Hidden gems of BBC-TV drama

I just finished “The Charmer,” featuring Nigel Havers and Bernard Hepton, from the BBC in the late 80s. Really enjoyed it — it’s based on the Gorse books — and it got me wondering what other hidden gems are out there from the BBC (or ITV, etc) in the 70s-90s.

I don’t mean the ones still well known and viewed like Tinker Tailor, Brideshead Revisited, Jewel in the Crown or similar. What are your favorites?

By the way, here’s how I watched “The Charmer” —

Shooting the Past - It's about a photo archive housed in a building that an American property developer wants to renovate. Stars Timothy Spall and Liam Cunningham, whose American accent was not great, but o/w a good performance.

I rented Upstairs Downstairs about 15 years ago. I was shocked how good it was.

The First Churchills (1969). Susan Hampshire, John Neville, Margaret Tyzack, James Villiers. The story of John and Sarah Churchill (ancestors of Sir Winston Churchill and Diana, Princess of Wales) who met as pages in the Restoration Court of King Charles II and became swept up in the politics of the era -- Whigs versus Tories, Catholics versus Protestants, England versus France. John became the venerable Duke of Marlborough, hero of the Wars of the Spanish Succession against Louis XIV of France. Sarah was the intimate friend of Queen Anne, until a terrible falling out threatened John's role as Captain General and changed the course of history. "The First Churchills," a 12-episode series, was the first program broadcast on Masterpiece Theater.

It is amazing r4 but tbh I consider it to be one of the really well-known ones even today.

"Fortunes of War"--based on the two interconnected series by Olivia Manning, "The Balkan Trilogy" and "The Levant Trilogy," starring Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh as an academic couple caught on the wrong side of the Mediterranean when WW2 starts. Gorgeous production shot in Athens and Egypt and Jerusalem and Ljubljana, with the latter standing in for Bucharest. With Ronald Pickup in his best role as a penniless Russian aristocrat who sponges off everyone and gets everyone into trouble because of his cheerful selfishness.

"Edward the King" (Known in the UK as "Edward VII") --ten part miniseries about the entire life of Edward VII (Timothy West), from cradle to grave. Most worth watching (and most famous) for Annette Crosbie's great turn as Queen Victoria, whom she plays as possessed of a temper and a willfulness that terrify everyone around her, including herself.

"Lost Empires" -- Colin Firth as a young man learning the ropes in British vaudeville during the Edwardian period, working under his handsome uncle, a magician (James Castle). featuring one of Laurence Olivier's very last turns as a pathetic old vaudevillean whose routine is outdated and whom audiences despise.

Fall of Eagles, about the doomed monarchies before WWI. Almost tragic if they weren’t all so incapable of seeing their own shortcomings.

R2, I watch and rewatch Rumpole constantly. McKern is brilliant. One of those series that got better as it went along. First two are not as fun as the later seasons.

I loved Shooting the Past. The same guy wrote Dancing on the Edge. What I like about his shows is that you’re never sure what’s going to happen next.

The First Churchills got me interested in British history. It’s on YouTube too. I’d rather hear about the Stuarts (and the Plantagenets) than the Tudors or the Victorians.

I rented Fortunes of War years ago and have forgotten it. I want to read her books though.

If you liked Upstairs/Downstairs, you might like The Cazelets (6 episodes).

Reilly Ace of Spies was fascinating.

I tried watching Upstairs/Downstairs after the recommendations here but the acting was too cheesy for me.

OP and R5--I commend you on your excellent taste! R10, thanks for the Youtube tip.

Patrick Hamilton, author of the Gorse books, deserves a revival Best characterization ever. And Nigel was born to play Gorse.

The First Churchills has great acting in it, despite the ridiculous costumes of the time. There's a great scene between Mary of Modena (Sheila Gish), then the Queen Consort to James II, and her stepdaughter Anne (later to be Queen Anne, played by the astounding Margaret Tyzack, who won a BAFTA for her performance) that just blows me away--it starts with the women trying to become friends with one another despite their differences in religion, and then everything goes wrong.

I would also highly recommend "Wives and Daughters" from the late 90s with Keely Hawes, Francesca Annis, Michael Gambon, and Justine Waddell. It's like a later version of Jane Austen but with even more complex characters. Annis plays a woman who means well but who always gets things wrong because she's monstrously self-centered and sees everything only in terms of herself: the character, Hyacinth Kirkpatrick, is to my mind one of the greatest characters in all 19th-century fiction.

And it has splendid costumes and production values besides.

See if you could locate "The Slap" the ensuing tragedy when someone slaps a bratty child. It starts our at a 40th birthday party for hunky Hector, but he's in the bathroom masturbating and what an ass. Also, "The Grand" happenings at a posh hotel starring as a retired madam, the wonderful Susan Hampshire. "The Governor" when a female becomes the warden of an all male prison. "Love My Way" the male blond enjoys showing off his body. That is all I watch, British, Australian, New Zealand, Irish , English dramas courtesy of Acorn TV, and discovered several apps that are free from Comcast. Yes, you read right, free

Hotel du Lac

A bit mopey, but there's some welcome humor and fun performances.

Pic quality isn't great but the full movie's at the link.

Minder. Like a look at the life of Rumpole's less reputable clients.

Painted Lady with Helen Mirren. About art history and theft, aristocracy, gay themed, beautiful scenery and music score, very well done.

Another for Mirren fans. Prime Suspect, 1991

Cracker, 1993. Robbie Coltrane is brilliant as criminal psychologist Eddie "Fitz" Fitzgerald.

Both are ITV series.

[quote]Hidden gems of BBC-TV drama

Why does it have to be BBC? - I think you mean British TV dramas.

Every homosexual in Christendom should see Bouquet Of Barbed Wire - the 70s original.

OMG - the whole thing's on YT.

FABULOUS >>

(but not for that idiot who recommended Minder - get some standards).

BBC favorites:

How Green Was My Valley (Stanley Baker, Siân Phillips)

I, Claudius (Derek Jacobi, Siân Phillips, John Hurt, Patrick Stewart)

ITV favorites:

Disraeli (Ian McShane)

Danger UXB (Anthony Andrews, Judy Geeson)

Tenko is great, full of splendid British actresses.

We are getting a lot of the well-known ones. (FIrst Churchills, Upstairs Downstairs, and Rumple of the Bailey) and well known Australian ones (The Slap).

But here are few obscure ones.

The Jury - Courtroom drama focusing on the relationships among jurors. 5 Days - Suspenseful missing persons drama Twenty Twelve-very funny sit-com about the planning and marketing of the 2012 Olympics with bureaucratic satire that makes it a less embittered Thick of It. There is a sequel called W1A in which some of the characters go work for the BBC (and features comic cameos by people like Salmon Rushdie).

Fixing the bad spacing:

The Jury - Courtroom drama focusing on the relationships among jurors.

5 Days - Suspenseful missing persons drama

Twenty Twelve-very funny sit-com about the planning and marketing of the 2012 Olympics with bureaucratic satire that makes it a less embittered Thick of It. There is a sequel called W1A in which some of the characters go work for the BBC (and features comic cameos by people like Salmon Rushdie).

R13, I remember that scene between Mary of Modena and Princess Anne. There's another, not taken from history, when Queen Mary of Modena, whose husband is being run out of England, comes to warn Sarah Churchill that she's about to be arrested, giving her an opportunity to flee. The actresses capture the power shift between them -- a queen and a lady-in-waiting reversing roles -- and the impossible religious division (Catholic and Protestant) between two friends.

'Foyle's War' with Michael Kitchen, Anthony Howell, and Honeysuckle Weeks. "As WWII rages, DCS Foyle fights his own war on the home-front; investigating crime on the south coast of England."

Eight Series of what is possibly the absolute best television series I have ever watched. Great writing, great plots, great scenery and above all, great acting. A fascinating look at an era I knew little about.

(As an aside, you get the eye-candy of Michael Kitchen, Anthony Howell, and many guest stars such as Julian Ovenden as Michael Kitchen's character's son. But that's not the reason to watch it.)

It really is one of the most outstanding series I've ever watched, English or American.

I was addicted to The Duchess of Duke Street when I was young.

It's set during the late Victorian/early Edwardian about young woman who's basically sold into service by her parents - and eventually works her way up to become an independent woman who runs a gentleman's hotel in London.

Gemma Jones - who's still doing good work, including recently as the aunt in HBO's Gentleman Jack - is dynamite in the lead, and Christopher Cazenove makes an attractive paramour.

Him&Her - hilarious BBC comedy about a young British couple with lots of British humour.

[quote]I was addicted to The Duchess of Duke Street when I was young.

I could never bear that. That awful woman with the grating voice.

[quote]Gemma Jones - who's still doing good work, including recently as the aunt in HBO's Gentleman Jack - is dynamite in the lead,

Dynamite? Dear God!

So many great recommendations I've never heard of and plan to watch now! Thanks, guys.

And I'd like to second the recs of FOYLE'S WAR, THE SLAP (make sure it's the original Australian version, not the US remake), THE CAZALETS, LOST EMPIRES and W1A (currently on Netflix with DL faves Jonathan Bailey and Hugh Bonneville).

And for the Patrick Hamilton fans (he's an incredible novelist as well as the playwright of ANGEL STREET and ROPE), look for the 3 part series 20,000 STREETS UNDER THE SKY on youtube. His brilliant novel SLAVES OF SOLITUDE needs to be made into a series.

If we're doing Australian stuff then pretty much any Working Dog production. Start with Frontline (a satire of TV journalism) then onto The Games (a mocumentary about organising the 2000 olympics) The Hollow Men and Utopia (bureaucracy and politics). For pure fun you could try Thank God You're Here which is all improv.

[quote] Why does it have to be BBC? - I think you mean British TV dramas.

Can you read?

[quote] and it got me wondering what other hidden gems are out there from the BBC (or ITV, etc) in the 70s-90s.

Don't know if this qualifies (not long enough ago) but I highly recommend The Hour. Ben Whishaw is pure bliss....

If we are going to widen the focus, Ken Finkleman's Canadian sit coms The Newroom and More Tears are uneven but have a number of truly funny episodes (as well as some pretentious twaddle).

Also, the original Sensitive Skin with Joanna Lumley is really quite good. The canadian remake with Kim Catrell smooths over the rough bumps and is slicker--which makes it much weaker. Unfortunately it is easier to find the inferior remake online.

There's a fantastic mini-series called Mother Love with Diana Rigg. I wish I could find where I could stream it.

If you can find it, I recommend a 2001 mini-series by Stehen Poliakoff, "Perfect Strangers" (sometimes titled "Almost Strangers" for U.S. copyright reasons.)

It's set in London as members of a mostly still posh family assemble at Claridge's Hotel for a family reunion to hear a series of talks prepared by a genealogist employed for by one of the family. The genealogist suggests that in any unit of any family, there are at least three great stories that arise from secrets. And so it is with a financially ruined branch of the family featuring Michael Gambon, Lindsay Duncan, and Matthew Macfadyen. Timothy Spall is a bombastic twat who has a brilliant scene; the acting is excellent all around; and it's a cleverly complicated plot, beautifully filmed. One of the best BBC productions.

If you like Poliakoff's work, it all has a similar feel and themes and there are other titles to seek out.

R39, I cannot imagine what copyright reason there would be for changing a title for the US. It probably was a marketing decision because there was a popular US sit-com called Perfect Strangers that was still airing in syndication at the time.

A BBC series that has been hidden for decades is "Roads to Freedom," based on Jean-Paul Sartre's trilogy that starts with "Age of Reason." It was moving, disturbing, and fascinating. Georgia Brown and Daniel Massey were among the actors. I wish they would release it on DVD or streaming.

Here in England they replay such crap.

Robin's Nest anyone?

I just saw a re-run of The Good Life - boy is it shit!

I loved Home Fires but it's very old style and takes a long time to really get going.

A few hotties in that, though, in particular this chap.....

I see Nicola Pagett's obituary in today's New York Times. She played Elizabeth Bellamy in the first few seasons of Upstairs, Downstairs, and starred in Anna Karenina a few years later. A very good actress.

[quote]I see Nicola Pagett's obituary in today's New York Times.

Oh no!

She was such a beauty in Up & Down...lovely performance as well. I've been re-watching them.

THE BRETTS, which ran for two seasons on PBS ('87-'89); set in the 1920s, it was about a family of actors -the parents, two sons and a daughter. It was beautifully done and very absorbing. It featured Belinda Lang as the daughter, who I really liked at the time. Her character was a kind of flapper who I think developed a morphine or cocaine addiction at some point. All the performances were great.

You Rang m'Lord is BRILL and very funny - a sort of jokey Upstairs Downstairs.

The Singing Detective, or anything else by Dennis Potter, he who memorably called his terminal cancer "Rupert."

Speaking of Margaret Tyzack, check out Cousin Bette from 1971 based on the Balzac novel. Helen Mirren is also in it, but it's mostly Tyzack's show and she's excellent.

The original Traffik (later remade by Soderbergh) is terribly harrowing and haunting. And great cast, including the young Julia Ormond as a junkie.

Speaking of the original Upstairs, Downstairs, the actress who played the Bellamy's daughter, Nicola Pagett, recently died from a brain tumor. She was 75.

R43

Yes, another vote for Home Fires. Lots of male eye candy. Mark Bonnar, Mark Bazely, Ed Stoppard, Alexandre Willaume, Chris Coghill, and the aforementioned Mark Umbers. It was a feast. And a great show.

But just as it gets better and better, damn, they canceled it after the second season. I love Claire Rushbrook and especially wanted to see where her character Pat Simms ended up.

And though I mentioned the male eye candy, Home Fires was packed with outstanding British actresses as well. It really was a feast of great actors.

R38 Loved Mother Love, searched for it for decades.

And then, they finally replayed it over Xmas. Enjoy, you Vesey bastard, Vesey Whores.

R53 Mother Love. Part Two.

I always loved Survivors, with Carolyn Seymour as the very strong Abby. She rocked.

(R41) Thanks for the suggestion, I'm a great Jean-Paul Sartre fan and still have the paperback editions of the trilogy. I also want to recommend the Australian drama "A Place to Call Home" (67 episodes)..about a wealthy Australian family whose married son is gay and that is the big overriding theme. This whole drama happens during the 50's and I enjoyed every episode. Where else can one hear a campaign manager addressing a crowd about his opponent. "He have nothing between his legs, the Japs cut his balls off and there's nothing there." He has my vote. There is a wonderful epilogue after the last episode explaining what happened to each of the characters.

R57 I caught a random episode of that, which included implied lesbianism, accepted homosexuality, marijuana smoking, and much louchness.

(58) Yes the wife of the town's doctor had a female admirer, the married son also had an affair with one of the stable boys, so to remedy his homosexuality sent him to a hospital for shock treatments to change him. The series begins in the mid 50's and ends 1960 New Year's Eve. During those years, the various characters give their views on homosexuals, Jews and Italians. The star, Sarah, a Jewish nurse who was in one of the camps is on the same ship with the wealthy family. Her story becomes intertwined with the family.. She saved the gay son from a suicide attempt, he just got over a breakup with his wife's brother. I could watch the entire series all over again.

I loved the Pallisers, but I enjoyed the Trollope books even more. Cousin Bette was fantastic, as was Pere Goriot. Of course, the classics include The Six Wives of Henry VIII and Elizabeth R (Glenda Jackson!). Episodes 1-3 of Elizabeth R are phenomenal.

On a different note from all this great period drama, there's a wonderful 2009 Brit series with the unimaginative title COLLISION by FOYLE'S WAR creator Antony Horowitz about a devastating highway car crash and all of the consequences on those involved. Probably sounds dull but, I promise you, it's riveting.

Oh yes, another vote for Glenda Jackson’s Elizabeth I. I don’t think her portrayal has ever been equalled.

If you like Trollope, there is also Barchester Chronicles, with Nigel Hawthorne, Geraldine McEwan, Susan Hampshire, Donald Pleasance and Alan Rickman's breakout part. There were also some other really good Trollope adaptations, Samuel West in The Way We Live Now and David Tennant (another breakout part) in He Knew He Was Right (great Victorian titles).

Another vote for “Home Fires”. History, drama, secret lesbian romances...I wish there were more than 2 seasons.

And I know it’s not a “hidden gem” but I loved “Line of Duty”. The characters are so complex and well written. Lindsay Denton (played by Keeley Hawes) is an unforgettable character. I can’t wait for it to air in the U.S.

