I know - but this thread was for PBS shows, not just BBC shows - it just so happens that most of the good PBS shows are English.
I LOVE the Red Green Show!
“If women don’t find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.”
“I’m a man, but I can change, if I have to, I guess.”
Carpe Ductum!
Chef
A Very Peculiar Practice
Waiting For God
Robin of Sherwood
Praying Mantis (The one with Cheri Lungi.)
Dempsey and Makepeace
Coupling
The early days of Blake’s Seven.
Almost everything that’s ever been on Mystery. I like the new Miss Marple a lot.
Edited to remove several that were neither dramatic nor comedic.
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Well, it’s that the question was about dramatic/comedic series, and PBS is primarily an educational/informational concern, and what dramatic series they carry are not produced by them but imported, mostly through their longstanding alliance with the BBC. Notable exception is that in recent years they do have some original children’s cartoon series that are essentially dramatic/comedic entertainment fare, though some of the cartoons are Canadian imports.
Faulty Towers
Vicar of Dibley
Are You Being Served?
Poldark
The Two Ronnies
Rod Hull and Extrodinary Australian Emu- (I can’t recall the actual name of the show).
Sherlock Holmes (with Jeremy Brett)
All the Best, Tom
“Father Ted,” “Are You Being Served?,” “Yes, Prime Minister,” and “Keeping up Appearances” are all great but Benny Hill was my “really most favoritist.”
I dread to think what American tourists are expecting to find here if that’s what they’ve been watching.
Back in the mid seventies I met some Saudi college students in Denver. I got a huge laugh when one of them told me that before coming to America he thought all Americans were literally insane because “Let’s Make a Deal” was one of the few American shows that he’d ever seen.
I thought the UK was somehow hopelessly trapped in the 1970’s till one day I realized that the Britcoms on OETA were not current, but were, in fact, from the 1970’s.
I think we Americans have more to dread about what’s on some of our television shows…
“Reality” TV that is anything but reality. That’s just for starters… I don’t watch sitcoms - they are just too silly these days.
“Keeping Up Appearances” is another one that I’ve enjoyed.
A format borrowed from British and European television.
As compared with classics like “I Love Lucy”, “Mr. Ed”, “Life of Riley”, “I Married Joan”, “Car 54, Where Are You?”, “My Little Margie”, “My Favorite Martian”, “Gilligan’s Island”, “It’s About Time”, “Mr. Peepers”, “Our Miss Brooks”, “You’ll Never Get Rich”, and “Green Acres”, eh?
It’s kind of sad to realize how bad some of my old favorites really were. TVLand, Nick at Night, and other cable rerun channels have now made this clear to me. Most of what I watched as a kid–and even as an adult–was either terminally silly or preachy (“Father Knows Best”, “Make Room for Daddy”, “Ozzie and Harriet”).
I don’t know what you all mean by PBS - is that a North american term for something? Anyway I gather you’re talking about British and Irish productions. we get our share in Australia.
The Rumpole series we know as Rumpole of the Bailey. Actually this is based on the writings of a real life London barrister, John Mortimer who shared chambers with the internationally famous Australian born human rights lawyer, Geoffrey Robertson, who presents the topical Hypotheticals from time to time.
Cynth mentioned Patrick McGoohan, a favourite of mine from the 60’s. I remember him from the incomparable spy thriller, Danger Man. I think this surpassed the American Man from Uncle by a league even though Ilya was an interesting name.
Speaking of the 60’s, does anyone remember The Avengers with another Patrick Mc… (McNee) and Diana Rigg (and a list of other female actresses)?
And IMO the funniest comedy from that time was The Frost Report with more or less the same players (including John Cleese) as Monty Python which came later.
Reeling back to the present, has anybody mentioned “Absolutely Fabulous”? It relaxes me somewhat …
I can also remember the first series where P M was himself just the sidekick to Ian Hendry.
talasiga–The series you know as Danger Man was called Secret Agent in the States. It was a really good series. I remember watching it and then my Dad sort of watched it and he ended up being hooked although he could hardly stand anything on television. It was one of the few times I ever got one up on him.
After Secret Agent, it seems like the spy shows got more humorous. Many were still enjoyable, but I thought Secret Agent was more spooky and dark and more realistic—at least so it seemed. He seemed like a lonely person basically, like a secret agent would have to be. I don’t know, I might be embellishing my memories here.
I liked the Avengers a lot. There was something great about Diana Rigg—I don’t know—was she one of the first women in a spy show? It seemed like quite a novelty I think, that a woman could be a spy.
PBS means something like Public Broadcasting System and it survives on grants and donations from the public. It is not anything to do with the government. I think it is non-profit. It is associated with better TV shows and shows from the UK. This is a bad explanation.
I always liked Callan. The scenes between Callan and Lonely remain some of the best acting I’ve seen on TV.
The Woodwrights Shop
RedDwarf
Mr. Bean
The Last of the Summer Wine
I Claudius was very good and I also then read the books. I think I was about 14
Nova
David Attenburoughs Life on Earth
Nature
Sesame Street (was cutting edge in the early years)
Almost forgot Kiss Me Kate and Barbera
Right . . . Public Broadcasting System. It is an alternative to for-profit mass-market networks like NBC, ABC, Fox, and so forth. It is not funded by the usual crass commercial advertising, so it is not subject to the control of such advertisers. Instead, corporations donate money and, in return, get a little blurb to the effect of “This program was funded in part by a grant from the Something Corporation–funding research to discover the causes of forest fires in Nevada since 1945.”
PBS is typically watched by more educated individuals interested in programs which have some redeeming social, educational, or artistic value. They strive for political balance while providing coverage of national and world affairs. Children’s programming is usually excellent–they feature quality material which is educational and which is lacking in violence, filth, and the celebration of ignorance.
There is also National Public Radio, NPR, which is much the same thing. They feature classical and other quality musical programming, unbiased news (if that is possible), and so forth.