Any British Drama Series Recommendations?
 

I was thinking of starting to collect the Cadfael TV series. Any other recommendations?

Although it's a bit old (1970s), I Claudius is quite good!

I'm a big BBC fan. They have put out a lot of quality shows.

I love Upstairs, Downstairs. A littel bit of comedy, a lot of drama, and a good dose of social commentary all wrapped up in one.

Another series that gets my highest reccomendation is "Ultraviolet." A modern day vampire story about a British agency who's job it is to fight vampires who are hiding among us. Since Vampires do not cast a reflection, cameras won't record their movements, and their voices don't record either. As one officer says: "Survelience is a b*tch." It is really well done, and morally ambiguous. The whole series is avalible in one double DVD set.

I also like I, Claudius.

"The Prisoner" is a fantastic series, but not for everyone. You might want to try to rent a disc before you buy it.

Hope this helps,

-Videophile

The Cadfaels are pretty good, one word of warning though is you'll occassionally see someone list them as it having an "audio commentary", what it really is is a partial interview on various aspect of the Cadfael series w/ Jackobi. If you like mysteries I would also recommend Foyle's War (set in WW2) and Midsomer Murders (set in the present).

If you like spies/espionage/that type of thing check out The Sandbaggers, it's more drama than action but a very "smart" series. "Spooks" (playing here as MI-5) is also getting a lot of good reviews and while I find it overall enjoyable there are some "issues" I have w/ it ;)

One I'm interested in, hoping people will offer comments, is Enemy At The Door. It's from the 70s-80s :confused: and set in WW2 about a German occupied island in the British Channel.

Cracker w/Robbie Coltrance is just about to be released.

I think Danger Man(aka Secret Agent) is a strong , intelligent spy drama from the early 60's---a bit of a precursor to The Prisoner (same actor). For more recent stuff, I would second the recommendation for Foyle's War. Foyle is a police inspector in England right at the start of WWII, as England expects to be invaded at any moment. He's solving crimes in the midst of (and sometimes related to) the war. Excellent on every level, IMO.

Another recommendation from me :up:

I have absolutely no idea whether these are available in R1 but speaking as a resident of the UK i would recommend these:

Traffik - The series upon which the Hollywood film was based.

Prime Suspect
Edge Of Darkness
House Of Cards
Gormenghast
This Life

and two personal faves i'd love to see released but which to my knowledge haven't aired Stateside

Holding On
The Cops (not the same as U.S)

Put another vote down for Ultravoilet. It's rocks!!

...and also for GORMENGHAST, TRAFFIK, PRIME SUSPECT...

. . . :o . . .

My fave:

The Singing Detective --- arguably, Dennis Potter's best work. The DVD is decent.

I bought The Prisoner based on recommendations here in DVDTalk and I have not been disappointed. Intelligent, thoughtful drama.

Ultraviolet is truly, truly excellent. The Sandbaggers is among the best tv shows ever made. Both start strong but a little slowly, and then build and gather momentum, right up into the stratosphere. Incredible, incredible television.

And I am really enjoying MI-5 on A&E right now. It's the best spy show on TV at the moment.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Looks like I have some work ahead of me. :D

Definitely I Claudius. Damn good! Others include Elizabeth R, bridehead Revisited, and Jewel in the Crown.

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Smiley's People

The first Prime Suspect is being re-released 10/14/2003 (might be able to pickup the out-of-print Anchor Bay releases, they did numbers 1 & 2).

Sandbaggers.
Any other spy series before and after are irrelevant. I'd love to get every moron who likes 'Alias' or 'Threat Matrix' and make them watch Sandbaggers.

Edge of Darkness- is this on NTSC Region 1 / Region 0 DVD?

surprised no one's mentioned spooks aka MI5 in the us yet. Its sort of like alias or 24 just set in britian.

One more for you to check out :)

Our Friends in the North - fantastic drama, a real epic

Shame there's not more Dennis Potter stuff available on DVD as I'd recommend almost all of them too :)

Hmnmm...it must be getting good word of mouth---based on the recommendations of this thread and reading some reviews, I just ordered Ultraviolet from DDD, and it's out of stock and backordered--d'oh! Oh well, sounds like it's worth the wait.

I bet DDD stocked a total of 10 copies of Ultraviolet. :D

Ultraviolet is really really good.

I highly recommend The Prisoner to anyone who hasn't seen it as well.

I must be in the minority but I thought Ultraviolet was way overrated. I traded it off a long time ago. I Claudius is a much better place to start for a dramatic series.

Here's another vote for <b>Spooks-AKA MI-5, Prime Suspect</b> and <b>Cracker-Robbie Coltrane</b>. All of these are top notch dramas that will continue to hold your attention even after many, many repeat viewings. They are all currently available in R2 if you have a region free player. If not, MI-5 will arrive sometime this fall in R1 (so I have heard) and Cracker season one is preparing to make it's R1 debut as well.

Ditto.

As a Brit - there are many crown jewels in British drama


Brideshead revisited - wonderful 10 hour series
http://www.dvdsoon.com/show-title-details.xml?uid=37205

I Claudius - excellent script - again about 10 hours long
http://www.dvdsoon.com/show-title-details.xml?uid=12232

Nicholas Nickelby - ch4 televised theatre production - 9 hours
http://www.dvdsoon.com/show-title-details.xml?uid=37666