The Syndicate is finally back for a fourth season next week.

One of the writers of "Home Fires" wrote a book that continued from where the series left off. "Keep The Home Fires Burning" by S. Block.

It has some great drama. One of the scenes that really moved me to tears (oh, Mary!) was when the bitchy blond girl was doing radio transmissions and well, I won't give it away but it was a very moving scene.

I'm glad to see so many other Home Fires fans!

I do see why it had to be terribly expensive to film. They had maybe 3 too many characters they should have axed.

Another vote for The Pallisers.

I don't remember the title but there was a fascinating and well acted multipart series based on the life of Lillie Langtry starring Francesca Annis. 1970s, I think.

Died three weeks after being diagnosed with a brain tumor, very sad. She was so beautiful.

R66

Thanks for that info. Didn't know about the book.

The show had a lot of quiet beautiful scenes. Lots of tears. No Mary! necessary.

Even the villain was kind of hot...and the Czech soldier!

Cant find the First Churchill’s anywhere. It’s been removed from YouTube.

[quote]Cant find the First Churchill’s anywhere. It’s been removed from YouTube.

Same with Lost Empires. I've checked all my usual torrent sights, but nothing comes up. Does anyone have any hints where to find these two programs?

One of my favorites was a series of Noel Coward short stories on Masterpiece Theater about 1987. My favorite was "Mrs. Capper's Birthday". In true BBC fashion it has been totally unavailable for a generation.

R64, Line of Duty has long been available for streaming in the US on Hulu and Amazon.

It's probably better-known than you wanted for this post, but I'd vote for Spooks. Very exciting and a high level of male eye-candy.

I endorse R34's sentiments on great Australian comedies, with the one proviso that The Games is not by Working Dog but by John Clarke and Ross Stevenson. It's a mockumentary about the bureaucrats supposedly organising the Sydney Olympic Games. It was made in the lead-up to the Games and many episodes are based on true stories supplied by a furiously leaking public sector. Gina Riley (Kath & Kim) plays a female executive and is one of the three leads. Frontline, which R34 also mentioned, remains a searing satire on the sociopathy and hypocrisy of news and current affairs TV even after decades.

Media fans should also look out for a joint ABC/UK miniseries, The Paper Man (1990), which charts the rise to that point of a person whom cynics might mistake for Rupert Murdoch. It is, of course, fiction. Think of it as a Succession prequel. It's on one of the streaming services in Australia so with any luck it's streaming in the US and UK too.

A difficult to find but wonderful Australian miniseries is Water Under the Bridge (1980-ish). Judy Davis is glorious in it, yet she is completely eclipsed by Robyn Nevin's knockout performance in the lead. Jacki Weaver is also there, along with a lot of very good supporting cast who never got to try working overseas. It's one of those sprawling sagas that runs over decades, based on a book by the author of Careful He Might Hear You. The male lead is unfortunately the weak link acting-wise, but DLers may find him easy on the eye. The story begins with the end of WWI and the impact of the Spanish flu.

R44, R45. Pagett went insane. If she was American, Oprah would've given her an hour-long show.

Pennies from Heaven, 1978, BBC, starring Bob Hoskins. Six part miniseries. It is brilliant and layered in a way that the flop film version with Steve Martin and Bernadette Peters is not. It's not really hidden since it was an enormous hit at the time but when MGM bought the film rights, the deal included suppressing the original for years and it kind of fell out of public consciousness. A dark and affecting drama incongruously punctuated by big cheery musical production numbers, brilliantly done.

One of my all-time favorites is SLEEPERS, a 1991 miniseries that starred Nigel Havers and Warren Clarke as Soviet agents on a deep-cover mission in the UK. They were never activated and have adapted so well to their new home that when they are (unknowingly) reactivated by Moscow they go on the run. A black comedy that sends up the world of secret agents and end-of-cold-war geopolitics. For all the silly fun, it is surprisingly suspenseful and moving, mostly due to the fine acting work of Clarke and Havers.

Earlier this evening I watched “Hotel du Lac” on YouTube —thanks for that—and one of the recommendations posted beneath it was a First Churchill episode so maybe find it that way.

R68, the title of the Francesca Annis series about Lillie Langtry was "Lillie." 😊

R33, Slaves of Solitude is devastating. Patrick Hamilton captures these characters so well--DL fans of the boarding house thread should look for it. There was one line when Miss Roach was afraid she had inadvertently killed the toxic Mr. Thwaits, and found a doctor who told her that it was impossible--he died of some disease. As she leaves his office Miss Roach is overcome with relief, which PH calls a sweeter sensation than any joy a human can experience. So true.

r82, you may already know this but there was a play done of SLAVES OF SOLITUDE a few years ago at one of the UK regional theaters (Hampstead?), I assume with the intention of bringing to the West End. Though it didn't ultimately transfer. BBC favorite Fenella Woolgar played the lead. The American soldier was cast with a black actor. But this book needs to be SERIALIZED!

Definitely check out Hamilton's 20,000 STREETS UNDER THE SKY which I watched on youtube last year. Brilliant book and great mini-series.

Fenella Woolgar was so good in Home Fires. She's been all but wasted on Call The Midwife.

She was also apparently in "Judy" but if it was the scene I think, she was onscreen for about eight seconds.

The Anna Karenina with Nicola Pagett and Stuart Wilson is a very rare gem. His Vryonski was very sexy - a perfect Russian officer of the 19th century - perhaps the best. Nicola was great, too. She played her right on the edge of madness. There were so many things to love in it. It was very Russian and had many Russian details in it. Great, great great! I am so glad I have it on DVD. Can you see it online? You can still see Wilson is acting in other things.

I also loved Gemma Jones in Duchess of Duke Street. The first season is on BritBox. I don't know why they didn't put up season two.

[quote]She was also apparently in "Judy" but if it was the scene I think, she was onscreen for about eight seconds.

She was supposed to play Margaret Hamilton. I looked and looked and never saw her so I assumed her scene was cut.

But if you want to see some excellent acting from her, watch the movie “Bright Young Things.” She’s excellent in that.

R84

I wonder why Fenella Woolgar took that part? For the paycheck? The other of the two new midwives - Ella Bruccoleri - is getting more screen time and is a very weak actress with not a lot of experience.

It just doesn't make sense that they have someone of her caliber and don't use her. Maybe she was promised something on the horizon, or maybe it was simply for the steady paycheck.

R86

Many of the new streaming services - and some of the older ones - are now putting one season of a program out as a teaser. If you want to see any more - after you're hooked - you have to subscribe to the service. They don't even make available the ability to buy the particular program season by season. You have to buy a subscription to the entire streaming service or nothing.

[Quote] There's a fantastic mini-series called Mother Love with Diana Rigg. I wish I could find where I could stream it.

I'm not sure Mother Love was ever even repeated.

R88 Oh, I thought Ella plays her role nicely.

But I'm wondering if either she's recurring (and we don't know that) or if she's just filling a spot for a bit until something else happens.

I miss Sister Evangelina. That old cunt was a gas!

I’m with you r88. Fenella is woefully underused on Call The Midwife. I think she probably took it because it’s a high profile show. The steady paycheck is probably nice, but originally I don’t think they intended her character to stay. Wasn’t she on loan from Miriam Margoyles’ order?

R89 It was repeated this Summer, and is posted above.

Thanks r92 but the BBC has already blocked the video (at least in certain territories).

Could the Mother Love uploader repost on, say, Google Drive?

To The Manor Born - a 1970's British sitcom about a nouveau riche first generation Brit who buys a country estate from a destitute titled widow, who then moves into the Dower House and lots of funny, witty exchanges ensue. Starred Penelope Keith and Peter Bowles.

The Irish RM, set in 1900 (or thereabouts) Ireland, starring Peter Bowles as an English army Major sent to Ireland to be the Resident Magistrate in a particular district, and the problems he encounters dealing with the different Irish people. It is done with a light touch and a good deal of humor and never addresses the very real and dark politics of the time.

Flambards, based on a YA series of novels about a teenage orphan girl sent to live with her uncle and his two sons (who are as different from each other as it's possible to be) at their estate in Essex, in the years just before WWI.

R94 Bastards, upping to Google Drive now.

R33, wow! I hope there IS a series--it would be perfect. And yes--I loved the 20,000 Streets adaptation. And you probably know that PH himself had a fascination with the prozzies.

Lily with Francesca Annis. Peter Egan as Oscar Wilde.

Lark Rise to Candleford with Julia Sawahla

R91

Well, that's where we first saw her, at the Mother House. That was the plot line when Mother Jesu was dying and wanted Sister Julienne to succeed her and Sister Julienne wanted no part of it. They introduced Miriam Margolyes as Mother Mildred (the new Mother Superior), Ella Bruccoleri as Sister Frances, and Fenella Woolgar as Sister Hilda. I was excited to see Margolyes and Woolgar being added to the cast. I generally like Margolyes (one of her funniest parts ever was on a Doc Martin) but I think the Mother Mildred character is contrived and weak. Woolgar, as we've said, is a great actress and is being wasted. I had high hopes but I have found all three additions to the cast to be mundane. That's just my opinion.

I also think Midwives, which was a surprisingly strong series in the beginning, is running out of steam. Please...no more dead midwives or nuns.

I also think it's appearing that I am WAY too invested in this show. I deserve a Mary! even though what we're really discussing is actors and their talents.

[quote]I also think Midwives, which was a surprisingly strong series in the beginning, is running out of steam. Please...no more dead midwives or nuns.

I think you're right, but it will still go on because American fraus *LOVE* this show. PBS won't allow this show to die even though they are starting to run out of ideas. They used up all the stories from the book by the end of Season 2. And they're sort of hinting at that because they keep referring to the fact that women started having their babies in hospitals rather than using midwives. And the storylines seem to be moving away from the Sisters and more towards the clinic.

And if I have to hear Shelagh say, "Oh, Patrick" one more time, I'm going to fly over there and slap her silly!

R85 - I saw Anna Karenina on Pluto about a month ago. I was surprised by how good the picture quality was. And yes Stuart Wilson is a sexy Vronsky.

R100 R101 I love the show but am inclined to agree. Though I still find myself moved by the show nearly every episode.

The most interesting of the midwives, to me, was Valerie, and that actress has left the show. I doubt anyone new will be brought in this season, with the coronavirus restrictions.

I hope before the show ends (which could be next season) that we see a bit of one of the originals: Jenny Lee, Chummy or Cynthia. Or Dishy Vicar, of course.

[quote] The most interesting of the midwives, to me, was Valerie

I should say, I do like Phyllis a lot too, and some of her stories were really lovely (the circus bit, which seemed mawkish at first, was moving at the end) and I love Miss Higgins. The little conspiratorial friendship between them is a lovely thing.

Mother Love - Episode One.

My problem with watching so many of the aforementioned titles, one see a familiar face and our minds try and figure where have you seen him/her..oh, yes, he/she was in such and such. I'm currently watching "Peak Practice" which stars Kevin Whately (Inspector Morse, Inspector Lewis fame), here he plays a doctor and I'm sorry I just cannot picture him as the love interest. His bare chest, slobbering kisses, and bedroom antics just don't do it for me. I knew from episode one that the female doctor that rejected his employment bid was going to be in a love/hate relationship with him. By episode two, yes, cuddling and arguing, she did hire him.

Mother Love - Episode Two.

I adored A Very Peculiar Practice, also from Andrew Davies. That predicted the future bang on point.

This is a fun thread--thanks for everyone's comments.

Fenella Woolgar reminds me - she is one of the many celebrity guests to appear on a wonderful British series called PORTRAIT ARTIST OF THE YEAR, in which amateur and professional portrait artists compete in a competition with celebrities like Woolgar (and Russell Tovey!) as their subjects.

So delightfully engaging and soothing, much like THE GREAT BRITISH BAKEOFF. No nastiness among the contestants with smart. witty judges and hosted by actor Stephen Mangan and a charming elderly lady very much in the Mary Berry vein. On youtube, the 10 various series got me through much of the covid winter. I can't understand why there hasn't been a US version of the show.

Any other fans?

R110 Love it. Also love Great Pottery Throw Down. The crying judge is hilarious.

Freud from the early eighties was truly great. Largely overshadowed at the time by Edge of Darkness (about nuclear something- to this gayling that seemed like overwrought shit) Freud seemed so much better. My little working class family would hunker down after a Sunday evening meal of cheese on toast, my darling mother would peel oranges for us to share, and we'd watch this amazing program showing Freud (David Suchet) remembering his life as he faces his death (mouth cancer?). Featuring Datalounge favourite Miriam Margoyles in a memorable supporting role!

Flambards was atrocious, though it did have hot men.

Stuart Wilson was in everything when I was a young gayling in the UK, often with his bum out, not common in 70s tv, so I always watched out for him in cast lists. I remember a deeply obscure series, The Song of Songs, where he wasn't the only attractive guy to strip off. It was based on a novel by a pretty minor German writer Hermann Sudermann in 1908 and set in fie de siecle Vienna and I recall it as lush and decadent. Leigh Lawson was a gay artist with a cute soldier boyfriend. Penelope Wilton was the female lead and Charles Gray was also in it. I'd be interested to see it again.

Edward VII, 1975

And the following gem/tour-de-force....

[quote] Penelope Wilton was the female lead

Was she a bit like Joanna Lumley e.g. earlier career, then a lull and a revival with a show (in her case Downton)?

Thanks to whoever recommended LINE OF DUTY upthread. Watched the first 2 episodes tonight on Prime and I'm really into it!

Thanks for the Mother Love on G Drive. I haven't watched yet except to check the picture quality - which is very good.

[quote]Thanks to whoever recommended LINE OF DUTY upthread. Watched the first 2 episodes tonight on Prime and I'm really into it!

DO NOT READ ANYTHING ELSE ABOUT IT ONLINE UNTIL YOU HAVE WATCHED ALL THE EPISODES!!!

There are so many twists and turns I envy people who go into it blind and aren't aware of the twists and turns. I feel lucky I watched each series "live" and didn't get any spoilers.

I have Mother Loved saved on my Sky Box - it was shown on the BBC over Christmas as part of a Diana Rigg tribute.

Some older ones, because I'm an elder gay although I've only watched these for the first time recently and loved them all.

Public Eye - starring the wonderful Alfred Burke as an enquiry agent, Frank Marker. It can be a slow burn, and lot of the 1960s episodes are missing but it's a great series. Every episode has a cornucopia of familiar British TV actors in guest roles. Most of the investigations are very down-at-heel and sordid, but it's compelling. There's also a very amusing Christmas special.

Secret Army - set during WW2, focussed on Lifeline, a Belgian resistance movement getting British military personnel back to Britain. It was parodied in 'Allo 'Allo and is a curious watch if you've seen the latter first. The last episode is utter shit and can be ignored.

Enemy At The Door - another WW2 drama, with Alfred Burke again as one of the German officers occupying the Channel Islands. Each episode focusses on a different part of the population, with the local Doctor and his family appearing in every episode. Even the German are portrayed fairly, showing just because they are in the German military does not mean they are Nazis. Although there is a local Gestapo officer there, played by Simon Cadell, which takes some getting used to if you only know him from the comedy Hi-De-Hi.

Gangsters. Set in Birmingham, it shows how the UK dealt with race issues in the 1970s (spoiler alert: not well overall). The two series had quite different tones. The first was a gritty thriller whilst the second was more surreal, with more emphasis on the post-modern elements and fourth wall breaking.

There is also Crossroads - very much the Downton Abbey of its day, set in a high class motel in the glamorous Midlands. It had millions and millions of dedicated followers.

The initial set up was quite like Dynasty - it was based around two feuding sisters, Kitty Jarvis and Meg Richardson. Meg is a wealthy woman who, with the help of her late husband Charles' insurance money, and compensation money from the council for them building a motorway through their land, turned her large Georgian house into a motel.

The show had everything; there were love affairs, thefts, murders and fires not to mention Amy Turtle the cleaner being accused of being a Russian spy and the setting up of a recording studio in the motel basement.

There was eye candy a plenty for DL-ers with sexy Scottish chef Shughie McFee and mechanic Ben Hawkins becoming pin ups for gay lads across the UK.

LITTLE DORRIT from 2008 with the stellar cast of Claire Foy, Tom Courtenay, Russell Tovey, Judy Parfitt, Matthew Macfadyen, Andy Serkis and a host of brilliant and familiar British character actors is the best of those BBC Dickens adaptations I've ever seen. It's on Amazon Prime.

