What was the most under rated British TV show ever for you?
4mon 26d ago by fedia.io/u/Novamdomum in asklemmy
No wrong answers. Could be a game show, docu-series, fiction, sci-fi, anything that didn't make it but should have.
Spaced (1999–2001).
I'm genuinely curious how well known or underrated this one is.
Along with the mighty boosh (which is very... different) it is required viewing.
I always felt Garth Marenghi's Darkplace deserves more recognition.
I know writers who use subtext, and they're all cowards.
It's actually a work of art how meticulously they achieve the low budget 80's B-horror aesthetic; acting, direction, cinematography, editing... everything. The random jump cuts (cemetery shotgun, lol), amateur framing, disjointed voiceovers, walking to nowhere at the end of a scene, or entering a scene for far too long, a Tombstone blowing in the wind.
It's extremely difficult to intentionally make it all so shit while being so fucking funny. Perfection. Oh, and no fucking canned laughter!
The reason they only did one series is that everything you describe is much more expensive than doing it properly. It was the most expensive show Channel 4 had ever done to that point.
It's amazing and I think about it often!
Also has a special place as the start of both Richard Ayoade and Matt Berry's careers! Came out in January 2004 and they wouldn't be seen on the Mighty Boosh until later that same year in May.
Matthew Holness has continued to do Garth Marenghi stuff post-TV series. You can actually read some of the novels Garth Marenghi wrote, and they're just as good (by which I mean awful, in excellent ways) as you'd expect them to be. He's even on a book tour right now!
Absolutely!!
Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe/Newswipe shows.
A lot of people missed those back in the day and they missed them as the origin of the voice of our generation: Philomena Cunk. I really miss her compatriot Barry Shitpeas.
Also Charlie Brooker's police procedural sendup A Touch of Cloth starring John Hannah is similarly criminally underrated.
Just imho Brooker's comedy is way better than his dark scifi of Black Mirror.
Absolutely! Screen Wipe was outstanding. Black Mirror is fine
Touching, Cloth.
We're going to lose face, Cloth.
I shall find this squad's duty register, and have you cut from the same, Cloth.
"I want that report on my table first thing tomorrow morning, Cloth"
"But sir-"
"On my table, Cloth!"
Dead Set was a bit of fun too
I really liked a sitcom called Detectorists (2014-2017) from and with Mackenzie Crook. Ran for three seasons. Not many people know about this show here in the Netherlands. I hoped it had stayed on for longer.
The Detectorists is one of those shows that those who love it, LOVE IT, and those who don't have never heard of it.
It's genuinely one of the loveliest, most beautiful TV shows I've ever watched. It's a truly happy space to be in, with almost no mean-spirited jokes.
I’m so glad someone mentioned this show. It was lovely!
Great show
an absolute gem!
calm, beautiful, funny!
Black Books was great.
The little book of calm!
best depiction of a choleric autist so far
It has its flaws, but I quote The IT crowd almost weekly
I'm disabled.
Leg disabled!
And how did it happen, if you don’t mind me asking?
Acid.
I think that's one of the best episodes in the history of TV.
Sir, the police are here.
They would like to speak to you about some irregularities in the pension fund.
Good morning, that’s a nice tnetennba.
A fire? At a Sea Parks ?
I enjoyed it in the past, but lost all ability to after it became known what a piece of human shit Graham Linehan is.
Pretty much all of the cast have done better things without him which are more worth watching.
100% it sucks having to reccomend the show, after hearing what he did/is doing.
I first learnt about it via an HBomberguy talk (and wikipedia research to confirm)
IT Crowd
Definitely worth mentioning but also definitely not underrated! We still quote it almost daily "Awright, 'arry? D'you see that ludicrous display last night?" 🤣
They just walked it in!
For us it's always "Fire. Exclamation mark. Fire. Exclamation mark." and Matt Berry's "Faaaaatheeeeeeeeeer!!"
Father Ted is also incredible and highly underrated.
The young ones
That's what I love about summer.
Tea on the lawn.
Loved the bands on there!
That introduced me to Motorhead and then to full on grindcore
That's what I love about summer.
