OT? Question About U.K. TV and DVDs
 

I hope this makes sense, isn't too long, and isn't too off topic. I'm a fan of British television (the stuff you see on PBS and BBC-A here in the states). In the U.K., what is the original aspect ratio of the TV programs? I have some region 1 DVDs of U.K. programs that appear to be 4:3; have they been altered? If I bought U.K. DVDs of those programs, would they also be 4:3?
TIA

This is probably a better question for the International Forum...

You'll need to list the programmes. How else can people help?

you would need to be specific about shows - we had 4:3, we have 16:9.
some comedies will have been filmed in one, some in the other.

I've found that most UK shows filmed after 2001 or so are almost all 16x9

True. 16x9 seems to be more common these days.

OK, that makes sense. I'm at work, but off the top of my head: Absolutely Fabulous, Black Adder, Mr. Bean, Jeeves and Wooster.

All of those shows are Full Frame.

One thing you may be seing is that sometimes on PAL conversions the image appears to be "squeezed" a bit in NTSC, I think because of the additional lines of resolution PAL has.

This can make the image seem a little bit off, or look like it was original a widescreen image that has been adjusted.

I think that explains it.