Russell Tovey gets to have a cry in "Little Dorrit." He loves to do that.

If you liked Alex Kingston on ER, you'll love her as Moll Flanders. They showed this as two episodes on Masterpiece Theater. I have not viewed this particular YouTube copy, but hopefully it's worth watching.

You almost had me till the Shughie McFee thing, R122 - well played!

One of the great things about BBC is that talented writers will keep getting hired over and over again. Paula Milne for example has written loads of great shows, and adapted some well known books.

Highly recommended are:

Die Kinder - with Miranda Richardson as a woman looking for her children after her husband kidnaps them

Chandler & Co - about a female led detective agency - not groundbreaking but very enjoyable from memory

The Politician's Wife - Juliet Stevenson plans revenge on her horrible MP husband who is fucking Minnie Driver

The Fragile Heart - Nigel Hawthorne as a doctor and Helen McCrory as his horrible daughter

The Virgin Queen - QE1 drama with Anne Marie Duff, Tom Hardy, Emelia Fox

Small Island - Naomi Harris, David Oyelowo, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ruth Wilson in post WW2 Windrush London

The Night Watch - WW2 lesbian love triangle with Anna Maxwell Martin, Claire Foy, Jodie Whittaker

White Heat - flash back drama with Sam Claflin, Claire Foy, Lindsey Duncan, Juliet Stevenson

The Politician's Husband - Emily Watson and David Tennant

All excellent dramas.

[quote] The Night Watch - WW2 lesbian love triangle with Anna Maxwell Martin, Claire Foy, Jodie Whittaker

Lez Be Friends!

It's fairly recent and might be considered a little low brow to some, but I love THE SPLIT, starring my goddess Nicola Walker as a high powered divorce lawyer in a London family law firm. With BBC regulars Deborah Findlay, Stephen Mangan and other familiar faces. Once again, it's those great British actors who elevate the most mundane material to something engaging and smart. I hope it returns for another season after Covid.

Nicola Walker's UNFORGOTTEN (my favorite!) has just premiered a 4th season.

[quote]THE SPLIT, starring my goddess Nicola Walker as a high powered divorce lawyer in a London family law firm. With BBC regulars Deborah Findlay, Stephen Mangan and other familiar faces.

The only reason to watch this show is for hot daddy Barry Atsma. The plot is pure frau bait.

Damn R130 - you weren't kidding

GREEN WING, a somewhat absurdist hospital comedy with Tamsin Grieg, Mark Heap, Stephen Mangan and Michele Gomez.

[quote]Mapp & Lucia. The best!

There's also the 1985 version with Geraldine McEwan, Prunella Scales and Nigel Hawthorne.

[quote]There is also Crossroads - very much the Downton Abbey of its day, set in a high class motel in the glamorous Midlands. It had millions and millions of dedicated followers.

The set design called to mind Versailles and Kensington Palace.

“Mother Love” with Diana Rigg. Chilling...

I remember liking "Tipping the Velvet." I don't know if it holds up but it was diverting.

If you like The Split and Nicola Walker you should try River, also written by Abi Morgan and starring Nicola Walker as yet another police officer, this time with Stellan Skarsgård and Lesley Manville.

And Nicola Walker fans will also enjoy Sally Wainwright's Last Tango In Halifax with Derek Jacobi, Anne Reid and Sarah Lancashire, for which viewer discretion is advised due to interracial lesbianism.

And if you like Nicola Walker but don't want to see her as a police officer, you can watch Sally Wainwright's Scott & Bailey in which she plays a frothing twitching psychopath.

And Sally Wainwright's Happy Valley remains one of the best tv series of the last 10 years.

I really want to watch LTIH from the beginning, is that on Netflix?

R137

Yes, Last Tango in Halifax is on Netflix. Netflix is very erratic with seasons available/not available (actually they're all doing that now) so if I were you I'd binge it as soon as possible.

Plus, it's a great show. Anything Sally Wainwright writes is great. As R136 says, 'Happy Valley' is outstanding. Check IMDB for Sally Wainwright as a writer and you can see all the great series she has authored.

Nicola Walker is overrated.

“Look at me, when I play angry/upset/shocked, I stutter. I’m brilliant.”

No Offense. Funny, scary and fucking balls to the wall storylines.

r108, thanks so much for the Mother Love links. I watched it last night and it was amazing. Highly recommended.

[quote] She was supposed to play Margaret Hamilton. I looked and looked and never saw her so I assumed her scene was cut.

I think she is the woman that tells Judy she can't have the cake she's posing next to for her birthday.

Just got excited remembering there's a new episode of Unforgotten on tonight!

The highlight of my Monday.

Noël Coward's play, 'The Vortex,' about a vain socialite mother (Florence Lancaster, played by Margaret Leighton) and closeted, drug-addicted son (Nicky Lancaster, played by Richard Warwick), facing the truth about one another during a weekend house-party. BBC production from 1969.

Richard Warwick (Nicky) died from an AIDS related illness in 1997.

LOVE UNFORGOTTEN! So glad there's now a new season to watch. Though this one has been a little slow to get going if I may be a tad critical.

When I see late 1990s AIDS deaths, I always want to know how long the person lived with HIV/AIDS.

I was too young to watch Widows when it was originally shown by Lynda la Plante picked up the story in the mid 90s in She's Out.

It works brilliantly on its own, an exciting 6 part heist thriller undertaken by a motley crew of female lags.

I watched Edge Of Darkness some months ago and thought it was overrated, though the late Bob Peck was very hot, and the late Kenneth Nelson (the original Michael - stage and screen- of The Boys In The Band) had a good featured role.

Loved Little Dorrit. It's one of the few times I have really liked Matthew MacFadyen. There's a 2-part, 6-hour film version that was done in the 80s with Derek Jacobi as Arthur (MacFadyen's role - Jacobi was a bit long in the tooth for the part) and Alec Guinness. The actress who played the title character, Sarah Pickering, never acted again.

r148, did you happen to see the BBC 2001 THE WAY WE LIVE NOW, based on Anthony Trollope's masterpiece?

Every bit as good as LITTLE DORRIT, maybe even better, and the young Matthew Macfadyen is quite hot in it. Great cast including David Suchet, Cheryl Campbell, Shirley Henderson, Miranda Otto, Douglas Hodge, Maxine Peake, Jim Carter, Fenella Woolgar, Toby Jones and DL Fave Cillian Murphy.

Great thread, lots I'll have to watch in the future. I have a few questions and I hope someone here can help me - in the early 80s, there was a BBC adaptation of the Iris Murdoch novel "The Bell." Was it any good and is there any way to see it now? I've tried looking but a name like that is a bit of an SEO nightmare.

So I've been watching LINE OF DUTY thanks to this thread. In the middle of Season 2 now.

Loving it but, OMG how I wish there was thread here just to take me through each episode....so wonderfully twisty and complicated. Fun to see Keeley Hawes in such a different kind of role. And Mark Bonnar and so many other familiar faces.

I loved the Rupert Front/Lindsay Lohan BBC series "Sick Note." I think it's on Netflix until the end of the month.

R152 - Rupert Grint, sorry.

I don't think that's BBC. It's a SKY series.

[quote]So I've been watching LINE OF DUTY thanks to this thread. In the middle of Season 2 now. Loving it but, OMG how I wish there was thread here just to take me through each episode....so wonderfully twisty and complicated. Fun to see Keeley Hawes in such a different kind of role. And Mark Bonnar and so many other familiar faces.

I implore you again, don't read *anything* until at least the end of series 4, the Thandie Newton series. So many more twists and turns ahead.

There are so many well known actors who pop in and out, I really envy someone being able to watch it cold.

R74, "Mrs. Capper's Birthday" is available in the Noel Coward Collection.

R155, thanks, and I assure you I'm not reading anything on LINE OF DUTY. I merely meant I'd love to be watching the series with some smart Brits who might explain a little more fully about the UK police system and chat a bout what we think is happening in each episode as we watch. But I suppose some of the confusion is intentional on the producers' part and I'm into that.

I’ve seen the first two seasons (all my library had) of Line of Duty twice. I had to start it again (when I thought they acquired the 3rd season) because it was so complicated.

There was a really twisty and nasty two part miniseries called "Praying Mantis" done in 1982 with a sensational Cherie Lunghi, Carmen du Sautoy and Jonathan Pryce. It was never rebroadcast but I ordered from England a PAL Region 2 DVD with the whole thing (it was slightly edited in the U.S.). Very well acted though the plot stretched credulity in the second half. Revenge melodrama.

There was a very good series called "The Agatha Christie Hour" (also from 1982) which was adaptations of Agatha Christie short stories and novels. Several were haunting including one with DL fave Nicholas Clay called "In a Glass Darkly". Those are available on DVD and are streaming on Sling.

I loved a TV version of Alan Ayckbourn's "The Norman Conquests" from 1977 with an actor who was ubiquitous back then - Tom Conti (where is he now???). Richard Briers was in it as well. Penelopes Keith and Wilton were two of the ladies in his life and an excellent actress called Fiona Walker played his bitter wife - she sort of disappeared too. It is streaming on Broadway HD.

Cherie Lunghi should have had a better career.

Carmen du Sautoy was a dangerous beauty...

Kafka with Daniel Day Lewis. Was where I first spotted him.

Ruth Rendell / Barbara Vine had some great TV adaptations.

There was A Dark Adapted Eye with Celia Imrie and Helena Bonham Carter, Gallowglass with Michael Sheen and A Fatal Inversion with Jeremy Northam. I can still remember the final scene of A Fatal Inversion. Chilling.

And there were some big name Minette Walters adaptations. The Sculptress had Pauline Quirke, The Ice House had Daniel Craig and Frances Barber, The Scold's Bridle had Miranda Richardson and Sian Phillips, The Echo had Clive Richardson and Joely Richardson and The Dark Room had James Wilby and Dervla Kirwan.

There was another crime thriller with Andrew Lincoln, Liam Cunningham, Cherie Lunghi, Ruth Jones and Colin Firth's brother Jonathan called A Likeness In Stone.

There was a gay thriller - not sure if it was Rendell. it had Marc... Something... He played Steve Strange in "Worried About the Boy" and a hot guy called Lee, whom I've never seen since.

I was just going to ask about the best Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine adaptations and where they might be found now. I remember loving A DARK-ADAPTED EYE and A FATAL INVERSION (with the very hot young Jeremy Northam) back in the day.

Carmen du Sautoy and Beattie Edney are both wonderful as the female love interests in LOST EMPIRES, mentioned above. With the hot John Castle, mentoring young Colin Firth.

It was shocking to see the aged Battie on the POLDARK reboot. She's the daughter of BBC favorite Sylvia Syms (who also aged rather poorly).

[quote]There was a gay thriller - not sure if it was Rendell. it had Marc... Something... He played Steve Strange in "Worried About the Boy" and a hot guy called Lee, whom I've never seen since.

No Night Is Too Long?

Lee Williams was his name, he was in that very strange film The Wolves Of Kromer.

Strange to think how many of Ruth Rendell's novels have been made into non English language films. Almodovar did Live Flesh. Isabelle Huppert was in La Ceremonie, there was Francois Ozon's The New Girlfriend with Romain Duris as a transvestite/transwoman/gender nonconforming individual

Are Rendell's Inspector Wexford TV adaptations worth tracking down and checking out?

And what about the TV adaptations of another favorite mystery writer of mine, Reginald Hill and his Dalziel and Pascoe books? Are those any good?

[Quote] No Night Is Too Long? Lee Williams was his name

That' it! Thanks.

R147 I remember when I was a kid watching “she’s out” I found the opening credits so creepy - the music and the sinister look of Dolly, I remember being hooked on it although I don’t remember much about it anymore aside from one of the characters drinking bleach.

For Beatie Edney fans, there is available on DVD a 1989 three part adaptation of Sheridan Le Fanu's "Uncle Silas" (not to be confused with "My Uncle Silas" with Albert Finney) titled "Dark Angel". Edney plays a spirited Victorian virgin in peril named Maud Ruthyn who is being menaced by a dissipated decadent Peter O'Toole as Uncle Silas and a wildly over the top and outrageous Jane Lapotaire as the scarlet lipped adventuress Madame la Rougierre! Lapotaire takes camp to the limit!!!

"Masterpiece Mystery" on PBS showed a fun thriller called "She Fell Among Thieves" made in 1978 with Malcolm McDowell when he was still a dashing young rebel with a very camp and outrageous Eileen Atkins as a supervillainess called "Vanity Fair". Disappeared without a trace.

In a similar gothic thriller vein is the 1982 miniseries of "The Woman in White" by Wilkie Collins starring Jenny Seagrove, Diana Quick (another one who should have had a better career), Alan Badel and Ian Richardson.

I will leave it to others to go through the various Dickens miniseries - but I will mention the 1976 "Our Mutual Friend" miniseries with a starry cast including a very young Jane Seymour.

BTW: Blessings on Valens for "Mother Love".

Jane Lapotaire was an amazing actress. I remember her playing Sarah Bernhardt in a series that I never run across since. She played Russian Countess in Downton.

Edney had her own sitcom for a season or three. It was called "Dressing For Breakfast."

The original "The Life and Loves of a She-Devil" is far better than the disastrous American film remake with Roseanne.

It's also a mini-series so you can a much longer, more involved storyline.

It's on YouTube, or, at least parts of it.

And, another vote for "Tenko" the British women in Japanese camps drama from the mid 80s. It's historical AND a soap opera with the fabulous Stephanie Beacham in it.

Oh, and "Partners in Crime" the original 1983 'Tommy & Tuppence" Agatha Christie mystery series with Francesca Annis and James Warwick. It's frothy fun.

R151, this is so general I don't think it's a spoiler, but it might help you.

You have to get to Season 3 of Line of Duty before you really understand what the crime is that is being covered up. That's why Season 2 is so confounding. It's plainer sailing once that's clarified, though still excitingly twisty. It's maybe the best of all British detective thrillers.

Love For Lydia (whole series is on YouTube).

The real House of Cards is brilliant.

r176, That's so good to know! Just finished Season 2 last night and I was feeling a bit lost. But looking forward to S3!

Amazing performance by Keeley Hawes! So different from everything else I've seen her do. And Mark Bonnar.....sigh....

Mark Bonnar! Another scrumptious man who also appeared in Home Fires.

He and the Christopher Reeve-ian Mark Umbers fight over some woman in that but they just look like they want to fuck each other.

Mark Bonnar so convincingly portrayed a gay daddy in Season 2 of UNFORGOTTEN I can't believe he could conceivably be straight.

For all of us that love Mark Bonnar, who is indeed a gem, he takes his clothes off in Episode #2.4 of 'Catastrophe.' He has a desire to have sex with a transgender woman.

R181 - He was so good in that heartbreaking season that I can't watch it again. (Rosie Cavaliero was also wonderful.) That program took a plot that has become cliche and tired and really did it right. Won't spoil for those that have yet to see it.

I'm not really sure as to what counts as a hidden gem, and where the line is as to hidden vs. popular...but as long as we're talking Mark Bonnar, I highly recommend the ITV series 'Shetland' starring Douglas Henshall, and (partially) based on the novels of Ann Cleeves. Brilliant scripts, scenery, and acting. Brilliant. One of the best series I've ever seen.

The novels of Ann Cleeves are also the basis for the first few seasons of 'Vera'. Another brilliant show but I think it is fairly well known and therefore not a hidden gem. But a gem it is.

After you get hooked on British TV, you quickly realize that most of American television is shit. The British writing is superior and the British cast based on talent, where the Americans write for the lowest common denominator and they cast based on looks. That's how we've ended up with so many hidden gems.

I want to rec a miniseries I saw at least 25 years ago - "Gallowglass". It stars Michael Sheen, as damaged, lonely Joe, who meets a man named Sandor, and Joe thinks he finally has a friend. Joe is so starved for companionship that he gets himself embroiled in some shady things Sandor is involved in. FYI: there is some "unresolved sexual tension" between Joe and Sandor as a bonus.

This miniseries is available on Youtube in 3 parts.

The first time I saw Mark Bonnar was in a production of Twelfth Night, and he came on stage shirtless. His body was very impressive although he is very short.

He was very good in Apple Tree Yard playing Emily Watson's husband. If you haven't seen Apple Tree Yard, don't read anything about it and avoid any spoilers. It's really very good and does not go in the direction that you're expecting.

