What are your 3 favorite British TV series?

[LoneAspen]

Three pages and nobody's mentioned Blackadder? For shame!

I can't stick with just three:

1. Fawlty Towers
2. Are You Being Served
3. Blackadder III (the others are good, too, but I really like III)
4. Top Gear
5. Sherlock Holmes (the old Grenada series with Jeremy Brett)

It's amazing to think Fawlty Towers is one of the funniest series that's EVER been produced, and they only made 12 episodes. I think my favorite is the one with Mrs. Richards and her hearing aid. That one had me in stitches.

 

[Meadbh]

Dr Who
Sherlock
Heartbeat

When DD was tiny and needed extra 24 hour care DW and I sometimes watched a comedy about elderly people in a retirement home. Can't remember the name.
Another show I watched with my dad years ago the odd time was 'Yes Minister'. I can still hear him laughing.

The retirement home comedy sounds like "Waiting for God". It was pithy!

And of course "Yes, Minister" was hilarious, and apparently quite true to life. Both the Minister and Sir Humphrey have since died.

 

[Letj]

I love British TV shows. Here are a few of my favorites:

Downton Abbey,
Keeping up appearances
Masterpiece Theatre
Call the Midwife
Poirot
Sherlock Holmes
Mr Bean
Fawlty Towers
Are you being served
Almost any BBC documentary

 

[Snidely Whiplash]

... Top Gear (the latter is very middlebrow, but I've watched over 100 episodes so it must have something going for it).

...
4. Top Gear
...

Mine too.
I always find myself laughing out loud at least a couple of times per episode.

 

[Letj]

Absolutely Fabulous is by fare the #1 on my list.

Benny Hill and Downton Abby are good also.

Ab-Fab is one of the funniest shows that ever aired though. Patsy and Edwina are not roll models by any means - but they are very funny.

+1 oh the antics of Edwina and Patsy and don't forget poor Safron. My favorite in when they woke up in a dump truck. I've watched each episode a few times and was so disappointed that only relatively few episodes were made.

 

[MooreBonds]

I should have added as honorable mentions to my original 3:

Benny Hill
Red Dwarf (haven't seen anyone mention this one yet)

 

[inky]

I don't think anyone's mentioned Mistresses, which I thought was extremely well done.

There was a U.S. remake that looked vastly inferior.

 

[imoldernu]

Y'all have covered the bases...
Between Netflix and Amazon Prime, (which #1 son shares with me), I've pretty much given up on anything with commercials, and am working my way through
the Inspector series...Frost, Foyle, Morse, (all 95 complete) Gently, Vera, Lewis, Poirot, Sherlock etc.. Am finished with or up to date with Doc Martin, Downton Abbey, Prime Suspect.

Yesterday, I went outside for the first time in 2 years. Didn't realize the sun was so bright!

 

[lemming]

I forgot to add the Blatchley Circle. It only had two seasons of airtime on PBS . Each season was a novella of one story. Wonderful period piece of postwar Britain . Scary and charming at the same time.

 

[InTheSticks]

Top Gear

 

[Jay_Gatsby]

I should have added as honorable mentions to my original 3:

Benny Hill
Red Dwarf (haven't seen anyone mention this one yet)

Red Dwarf is definitely good, but I felt it went down hill after a while.

Nobody mentioned Blake's 7 either. Some good British sci-if there (interspersed with cheese).


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

 

[Lsbcal]

All of the above, well almost.

DW and I are Masterpiece Theatre and Mystery groupies. Have been viewers since the 1970's.

The Inspector Morris series in Netflix DVD's has a huge amount of ones not shown on PBS. The new Endeavor is great and the lead actor plays a convincing young Morris.

 

[CoolChange]

My top 3:
Dr. Who
Benny Hill
Red Dwarf

Honorable mention:
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Blackadder
Mr. Bean
Monte Python
Torchwood

 

[Sue J]

We watched Red Dwarf and loved it! We still use the term "Shiny Thing!"

(the character that was a cat, but played by a person, was easily distracted by anything shiny)

 

[Calico]

Older:

A Bit of Fry and Laurie
Jeeves and Wooster
Good Neighbors
Are You Being Served?
Fawlty Towers
Prime Suspect
As Time Goes By


More recent:

Sherlock (B. Cumberbatch version)
Midsomer Murders

 

[nuke_diver]

Only current one is Top Gear

I don't watch a lot of TV but I do watch TG when I can

 

[AllDone]

Nobody mentioned Midsomer Murders. Maybe not in my top three, but charming never the less. Plus, there are a zillion of them, I think it's in it's 16th season. Doc Martin was so funny through the wedding, but the last few were kind of a let down.

 

[Cassie]

Nobody mentioned Midsomer Murders. Maybe not in my top three, but charming never the less. Plus, there are a zillion of them, I think it's in it's 16th season. Doc Martin was so funny through the wedding, but the last few were kind of a let down.

Really enjoyed Midsomer Murders when A&E carried it. How are you watching current shows?

 

[audreyh1]

Dramas:
Pride and Prejudice - the long version with Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy
Horatio Hornblower
Dr. Who (the new)

Comedies:
Many of the situational comedies are so funny.
I think "Chef!" was my all time favorite.
Thin Blue Line also absolutely hilarious. We still use phrases from that show.

 

[Cassie]

I remember Chef! I too liked that and Vicar of Dibley.

 

[Calico]

Nobody mentioned Midsomer Murders. Maybe not in my top three, but charming never the less. Plus, there are a zillion of them, I think it's in it's 16th season. Doc Martin was so funny through the wedding, but the last few were kind of a let down.

Midsomer Murders made my list (right above your post). Charming is exactly what it is!

 

[Calico]

Really enjoyed Midsomer Murders when A&E carried it. How are you watching current shows?

Netflix now has the first 15 seasons of Midsomer Murders. That's where I watched it.

 

[Cassie]

Netflix now has the first 15 seasons of Midsomer Murders. That's where I watched it.

Thank you Calico, I'll have to look into Netflix!

 

[Calico]

Thank you Calico, I'll have to look into Netflix!

You're welcome!

I cut the cable in May of 2013, and haven't missed it at all. Between Netflix, Amazon Prime, and HuluPlus I can see everything I want. Might have to wait a while for things to turn up, but it's just one more area where I practice delayed gratification. Eventually almost every show or movie turns up.

 

[audreyh1]

Thanks. I'll put Midsomer murders on my list.