The British T.V. Thread

[kafka]

Thanks to Netflix, I've recently been watching a ton of BBC series and I'm sooooooo addicted. Since many of them are old ones which aren't shown all the time, I thought I'd lump them all together in one category. Hope Moldy won't mind. They're not on constantly enough for each series to have their own category.

So what are your favorites? Discuss.

Personally, I love "Upstairs, Downstairs", "I, Claudius," "Brideshead Revisited", "To the Manor Born" and "''Allo, 'Allo." Hyacinth "Bouquet" is fun to laugh at but I never really got into "Keeping up Appearances" so much as the "Yes Minister" series. I miss Nigel Hawthorne as the sneaky civil servant and Mr. Humphrey's of "Are you being served?"

Any other fans of British television?

BTW, what the heck happened to "Monarch of the Glen" and how did it go downhill so quickly from one season to the next??? I see the newer episodes on PBS sometimes but it's like a totally different show and I barely recognise anyone.

[kanding]

Count me in on the "I, Claudius" love. I've got the DVD on my Christmas wish-list. There are also two lesser known productions from the early eighties that I loved but I'm not sure if I've got the titles correct. One was "Testament of Youth" about a young woman's involvement in WWI and how it twisted her life. The other was based on Darwin's voyage on the HMS Beagle. Absolutely fascinating. It also did a great job showing how the idea of evolution caused so much uproar (Still does apparently...)

A more current BBC series that I will cancel just about anything to see (I'm too impatient to watch a recording later) is "Child of Our Times". It's a project that's following 25 children born in 2000 in the UK and they only make about 4-5 shows a year, usually shown in January or February. My husband and I have chosen not to have kids, so this program is a peek into an unknown world for us.

Great thread by the way. I know that once I sit down and think some, I'll be able to come up with more programs.

[roseland]

I loved "I, Claudius". I remember when they first ran it on PBS in America in the early 80's, I think. I was glued to my television set. I also watched "Brideshead Revisited" when it was originally shown. But I ended up reading the book years later and realized how much I had missed because some of the subject matter just went way over my innocent teenage head. I should probably rewatch.

I've just discovered the "Inspector Linley" series thanks to PBS and am now ordering back episodes through Netflix. I love Netflix. It allowed me to watch all the seasons of "As Time Goes By" with Judi Dench. Sometimes it doesn't work out. I tried to watch "Spooks", I did but I just couldn't seem to care.

[Oxynia]

LOVE this thread!!

Count me in as a fan of "I, Claudius". I also loved "Brideshead Revisited", any of the "Prime Suspect" series and heaps of comedies like Fawlty Towers, As Time Goes By and To the Manor Born. There were also nutty comedies I remember from ages ago, like The Young Ones and Doctor in the House, which cracked me up at the time but which now I might find too silly to watch.

kanding, "Testament of Youth" is one of my all-time favourites!! The woman in the story is Vera Brittain (whose daughter Shirley Williams became a member of Parliament and minister for education in the 1970s) and it was a brilliant production. If you haven't read the book (by the same name), I encourage you to do it. The writing is a bit purple in places but overall it is an achingly beautiful read.

[Deleted]

I am very lucky to have a local public library which stocks many of the PBS drama mini-series and dramas. I am particularly fond of

1. All the Miss Marple movies with Joan Hickson. I think she's the best Miss Marple. The stories are being redone with a new actress (Geraldine McEwan), but the older ones are much better in my opinion. Also they're switching the plots around for the newer versions which ticks me off.

2. A 3 part show called Heat of the Sun with Trevor Eve playing a Scotland Yard detective exiled to Kenya during the 1930s. Also features Susannah Harker (who played Jane Bennet in the A&E version of Pride & Prejudice). I loved these 3 stories. Very different with the Kenyan setting.

3. The Hercule Poirot episodes. A particular favorite is Poirot's Christmas.

4. The Politician's Wife - British politician's wife is humiliated when her husband is exposed as having cheated on her. You'll love the ending.

5. A Very British Coup - Behind the scenes dirty work against an lower class Prime Minister.

6. The House of Cards Trilogy - (House of Cards, To Play the King, The Final Cut) Yowsa! More British politics and real skullduggery. The main character (Francis Urquhart), played by Ian Richardson, is an ambitious (to say the least) assistant to the Prime Minister with a wife that rivals Lady MacBeth. The end of the first part is a jaw dropper - totally unexpected and shocking. To make the whole thing more enjoyable, as he is doing his dirty deeds, Francis turns and talks to the camera, explaining himself. If you like political drama with greed and corruption and murder, you'll love this set of stories.