Bonnar was also in a series called Guilt, which I didn't get around to watching but got great reviews and is coming back for a second series.

And his wiki page tells me he was in Summer Of Rockets alongside Dame Keeley Hawes. Not Stephen Poliakoff's best work but still very enjoyable with Timothy Spall, Linus Roache, Toby Stephens and Claire Bloom.

Mark Bonnar and 'that scene' from Unforgettable wrecked me. When great acting meets the perfect script.

Keeping Faith. A brilliant Welsh drama about a married lawyer couple were the husband suddenly goes missing and a web of secrets and shady association comes to light whilst his disappearance is investigated. Gripping and moving.

I tried the Pallisers on YouTube but can’t get through Phineas Finn. The character is unremarkable when everyone is oohing & ahhing about the great up & coming Phinease Finn — he’s a snore. So is the actor, whose hair reminds me too much of Tucker Carlson.

[quote]Keeping Faith. A brilliant Welsh drama about a married lawyer couple were the husband suddenly goes missing and a web of secrets and shady association comes to light whilst his disappearance is investigated. Gripping and moving.

It was only shown in Wales to begin, but then UK viewers found it on iPlayer and enjoyed it and then it was shown on the BBC UK wide.

Series 3 starts this week. Celia Imrie is turning up with a cockerknee accent.

I'm just going through series 2 on iplayer this week r188 Absolutely love it! It throughly deserved to be a hidden gem that found surprise success. I like Celia so that is a welcome casting.

Did Upstairs Downstairs every go the murder/suspicion-of-wrong character route? I remember Alfred the footman killed his lover/employer, but he only made a one-off appearance on that subject & was arrested at the end of the episode.

I really hate the route of murder & drawn out investigations on shows like these. If I want to watch a mystery, I’ll watch a mystery. Not all drama has to be about murder & police investigations. I was enjoying Seaside Hotel on PBS but they went down that route - murder, suspicion of the wrong guy, cliffhanger, tune in next season. It was pleasant just watching the interactions of all the characters without the tiresome murder plot line being introduced. I was thinking maybe Upstairs Downstairs is the one long-running costume tv drama that didn’t go for a prolonged murder investigation.

One to skip is the Australian crime mini-series Deep Water, which draws on the wave of gay bashings and murders at Bondi Beach near Sydney.

The most interesting aspect is seeing Yael Stone (Lorna from Orange Is The New Black) in her native accent as a detective and the fine actor Noah Taylor as her not-always-supportive partner.

The show starts off well enough, but then gets bogged down in contrivances and people doing very stupid things.

I wasn't crazy about the first season of Unforgettable (everyone was so very earnest and not much more, though Courtney was very good), but will watch season 2 based on the recommendations here. Walker's detective character in River was much more interesting.

R191 Deep Water turned to shit really quickly I remember and I got very angry.

R185 I also loved Eve Myles in Frankie, which I think lasted two very sweet seasons.

Goodness, Mark Bonnar's partner in Unforgotten is quite a looker, too.

There was a scene in Deep Water that had me laughing so much - when they were in the club trying to track down THE KILLER by measuring his distance on Grindr.

It had such good intentions but turned out to be rubbish.

If you want a gay themed murder drama then Prime Suspect 3 can't be beaten. What a cast - Peter Capaldi, Mark Strong, Danny Dyer, David Thewlis, Ciaran Hinds, Johnny Lee Miller. It's a shame Lynda La Plante only wrote this and the first series of Prime Suspect. They were so authentic and researched meticulously.

[quote]Goodness, Mark Bonnar's partner in Unforgotten is quite a looker, too.

Charlie Condou?!

r191, apparently UNFORGOTTEN was so forgettable you're calling it UNFORGETTABLE, lol.

Honestly, if you didn't enjoy that season you will probably not get into the next three, though Mark Bonnar and Rosie Cavaliero are spectacular in it , as noted above.

Cavaliero is the epitome of what makes for great acting on these UK series. She is always totally believable as a REAL PERSON, even as a Victorian wench in period dramas like LITTTLE DORRIT. Loving all the Mark Bonnar love here, too.

Rosie Cavaliero is an actor who should be offered the best scripts yet she's often just seen as a jobbing actor.

She had a part in one of the Cucumber Banana episodes. She plays the woman in the supermarket who Letitia Wright falls in love with.

Wow. What an amazing thread. Eager to check out Wives and Daughters, Perfect Strangers, and I have set my eyes on the first three seasons of In the Line of Duty.

DL never disappoints when it comes to hidden gem recommendations.

If you've been disappointed in any of THE PALLISERS or CHRONICLES OF BARSETSHIRE series over the years, please have a look at THE WAY WE LIVE NOW and HE KNEW HE WAS RIGHT.

As a longtime fan of Anthony Trollope fan I always loved reading those two titles more than some of the more well-known ones and they both make for terrific series with brilliant casts.

R198

If you like 'Wives and Daughters' check out 'North & South', which is also based on a novel by Elizabeth Gaskell. In particular, the 2004 BBC production with Daniela Denby-Ashe and Richard Armitage.

It's history (industrialization) and social commentary (gender and class) with the added bonus of Armitage eye-candy.

This is totally contemporary, but - is the US aware of Staged?

It's a 2-season series made during the pandemic on Zoom, which is normally the kiss of death, but it is the most brilliant portrait of the insecurity, ego and general hilarity of out-of-work actors. The stars are Michael Sheen and David Tennant, with their domestic partners (also coincidentally actors) as backups. It appears improvised but is scripted, and the guest stars are to die for, especially in Season 2 when it is already beloved. Season 2 is better than Season 1.

[quote] I also loved Eve Myles in Frankie, which I think lasted two very sweet seasons

I loved Frankie. I wish it had gone for a third season but I suspect the writers didn’t know what to do with her character.

If you want to see familiar faces early in their careers, check out “Clocking Off.” It is set in a textile factory and each episode revolves around the personal life of an employee. It’s a bit hard to find.

Smoking Room is hilariously dry, and DL Icon Paula Wilcox features. Funny gay storyline.

"Clocking Off" is from Red, the same production company behind "Queer as Folk" and "It's a Sin."

Richard Armitage from North and South is gay and was in the Hobbit series that followed Lord of the Rings. North and South is a fine series.

Wasn't he also in a "Vicar of Dibley"?

Yes, Richard Armitage appeared at the end of the show's run.

Anything with Sharon Horgan, that fabulous slag, and drunk, who should be a DL Icon. Catastrophe is legend, but Pulling is just so trashy. Love It.

NORTH AND SOUTH was the first time I saw Richard Armitage and I couldn't believe how sexy a man could be all buttoned up in a high-collared Victorian frock suit.

Then, oddly enough, I saw him in a play in New York 4 years ago and found him rather physically unappealing. Bony rodent face and wormy pallor to his skin.

Well, he's middle aged now.

*spoiler alert*

[quote]Yes, Richard Armitage appeared at the end of the show's run.

The lesbian vicar marries her gay beard in *the* gayest dream sequence ever committed to film.

Cold Feet is also good. It has proved popular enough that they rebooted it13 years later with the original cast, minus Helen Baxendale for reasons which she is well aware.

Man in an Orange Shirt had DL faves Julian Morris and Oliver Jackson Cohen as gay characters

Man In An Orange Shirt was no gem.

r204 On a similar theme of the world of clothes making but much posher than a working class clothes factory .I would really recommend the drama "The House of Elliot" set in a british fashion house many many decades ago.

"Cuffs", a fresh and well-written cop series set in Brighton with a hot lead gay character, and "In the Flesh", a supernatural zombie series on BBC3 with a gay romance taking off.

Fans got screwed when they cancelled both due to the 2015 budget crunch.

What was that series with young Russell Tovey as a werewolf? Is that available to watch any more and is it worth it?

Is Jewel in the Crown really that popular, OP? I recently watched it via Amazon/Masterpiece Theater channel, and thought it was fantastic, but nobody else I know has seen it or even knows much about it.

There is a big Jewel in the Crown fanbase on DL. It has been discussed here quite a bit.

Judy Parfitt was a super mega thunder cunt in that, was she not?

Maybe the Stephen Poliakoff fans have seen this one -- Friends and Crocodiles? I'm not sure it qualifies as a gem, but as I recall it was definitely interesting (I saw it on DVD at a friend's a number of years ago, so my recall is a little fuzzy.) It stars a young, very watchable Damian Lewis as a Thatcher-era visionary VC type, living a life of genteel excess. He's disorganized, so is helped by a PA (Jodhi May) who operationalizes his visions. They part ways, cross paths, part ways, meet up again. She turns into a very successful corporate type and he becomes a commune-dwelling dreamer. It's not a romance, more about business/worldview opposites attracting. It was visually gorgeous.

R211 The closet destroys them.

[quote]What was that series with young Russell Tovey as a werewolf?

Being Human. There is both a UK version (with Tovey) and a US version and they're both pretty good. In the US, Tovey's version is available to stream on the free streaming service Tubi.

[quote]Maybe the Stephen Poliakoff fans have seen this one -- Friends and Crocodiles? I'm not sure it qualifies as a gem, but as I recall it was definitely interesting (I saw it on DVD at a friend's a number of years ago, so my recall is a little fuzzy.) It stars a young, very watchable Damian Lewis as a Thatcher-era visionary VC type, living a life of genteel excess. He's disorganized, so is helped by a PA (Jodhi May) who operationalizes his visions. They part ways, cross paths, part ways, meet up again. She turns into a very successful corporate type and he becomes a commune-dwelling dreamer. It's not a romance, more about business/worldview opposites attracting. It was visually gorgeous.

I wish Stephen Poliakoff would do more cinema work because his aesthetic is always sooo good, although his last big screen effort Glorious 39 isn't his strongest piece of work. He gets so much attention for his writing that his directing style is often overlooked.

Friends and Crocodiles was the first in a two parter with Gideon's Daughter, which got far more attention. And awards. Bill Nighy and Emily Blunt won Golden Globes but Miranda Richardson didn't even get an nomination, something Nighy called out. There's a vague link between the two dramas but I can't quite remember what. I have a Poliakoff box set in a cupboard somewhere. I might watch Shooting The Past this weekend and work my way through them in chronological order.

Joe's Palace and Capturing Mary were similar - self contained dramas that are linked by a character. I don't remember much about Joe's Palace except for Kelly Reilly and her immaculate crying and Capturing Mary had David Walliams as an especially creepy man. Can't think why they cast him.

House of Elliott never recovered from its French and Saunders's mugging, as 'House of Idiot'. They did the same thing to SiIent Witness ('Witless Silence').

Louise Lombard is an actor who was destined to be a big star but it just never happened.

Before House Of Elliot she was in a Catherine Cookson, probably as some scrubber who fought of the advances of her master's son, and Chancer, Clive Owen's big break.

Then when House of Elliot finished she did absolutely nothing of note. Maybe she turned down BBC literary adaptions because she didn't want to be typecast but she'd have been perfect for them. Maybe she was considered too pretty for some roles but then Polly Walker managed to reinvent herself from a glamourpuss into a character actor.

Lombard works all the time. She has two children and a marriage that seems to have lasted since 2004.

The one BBC show I tried to get into, and just couldn't, was Lark Rise to Candleford. It was in fact NOT a gem.

Many talented British actors in it, but the plot made Little House On The Prairie look like Scruples in comparison. It was just so......dull and one dimensional. And Dawn French, who I usually like well enough, was way over the top and acting in a completely separate show, it seemed.

Anna Karenina with Nicola Pagett

War and Peace with Anthony Hopkins

Edward the King

Flambards

Piece of Cake

The Forsyte Saga (I actually prefer the remake)

The original House of Cards

How Green Was My Valley

I, Claudius

Flickers

A Town Like Alice

By the Sword Divided

Nicola Pagett died this month.

R232, Alastair Campbell won't have to look over his shoulders much anymore.

Sorry, couldn't resist.

[quote] House of Elliott never recovered from its French and Saunders mugging

We know the feeling.

Bonnie Prince - what a perfect list! By the Sword Divided - I keep writing Acorn they should run it on their channel. They own it. It used to be almost impossible to find a DVD that would run in the USA. I love that series! SO SORRY to learn of Nicola's death - goodbye, Elizabeth Bellamy!

The Emmy award-winning, nine-part documentary series from long ago co-produced by the BBC and MacNeil-Lehrer Productions: The Story of English.

I don't know how I'll ever live long enough to watch all of these incredible recommendations. Thanks to all!

Keeping Faith is not free

R239 ha ha, Sorry, I noticed that after I posted. .. But I suppose if people are going to mention sit-coms, ITV and, Australian productions, then it can probably handle one documentary.

It often seems like the same actors show up in most of these shows, as though there are only are a limited number of tv actors around in Britain. However, they're almost always excellent, much better than their counterparts over here in America (although they do tend to be pretty crappy at American accents).

The one I can't stand, however, is Keely Hawes, who always plays the same cold woman in everything she does.

[quote]It often seems like the same actors show up in most of these shows, as though there are only are a limited number of tv actors around in Britain.

British seasons are also shorter than American seasons. 6 episodes seems to be fairly standard, but I’ve also seen 8 and even 10. So the actors in Britain can spread themselves over several shows.

[quote] The one I can't stand, however, is Keely Hawes, who always plays the same cold woman in everything she does.

I don’t think Britain or America demand much versatility in their actors. To me Keeley Hawes is overexposed.

I love Siobhan Finneran because of her versatility. In Downtown Abbey she very introverted, quietly scheming. In Benidorm she’s loud and vulgar.

Same with Amanda Abbington. In Mr. Selfridge she’s very repressed and prim. In After You’ve Gone she upbeat outgoing working class girl.

Sarah Lancashire is another one who seems to be in almost everything, but unlike Hawes, she has the ability to change her acting, demeanor, and even voice well enough to meld into each part.

I loved Keeley in the Durrells but admittedly it was my first real exposure to her.

Hawes wasn't cold as a young Diana Dors. Amanda Redman played the older Dors.

R241 I feel this way about American series these days too. I caught Chloe deviant recently in American horror story, the act, Russian doll and we are who we are. Also many other actors lately that I see go from one series to another, Juliette Lewis is another example. I think it’s the proliferation of series because of streaming and also that the best parts tend to be on tv nowadays.

I don't recall Keeley Hawes as chilly in "Ashes to Ashes," the 1980s set sequel to the 1970s set "Life on Mars."

I was scarred for life when I saw Keeley Hawes trying to be sexual in The Bodyguard. Her leaning in that doorway and undoing her pants was the most repulsive thing I've seen on tv. And I've seen a lot!

Whereas Richard Madden's moobs...

I don’t like Keeley Hawes either, ever since I tuned into see Ashes to Ashes, expecting it to be in the same league as Life on Mars. It wasn’t. Neither was she. I understand she’s one of those National Treasures in the UK, but I find her dreary. And I’m kind of tired of Sarah Lancaster because she seemed to be in every series UK that aired on PBS for a period of 3 years. I have to say though that I admire the way she carries her weight. She got quite hefty but maintained her face & dignity. I’m one of those people whose face looks like a balloon if I gain 2.5 lbs, so good for her.

Another autocorrect error - Sarah Lancashire, not Lancaster.

Hey fellas, can Kelley Hawes do THIS? I think not!

Keeley Hawes was warm, gracious and effervescent in the first two things I saw her in: the reboot of Upstairs/Downstairs and The Durrells of Corfu. So it was quite a shock to then see her play that chilling and devious role in Line of Duty (which I realize was actually filmed first). In teresting that she's married to Matthew Macfadyen but I don't think they've ever done a series together. Have they?

Nicola Walker is in three current series, of course, Last Tango in Halifax, Unforgotten and The Split and manages to be just slightly different in each role (or maybe it's her 3 different hairdos, lol). But I love her, she can do no wrong

R225 -- of all those Brit ladies we see in all those shows, I think Walker might be the best actress -- she has a plain face that can convey all kinds of emotions with a simple eye brow raise, or a slight frown, or a petty grimace -- a really evocative creature, that Walker. But she does seem to be in everything now.

Damn, I meant R255, above.

R230 I very much agree...the first time I watched "Lark Rise to Candleford" I thought for sure it must be a parody of some kind. It really seemed like a French & Saunders send up or a parody for Red Nose Day.

It's excruciatingly awful! So fake and treacley. Yet, there are all these terrific actors in it, apparently desperate for a steady pay check.

