Towers, Family Tree, Spaced, Doctor Who.