Tea on the lawn.
Summer's a bummer.
Fuck me, good pull. Extremely underrated!
The misfits. A show about a group of working class juvenile delinquents who suddenly get random super powers.
Ughhhh my husband and I used to LOVE this show when it was airing.
Went off the rails a bit towards the end though.
I still shout "Save me Barry!" from time to time.
I'm gonna say Broadchurch. I don't think it was unpopular, but I have to look it up every time to remember the name. It features a past and future Doctor (as in, Dr Who). David Tennant was a Doctor before he was on Broadchurch, and Jodie Whittaker was a Doctor after. She plays a mum whose child goes missing, and he's the inspector sent to her remote (?) village to investigate. That's the first season. The second season deals with the town's issues with the bad guy from the first season, and I forget what the third season's about, but it's all good.
They made an American one, and some of the same people were in it, but it only lasted one season. So I'd say go with the British one.
I also appreciated Torchwood. It's an adult sci-fi series set in the Dr Who universe, and it had its ups and downs (mostly downs), but it was generally worth watching. Unfortunately, the lead actor had a bad habit of pulling his pecker out backstage to prank his coworkers and he got canceled for it. Nobody said he ever abused them or that he pulled it out in public, it was just schoolboy antics backstage, but it was enough. Not defending him, I'm just saying he's not a nonce or a public menace. He just has a problem with boundaries. So, while I don't dislike him as an actor, being a viewer, I fully understand why people don't want to work with him anymore. Torchwood has continued as audiobooks, I think, or maybe something like a podcast where they act out roles? They call it something else, like an audio drama or something. So I'm not sure if there are actual books they're reading from or just a script that isn't available in print, the audio recordings being the only medium. There were also a couple games as I recall, but nothing good. A less problematic and more straightforward series (albeit, American) is Warehouse 13. Same thing. Shadowy organisation collects alien relics and stores them for the government. Hijinks ensue. W13 was fun at first, but really didn't go anywhere. (Also, it was on Syfy, if that tells you anything — as in, the network couldn't be arsed to spell "sci-fi" properly and they cared about as much about how to make good sci-fi as they did about spelling it properly.)
I lived literally 100m from the church in Broadchurch. Jodie Whittaker and Olivia Coleman's houses were just around the corner. We lived there while they were filming the third season, so it was kinda cool to see some of the local businesses dressed up as sets.
It was a proper headfuck to watch the show, and see people walk round a familiar corner, only to suddenly be in a town in Dorset, where the rest of the filming took place.
I know the feeling. I've watched a couple things set in my hometown. The continuity errors are a trip.
"Fun" fact: Syfy originally was spelled correctly. Then they implemented this terrible rebranding. Though now that I think about it, had probably more to do with improving outcomes of trademark protection as Syfy isn't a regular word. It was probably hard to go after others infringing on "Sci-fi" since that is a common word. Same probably goes for the "Trvl" channel.
Oh yes, I remember, and what's even funnier is it was TNN (The Nashville Network) or something else not sci-fi related before that.
The network did not invent science fiction, so they had nothing to defend, and when they changed it to Syfy, no one was trying to take that name, either — and the quality plummeted after that. Probably because "well we're no longer the Sci-Fi channel so here's a bunch of reality TV."
Then again, I'm also mad that most rock radio stations went away. We talk about AI slop, but the slop has been there for a while. It's just, people used to make slop to satiate the masses. They still do, but now they use AI to do it, too. And it's not AI's fault, per se. The slop was always here.
The score to Broadchurch is also great!
I really, genuinely, have always loved Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps. It's got a reputation of being lowest-common-denominator toilet humour, which... it always was. And it had a lot of problems, the worst being that three fifths of the original cast had quit by the end.
But it also had an awful lot of heart. A totally different writing style to any other sitcom I've seen. An amazing dedication to silly wordplay. They were constantly trying new things (two public votes, two musical episodes, a horror episode, and a live episode). And there were some genuinely great performances, particularly from Natalie Casey (who carried the heart of the show in later seasons), and, weirdly, Beverley Callard.