And, why would you cast Dawn French in something like this? It automatically feels like it's a joke when you stick her in a period piece that's supposed to be serious.

I love Lark Rise to Candleford. Especially for Julia Sawalha's character (------ is my only weakness!). Sure, it was twee but - to me - in a great feel good entertainment sort of way.

Sarah Lancashire and Keeley Hawes are both great actors.

Lancashire is probably the most successful post soap actor in Britain. She's always been able to find really well written roles - she was the lead in Abi Morgan's first script My Fragile Heart (Morgan went on to write The Iron Lady, Suffragette, Shame, Sex Traffic, The Hour, River, The Split) She was in the first series of Paul Abbott's Clocking Off and was amazing as Coral Atkins in Seeing Red - Atkins was an actress who set up a children's home.

Debbie Horsfield (Making Out, Riff Raff Element, Clocking Off) wrote All The Small Things for her and Sally Wainwright clearly loves her having written Happy Valley and Last Tango In Halifax for her.

More recently Lancashire was in Kiri which was a difficult watch and The Accident, which I avoided because I couldn't face her trying a Welsh accent. Both were written by Jack Thorne who wrote This Is England, The Fades, National Treasure and adapted His Dark Materials.

Very curious to see her in HBO's Julia Childs, which she stepped into after Joan Cusack pulled out.

Would Brits on this thread say that Keeley Hawes, Sarah Lancashire and Nicola Walker are the three top TV stars of the moment?

How strange that they're all virtually unknown to the rest of the world. They must envy Olivia Colman. Claire Foy seemed on the verge of international stardom after the first season of The Crown but her film projects haven't propelled her further.

Wouldn't Phoebe Waller Bridge bet the Top UK TV star? Miranda Hart seemed to be a few years ago. All round entertainers tend to have a higher profile in the UK, possibly because they do more talk shows.

[quote]Wouldn't Phoebe Waller Bridge bet the Top UK TV star?

I would think Olivia Colman, Ricky Gervais or David Tennant would come before her.

[quote]Would Brits on this thread say that Keeley Hawes, Sarah Lancashire and Nicola Walker are the three top TV stars of the moment?

I'd say Keeley is probably the biggest TV star right now - It's A Sin, Finding Alice and Honour have all been shown recently, Line Of Duty was recently repeated in a prime time slot and Bodyguard and Mrs Wilson got a great reception a couple of years ago and she got BAFTA nominations in the same year for both.

But I doubt Hawes, Lancashire or Walker are envious of anyone. The best TV writers are writing parts directly for them. And I doubt Sheridan Smith, Suranne Jones, Vicky McLure, Ruth Wilson, Maxine Peake, Anna Friel or Kelly McDonald have to audition for most of their roles.

Olivia Colman will have a similar career to Julie Walters and Judi Dench - a nice mix of high calibre movies, tv dramas and comedies.

I didn't know Ricky Gervais was still making TV. I only really hear about him when he's hosting the Golden Globes.

Claire Foy has made some interesting choices. Mostly good ones (other than the Girl In the Whatever Tattoo misfire).

I think she's going to have a nice long career and a flexible one, too.

Colman did two really opposite things after her Oscar - Fleabag and the Crown. She's lucky that Americans know her but the movie she won for wasn't the "everyone knows and/or saw that movie" sort of thing, so she isn't really typecast, at least not yet. She needs to play not posh after The Father and really fuck with expectations of American audiences.

Or just reboot "Beautiful People."

All these names and no one has mentioned the epitome of grace, style, class and elegance!

[quote]I didn't know Ricky Gervais was still making TV.

He started a new series in 2019 called Afterlife.

Colman is in the fairly recent family drama The Father with Sir Anthony Hopkins. I think she moved on to movies.

Can I just say I'm sick of fucking Cliff and his fucking aerodactyl. I loved it when it started with the Omanyte, more often than not I could do the entire thing with my Leafeon but now it's much harder.

And I hope this doesn't sound too pervy but does anyone else find Cliff quite attractive? I get a strong stamina vibe from him, whereas Arlo would be very quick and probably cry at the end.

Cliff must be about 80 now, no?

WEHT Lesley Sharp? Sure, she seems to work constantly (according to IMDB), but she doesn't seem to be in everybody's mind or get much praise or attention for her work these days.

I loved Lesley Sharp in "Bob & Rose."

Olivia Colman's next project on is a 4 part drama series Sky/HBO is written by her husband about the real life couple who murdered the woman's parents and buried them under the patio, and pretended they were still alive for 15 years.

[quote]Susan's defence barrister David Howker described their "hideous expenditure" on Gary Cooper items. Former accountant Christopher "indulged her fascination for celebrities and autographs" by buying her the items as gifts, he said. He had racked up a debt of £14,000 on one credit card. The court heard that a series of letters that Christopher, 57, believed the couple had been receiving from actor Gerard Depardieu, had actually been written by Susan.

It sounds suitably absurd for Colman.

"Portrait of a Marriage" is a dyke-a-licious retelling of the lust between Violet Trefussis (Camilla's great aunt) and Vita Sackville-West.

You have to google it (not on Youtube) and you'll get to a bizarre Filmmotion site where you can watch it for free.

Mike Leigh films are Frau-bait, but gay men may like them, too. You can rent them on Amazon.

I’m getting tired of all the missing child dramas. The UK wore out that genre.

[quote]WEHT Lesley Sharp? Sure, she seems to work constantly (according to IMDB), but she doesn't seem to be in everybody's mind or get much praise or attention for her work these days.

The last thing I remember seeing her in was Three Girls, where she played Maggie Oliver.

Mention of her has reminded me of Red Riding from 2009. A hard watch but very good. Andrew Garfield, Sean Bean, Rebecca Hall, Eddie Marsan, Daniel Mays, Michelle Dockery and Peter Mullan.

Speaking of Eddie Marsan, we have Ridley Road to look forward to later this year on the BBC.

[quote] Inspired by the struggle of the 62 Group, a coalition of Jewish men who stood up against rising neo-Nazism in post-war Britain, Ridley Road sees Vivien starting to work with them when she realises that Jack, her missing boyfriend (played by Tom Varey), has been badly injured. Vivien infiltrates the NSM, a neo-Nazi movement which is becoming increasingly prominent in London, risking everything for her beliefs and for the man she loves.

[quote]Written by Sarah Solemani, produced by RED Production company and adapted from the Jo Bloom novel, the series is currently in filming in the UK. Rory Kinnear, Tamzin Outhwaite, Tracy-Ann Oberman, Eddie Marsan, Samantha Spiro, Rita Tushingham star in the brand new thriller which is due to air in 2021.

Abigail's Party. An early Mike Leigh dark comedy/drama. Alison Steadman is brilliant.

Speaking of Lesley Sharp...

I'm not sure it's a hidden gem - though it's a very, very good show in the genre and within the limits of police procedural - Lesley Sharp, Suranne Jones, and Amelia Bullmore did great work in 'Scott & Bailey". It's notable for having three very strong (and flawed) female leads (rare) and it's worth watching for that alone. And three very strong actresses in those lead roles.

It was developed and written (mostly) by Sally Wainwright, who we acknowledge is genius. Amelia Bullmore wrote some of the later episodes and she's quite an accomplished scriptwriter; you would have expected weak, and her script writing was very strong.

The icing on the cake is both Nicola Walker who plays a neurotic, damaged, crazy woman in one season's story arc (as mentioned above), and the very hunky husband of Lesley Sharp, Nicholas Gleaves, as another recurring character in the show.

It has been referred to as the British 'Cagney & Lacey', and though I bow to no one in my love for 'Cagney & Lacey', it isn't the same, and since Wainwright wrote it and it's more current, 'Scott & Bailey' easily surpasses 'C&L' in every way. Plus it has story arcs that run a whole season, and not a different 'issue of the day' with each episode. So if you've heard that comparison, ignore it, and watch it to experience three woman in parts that are too often given to male actors. Wainwright writes for women.

Another excellent Mike Leigh film is Another Year. It’s not plot driven so if you need plot it’s not for you. But if you like a movie where you just drop in on a few friends, then this is one of the best.

I love Ruth Wilson. Planning to watch Small Island, but since I saw the National Theater Live theatrical version not long ago, I'll wait.

Tried to watch The Durrells but couldn't make it past the first two episodes. Hawes was trying way too hard and the three kids were too spoiled and off-putting to be interesting. Even Josh O'Connor couldn't save it.

Can anyone recommend the BBC version of Howards End? I love the Merchant Ivory film and think it would be hard to match.

Speaking of remakes, the BBC version of A Room With A View was very disappointing. The film is not perfect by any means, but the cast here was mostly inferior, with the exception of sexy Rafe Spall as George. He was better than the handsome but vacant Julian Sands.

Almost everything Mike Leigh has done is excellent -- Life is Sweet, for instance, is one of the most underrated films ever made.

The BBC version of Howards End was very good. 4 hours was enough, the performances were all solid. If anything the extra time improved on the understanding of the families. Tibby and Aunt Juley were more fleshed out.

I don't remember much about the ITV version of A Room With A View except for some controversy around a new ending. The performances were all fine and looking at the cast I see twat de jour Lawrence Fox played Daniel Day Lewis in it.

Can anyone explain to an American who loves English tv why they are so bad at American accents? Not saying that Americans do the English one so well, but so many terrific Brit actors make a mess of the American accent. Is it really that hard to pull off?

(Then again, just finished watching the (terrible) first season of the Swedish show Modus, and the attempts by the actors to emulate an American Southern accent was so bad it was laughable.)

[quote]Can anyone explain to an American who loves English tv why they are so bad at American accents? Not saying that Americans do the English one so well, but so many terrific Brit actors make a mess of the American accent. Is it really that hard to pull off?

Which actors in which roles specifically?

The Durrells was very uneven in season one but it kicked in nicely about halfway through, especially when hot Sven is in the picture.

Trust me, British actors are much better at American accents than American actors are at British accents

R2

A worthy show. Here on DL, we call it "Rump Hole" of the Bailey.

Local bias makes it easier to dismiss a foreigner's attempt at a local accent.

Does anyone know when the newest seasons of Line Of Duty and Unforgotten will air in the US?

A friend worked in casting in London. They'd always bring in Irish actors first for American roles, because the Irish accent is rhotic, like American. I presume that's why the English struggle.

I remember once watching Foyle's War, which really is one of the best mystery series of all time. But in this episode there was an American military man who spoke with the strangest accent, as if he were learning American as he went; sometimes his vowels were flat, sometimes not; sometimes he dropped his "r"s, sometimes he pronounced them -- it felt weird that on such an excellent show no one bothered to at least dub his lines back in to sound appropriate.

The easy answer is that it's made for a British audience so it doesn't matter enough to them to change it. The same happens stateside as anyone who heard Annaleigh Ashford's work in the stage "Kinky Boots" can attest.

[quote] But in this episode there was an American military man who spoke with the strangest accent,

That actor was American. He died last year.

I think sexy Adam James may have played an American on Foyle's War but his accent has alwayd=s been excellent. And he's still alive.

There was a very handsome older American actor who played an American general....can't remember his name but he was American in any case so his accent was perfect. I hope e's not dead.

Does anyone remember the wonderful 1980s mini-series that was done of John Mortimer's beautiful and tragi-comic novel PARADISE POSTPONED? I would love to see that again but can't find it anywhere.

R302 That ITV series was released in a DVD box set about six years ago, and you can now find listings for it on eBay - fairly reasonable price, running typically $9 - $15. If that's something you're interested in, just make sure the DVD set is the proper one for your country/region, and whether it also includes the sequel (Titmuss Regained), if you want that as well.

Keeley Hawes and Matthew McFadyen met as the leads on Season 1 of Spooks. They're both in two or three seasons. I seem to remember there was a scandal because one of them was a newlywed at the time (to someone else).

There are two problems with Brits doing American accents. They either make it too heavy (like Barbra Streisand’s Brooklyn accent) or they drawl like a Southern accent.

Anne Hathaway does a very good generic middle class English accent but her Leeds accent in One Day was really not good. Occasionally she sounded very authentic but she couldn't maintain it past a few consonants.

Kate Winslet's American accent is always the same. It's just a generic American accent. I couldn't tell you where her characters are meant to be from.

[quote] Matthew Macfadyen

Oh my, yes. I would.

I'd leave my husband for that.

Having lived in both countries, and having watched great theatre in both London and New York....

I conclude that Brits are HORRIBLE at doing American accents. American actors can fake British much better, though not perfectly.

But the average Brit actor is usually crap at pretending to be a Yank.

But what's your nationality?

American actors are terrible at doing English accents....when I see an American doing an English accent I can always tell they're really American. They never convince me that they're British. On the other hand, there are many Brit actors (and some from New Zealand and Australia) who do an American accent so well I'd never know they weren't American.

Nobody can do a Welsh accent properly.

Generalizations about British accents and American accents are useless here. Either give specific examples or STFU.

And IMHO, who cares?

"IMHO" shouldn't be a part of that question.

Some actors are good at accents, some aren't. Most aren't, probably. I recall laughing at Maggie Smith's godawful southern accent in the TV version of Suddenly, Last Summer (I'm from NC, BTW) . Glenda Jackson never attempted an accent AFAIK even when playing an American onstage in Strange Interlude.

A lot of American accents, like Kate Winslet's, tend to be very generic. I find Australian actors are better at American accents, like Toni Collette, Margot Robbie, Anthony LaPaglia, Ben Mendelsohn, and at times, Russell Crowe, Judy Davis. I find Cate Blanchett's American accents tend to sound very studied.

British actors who are good at American accents, include Idris Elba, Daniel Kaluuya, Christian Bale, Matthew Rhys, and Rosamund Pike.

American actors good at British accents include Streep, Christopher Guest, Alan Tudyk. There are others but they're not coming to mind at this moment.

A speech teacher told me that Australians have an advantage with accents because something about their sounds (that the vowels are open?) are easier to adapt into a different placement. Americans and Brits struggle more because their accents block the adaptation more.

At the risk of potentially spoiling someone, does anyone know what British series had a scene set in WWI I believe where a character refused to put out his cigarette during lights out when there was a raid, and paid the price for it?

I don't know that this comes from a series R318 -- that's actually what happened in real life to one of my favorite authors of all time, H.H. Munro, who wrote under the name Saki. Horrible, horrible tragedy. One of his men lit a cigarette and Saki yelled, "Put that bloody cigarette out!" A second later a German sniper, seeing the light, shot and killed Saki.

"I Remember Nelson" -- the life of English naval hero Horatio Nelson from four different perspectives. He's portrayed as extremely flawed and at times very cruel, and his mistress Emma Hamilton is portrayed as a dirty, vulgar slag. Anna Massey is heartbreaking as the discarded Lady Nelson. Overall, quite the contrast to the flowery, whitewashed Leigh/Olivier romance "That Hamilton Woman".

"Madame Bovary", with Francesca Annis and Tom Conti.

"Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill" -- the life of Winston Churchill's American mother, played by Lee Remick.

There are two parts to an accent: the pronunciation and the musicality. A lot of people get the first right and ignore the second.

I just watched Madame Bovary on Britbox with Annis for the first time - very nice. I am a fan of anything she does. She was so sad and pathetic as the dowager in Cranford with a gay son in exile in Italy. Jennie still holds up very well. Lee Remick was great. Wasn't she in the Merchant-Ivory film the Europeans?

[quote]At the risk of potentially spoiling someone, does anyone know what British series had a scene set in WWI I believe where a character refused to put out his cigarette during lights out when there was a raid, and paid the price for it?

There was a recent BBC drama called World On Fire, but I don't think this happened then.

Back in the 80s there were two wartime dramas I loved - Wish Me Luck about two British women undercover in France as part of the resistance. Jane Asher played their handler back in Britain. And there was Bluebells, about a British woman who ran a dance troupe in Paris. During the occupation the dancers entertained Nazis and supported the resistance at the same time.

[quote]I just watched Madame Bovary on Britbox with Annis for the first time - very nice. I am a fan of anything she does.

She's also excellent in "Home Fires." The problem with that show was that the writers didn't know what to do with her character. Huge missed opportunity to explore how rich women who were pillars of the community handled the onset of the war. The fear that all their lives they've done nothing but form committees and had no real life skills and the fear that they may very quickly lose their wealth, privilege and lifestyle.

