No Right Answer: Best British TV Show Ever

[Gorrath]

For those suggesting other shows, remember that they would need to meet the starting requirements they listed to be up for consideration. I don't know of any British TV shows that have had more penetration into the American psyche than Dr. Who and Monty Python, and so these other contenders would fail on that point. We can list comedies that we believe to be better than Monty Python, but none have the sort of zeitgeist quality of Flying Circus. I love Flying Circus myself, but if given the choice, I'd probably be up for watching Black Adder, Red Dwarf, or Yes, Minister instead. I'd also rather watch All Creatures Great and Small or the new Sherlock than Dr. Who. Still, none of them have the cultural impact on America that Flying Circus and Dr. Who have.

 

[qwagor]

Well, Monty Python had to win, simply because it's the Tolkien of comedy. Yes, there have been better comedy shows, and indeed better fantasy novels, but that is where it starts.
Also I'm amazed that nobody mentioned The Prisoner.

 

[Ignatz_Zwakh]

The fact that neither of those is "The Prisoner" invalidates this whole debate.

 

[ObsidianJones_v1legacy]

The thing about Doctor Who that I just don't get is that everyone has their favorite doctor. And more likely than not, it's not the person who's playing the Doctor now. Most people are watching thinking 'The story's good, but my favorite doctor would have handled it more much differently aka 'better'. I personally have a favorite and he's lost past gone.

And that's another thing. I feel Camaraderie with my fellow Python fans. You mention the wrong Doctor to a Whovian, and that's your ass.

 

[verdant monkai]

These lads have obviously never seen the mighty Boosh.

 

[IndianaJonny]

No! But you're in the right stable: Captain Scarlet had a better intro, and it was much more dark and sinister:

I liked mix the upbeat soundtrack and onscreen action (and the "anything can happen in the next half hour" meta-comment always gets me) for Stingray. The Captain Scarlet intro definitely had a different tone to it and I'd say it was an all-round better show; the ending credits [//www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFSA0rfpSVM] I always found to be a phenomenal sequence.

I like the bit in the ending credits where marina gets offended at the restaurant because she gets served fish.

Strewth, if all it took to get you Supermarionation fans out of the woodwork was a good old intro vid, I would have done it sooner!

 

[silentNate]

I have to go with Monty Python because Monty Python is still good after all these years. Doctor Who on the other hand has be total dog shit since Moffat took over running the show.

The problem with Python being such a classic, to the point where people can quote entire sketches from memory, is that we tend to gloss over the crappier sketches and the stuff that didn't work because the stuff that did work was a slice of fried gold. Python wasn't consistently high-quality, it's just that when it was high quality it was really high quality. It still beats out Dr Who though, since as much as I love the show it's really going downhill lately.

As for my picks, I was leaning towards Sherlock, because come on, Sherlock. However, there really is only one winner for me, and that's Spaced. Never a bad episode, great characters, eminently quotable, they allowed it to die before it became stale and was consistently fucking hilarious. Spaced, all the way to the bank.

Brian: Can I borrow a tea-bag?
Tim: Only if you bring it back. You can HAVE a tea-bag, Brian, you can't borrow one.
Brian: What are you playing?
Tim: Tomb Raider 3.
Brian: She's drowning.
Tim: Yeah.
Brian: Is that the point of the game?
Tim: Depends what mood you're in really.
Brian: What sort of mood are you in then?
Tim: Well, I got a letter from my ex-girlfriend this morning, 3 months too late, explaining why she dumped me. It was full of 'you'll always be special' and 'I'll always love you' platitudes designed to make me feel better whilst simultaneously appeasing her deep seated sense of guilt for dumping me, running off with a slimy little city boy called Duane and destroying my faith in everything which is good and pure.
Brian: So it didn't really work then.
Tim: No, it made me wanna drown things! [turns around, sees Brian dressed as a painting] You've got paint on you.
Brian: It's a literal tribute to the self reflexivity of Rembrandt.
Tim: Did he like it?
Brian: He's dead.
Tim: Bloody hell, that really backfired.

Yep... I'd go for Spaced as the Best of British...

