Why Brits love costume dramas so much?

[bombtek]

Ok that wasn't really that good a representation of the show, but I like that song.

[Endrik]

oh yeah The Young Ones... the Boosh tossers have ripped them off quite a bit

[MartinBarre]

I don't get, or watch, 99% of the stuff on British TV, especially the comedy. Father Ted was I think the last watchable comedy series that was genuinely hilarious. Might Boosh and all that shite, who cares?

[Newc]

Mighty Boosh is proof you can put anything on TV and people will watch it. I tried watching that Tim & Eric's Awesome Show and I just cannot see the appeal. Maybe I need to partially asphyxiate myself before watching these shows?

[Rsmacker]

I don't get, or watch, 99% of the stuff on British TV, especially the comedy. Father Ted was I think the last watchable comedy series that was genuinely hilarious. Might Boosh and all that shite, who cares?

Try "The Inbetweeners", absolute comedy gold. I shat myself laughing from the first 2 minutes onwards. As soon as one of the main characters walked into school and kids were calling him "Briefcase Wanker", I knew it would be great.

We had a Briefcase Wanker in our class, used to torment him all day long. I think he's probably a Judge now, or a Special Forces Karate Motherfucker or something. I just know it ain't gonna be pretty when our paths cross again, he's going to have his revenge.

What about "Peep Show", once again hilarious. Bought the box set from that shop that went tits up at Christmas - walked in on Christmas Eve and it was marked at £29.99. Picked a few presents up, looked round, it was £24.99. Got to the till and they were marking it up as £14.99. Bargain. Fucking hilarious bargain too.

Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe? Absolute genius, the man is right on the ball. He reviews the telly just like we all do - by shouting abuse at the screen and calling people cocks. He also goes through the underlying shite behind all we see on telly, like advertising. Very interesting, put across in a hilarious fashion. Kinda like Mark Thomas, but without being such a right-on lefty cunt.
(Oh, and his Big Brother zombie thing earlier this year, Dead Set, was one of the finest pieces of TV drama I've seen in a long while. Excellent stuff, not often I watch a 3-parter and am glued to the box for the next episode. On a par with "Mr Darcy's Tight Jodphurs Get Spunky" or whatever the BBC are doing now.)

[VitaminG]

I've mentioned The Young Ones before - particularly the University Challenge epi where their opponents were Ben Elton, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie & Emma Thompson.

Love Peep Show. I like That Mitchell & Webb Look too.

How about Ideal, or Shameless, or Hyperdrive? Or the IT Crowd?

[Snoogans]

I've mentioned The Young Ones before - particularly the University Challenge epi where their opponents were Ben Elton, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie & Emma Thompson.

Love Peep Show. I like That Mitchell & Webb Look too.

How about Ideal, or Shameless, or Hyperdrive? Or the IT Crowd?

Someone else watched Hyperdrive? I really thought that I was the only one.
It pretty much bombed over here, the retard masses compared it to Red Dwarf, even 'tho it's an entirely different premise. I think it was brilliant, and Kevin Eldon's Commander York was a work of genius. (Anyone who disagrees gets to see the angry leg)

[bratfink]

Well, I can't imagine there's much interest in cop dramas in Britain, unless the daily grind of a London bobby is like The Shield - strewn with crackhouses, drive-bys, corruption, screwing around with female officers, and politics.

Lord knows we need at least one country that produces a steady stream of literate programming. Granted a bunch of old folks sipping tea and talking about the suicidally-bland lives they lead can be rather dull, but at least there's one place to get away from fart/tit/ass/dick jokes and personal dramas that overpopulate American TV.

Actually there are more murder thrillers on UK TV than anything else. Along side the imported NCIS etc stuff there are a whole rash of shows like the 'Midsummer Murders', which are about normal British people sipping tea and watching Cricket on the village green of a Sunday afternoon who are suddenly thrown into the grips of a thilling murder hunt.

Despite the lack of coverage over here, you are more likely to be stabbed to death walking the streets of London than you are in 'da hood' over here. It's scary but true, the general fear of violence is very high over there. I lived in Coventry for many years and you'd be suprized what I saw, very often right outside my front door. I feel far safer here than I ever did there! Bobbies do have to face all the violence and drugs the same as the police here, and without the protection of firearms! Very brave men and women, not sure I could do it.

When I was in the British Army I spent a weekend working with the Southampton Police as part of some sort of job experience thing (they trained with us and we went and helped them out). One Saturday night on the streets of Southampton and I saw more violence than I did the entire time I served! It was amazing what they had to deal with, top respect.

It's nice that the BBC etc still writes shows based on historical life, it gives us something of an insight into the way it was. The BBC used to do it without the pressure of hollywoodising everything (i.e. changing the facts of history to make the story sound better - I think you guys call it dramatizing) but sadly even they are doing more of that these days. Classic example is the recent series 'The Tudors', what a load of pap!

It is pretty hard to beat Monty Python though, those guys were hilarious. I never really understood why American's like Monty Python so much. Our humour is very difficult to follow and most stuff we do (like the Mighty Boosh) just falls flat over here, so it is strange that Monty Python was so successful here when it was so off the wall.

Come to think of it, it's odd that 'the office' has been so popular, I have noticed that American's really don't like to be laughed at (nor do they like to laugh at themselves), but 'the office' does just that. I guess you guys are more complex than you seem

[Endrik]

since stabbing chav scum is such a huge problem, any shows about them or coming in near future?

[Grandturk]

Actually there are more murder thrillers on UK TV than anything else. Along side the imported NCIS etc stuff there are a whole rash of shows like the 'Midsummer Murders', which are about normal British people sipping tea and watching Cricket on the village green of a Sunday afternoon who are suddenly thrown into the grips of a thilling murder hunt.

A good series, if I remember correctly was "Wire in the Blood." We get shows on BBC America that are 2-3 or more years old. Sometimes you can't tell with the funny cars that you limeys drive over there.

My fav comedy recently has been "That Mitchell and Webb Look" ( i think its called) - funny shit.

[Hellbat]

I've mentioned The Young Ones before - particularly the University Challenge epi where their opponents were Ben Elton, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie & Emma Thompson.

Love Peep Show. I like That Mitchell & Webb Look too.

How about Ideal, or Shameless, or Hyperdrive? Or the IT Crowd?

Yep, The Young Ones and IT Crowd are my favorite britcoms.

Vyvian! Where did you get that howitzer?

I found it!

[bratfink]

A good series, if I remember correctly was "Wire in the Blood." We get shows on BBC America that are 2-3 or more years old. Sometimes you can't tell with the funny cars that you limeys drive over there.

My fav comedy recently has been "That Mitchell and Webb Look" ( i think its called) - funny shit.

"That's Numberwang!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjOZtWZ56lc

[VitaminG]

"That's Numberwang!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjOZtWZ56lc

classic!

I love the Biscuit Levitation sketch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ik7IzBHWxD8

[Rsmacker]

No, the absolute best sketch they have done was the Dry Cleaning business they were going to call "Touching Cloth". Fucking hilarious.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqnD6umhOGw

[VitaminG]

Touching Cloth with a question mark. "Touching Cloth?" Then step this way!