Yes R322, Remick was in The Europeans. The story has some similar themes to The Age of Innocence, and I always thought Remick would have made a fine Countess Olenska in the latter work. Ann-Margret too once she became a real actress.

Just seen a trailer for a PSYCHODRAMA on ITV with Emily Watson as a psychiatrist and Denise Gough as her deranged patient.

Speaking of Denise Gough there was a 3 part drama called Paula on a few years ago. That was very dark but very satisfying.

There is nothing satisfying about Denise Gough.

You're right, R321. It's by far the hardest thing to capture trying to speak French.

Another aspect of American which is very different from UK and Australian English is that Americans, at least those who live clear of the poverty line, speak very clearly and deliberately. It makes them sound very confident, and maybe that is where it springs from. There are heaps more ums and ahs and tics of all varieties in UK and Australian speech, undefined by class.

US-ians, are you ever taught to speak clearly and without tics, or is it just how everyone naturally talks?

People do it here all the time. All humans do. It’s just that our tics are different.

Listen to young Americans speak and every other word is “like.”

The Japanese, when speaking, say “ano,” which is basically the same (more or less) as um.

You girls wanna start an accent thread? Cause you are derailing this cool thread.

R328 Ages ago at least in high school.debate we certainly were taught that fillers like uh don't belong in speech of any sort.

More recommendations, please!

Or we can discuss the finale of Season 4 UNFORGOTTEN with ****SPOILER ALERTS*****

^ Season 5? Can keep going? People are suspect with what happened.

I thought Season 4 of UNFORGOTTEN *****SPOILER ALERT**** was not up to the previous seasons, regardless of the final episode. I think the producers know they've explored the themes as much as they can and I applaud them if they're calling it quits.

I just finished the first season of Riviera. It’s not like most of the shows mentioned here. It’s a very glossy suspense drama set in south of France...a banking family patriarch killed in explosion on Russian yacht anchored off Monaco leaving behind new American wife and scheming ex wife, two disappointing adult sons and a druggie teen daughter. Let the backstabbing begin. Fraud, blackmail, drugs, art, money laundering, gambling, corruption, forgery, Interpol, prostitution...it’s all there. New wife can’t trust anyone and is running around putting out fires so she can just get her inheritance and leave these crazy awful people.

Pro: great production values. Must have been a huge budget. Gorgeous house, great locations. Looks rich rich rich. Lena Olin as the ex-wife makes Joan Collins look like an amateur.

Con: Julia Stiles is the new wife and she’s a stick of wood (and badly dressed for her character) but that works in her favor when she starts to get tough with the various factions.

First season is worth a watch and it is beautiful. Watched the first episode of the 2nd season and got so pissed off, I don’t think I’ll finish. But if someone has seen it, I have a question: does she get the boat back?

Hardly a hidden gem but since we're talking about all kinds of shows now -- is anyone watching Call the Midwife? It's so successful but it's also so mawkish and predictable, and not particularly well acted. And, of course, you have to watch at least one baby born in a horrible way each episode -- why is this show so popular?

Call the midwife is the tv version of comfort food. It’s nostalgic, it’s female-oriented and it’s perfect for Sunday night viewing which has historically been the comfort food tv slot

I'm finishing up LINE OF DUTY Season 5 (thanks to all the recommendations upthread, I've loved it!) and looking for a new series. I look forward to going back over this entire thread but does anyone have a suggestion?

I'm finishing up LINE OF DUTY Season 5 (thanks to all the recommendations upthread, I've loved it!) and looking for a new series. I look forward to going back over this entire thread but does anyone have a suggestion?

Judge Judy has no tolerance for filler words.

"Not BASICALLY! BASICALLY IS A FILLER WORD!"

She does the same for people who keep repeating "like" and "and uh."

Her lack of patience for people who haven't mastered the niceties of common speech is one thing that endears her to me.

[quote] Call the midwife is the tv version of comfort food. It’s nostalgic, it’s female-oriented and it’s perfect for Sunday night viewing which has historically been the comfort food tv slot

You can guarantee this person has never watched an episode of Call The Midwife.

There’s nothing nostalgic or comforting about women dying in doorways after having illegal abortions. Or disabled babies left to die because they’ll be less of a burden.

The Romans (and Greeks I think?) left unwanted or imperfect babies on a hillside for three days and if they were still alive after that, they'd take them back for a chance at life. The practice was called "Exposure."

Or sometimes they'd just kill the kids outright at birth or poor barren couples would steal exposed infants so they could have children.

Life is just weird.

[quote]Call the midwife is the tv version of comfort food. It’s nostalgic, it’s female-oriented and it’s perfect for Sunday night viewing which has historically been the comfort food tv slot

From Heidi Thomas, the show's main writer.

[quote]Thomas – whose late brother David had Down’s syndrome, and whose family has been impacted by suicide – bridles at the idea that the show is merely a cosy treat. She is still annoyed by a review that claimed Midwife presented an “alternative universe of sunshine and lollipops”. The review, she notes, was written by a woman. “I think some critics perceive it as soft-centred, as something female and therefore less worthy of their attention. That’s a huge issue in our society today, borne out by recent events. What sort of patriarchy do we live in that a woman on a kitchen table being scraped out with a scalpel by a neighbour is ‘comforting’? If you think Call the Midwife is comforting, you are not watching the show.”

Blind Gossip posted day before yesterday that Meghan has hired a doula who has moved in with her and Harry before she gives birth at home. The item went into the difference between doulas and midwives (doulas have no medical training, midwives do). Someone in the comments said the "doula" is the surrogate which makes it plausible for Megs to be there at the time of birth.

[quote]Blind Gossip posted day before yesterday that Meghan has hired a doula who has moved in with her and Harry before she gives birth at home. The item went into the difference between doulas and midwives (doulas have no medical training, midwives do). Someone in the comments said the "doula" is the surrogate which makes it plausible for Megs to be there at the time of birth.

Are the BBC planning to make a tv show out of this?

If not, kindly fuck off.

Well, actually, the following BG post says they plan to broadcast the live birth in all its gory detail and show Harry turning from a shot of her open cooch to say a scripted line "She's crowning!" (Get it?).

I'm not making this up. It's being followed on another DL thread and it's at the BG site, which I won't link.

What the Hell, it's almost 6 am and I'm still waiting for my Valerian to kick in so i can get some sleep, I'll link it:

^ And I'll add that people both here and at the BG site think those two postings are so outrageous they can't believe they're dated March 31 instead of April 1.

In the early seasons of Call the Midwife, they had some gritty drama. Now it’s all fluff. They should do a time jump and go into the 1980s and deal with AIDS babies.

[quote]it's almost 6 am and I'm still waiting for my Valerian to kick in so i can get some sleep

That explains your inability to keep your stupid Meghan bullshit in your stupid Meghan bullshit threads.

[quote]In the early seasons of Call the Midwife, they had some gritty drama. Now it’s all fluff.

Series 8 covered illegal abortion in every episode, with the identity of the back street abortionist leaving women with injuries they died from being revealed as Ann Mitchell, the grandmother of the new midwife Valerie. Maybe I've led a sheltered life, but watching a woman haemorrhaging on the bathroom floor in a convent, nearly bleeding to death and having to lie about what caused it isn't what I call fluffy cosy viewing.

Last year's series, number 9, covered sexual abuse or vulnerable women by priests, racism towards immigrants from the Commonwealth, drug addiction and how people with disabilities are treated, alongside the aftermath of the criminal trial of the abortionist.

The next series will cover the events of 1966 - Geoff Hurst! - and the law on legalising abortion was introduced by David Steel in 1967 and the first legal abortions were provided on the NHS in 1968.

Never watched Midwife, but will wondered if the.divine Judy Parfitt's role is significant. How many seasons include her?

The problem with Call the Midwife is that it's just not very good. It does tackle some major issues but the writing is banal, the acting (especially by Jessica Raines) is perfunctory -- the exception being some of the old nuns and an occasional great performance by a guest star --, but most of all, every show has the same boring rhythm --we're introduced to someone with a problem, the problem is solved, and everyone cries at the end.

There's also just way too much God and prayers and long homilies about the power of love. It's rare that a show the highlights so much pain and death and birth and all can also be so incredibly dull.

Call the Midwife is comfort food because it tames the "tough" issues. They are presented without edge, ambiguity, or complexity.

In the simplified world of Call the Midwife where right and wrong are clear--and the actions required are obvious.

That is the nature of comfort food TV.

[quote{Never watched Midwife, but will wondered if the.divine Judy Parfitt's role is significant. How many seasons include her?

She’s in every episode of every season. She plays an elderly nun whose faculties are deteriorating. She’s one of the few reasons to watch the show. Her talent is wasted on the show but it’s a steady paycheck and I say good for her because she’s turned in many brilliant performances over the years and deserves to coast along and bask in her glory.

R339 R340

I am a great fan of 'Foyle's War', and it is available on Acorn (if you have that service) or you can buy episodes or seasons on Prime Video. I think it would be well worth the cost of $12.99 for the first season to see if you would enjoy it. You could do one episode but I would recommend a season to get the "gist" of it.

I would also recommend 'Home Fires', also available on Amazon Prime.

Both shows have multiple recommendations above. They are both very different from 'Line of Duty', but both are superior productions though all three are very different from each other in scope.

If you'd like to watch something more contemporary, go to anything written by Sally Wainwright; such as 'Scott & Bailey', 'Last Tango in Halifax', and the brilliant 'Happy Valley'.

[quote]Call the Midwife is comfort food because it tames the "tough" issues. They are presented without edge, ambiguity, or complexity. In the simplified world of Call the Midwife where right and wrong are clear--and the actions required are obvious. That is the nature of comfort food TV.

You're so full of shit Dr Turner would no doubt diagnose a very large blockage in the rectal area, most likely self inserted.

I doubt you've even watched a whole episode, let alone the entire series that focused on illegal abortion and the moral ambiguities that arose from it, such as the dilemma of a woman who'd nearly died from an illegal abortion reporting it to the police.

This article articulates everything that's wrong with the "comfort tv" label.

R358 needs to learn that ad hominem attacks do not foster a solid argument. Make your case with the article, indeed, but not by hurling bitchy personal insults. It only makes you look silly.

R358, I watch the first 2 or 3 seasons of Call the Midwife, and I liked them. But I never felt the need to go on.

The article you post actually affirms what I describe. Though come to think about it, I am not sure what moral ambiguities there would be about abortion at this point. I am sure the show makes the point that denying a woman the right to an abortion is wrong and that the choice is hers.

Even the vengeful sister described in the article does not blame her sister. This is exactly the comfortable unambiguous gist that makes comfort drama. I am sure the woman who received the botched abortion is presented a basically good person, who did nothing wrong other than be born into a time when abortions were not legal.

It may be intelligent and skillful, but few are going to have their beliefs challenged.

Just the name “call the midwife” sounds like a frau idea of tv heaven like when calls the heart... I think I’ll pass.

To the poster who has finished Line of Duty, try “Berlin Station” with Richard Armitage. Not a police thriller but MI-6 agents. Same basic premise, who do you trust?

r357, thank you for taking the time to recommend those series to me but I've actually watched and loved most of them. We have similar tastes! The only one I haven't seen is Scott & Bailey and I will certainly check it out now.

And r362, thank you! Haven't heard of that one but I do like me some Armitage so I'll check it out as well.

Only one woman in all 9 series has ever died of an abortion on Call the Midwife.

The Norwegian cargo ship captain who had his teenage daughter on board to, um, help the crew out. That was pretty sick and disgusting. Not cozy. Based on a true story, too.

R365, for decades it was traditional to have one Marine aboard every Navy ship. Someone said it was cheaper than feeding a sheep.

Think about it.

Finally got around to watching The Victim from 2019 today. Four hour long episodes with Kelly McDonald as the mother of a child murdered 15 years earlier by another child who has been released from prison and given a new identity, similar to the James Bulger murder. Kelly is accused of inspiring a vigilante attack on an innocent man after he is named as the murderer online.

R349, there's nothing of its type as good as Line of Duty. The good news is that Season 6 is coming out anytime now.

I wish Call the Midwife was more hidden: every PBS-loving frau in America is hooked on what might be the most predictably boring show ever made. Jessica Raines is the perfect example of resting bitch face. The plots are always the same. The nuns are all good as gold. Anyone in a uniform is a hero. All good people are perfectly good, all bad people deserve to lose their babies. The voice-over is maudlin and poorly written.

Just goes to show that even the Brits, who produce the best tv in the world (as evidenced by all the other great shows listed above) can slip up now and then.

I don't really get why Jessica Raine's name keeps coming up re CALL THE MIDWIFE. She has been on the show in many years.

[quote]I don't really get why Jessica Raine's name keeps coming up

I don't know, but since she's mentioned, she's married to sexy ginge Tom Goodman-Hill.

[quote]I don't really get why Jessica Raine's name keeps coming up re CALL THE MIDWIFE. She hasn't been on the show in many years.

Because people complain about the IDEA of Call The Midwife, not the actual reality of it. A show written by women about women based on women's experiences is not something they can relate to or are generally interested in.

They might have seen a bit of an episode years ago, when Jessica Raine was the main character (she left in series 3, it's now on series 10) but they have no idea about anything else that's happened.

Seriously, there have been over 70 episodes of Call The Midwife, if you think it's utter shit and the storylines are all the same and hate Vanessa Redgrave's voiceover (the worst thing about it), why would you carry on watching past a few episodes?

The one series I would love to see again is the 1975 MOLL FALNDERS with Julia Foster. I found it much lighter than the later one and Foster is far more charming than Alex Kingston could ever be. Unfortunately, it's nowhere to be found.

Call the Midwife has a good subtle sort of propaganda going, at least w/r/t American viewers. Early seasons it showed people living in dire poverty, the kind we associate with Appalachia. Now they are still poor but have the benefit of National Health which is frequently mentioned. Hopefully it has changed some middle American mindsets from “national health = socialism!!!”

By the way, although I keep talking about the comfort food aspects of Call the Midwife, I like that about it.

A realistic, morally ambiguous drama about midwives might be too hard hitting to take over the long haul. The Wire, Happy Valley, etc are great, but that approach to a midwife drama would be too painful to stand.

Does anyone know if there will ever be a third season of HAPPY VALLEY?

R376

Yes, there will; Sally Wainwright has begun writing it. But from that to production to television could be a few years.

SILK - a legal series that ran for three seasons, 2011-2014; featured a favorite character actor of mine, Neil Shute.

Also loved JANET KING, an Australian series about a lesbian lawyer, ably performed by Marta Dusseldorp, who starred in A PLACE TO CALL HOME.

I have so much trouble figuring out if Dusseldorp's performance in Place to Call Home is wonderful or awful.

I guess its a fine line.

She's better in JANET KING - very convincing as a lesbian.

R379

I'm still trying to decide if 'A Place to Call Home' itself was wonderful or awful.

^ It was all over the show like a ten dollar whore. But it has an obsessed fan here who will hear no wrong.

I don't know if it's a hidden gem, but I rather enjoyed a DL recommendation in a thread ages ago about British TV Shows. The show is called Kingdom starring Stephen Fry playing a lawyer dealing with colorful clients, a crazy sister, and a presumed dead brother. It also features British national treasure Celia Imrie.

When I watched the 1980 PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (with Elizabeth Garvie and David Rintoul) at its first airing, I quite enjoyed it. When I watched it again 20 years later, I found too much of the acting felt like an elocution pageant. I will say that the fab Judy Parfitt was the perfect Lady Catherine and Barbara Shelly was fun as Mrs. Gardiner. Priscilla Morgan was just silly enough as Mrs. Bennett. Rintoul was a very wooden D'Arcy.

The later version with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle was much better, even if it does push the "romantic" button too hard at times. And it does have the most godawful Mrs. Bennett in Alison Steadman - I had to mute the TV whenever she came on. She was so aggressively obnoxious that I couldn't imagine anyone in that time period putting up with her.

Barbara Shelley was quite beautiful. She probably would have had a better career in Hollywood.

Did women in that era sport the 'do on the left?

A Place to Call Home is in some ways a wonderful drama but that's mostly because the producers seemed to have gotten the best tv actors in Australia to work on it. They are excellent (except, that is, for the women who play Anna and the horrendous Olivia) and, of course, there are the scenes where Dominic Alburn takes off his shirt, which happens quite frequently. He has a stunning body. But the writing is rather flat, and it is a soap opera, so in every episode something dire, or evil, or cruel takes place. That's the formula, though, and it does work well.