7. Foyle's War - PBS is currently showing the 3rd set of these episodes. Each of the first 3 sets contains 4 individual dramas at about 90 minutes each featuring Michael Kitchen as a British homicide detective at the beginning of WWII. Murder investigations on the homefront woven in with showing the impact of the war on the police as well as the civilians.

8. A Touch of Frost - I loved these stories featuring an older British policeman solving crimes in an urban setting. Each story is different and keeps you guessing.

9. Midsomer Murders - a pair of detectives (one middle aged, one younger) investicate murders in the villages around Midsomer. Mix of modern day stories but with pretty English villages. They are currently releasing set 6 to DVD. Each set contains 4-5 DVDs.

10. Lord Peter Wimsey How could I have forgotten Peter Wimsey? These stories, written by Dorothy L. Sayers feature an upper class lord (2nd son of the old Duke of Denver) who solves crimes in London between the 2 wars. 5 of these stories were done by Masterpiece Theatre in the '60s (Clouds of Witness, Unpleasantness at the Belona Club, The Nine Tailors, The Five Red Herrings, Murder Must Advertise) and starred Ian Carmichael. These are less polished as far as sets, etc. Then, in the '90s, a new set of stories were done featuring new actor and producing the 3 stories about Wimsey and the lady he loves. (He first sees her picture in the newspaper when she is being tried for murdering her lover! After seeing only her picture, he declares that she didn't do it and sets out to clear her name.) Those 3 stories are Strong Poison, Have His Carcase, Gaudy Night.

I was all set to like the Inspector Linley Mysteries as I have read many of the books, but the actors cast are soooo completely unlike the way they are described in the books that I get irritated whenever I watch. Linley is supposed to be very elegant, well dressed, and with blond hair as is Helen. They cast a dark haired commonly dressed looking man as Linley and another common looking type as Helen. And they got Havers wrong too! Awwwk! Awful. So much of their characteristics have been ruined!

[Ginger]

The one I loved when it originally aired, and I was only about eight or nine at the time, was The Flame Trees of Thika. I don't even remember what it was about, but I remember being really moved by it even back then. I don't think it was one of their more popular ones because whenever I mention it to people, nobody else remembers it.

[Ripley]

The Politician's Wife - British politician's wife is humiliated when her husband is exposed as having cheated on her. You'll love the ending.

I thought I was the only one who loved that drama. It made a huge impression on me!

[Deleted]

I love Foyle's War. Michael Kitchen is terrific, the whole cast is actually. But the dresses and hairstyles, etc. of WW2 are so authentic. The stories are interesting, ie. the other side of the war, the homefront and what happens to civilians.

I like Inspector Linley, but I haven't read any of the books. I think Linley is hansome, but Helen is a total dog. Is she suppose to be beautiful?

Thanks for the reviews Miss Marple, I've put some of your favorites on my Netflix list!

[kafka]

missmarple said:

6. The House of Cards Trilogy - Yowsa! More British politics and real skullduggery.

House of Cards, YES!!!!!!!!!!!! I love, love, love Ian Richardson's character. He is so totally amoral, ruthless and evil. {whispers -- He is so bad that it almost makes you want to root for him and I have to admit, I was kinda sad at the end. Does that make me a psychopath? -- end whispers}

Before slinking off in shame, I have to recommend Anthony Trollope's Pallisers to anyone who likes historical dramas, especially when they are literary adaptations. It's a long series and some episodes, especially the first ones, are a bit tedious at times but if you stick to it and persist, it ends up being quite absorbing. Probably the best part for me is that almost everyone famous in British television/movies ends up being in it. From Derek Jacobi to a really young Jeremy Irons and Anthony Andrews, to the mother from "Monarch of the Glen" who plays one of the main characters. There is even a young Penelope Keith.

I've always had a crush on Jeremy Irons but I'm starting to get one on Anthony Andrews. Speaking of the two, has anyone rented "Brideshead Revisited" from Netflix? I did just last week because I wanted to see it again and I swear, the series just ended midway towards the end. I don't remember it being that way when it showed on Masterpiece Theatre back in the 80s. Charles just ended with Julia, Laurence Olivier didn't die, there was no full circle to his war years or the end of his relationship with Julia. I was so mad and couldn't believe they just cut it off 2 episodes towards the end, marking it all the while as "the conclusion of the series." Anyone else have that experience or know what I'm talking about?

[Deleted]

Kafka, I remember quite clearly when I saw Brideshead Revisited how it ended, and you are quite correct. I remember the scene of Olivier dying very well and I'm pretty sure that was almost at the end. It sounds as if someone goofed and didn't include all the DVDs in the set. Perhaps the mini-series was released in 2 parts? (That's what they did with War and Remembrance). I'd complain. Someone made a mistake.