Even when it did totally fall apart towards the end, they brought in new cast members and somehow managed to make it feel like a return to form.
Also The Murder Game, a BBC crime-scene investigation reality show that I desperately want the right TV executive to hear about so they can reboot it. 😬
best answer, the others so far mainly seem to be just lesser known rather than actually underrated
I enjoyed Being Human. Not normally into the vampires and werewolves thing but I enjoyed it.
It's a nice show, I enjoyed it too. And I surprised the trio appeared as a household while playing the Sims 3.
But The Fades was sooooo much better, and they cancelled it to make more Being Human 😢
Two old ones that still hold up.
"The Prisoner."
Imagine if Franz Kafka and Ian Fleming collaborated on an episode of Dr. Who
https://youtu.be/osNmf_zmSyE?t=11
"Connections"
Science documentary that explores how progress twists and turns and almost never goes in a straight line.
They're older shows, sir, but they check out.
Connections was the most mindblowing thing I'd ever seen. And I'd seen The Prisoner!
Connections has some of the most tightly scripted cinematography. That perfectly timed rocket launch was absolutely superb for 1977.
The Thick of It
A show regarding a random UK ministry and the random cluster fuck off politics. The 12th Doctor is an enforcer from the PM's office with a prolific use of profanity.
The writer ended up creating Veep in the USA.
Isn't the enforcer based on Alastair Campbell, now does Rest is Politics Podcast, or at least his reputation from the Blair period.
Are you being served, it was a great sitcom
Arr you free?
Underrated though? It’s firmly in the hall of fame
BBC Show - Post zombie apocalypse, they’ve managed to cure the zombies and they’re trying to re-integrate into society.
Inside Number 9. I don't hear much talk about it, but for me, it's up there with Twilight Zone, Black Mirror, etc. for a series of short stories with twists.
You beat me to it!
Some of the episodes are weaker than others, but the depth of characters on the first episode got me hooked on the show.
I forgot about Look Around You. Classic stuff.
Look Around You is great! I remember stumbling on it at 3am as a teen and being so bewildered about what the fuck I was watching!
Life On Mars
Life on Mars and its sequel, Ashes to Ashes.
I loved Life on Mars, and Ashes to Ashes was one of those rare sequel/reboot things which really added to and honored the original while still being interesting on its own and expertly continuing to develop and explore its world. Great stuff!
I should check this out, haven't seen the original but the American adaptation was pretty good until they canceled it prematurely
If you liked the American version check out the original, it was so much better.
Copy that, I had intended to but it kinda fell off the radar
Note that you can go in totally fresh storyline-wise. The main plot mystery is mostly the same, but the hints and solution of the mystery were totally changed in the adaptation and have nothing to do with what's really going on in the original version.
Can't say I have a hugely encyclopedic knowledge but: what if I told you there was a sketch show with Olivia Colman, Martin Freeman, David Mitchell, Robert Webb, and Matt Holness (et al)? With the writing staff including Richard Ayoade and Ricky Gervais?
That show exists, and it's called Bruiser. It got 6 episodes in 2000. As with any sketch show, they're not all home runs, but there are some truly great sketches in there.
Holeeeee sheeeeeeit. Gonna cheggit out later
Binged Bruiser. Olivia Colman and Matt Holness steal the show and have the best bits.
Absolutely Fabulous is a great sitcom about a teenaged girl dealing with her narcissistic mother's shenanigans. funny AND has some real moments.
The Young Ones
Does That Mitchell and Webb Look count?
Not within the UK. It's pretty well known in regard to UK sketch comedies here.
Deservedly so
Time team. That shit was amazing. It went on for like 20+ years and EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. it was fascinating. The closest thing we have now is josh gates' expedition unknown, which is really hit and miss. Recently it's been so picky about things they're likely to hit on that some seasons only have 4-6 episodes. He tries to make the finds to be to big. Time team found all kinds of fantastic things because they were just looking for historical significance, not mountains of treasure. But they always found treasures of some kind. That was a really great, fascinating show.
I'm also a really big fan of top gear.