Still, it's engrossing and you could do a lot worse. And, you get to see the amazing clothes and cars of the 1950s, all looking better than anything you see today.

R387 A lot of really stupid shit happened.

I love how the writers of PtCH realized that they had reached the limit of horrible mother-in-law stories and just gave the character a completely new personality with no actual explanation.

I would call LAST TANGO IN HALIFAX a soap opera but it's totally watchable due to the superior writing and acting (and casting). Not so, A PLACE CALLED HOME.

A Place To Call Home is a cheesy, comfort entertainment family soap drama which I like. Sometimes you just have to embrace your inner mug cradling self as much as you have to embrace your inner child or inner flamboyant queen.

I watched series 4 of Unforgotten on Daily Motion (you have to sit through a minute of ads for every minute of the show, unfortunately). I can’t say I was surprised. That character was a bit too much from the beginning, almost inhumanly broody & somber.

I found Season 4 of UNFORGOTTEN a bit disappointing in spite of (or including the ending). It seemed to take too long to get into each of the suspects' back stories and most of the suspects weren't very sympathetic in the way they've usually been portrayed in past seasons. The writing wasn't quite up to snuff IMHO.

We also watched it on one of those video devices (we're American) and it was difficult to have wait week after week for a single episode instead if bingeing. The plot lines got a bit lost in our little old minds. And those constant commercial interruptions.....! That said, I'll surely watch it again once it's on PBS Passport.

Thanks, r383. [italic]Kingdom[/italic] is included with Prime Video, so I'm giving that a try instead of watching [italic]Person of Interest[/italic] again.

Re: Unforgotten

Seems there are too many British police procedurals involving pacts between people who cover up an accidental death resulting from a malicious bit of torment.

“We didn’t mean to drown/ electrocute/ run over/ deliver fatal head wound to the victim. We just wanted to scare him/rape her a little. It was just a bit of fun/a tit-for-tat payback that went wrong.”

The most recent series of Unforgotten was the least interesting. The why was more involving than the who. And that was ultimately disappointing.

There weren't any killer performances this series, unlike Tom Courtney, Gemma Phillips and Ruth Sheen in series 1, Mark Bonnar and Rosie Cavaliero in series 2 and Alex Jennings and Siobhan Redmond in series 3.

And re Mark Bonnar, I've started Guilt - it was on last year and currently on iPlayer - it's a 4 part Scottish drama about two brothers who accidentally kill an elderly man. That's all I'll say about it but nothing is really how it seems, and it's all the better for it. There's loads of familiar faces to UK viewers including the incredibly attractive Emun Elliott.

I just watched 3 episodes of Tin Star, set in Alberta, with Tim Roth. Story is intriguing but I’m not a fan of any of the actors so I don’t know if I’ll continue. Also has a couple instances of people behaving stupidly (the daughter) to move the story along and I hate that. Incredibly beautiful location.

I wouldn’t mind if jUnforgotten came back for a few more seasons with a new......shall we say “focus.” Wasn’t too crazy about the previous center of the show. Wouldn’t mind someone bringing a different perspective, might bea breath if fresh air among the corpses (dead & alive).

R396 Guilt is more comedy, surely?

I'd say Guilt is a drama with some darkly comic elements. McFargo if you like.

They're filming a second series at the moment to be shown later this year.

Where can an American watch Guilt?

Speaking of Line of Duty and accents - where is it supposed to be located?

As a non-Brit, the accents to me sound all over the map. My impression is there are Irish, Southern, Midlands (?), Northern, and what I first thought to be Scottish but turned out to be Scouce (the super heavy accent of Stephen Graham in S05). Season 6 currently showing has Kelly Macdonald, so add a Scottish accent on top of all.

The UK is only the size of a postage stamp compared with the US or Australia, R402, so it's not uncommon to find people from all over the place in one workplace. Americans are similarly mobile but in Britain the accents change noticeably over much smaller areas.

[quote]Speaking of Line of Duty and accents - where is it supposed to be located? As a non-Brit, the accents to me sound all over the map. My impression is there are Irish, Southern, Midlands (?), Northern, and what I first thought to be Scottish but turned out to be Scouce (the super heavy accent of Stephen Graham in S05). Season 6 currently showing has Kelly Macdonald, so add a Scottish accent on top of all.

The name of the city Line Of Duty is set in has never been named. It's filmed in Belfast and all of the actors use their own natural accents, with the exception of wee Martin Compston who has neutralised his Scottish accent with a generic English accent.

There have been references to a neighbouring East Midlands force, which would make Birmingham the most obvious location.

[quote]Where can an American watch Guilt?

If you have a VPN (as oppose to a VPL LOL) you can try iPlayer.

I think Line of Duty is the best dramatic series that I've ever watched. Mother of God, I loved Adrian Dunbar. I'm looking forward to the next season. I'm not into police dramas at all, at least not American ones, but No Offence was also pretty good. Joanna Scanlon, who I've seen in a couple of comedic roles, is very intense and very good in this series.

I can't help but wonder if Martin Compston and Vicky McClure might regret their participation in the hugely successful LINE OF DUTY as their characters rarely have genuinely dramatic emotions to play. They're the engines that keep the plots running, of course, and the series is turning them into international stars, yet it's the guest stars and featured players (esp. Keeley Hawes) that get all the juicy scenes and character development. Adrian Dunbar, excepted - he (brilliantly) gets to play both sides.

I recently watched "William and Mary" with Martin Clunes. Just a lighthearted, uncomplicated feel good drama perfect for pandemic viewing.

[quote]I can't help but wonder if Martin Compston and Vicky McClure might regret their participation in the hugely successful LINE OF DUTY as their characters rarely have genuinely dramatic emotions to play.

Martin Compston has had a pretty good career as a working actor. Many remember his cheeky character when he was a later season addition to "Monarch of the Glen". Since then he's played a variety of roles and shown his versatility. Line of Duty is just icing on the cake for him.

Does Vicky McClure play any characters besides ones that have a strong lesbian vibe?

[quote]I can't help but wonder if Martin Compston and Vicky McClure might regret their participation in the hugely successful LINE OF DUTY as their characters rarely have genuinely dramatic emotions to play. They're the engines that keep the plots running, of course, and the series is turning them into international stars, yet it's the guest stars and featured players (esp. Keeley Hawes) that get all the juicy scenes and character development. Adrian Dunbar, excepted - he (brilliantly) gets to play both sides.

McClure and Compston work consistently and their profile is boosted massively by being on the biggest show on TV. McClure had won a best actress BAFTA not long before joining Line Of Duty. She's a very modern natural actress and her foray into period drama was not her finest moment.

For Adrian Dunbar this is a comeback of Valerie Cherish proportions. He had a promising career in the early and mid 90s but then didn't get many good roles. Hopefully this will lead to more and more work.

Btw if you like BBC dramas with a Scottish vibe make sure you watch Vicky McClure in The Replacement, which also starred the almost Wolverine and Desperate Househusband Dougray Scott.

Best watch all 3 episodes it in one go with a bottle of wine.

I know the Midwife discussion was probably exhausted upthread but I can see multiple points of view.

I have loved most of it, the show was outstanding and somewhat radical in the beginning, and I've loved almost all of the characters. Even recent seasons have had some excellent stories (Valerie's abortionist gram, the friendship between Miss Higgins and Phyllis).

But I do also feel a bit like I felt with some of the inbetween seasons of Downton - they know there's an endpoint coming up, with a certain amount of upheaval and drama, and they are treading a bit of water in the meantime to stretch things out. And the rhythm can be somewhat predictable. They also really need another midwife with some oomph. Valerie left and Lucille is perhaps the worst character they've had, not because of the actress, but mostly because they've all but made her a saint.

I was sad to see the actress who played Val leave Call The Midwife. She was a great character.

Call the Midwife would have been so much better if they hadn't put the impossibly unpleasant Jessica Raine in the leading role. she is the very epitome of resting bitch face.

I really liked the Val character too, right from the start even though they never gave her much to do. Except for the grandmother story arc in the last season, I can’t think of any other personal drama. Trixie is the one who’s getting a little long in the tooth for her role but I know the actress is married to somebody...a producer? on the show.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

Series 10 will start next Sunday, April 18th. I hate to think what ITV will put on to clash with Midwife and Line Of Duty.

I thought that when they brought those doctors to stay at Nonnatus House that they were going to write a love interest for Val, but the actress must have already told them she was leaving because it didn’t come to fruition.

Just started watching A Perfect Spy, the mini-series from the LeCarre book.

The first episode races through the title character's early life (especially adolescence) in a way that would be confusing if you hadn't read the novel. Some ham-fisted acting too. Hopefully it gets better. The book is excellent.

[quote] I thought that when they brought those doctors to stay at Nonnatus House that they were going to write a love interest for Val, but the actress must have already told them she was leaving because it didn’t come to fruition.

Two of those doctors were quite dishy.

I realize that it's a woman centered show but a little eye candy would be nice, and Dr Turner is also a bit long in the tooth to provide it now. (And HE's the one married to the producer/HW)

Anyone who has a longing for Barbara from Call The Midwife could watch Feel Good, an edgy C4 comedy drama about an edgy Canadian they/them called Mae who has a theysbian relationship with George, played by Barbara. Also featuring Sophie Thompson and Valerie Cherish.

Btw Mae Martin is the cousin of Princess Margaret's topless grandson Arthur Chatto.

Martin uses she/her and they/them pronouns. This article uses feminine pronouns for consistency.

Charlotte Ritchie, Nurse Barbara, is also the lead in a comedy show called Ghosts.

Speaking of trailers.....

R425 Ghosts is unwatchable. The new Atlantic Crossing shows promise.

R420, have you ever watched Sandbaggers?

I was very disappointed by the first episode of ATLANTIC CROSSING, didn't find any of the Norwegian actors very convincing or engaging. I hope (and expect) Eleanor and FDR will feature more in the coming installments.

[quote]Also featuring Sophie Thompson and Valerie Cherish.

Say what? Valerie Cherish is the character played by Lisa Kudrow in The Comeback.

R296 ah, that’s really interesting, and makes a lot of sense.

It certainly explains the careers of Jonathan Rhys Meyers, and Shawn Hatosy.

I just tuned into the second season of Line of Duty, after giving up on Call the Midwife because I just couldn't stand looking at Jessica Raine's resting bitch face for one more minute.

So what do I get? Jessica Raine, starring in the second season of Line of Duty.

Sometimes you get the feeling there are only a dozen actresses in all of UK tv.

Keep watching, r431. You'll be quite shocked in a few more episodes.

I rewatched Seasons 2 and 4 of Line of Duty. It was even better than I remembered.

I am watching Season 4. Thandie Newton as a tough experienced cop was hard to swallow at first, but as she eases into the role, she becomes more and more convincing.

I’m watching Case Histories, based on the mystery novels by Kate Atkinson. Jason Isaacs plays a cop turned private detective in Edinburgh. It’s..okay. His character has the requisite tortured childhood and messy personal life. He spends a lot of time jogging around deserted rainy streets, Edinburgh is a ghost town.

The Jackson Brodie books are wonderful. I wish they'd televised more of them.

R434 I’m torn over whether to watch that. I can’t abide Atkinson as a writer or a storyteller, but I do like a bit of Jason Isaacs. The trailer didn’t really sell me, but Isaacs looks good as ever.

From what I remember Case Histories was very enjoyable.

Jason Isaacs was very charismatic, Zawe Ashton was good as his office manager and Amanda Abbington was ok as the detective. The great underused Natasha Little popped up at one point and the girl playing Isaac's daughter was great. And it looked great.

Jason fans might also like Civvies, the first thing Lynda La Plante had produced after the success of the first Prime Suspect, about a soldier returning to civilian life and dabbling with criminality.

He was also in an adaptation of Martina Cole's family gangster drama Dangerous Lady, which had some homosexual content if I remember rightly.

And there was a UK/US political drama called The State Within with Ben Daniels and Sharon Gless as a malevolent American politician.

Line of Duty is fantastic. I've not seen the UK public get so excited about a series in a long time.

An oldie but goodie: "Flickers" a six-episode comedy drama from 1980 starring the delightfully mismatched couple - the late Bob Hoskins as a cockney film promoter in the early silent era and Frances de la Tour as his unlikely genteel spinster partner. Really good offbeat writing and casting. Available on Amazon Prime without a special subscription to BritBox or whatnot.

"Patrick Melrose" on Amazon is amazing.

Starring the lovely Benedict Cumberbatch.

Did anyone watch Emily Watson and Denise Gough in Too Close? The attractive Jamie Sives is also in it, the younger brother from Guilt.

It's enjoyable enough although Denise Gough's accent and vocal mannerisms are very distracting.

The Irish drama Paula, with Denise Gough and Tom Hughes, is also worth a watch.

What accent does Denise Gough have?

Her natural speaking accent is general Irish but her character in Too Close is very middle class, a bit bohemian, and Gough is playing her as really exaggerated posh.

It's really quite bizarre, it's like how someone thinks a posh person sounds, rather than what an actual posh person does sound like.

R159

Answering your question about Tom Conti, he appeared on a recent documentary complaining about leaf blowers near his house. Check out the Zipporah is an icon thread.

Why in heaven’s name is this thread grayed out?

The OP must have been up to no good elsewhere.

[quote]"Patrick Melrose" on Amazon is amazing. Starring the lovely Benedict Cumberbatch.

How long before there's a post about watching Patrick Melrose and complaining a 4th time about Jessica Raine's resting bitch face?

"Bedrooms and Hallways", a comedy about gay life. Simon Callow, Harriet Walter. On Amazon Prime. You'll enjoy it.

How can you bring up BEDROOMS AND HALLWAYS and not mention it's two hot stars James Purefoy and Kevin McKidd, r449? And little Tom Hollander is quite dishy in it, too. Great cast!

New ITV missing person drama View Point starts tonight - 5 episodes over 5 consecutive nights.

So far we've got Alexandra Roach from Utopia as a woman who spies on her neighbours. Noel Clarke from Doctor Who as a sullen police surveillance officer, Sarah Niles aka Reba from Beautiful People as a senior police detective and Bronagh Waugh as another police surveillance officer. Bronagh Waugh played Jamie Dornan's wife in The Fall and in this she's playing A Woman Who Is Like Dead Northern.

Omg. Atlantic Crossing is one of the dumbest tv shows of all time.

Thank you, r453! I also find it dumb. And dramatically inert. I just don't care about Scandinavian royalty, I guess,.

Though it's hardly a "hidden" gem, rewatching CRANFORD last year really helped get me through the bleakest winter months of Covid. Highly recommended if you've never seen it. All those great British dames wigged and dressed to the nines in their early Victorian crinolines.

A moment to gripe at those FAT WHORES! running PBS.

Midwife just started in the UK and there is no eartjly reason for them to hold off on showing it here, but they are. In normal years it would be delayed a few months from when it played in the UK, this year they are apparently holding it until fall. (They'd HAVE to play it before the next Christmas special.)

I sort of understood why they did it for Downton at first but it rarely makes sense. None of these people are doing in person interviews and promo in the States so that's a poor excuse for a delay.

[quote]Midwife just started in the UK and there is no eartjly reason for them to hold off on showing it here, but they are.

A few years ago, people were complaining to PBS because they didn't broadcast Downton Abbey at the same time as the UK. In our global world, plot points were being discussed by the Brits and spoiling it for Americans. PBS shrugged their shoulders and said, "We save Downton Abbey to be broadcast when we most need to do fundraising." It's a pain in the ass because many of these shows are partially produced by they US, so they could show them at the same time they are broadcast in the UK. I think as Netflix and Britbox and other media outlets gain popularity, PBS will be left out in the cold. PBS is the old lady station. When this current generation dies off, the tech generation, using VPN and torrents, won't bother waiting around for PBS and their silly games.

R456, I have always been afraid to see Cranford because I love the book so much. The tone is so peculiar and the humor so gentle, I could not imagine it dramatized.

Maybe I will give it a look now.

[quote]I have always been afraid to see Cranford because I love the book so much.

Imelda Staunton and Julia McKenzie are the reason to watch it. They are top notch in this show.

If you like Imeldas Taunton in a bonnet you should watch Plots And Proposals adapted by Victoria Woods also starring Alan Dickman, Richard Egrant and Delias Mith.

"Well that's better than a slap in the la-las with an antique mangle is it not?.

