British TV

[CodeJunkie]

Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em - very old, about a clumsy fool
Trigger Happy TV / World Shut Your Mouth - sketches based on city streets, parks etc
Little Britain - massive hit, be prepared for mild gay/trans scenes
Catherine Tate

[deFineLicht]

Yeah Coupling is fun, but Black Adder is in a much higher league than the rest of the tv-comedies from Britain, and as far as I know, in the rest of the world too.

[lo_res_man]

I guess one reason the rest  f us think british tv is so good is what is exported is usully the cream of the crop, on the other hand, there may be cult shows that just don't get noticed.

[evenwolf]

That's how I feel about asian cinema too.   All the movies are so goood!   But I'm sure there's thousands I haven't seen that are just mindless drivel.


Extras is quite good.   Was it cancelled?    I usually don't like films about films (or in this case a TV show) but I've been an extra on a few movies:  Mike Judge's "Idiocracy" and Richard Linklater's movie that chronicles a boy's life until he's 14 or something.  So that'll come out when I'm 30.

The background extras on film sets are really like that.   Ricky's character is the snobby person who thinks he's a real actor & his friend is the idiot who's not capable of doing much else.   And its so much like Curb Your Enthusiasm, and I love curb.   A part of me is fascinated with watching people eat dirt.  And that's the resolution!  A horribly awkward situation.

[veryweirdguy]

As far as I know, Extras hasn't been cancelled. The second series has finished, whether they do a third or not is up to Gervais and Merchant I suppose - I doubt the BBC will stop them making any more if they want to.

[Meowster]

If you like British Humour, I suggest looking up the following shows:

Big Train - This is a sketch showing with Simon Pegg, Mark Heap and all that crowd of comediens. Very funny and different.

Clip - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0TZxFQaXkc



The Day Today - This is a mockery of british news broadcasting. Chris Morris is absolutely hilarious...  there's a radio show and a TV show, here are clips of both:

Radio Show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SPWgodul_E
TV Show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6UhXivPyw4&mode=related&search=
(another clip for good measure: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qp6rdeROfbE&mode=related&search= )


Brass Eye - This is another Chris Morris show. It's a series of satirical documentaries.

Clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7jVnrfoZD8


Spaced – a fun series which appeals to my geeky nature ... simon pegg, nick frost, mark heap, that lot again...

Clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shHh4Ju7kXA

Look Around You – this show is amazing. It's a mockery of those old learning school science programs that used to come on at 3am in the 80's.

Clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBcrTucxiRc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9UXw0fQmno

[Rincewind]

Haha, great choice of Big Train-clip, Yufster. One of my favourites.
"No way, I can't believe it, the guy is a wanker!"
This one's brilliant as well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Wey6X7gG4Y&;

[radiowaves]

I agree, british humar is good.
I am not shure if french is better or not, they are both good, share the 1'st and 2'nd place. Some really good movies come there. But I have never seen french TV shows though.
The third is probably Netherlands, just because I love the movie "Rembrandt" 

[Becky]

I think most of my favourites have been covered.

I'm suprised that no one has mentioned Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights yet.  Well now I have.  Also entertaining is Quite Interesting, or QI, with the delightful Stephen Fry and Alan Davies, enjoyable, entertaining and punishes the obvious-but-wrong answers.  That Mitchell And Webb Look is also amusing character-based sketches, by the duo from Peep Show which I also heartily recommend.

My big love is unfortunately current affairs satire, which unless you're hot on British news you probably won't get, but I'll recommend anyway:
Have I Got News For You - Long-running satirical panel show currently in it's 33rd series.  Love it to pieces, and Paul Merton (who I have seen live) is an absolute hoot.
Mock The Week - Hilarious HIGNFY-a-like with much more adlib and stand up.  Only four series so far.
Dead Ringers - Impersonation comedy, generally taking the piss of news and television.
Bremner, Bird and Fortune - Political comedy with sketches and impersonations.

[Sam.]

I find Blackadder to be a tiresome repetition of the same joke; Calling Baldrick an idiot with a ridiculous metaphor. Tired.


I think mitchell and webb and the mighty boosh are britains current best comedy exports.

[voh]

All things Monty Python
Fawlty Towers
The Young Ones
Bottom
Black Books
Big Train
Coupling
The IT Crowd

Brilliant shows, all of 'em.

You have impeccable taste, as those would've been on my favourites as well

Green Wing is also a fun show, sort of like the British scrubs, while also starring Tamin Greig from Black Books, which makes it inherently funny.

[Buckethead]

BlackAdder! 

[RickJ]

One of my favorite's is "Allo! Allo!".  It's just plain funny..

[Magic]

I was just posting some on another forum so here goes...

Rab C Nesbitt

Lower class Glasweigan (That's a form of Scottish ya knae) Rab is a scummy, overweight idiot and goes through the trials and tribulations of family life. If anyone can really understand this, I'll be amazed.
First part of "Work" episode: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R41y5k4wXC0

Red Dwarf
Awesome sci-fi comedy, with the last human, Lister, being alive left on a mining ship with the ship's AI Holly (Which has lost all of its IQ due to the years without contact), Rimmer (A smug, annoying prick and honest coward), Kat (A humanoid creature that evolved from Lister's cat Frankenstein) and, eventually, a mechanoid named Kryten. Each episode takes some bizarre sci-fi based phenomenon and throws in gross amounts of hilarity.

Liser teaching Kryten to lie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXCRHPaB36E


Big Train

UK sketch show. It's got Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) and other famous current-gen British comedians in.

"Me Not Being Married"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Wey6X7gG4Y&

"Jesus and Satan The Office Prankster"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtUM3IF6rvk&mode=related&search=

[Pumaman]

For light entertainment, Top Gear is usually good value, and I do enjoy The Real Hustle playing various scams on the public.

But generally, I don't think there have really been any great shows recently that can top the classics like Fawlty Towers and Black Adder.

[MillsJROSS]

I enjoy british television, a lot. However, I've never felt it was superior to what I get in America. It's just that there's so much drivel that is always on, it's hard to seperate the truly great stuff from the mundane.

I do think there's definitely a difference between the two humors (American and British), as far as older British tv shows go. I can't really explain it, but I just know that if some of the greatest british shows were released here, the mass American audience wouldn't take to them. I'm sure we have a few shows that go the other way.

There surely have been great shows that have come out since Fawlty Towers and Black Adder. It's just that television has changed, so it's hard comparing what's on now to what was on ten twenty years or more ago. 

I do enjoy the new Dr. Who. Life on Mars is good. No there not sitcoms, but I find them highly entertaining, as far as new television goes.

-MillsJROSS

[Meowster]

The IT crowd is SHIT

[Ali]

I can see why people wo hate the IT Crowd think it's awful. But I've come to love the stilted and declamatory performances, and the charmingly clumsy direction. I challenge anyone not to smile at the CD-drive-doesn't-work-because-it-has-a-nest-of-chicks-on-it gag.

[Indie Boy]

SPACED
IT CROWD
PEEP SHOW
NEVER MIND THE BUZZCOCKS
MOCK THE WEEK
RED DWARF
'ALLO 'ALLO
ONE FOOT IN THE GRAVE
THE THIN BLUE LINE

Some of the best british tv shows IMO.

[Becky]

The IT Crowd wasn't bad, it just didn't really live up to the hype, and whilst the first couple of episodes were good it kinda lost it's way.