Now we’re going down to the bottom field where Barry and Lucinda believe they’ve found a wall.
Yeah, but guess what? They found a wall! It always felt so much better than like supernatural shows where they're like "we totally found evidence" yeah, sure ya did. "No, we did, see this spec of dust? That's a ghost". Alright, but did ya find a floor or nails? Show me the gpr.
I feel like this about another C4 program of that era - Grand Designs.
Gone on for years now, but it just seeing how these people underestimate what they are getting into and will then just throw extra fuel on the pressure fire "just started renovating this massive listed barn that's 90% falling down and has no actual foundations, time to have a baby! Oh and you're also self employed and going to manage the project yourself and do some of the building yourself you say?"
"To sum it up, how financially crippled are you and how many mortgages do you now have 😂 " .
Kevin McCloud is basically taking the piss out of you for the whole show.
It will be weird when it's not on anymore.
It's still going!
Time team?!? Or top gear? Cause I've seen the new top gear and it's... Meh.
No, new Time Team!
It's not the original crew (mostly) but still really good.
Seriously? I hadn't seen anything newer than 2014 or so! Is it exclusively BBC? Cause usually I saw it on random public access and Amazon.
Time Team was for Channel 4, but since they cancelled it they’ve done occasional privateer episodes on YouTube.
Time team was Channel 4. Not sure how they sell it abroad.
You might be interested in the Time Team Classics channel on YouTube. (link)
I used to watch As Time Goes By with Judy Dench and Lionel somebody. That was funny.
Also there was one called "Good Neighbours" in American Syndication, and The Good Life in the UK. It was weird and funny. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Good_Life/_(1975_TV_series)
Waiting for God doesn't seem to get the love it should. That was a brilliantly written show
Great show. Not enough fans of it out there.
Chewing gum
Chewing Gum deserves the same praise as Fleabag
Hyperdrive with Nick Frost, Kevin Eldon and Miranda Hart
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperdrive_(British_TV_series)
Actual clip from the show.
I n..need to do a wee! 🤣
This needs more upvotes
That was actually the show I had in mind when I asked the question! 😁 It's another one we quote constantly. If I ever want my wife to come see something cool I did, I'll ask her if she's marvelling "Did you marvel?! Are you marvelling?".
Sean the Sheep
Thats german Edit: well german english collaberation
I Am Not an Animal - animated black comedy series voiced by Steve Coogan and Simon Pegg. Created and directed by Peter Baynham. Sadly the animation style was torturously slow to make, so only one season was made.
Probably nostalgia speaking but I loved The Young Ones when I was a teenager.
Cadfael 1994 - 1998
Benedictine monk solves murder mysteries in the 11th century.
Jam.
Dark and weird sketch comedy from Chris Morris (probably best known for the film Four Lions, and the already-mentioned TV series Brass Eye). Transgressive comedy from the past usually either feels tame or completely unacceptable as social mores drift over time, but this (for the most part) still manages to sit in the sweet spot.
Seems my brain just assumed that Brass Eye had already been mentioned... Double checked the thread, and it somehow hasn't, despite the Paedogeddon episode being one of the most notorious pieces of British TV in history. If you're going to watch just one piece of Morris' TV work, it should be this episode.
No Heroics. There was only 6 episodes, about off brand super heroes antics in a pub.
The Young Ones!
Toast of London, Stewart Lee - 7th greatest comedian special, Duchess of Duke street
Red dwarf
Such an epic comedy!
I think Red Dwarf isn't really underrated. It's considered a highly successful cult classic.
Most people that I talk with about it, haven't heard of it. I hadn't heard of it until I started playing Elite Dangerous and one of the available voice packs for a voice assistant was (among many other) for Holy
Huh, mind-boggling.
The first six series of Red Dwarf are amazing and incredible classic television, and the rest of Red Dwarf also exists.
(clears throat)
(holds up abused teddy bear)
Ecce homo
Qui est faba
Ecce homo
Qui est faba
Qui est faba...
I used to watch a lot of British comedy but never really watched any that aren't highly rated. The only two that come to mind are Man Stroke Woman and Green Wing
Monkey Dust.