CRANFORD the book is such a slim volume. The miniseries beautifully fleshes out all the characters (and adds more than a few). I actually loved it much more than the book. Series 2, however, I will admit, tries too hard to extend the life of that little village. No need to watch that.

[quote]New ITV missing person drama View Point starts tonight - 5 episodes over 5 consecutive nights.

What a load of shit that turned out to be. ITV did the country a favour by not airing the final episode in the 9pm slot.

The murderer was obvious from the first episode.

And what was going on with the Australian actor playing a Polish? character with a British name?!

Lol. Atlantic Crossing is pimping the fairytale that the crown Princess of Norway gave FDR the idea for the lend lease program. Churchill must be upside down in his grave by now.

Finally got round to watching the BBC adaption of The Woman In White from a couple of years ago. Jessie Buckley brilliant as the possibly lesbian heroine and Dougray Scott loathesome.

Did anyone here see PBS version of season 4 Unforgotten? They cut out the part where Cassie leaves a happy, upbeat message to her father right before ….the thing happened.

Just watched Season 1 of Line Of Duty based on the recommendations here. Very disappointed. Just another British imitation of a Dick Wolf show, with an overstuffed plot, a wildly implausible final episode, and cheap cynicism at the end.

If R467 you didn't like Season 1 of LOD, then you'd hate season 3 -- I did like seasons 1 and 2 but season 3 is just one bad American crime TV trope after another, until the insanely bad ending which feels like a parody of crime drama.

Has anyone seen Britannia? It's the strangest show I've ever watched. Feels like the History Channel took wads of acid and then just wrote wild and unconnected stories that make no sense, but all with beautiful cinematography, acting, and costumes. Can't tell if there's something good in there, or if it truly the worst show ever.

R469, I had the same reaction to Britannia. I really wanted to like it, but found it so confusing and random that I quit. What a disappointment.

R468, thanks for the warning but I'm not even going to watch Season 2.

Not a British show but I am watching Season 1 of The Bridge (the Danish/Swedish version with Kim Bodnia from Killing Eve) and I have mixed reactions. It's playing like a steal from the movies Saw and Seven. I gather the British/French version The Tunnel is pretty much the same, though I do like Stephen Dillane.

The Britbox version I saw of Season 4 Unforgotten included the phone message but PBS either cut it for time or said, “Everybody watching will immediately know something bad is going to happen when they hear dour, anxiety-prone, angry, stressed out, put-upon Cassie talking rainbows & lollipops. and “life is great, we’ve all got plenty of time to enjoy lots fun times together.”

I thought The Bridge was quite good -- it was then remade into an equally good English/French version called The Tunnel. Then of course American tv people had to try their own version, and it was terrible.

I didn’t like Line Of Duty either…thought it was way overpraised for what it was. I thought “maybe it’ll be better in season 2.”

Not really.

But season 3 is an almost insane parody of a British police procedural and besides, inspector George Gently had basically done it already (much better). Plus the lead actor reminded me of Andy Kaufman, which gave it an even more bizarre vibe …. when he was yelling at the other cops to follow his instructions I thought he was going to start wrestling the women to the ground.

Could British crime dramas give up the “children who were sexually abused by people in authority who were supposed to be looking after them -- cops, social workers, priests —are now seeking revenge” trope? It’s been done to death.

I just saw Bloodlands, which is set in Northern Ireland in the present day but refers back to The Troubles. It is exciting but orthodox till half-way through, when you have to rewind five minutes to make sure you just saw what you saw. Only 4 parts altogether and well worth it.

R474

I heartily agree with you that British crime dramas really should give up the “children who were sexually abused" plot line; it's tired, it's a cliche by now, and it's starting to be offensive and homophobic. You're also right that George Gently did it first, and did it better. Every single crime show show has produced one and I am truly tired of it. No imagination. Sloppy writing. Easy-out on plot. Autopilot TV.

Having said that, I nevertheless have to recommend highly Season 2 of 'Unforgotten' despite its plot line. It was very, very well done and - this is what elevates the plot - the performances by Mark Bonnar and Rosie Cavaliero are stunning and heartbreaking.

I don't think that having a sense of the plot will ruin it for you. If you haven't seen it, I suggest you give it a try. If nothing else, it's worth watching for the performances alone.

R427 Not who you were replying to, but I heartily recommend The Sandbaggers. A sort of light version of le Carre, but in a good way.

The first 3 seasons of UNFORGOTTEN are....unforgettable. The very best of British TV. So many amazing actors in them that I've now tracked down in earlier Brit series and come to love. Rosie Cavaliero! Mark Bonnar! Yes, r476!! And goddess Nicola Walker, of course.

I wish the 4th season had come up to them. Nevertheless, I'll be eagerly awaiting S5 to see what they have in store with cast changes. Anyone know when that will appear?

There's a three part miniseries called 37 Days, about the days (37 of them, would you believe it) leading up to World War I. Really shows how ridiculous the whole run-up was, and how dreadfully inevitable too.

It's odd how many excellent British tv shows there are -- but there are also some real clinkers. Did anyone see The Halcyon? Unwatchable. Or Sanditon? Also unwatchable. Britannia was insanely bad. The only good thing about Belgravia was Tamsin Grieg's performance. Marcella: also terrible. Etc.

Still, the ones that are good, from Foyle's War to Wolf Hall to Unforgotten, etc... make up for these losers.

Try to catch "Cousin Bette" with Margaret Tyzack and Helen Mirren. Fantastic. Also, "Pere Goriot." They are both a great introduction to the genius of Balzac.

R481, thank you! It's on Youtube.

Has anyone mentioned the original "House of Cards" trilogy, with Ian Richardson as Urquhart? There's not a single miscast actor among the ensemble, and the performances of Richardson as Urquhart, Colin Jeavons as Stamper (series one), and Susannah Harker as Mattie Storin (also series one) are stand-outs in a superb cast.

Part three is the weakest, and feels a bit "thin" and rushed, but only relative to parts one and two, which stand out as some of the finest TV drama ever produced in the UK. As a TV drama part three is still very good indeed.

In fact, I think I'm overdue a re-watch.

R483 I rewatched To Play the King recently. It was made in 1993, and contains two elements interesting in retrospect. One is a storyline about a Tory MP who helped himself to children in cares homes and so on. And the other is a divorced princess who talked about being warned about 'having an accident' if she embarrassed the royals.

I admit I'm not a royalist, but some googling shows that Diana's fears of an "accident" didn't come to light until much later. Does make you wonder how much was known but just not really talked about.

On a similar note to the pedo MP bit, there's this documentary by Michael Cockerell about the Whips. Made in 1995 and a poor quality rip, it's worth sticking with for anyone interested in British politics. Especially when the Tory whips talk about the dirt book, and how they might use knowledge of their MPs liking little boys as leverage to get them to vote how the whips want them to.

R484, I've seen that 1995 documentary before. There was a similar programme made around 2012 that covered the same ground, but had a segment from the Lib Dems talking about their recently-dead MP, Cyril Smith, widely suspected, based on credible evidence, of being a serial child abuser. It was a bit like Animal Farm, really - "they looked from the pigs to the men, and the men to the pigs, and couldn't tell one from the other". It was chilling.

The writer of the House of Cards trilogy, Michael Dobbs, is a Conservative politician; I don't think he was ever an MP but he has been close to the levers of power for several decades. I loathe most of his political positions, although I have to grudgingly admit that he was a (lukewarm) supporter of gay rights long before it was cool, and from the outset he has been a supporter of "vaccinate early, vaccinate often", and has lambasted vaccine skeptics His writing has the air of someone who knows exactly what he is talking about. In an interview some years ago, he observed that, whatever a large political party might *say* about its values, when it comes to the crunch they all operate the same way, and in his political fiction he draws from the unsavoury elements of almost every party represented at Westminster. If I remember correctly, the only party he said didn't operate a dirty tricks directorate was the Green Party, and as they are (or were at the time) tiny and batshit insane, it wasn't really necessary.

As a Rosie Cavaliero fan I recently watched PREY a 3 part series in which she stars as an exasperated divorced working class cop. She was great but it was not very good. The cast also included a couple of other personal faves of mine Craig Parkinson and Anastasia Halle.

Sandbaggers was filmed back in the Cold War 80s and looks dated on screen but the acting is top notch and the script is killer. I rewatched it on YouTube a couple years ago, someone had uploaded all the episodes. People raved about Spooks/MI-5 but this was the real deal.

Not sure if a poster above found a good link for Mother Love-- a great miniseries with a young and adorable James Whitby. Try this one via daily motion.

The recent series Vigil, and also Traces, were excellent detective thrillers. Vigil is by the Line of Duty people.

The BBC's Ridley Road was very good. A strong feminist story and Rory Kinnear uncomfortably brilliant as a very human 1960s Nazi. Was really unpleasant to listen to some of the dialogue but it's based on truth. The main character's Manchester accent comes and goes but I'll put that down to the filming having to be shut down for Covid and resumed months later.

And Hollington Drive is shaping up to be very good. Lots of twists and turns. Have to remember that this isn't a story about Julia from Motherland.

And Angela Black with Joanne Froggatt looks very good. From the writers of Liar, The Missing, Baptiste etc.

Season 5 of UNFORGOTTEN, I’ll bet you anything Keely Hawes joins the cast.

I've finished every available season of Poirot, Marple (and related Agatha Christie stuff including the new stories), Line of Duty, Agatha Raisin, Midsomer, Death in Paradise, Father Brown, Miss Fisher (although not the reboot), Endeavour, Inspector Morse, Inspector Lewis, Grantchester, Inspector George Gently, DCI Banks, Shakespeare & Hathaway, The Coroner, and New Tricks. I'm just starting on Foyle's War now.

I'm afraid I might start using British terms in my everyday speech.

Miss Fisher is ours, R492!

Foyles’s War is great r492. Also check out Baptiste. A new series just started. There are at least two previous ones.

I wasn't sure where to put this, but people seem to see Australian shows as similar to British, so it could be welcome here. The new 6-part Australian drama Fires, about the 2019-20 conflagration that raged right down one side of the country, is really good. Each episode is a separate story based on true experiences, and it's a distinguished cast. US DLers would recognise Anna Torv, Miranda Otto, Richard Roxburgh and Sam Worthington. Noni Hazlehurst from A Place to Call Home is in the upcoming finale, which is based on the catastrophic New Years Eve fires that caused complete darkness on the beach at Mallacoota in the middle of a summer's day.

It's on the ABC here, if that helps anyone find it.

[wuote] Or Sanditon? Also unwatchable.

It was a disgrace. Written by someone having a psychotic episode. Worse, my local PBS station keeps showing the “making of Sanditon” in between shows where there’s a time gap. Can’t believe it got a second season.

[quote] I wasn't sure where to put this, but people seem to see Australian shows as similar to British, so it could be welcome here.

I hate all the Australian shows on PBS including Miss Fisher and Dr Blake. Those two are boring. I’m not enthralled by costumes, so Miss Fishers clothes are not an attractant for me. The modern day Australian shows are just too awful…Halifax is one of the worst police dramas I’ve ever seen outside of the 1970s. And the Australian soap operas aren’t of interest to me. I wish my PBS station would cut back on the Aussie shows. Another show I don’t like is Sweden’s Before We Die. It’s utterly senseless. Definitely not in the same category as The Bridge or even Morten, which wasn’t great, but better than Die.

Last night my PBS station showed 1978 Invasion of the Body Snatchers. It was really terrible. I remember hearing it was considered a really good movie at the time. It was all filmed closeups. The cast was wasted,

Sorry, my spellcheck changed Morden to Morten.

The 1978 “Invasion” is superior to the original.

I feel for you, R497. I love Essie Davis and the costumes, but everything else about Miss Fisher is amateurish. Doctor Blake is no good and Halifax had amazing guest stars but was never a good show. The soapies are largely made for teenage girls in Australia and British people who just like to look at the sun and surf. But dismissing Australian TV on that basis is like saying you don't like UK TV because Midsomer Murders and Coronation Street are silly. It doesn't mean the country can't also produce quality.

Fires is really good. The Newsreader is a 2021 show which is set in the 1980s and still seems strangely dated, but it's good quality (and DLers might like it all the more because of a central gay theme). Rake is a fantastic show if you get on its wavelength, which might be hard for an American because its humour is very Australian. Tim Minchin's Upright is still better: funny and sad at the same time. Redfern Now, a collaboration between Aboriginal artists and the UK's Jimmy McGovern ("Cracker"), is fantastic, both seasons. Total Control, a drama about an Aboriginal woman elected to Parliament, is very good and is about to start its second season this month. Rachel Griffiths co-stars as the Prime MInister.

The original season of Underbelly, while many years old now, is brilliant. It might be a good point of entry for US-ians because it's based on real events, and in it you can see what the Italian underworld in Australia was like at the time of The Sopranos. (Spoiler: Yes! Australians with guns!)

I’m talking about the Australian shows my PBS station airs, not the whole of Australian television

No problem. As long as people know it's the PBS station that's the problem, not the general standard of Australian drama.

KOh god my PBS station just picked up another Australian show which it had already cancelled because nobody watched it. They are really scraping the barnacles on the barrel now.

The last good Australian show on US tv was Chris Lilley & he’s been culturally cancelled because he played female, gay, Tongan and East Asian characters. He looks part aboriginal, but I guess being mixed race doesn’t count.

Apologies if this has been cited above, if so it can stand another rave. Just watched 'Henry IV Pt.1' from the BBC's 'Hollow Crown' series, and thought it perfection.

A phenomenal cast - Irons, Hiddleston, Russell Beale, Walters, Peake, to name but five - brought Shakespeare to life brilliantly. Beautifully filmed by Richard Eyre, the battle scenes were specially immersive.

Three more in this 'Hollow Crown' tetralogy to savour, and I can't wait. Not least for Ben Whishaw...

"The Slap" is on Amazon and is awesome.

Anyone got any other recommendations.

Since this thread I came across a youtube channel with a number of the old BBC serials collected together.

I very much liked The Pallisers. Flambards started out well but fizzled toward the end. I'll soon start on The Forsythe Saga.

I’m watching Vigil now with Suranne Jones; dead body on a nuclear submarine. The first two episodes were very tense and Cold War paranoid but now it’s country-house-in-a-snowstorm with the suspect du jour. Still worth watching.

The submarine show is a new production. A civilian police (female) detective helicoptered out to a boomer on patrol is a bridge too far for suspension of disbelief. The Ministry of Defense has it's own criminal investigators who are already experts on Naval life.

Ugh, the other British tv show thread is now subscribers only. So I will post in this older one. Just watched a 4-episode series called Extremely Dangerous with Sean Bean. It’s 20 years old but still quite relevant and fast paced. Need to watch with subtitles on and pay attention to names because there are a lot of characters and a lot of sides. Starts out as prisoner Sean Bean is being transferred from one prison to another by train and turns out he has a particular set of skills…

I just started Endeavour. It started off confusing but has gotten better as the season progresses. I think the length of each episode helps provide more complex mysteries.

I’m watching The Indian Doctor on PBS. It’s in a similar vein to All Creatures but set in Wales in the 60s. The doctor is played the actor who was in Unforgotten and the town villain is the actor who plays Father Brown; he looks very different. I think it’s about ten years old. Gentle drama.

I think I'm in love with the soundtrack for Endeavour.

R513

Check out Barrington Pheloung. He's written the theme and a lot of the incidental music.

Ooh, I shall, thanks r514.

They keep mentioning Cheese and Pickle sandwiches in Endeavour, and now I want to try one. Looks like I can order the pickle chutney part on Amazon

Barrington Pheloung also wrote the themes and incidental music to 'Inspector Lewis' and 'Inspector Morse.' His work is available on Spotify and Amazon.

Unfortunately, Pheloung died in 2019.

Penda’s Fen is well worth a look.

Today I watched Ken Russell’s Delius - Song of Summer and while I wasn’t sure if I would like it initially, it did end up grabbing me.

I watched [italic]Quirke[/italic] on Kanopy because I like Gabriel Byrne. He plays a pathologist with a drinking problem in 50s Dublin. His brother is an ob/gyn. Michael Gambon plays his father. You might remember Geraldine Somerville from [italic]Gosford Park[/italic]; she played Luisa, the SIL who had an affair with the Gambon character. Quirke sees the gritty underside of Irish motherhood, including the laundries for a moment. No gay content, just an interesting period mystery mini series. FWIW, I watched all three episodes in one go on Kanopy, which counted as one credit.

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