Still completely annoyed that the mighty Dr Who didn't win over some comedy made before I was born

Can repeat every line of the Dead Parrot sketch though... it's on the British Citizenship test

 

[BakaMick]

I love the fact that in the first 11 seconds, they try to do the 'Posh English' accent, mess it up, label it as a British accent, then try to point out that it could be offensive, and every British Person has 2 reactions, one after the other, 1. Like I even care?! 2. Thats a 'Posh English' accent, not a British accent! THERE IS NO BRITISH ACCENT!

Also I agree with all previous comments about the dozens of shows better than Dr Who and Monty Python's Flying Circus, but you gotta realise that these guys probably havet seen all the shows we grew up withand have seen over and over and over again untill we can cite them word for word. But, hey, thats what these forums are for. Right?

 

[TimeLord]

True Whovians don't argue. The best Doctor is the one from Gallifrey.

 

[drschplatt]

I've never actually seen a full episode of Dr. Who as the 3 or 4 I tried watching were just boring recycled science fiction shows with bad special effects. I saw them within the last 5 years, so it's possible I may have seen the "bad Dr. Who" instead of the good one. But it didn't seem any different than a slightly goofy version of Sanctuary or Stargate. More like Quantum Leap.


Monty Python though is funny and great no matter which sketch you stumble across. It doesn't rely on bad special effects or recycled science fiction but quality timing and proper writing. Right up there with Black Adder, A Bit of Fry and Laurie, Top Gear and Fawlty Towers as great British TV shows.

 

[EeveeElectro]

If I had to pick, I'd say Monty Python. I love Who but it makes me feel stupid because I don't always understand what's happening, whereas MP makes me laugh and amuses me.
Sometimes I watch DW and I'm worried I'll get an aneurism it's so mind bendingly silly, whereas MP is just funny silly and the cast are absolute legends.

 

[bluepotatosack]

Reading through this thread I've found one thing that's bothering me. It is "Fawlty Towers", correct? Not "Faulty".

 

[octafish]

Listen, don't mention the war! I mentioned it once, but I think I got away with it all right...

So! It's all forgotten now, and let's hear no more about it. So, that's two egg mayonnaise, a prawn Goebbels, a Hermann Goering, and four Colditz salads.

I have watched Doctor Who for most of my 38 years, and I love it. However Fawlty Towers is the best the British have ever made, yea even unto Only Fools and Horses. Given, Fawlty Towers is distilled comedy and Horses ran for forever, but Fawlty Towers is still the apogee. The yanks even tried to re-make three times! Failed every time of course, but three times!

 

[Kris D'Arienzo]

Reading through this thread I've found one thing that's bothering me. It is "Fawlty Towers", correct? Not "Faulty".

You are correct, Basil. *smacks manuel upside the head*

 

[drschplatt]

Reading through this thread I've found one thing that's bothering me. It is "Fawlty Towers", correct? Not "Faulty".

Two posts before you I said...


"Right up there with .... and Fawlty Towers as great British TV shows."

I'm an American who can spell Fawlty




...but it's still color...

 

[Andrew_C]

You can't discuss the best of British TV without mentioning Spitting Image, Yes Minister or Brass Eye. Or Father Ted, for that matter

 

[Strazdas]

Good choices but i still prefer Top Gear to the two of them. I guess it doesn't really count as it doesnt really have a ravenous fanbase.

top gear is fun but if you dont care about cars it gets boring REAL fast. very limited audience.

Top Gear has a massive ravenous fanbase. The difference is that most of their fanbase rarely have more than 2 braincells, sad to say. I know that makes me come of as a real nob, but seriously, most of the TG fanbase or men (and women) whom watch every week, unaware so much is staged, drooling over cars they will NEVER own, and genuinely think Clarkson is an awesome guy.

Well Clarkson does own quite a few nice cars. of course no miltimillion crap or such. he seesm to have devoted his life to that thing though, his holyday consists of making private car movies and writing car books. the guy is obsessed with cars. not glorifying it or anything, but hes head above the Brainiac guy (brainiac was a show the hamster used to run) or captain slow.

 

[Hutzpah Chicken]

Damn straight, Monty Python's Flying Circus. I always enjoy the absolute silliness.

Thinking about all the British TV I watch, there is:
Top Gear
Mr. Bean
Red Dwarf
James May's (whatever you want to put into here, go ahead)
Blackadder
The IT Crowd

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

I took me a couple of seasons to get used to Matt Smith's run. But with Tennant, 1 episode in and I was hooked.

I heard there was an American version of I.T Crowd, and that it sucked colossal monkey balls.