The mention of Caligulia in another thread reminded me of one of my very favorite series- I Claudius. Because of that series I ended up reading that book and Claudius the God. Both were very good. (on the other hand, Gore Vidal’s book about that evil emperor is one of the few books that I not only did not finish, I threw away after a few pages- -not stuff I care to put in my head.
And then I got to remembering some other great ones of yesteryear-
Poldark, the Jeeves and Wooster ones, and The Irish RM.(I actually taped that one years ago when it was aired)
I used to like Rumpole for the Defense. Arleen can’t survive without The East Enders. Of course, these are both BBC shows, but they appear on PBS in the US.
Oh, I just loved Poldark. I can hardly remember it but was there someone named Robin in it—Robin Poldark, was that it? And a young girl with curly red hair? They don’t make them like that anymore.
There is another one—maybe this could even be Poldark—that I remember a character from and if anyone knows what it is, please tell me. The character was like a groom, or stable man and he was sturdy and blonde and wow! in an earthy sort of way and I think his name was Dick. He wasn’t the main character but he had a fairly big role.
I really liked I, Claudius too. Although I guess Claudius turned out to be as wretched as the rest of them when he was emperor----not sure of that but it was mentioned in a class I took.
One other that I remember was set in Scotland and was based on a novel by a famous Scottish writer—Graeme? I just can’t remember—and it was actually quite somber and depressing. It was really good though. It had to do with a married couple I think and they lived in a stone cottage.
The Vicar of Dibley, which had so few episodes, was wonderful. For longer series, I thought The Irish RM was good, but Jeeves is my all-time favorite (as are the books by P.G. Wodehouse).
And, really, you can’t get any better than Dr. Who.
A Prairie Home Companion seldom fails to be amusing, though it’s taken a more overtly political tone in the past year. But that’s public radio rather than public television. Nevertheless, it’s a public broadcast and it has dramatic and comedic series within it, so I’ll make it my choice.
“I Claudius” beyond a doubt one of my favorites. It was the first thing I thought of when I saw the thread title. I had read the book prior to seeing the show. Now I have the whole show on DVD. My wife didn’t think she’d like it but she did.
Here in the States the only way we get a lot of BBC stuff is through PBS.
Red Green (I’m a member of the Possum Lodge btw).
Are You Being Served
Fawlty Towers
Monty Python
I rarely watch TV anymore so I don’t know what’s going on these days on PBS. I listen to a lot of public radio however. We’ve get two good NPR stations here in Kalamazoo. Three of my favorite radio shows , aside from those produced and/or hosted by our own Thurlowe of course, are
“This American Life”
“What do you know?”
“Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me.”
Colonial chappies please note: These programmes do not give an accurate reflection of life in England (except Fawlty Towers of course which was so accurate it could have been a ‘fly on the wall’ documentary.)
Handgrenade Rhees was the bird with the curly red hair. She’s Welsh (well, with a name like Handgrenade she’d have to be). And you’re probably thinking of Robin Ellis (who played Ross Poldark).
Oh, thank you Gary! I sure do recognize them—I had a bit of a thing for Ross Poldark. I’m going to look into some of those old shows.
I loved Fawlty Towers too. I think I thought we were just talking about Masterpiece Theater. Everything about Fawlty Towers was so perfect—the way his wife talked on the phone (I knooooow, oh, I knooooow, oh, I knooooow) and poor Manuel. I thought the food inspector one was funny—when the rat jumped out of the tin! And poor Basil----the irritation of it all!
The Prisoner–that was really a long time ago. I liked it alot. Was it Patrick McGoohan, or something like that? I think he was in a show called Secret Agent first and I liked that one quite a bit better.
Are you specifically asking about British shows on PBS?
Personally, I love the “House” shows - and I don’t mean the network tv program by that name, I mean “Colonial House,” “1820s House,” etc. where they put a group of modern day folks into a period of time for a summer or however long it is, and they have to live like those people lived. Same clothes, same housing, same foods (grow or raise their own). It’s fascinating to watch different personalities trying to let go of their 21st century feelings and get into a different time and place. Some people do quite well at it, others completely fall apart.
I found Colonial House especially interesting…at the end of the series a group of historians evaluated the colony to see if they would have been able to survive in those times and be a viable community - prosperous enough to keep their funding from their British “backers.” Really interesting stuff.
Note: The Scottish story I mentioned earlier was called Sunset Song and was based on a novel by Lewis Grassic Gibbons. It was aired in 1976, or maybe 1974 and '75. Anyway, long, long ago.
There’s a web site for The Prisoner fan club - http://www.netreach.net/~sixofone/ The Village is actually a resort in Wales named Portmeirion. That’s on my list of places to go someday.
Red Green is a Canadian show, not BBC. Not that I’m boasting - most people here think its retarded.
Favourite BBC shows would be Hamish MacBeth, Ballykissangel (earlier series), Monarch of the Glen (earlier series), Father Ted, Vicar of Dibbley.
The BBC shows don’t seem to have the ability to keep up the level of comdey writing for more than a few seasons. Things start getting melodramatic after that and go downhill rather quickly. They really do seem to know when to cut these things short in most cases.
A friend of mine taped most of each season… he loaned us the set of tapes and would watch them every Sunday afternoon for some time.
I always liked the earlier seasons’ shows… toward the end it became evident that the writers were languishing, and really trying to write the humor into it.
-not stuff I care to put in my head.
I’m going to look into some of those old shows.