It was such a viscerally funny show, which never really got the chance to shine in its 3 seasons. It's a little dated now but it's still got some brutal takes that are relevant today.
I love monkey dust. Most of the sketches are still relevant and really funny. Definitely worth a watch for those who haven't seen it.
So difficult to find in one place tho. There are sketches available on YouTube but no episodes sadly.
I found it out on the high seas one time so I have all the episodes. I liked it so much I also tried to buy all the seasons on DVD. Sadly only season 1 is available, apparently there were licensing issues with the music for season 2 and 3 that prevented it from being released.
Good luck getting hold of it though.
The show's creator died young: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Thompson
Real shame as monkey dust was one of the darkest comedies I've seen and had some great characters.
Yeah, his death was also responsible for Mark Lamarr leaving Nevermind the Buzzcocks and that show never had the same edge after.
Bottom
Yes Minister, and Yes Prime Minster.
Great stuff
Primeval
Come Dine With Me and Four in a Bed.
I'll never get over old mate putting the whole whisk in his mouth! 😂
hahahah absolutely!
W12 - a pastiche of the BBC’s inner workings. Better than the Olympics version that preceded it, and cut unbelievably close to the bone
This real small time show, only saw a few episodes but it was great. Lots of skits that were hilarious, but I people never heard of it it seems.
Mounted viper, or anaconda, of some name like that.
Black python? Monty adder?
Yes, 'twas something silly like that!
Either way, people would always respond with "Noooo, I haven't heard of that show before!"
Must have not been popular.
Lemon curry
The four-episode Dirk Gently miniseries.
It was so much better, both as TV and as something in the spirit of Douglas Adams, than that mess of a Netflix series which followed it.
Father Ted
insanely long thread, yet no
- People Just Do Nothing
- Flowers
- Peep Show
Peep Show! Also spaced. Havent heard of the ones you mentioned I'll have to check them out.
Spaced is the best.
Brian: Do you think I should lose the waistcoat?
Tim: I think you should burn it. Because if you lose it, you might find it again.
Came here to say Peep Show, what an absolute treasure
The Glam Metal Detectives.
Thought it was really funny but it’s completely forgotten now.
Blake's 7, at the time for me was the greates show ever. I guess I was the right age.
In terms of innovative storyline and the actors' performances, Blake's 7 pretty much still holds up. If you can look past wobbly effects, some plots awkwardly forced in or abandoned due to behind-the-scenes stuff (like cast leaving), and the occasional silly-ass cockroach suit, it's a great chunk of surprisingly dark, moody, and clever television.
LITTLE BRITAIN!
"Computer says no..."
Okay, no, I call bullshit. Not only was this not underrated, it's also aged incredibly poorly, not to say it was ever particularly good, to say nothing of David Walliams recent controversies.
Fuck Little Britain.
It's even been pulled from streaming because of how poorly it's aged, and Matt Lucas has all but disavowed it.
"Basically, I wouldn't make that show now. It would upset people. We made a more cruel kind of comedy than I'd do now."
Haven't seen Chef! mentioned. It's that particular style of sitcom that is essentially lots and lots of little jokes all leading to the big dramatic monologue the lead can chew on and rip into.
Googlebox
i havent watched a lot of british tv shows
the inbetweeners should still be in the cultural zeitgeist tho that show is hilarious
Friend!
2005's the robinsons with martin freeman and hugh bonneville
it was so good but so short and it's so hard to find again
Utopia
Anyone remember A Very Peculiar Practice? I watched again recently, it still holds up.
15 Stories High, it was an absurdist sitcom featuring the wickedly funny and sadly taken too soon Sean Lock, living in a council apartment and the bizarre shit going on around him.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4_pgKoxgBa1AOAYHvr3lkkaY5Mxd2YGm
I highly recommend the episode Blue Rat, but all 12 episodes are available on YouTube.
The Goodies
The League of Gentlemen
Dave Allen at Large
Embarrassing bodies
I'll add How Not to Live Your Life just because you may not have heard of it, though I've no idea where you might be able to watch it.