The Prisoner
The Avengers

I was wondering why no one mentioned The Office in the first few posts, and then I realized that this thread was from '02! Gotta love the search feature.

Fawlty Towers: One of the, if not, the greatest, sitcom of all time, regardless of British or American. Absolutely hilarious. The best 12 episodes of all time. 3D Complete Series is well worth the $34

Are you Being Served?: Three words: Wilberforce Clayborne Humphries. Watch the show and you will see why this guy turns this cheesy low budget show into a wonderful silly sitcom full of tried and true British humor. The complete series will run you just over $100, but it is worth it, as it is a large muti disc set.

The Office: Not much needs to be said about this one. Modern Classic. Avalable rather cheaply at Costco, and worth picking up.

Cover Arts:

http://www.dvdplanet.com/productimages/front/18218.jpg

http://www.dvdplanet.com/productimages/front/44139.jpg

http://www.dvdplanet.com/productimages/front/48036.jpg

I think we should no longer allow the term "Best" in thread titles. Why? Because there is no "best" on "My favorite". So why bother even asking for "the best"?


My -FAVORITE- British show:

At this time it's AbFab with The Benny Hill Show a close second. The Benny Hill Show is some 30 years old but I still laugh out loud to jokes and gags I saw when I was a kid watching the show back in the late 70's and early 80's.

Honorable mentions:

Thin Blue Line
The Kumars ar No. 42/Goodness Gracious Me...both featuring great Indian humor and wit.

Coupling is the only one I've ever seen. That's my favorite, though. :up:

Second vote for Second Sight. Good twist on the usual police/crime/mystery drama.

I'd also love to see the original Who's Line on DVD sometime.

Regarding the main question, and some that haven't been mentioned, I would also vote for Spooks, Ultimate Force and Chef.

A short list for me of comedies would include Spaced, Fawlty Towers, The League of Gentlemen, Monty Python and Father Ted.
Dramas off the top of my head include The Prisoner, Prime Suspect, The Sweeney, Cracker, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, Ultraviolet and House of Cards

coupling was some of the funniest stuff i've ever seen on tv...until jeff left the show.

ultraviolet was cool.

and of course the classics...

fawlty towers
mr. bean
benny hill

I just saw that Chef is out for pre-order at Amazon (August 30th). Great show. Hilarious rants :)

Oh yeah, I bought the Full Bottom R1 set during the last DDD sale, and have laughing my ass off ever since. Sure, the abject violence pulls you in, but there actually is something funny going on! The ep where Richie thinks he's Jesus (which is just about every episode, but you'll know what I'm talking about if you've seen it) is a riot.

:lol::up: Gold, Frankenstein and Grrrr!

I haven't seen many british comedies, but Coupling is perhaps the best sitcom i've ever seen.

Scottish Comedy Show "Still Game" (accents are strong though) Best show on british TV at moment.

The first three seasons had some of the biggest LOL moments I have ever seen on television. Jeff may have been the single funniest character in TV history.

The really weird thing is my wife found it just as funny, whereas she mostly only :rolleyes: chuckles at show like The Young Ones or The Office.

one that I have on dvd and enjoy watching:

comedies:
Fawlty Towers
Coupling
Absolutely Fabulous
Monty Python’s Flying Circus
Black Adder
Are You Being Served?
Are You Being Served? Again! (Grace & Favour)
The Office (UK)
Mr. Bean
Keeping Up Appearances
Queer As Folk
French & Saunders
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Red Dwarf
The League of Gentlemen
Men Behaving Badly
The Young Ones
The Thin Blue Line

dramas:
Footballers' Wives
Bad Girls
The Prisoner
Hammer House of Horror
MI-5 (Spooks)
Ultraviolet
Wire in the Blood

While I'm sure it's not as mainstream popular as "The Office" or even "League of Gentlemen", my personal favorite is hands down "Spaced". It's a personal choice in that Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson's humor is completely in sync with the sense of humor my friends and I share. Along with Edgar Wright's frenetic direction and the many "homages" to movies, videogames and comic books, it just fires on all the right cylinders for me. Any fans of Shaun of the Dead should defitely check it out.

(if you can, the dvds still haven't been released in the US because of rights... you can find bootlegs on Ebay, or if you have a region free player).

Doc

^^
Region free is the way to go. If you really love British TV, it should be a no brainer. A lot of good stuff is on there and (albiet sadly, due to the circumstances behind it) the British pound has gone down in value, so it's currently a bit cheaper to buy things from the UK.

I've never seen Black Adder but I agree with all the above choices.

The Office

No love for East Enders?

Personally, I loved it when I watched it on PBS in the Twin Cities. When I moved, the PBS affiliate here does not carry it, and I don't get BBC America. I'd love to have this show in season box sets (I know, I know, it will NEVER happen, and would be too high priced if it ever did come out and take forever to release) but I would love to watch the earlier episodes again. I saw it from the first episode when I did watch it, where Arthur and the others find that guy dead in his apartment. I'd love to relive those earlier episodes again.

Comedy:

FAWLTY TOWERS

Drama:

CRACKER

Thus endeth the lesson. ;)

BILL

Ab Fab and Keeping up appearances are my personal favorites.

Strong agreement

Since my age old post I've added some new favorites.

You really must see the Alan Partridge trilogy (Knowing Me, Knowing You, I'm Alan Partridge Season One, and I'm Alan Partridge Season Two). Starts off funny, ends up simply hilarious. I could watch an episode or two every day and still be laughing all the way.

Another show I just picked up, and have only watched a few episodes of, is Big Train. It's sketch comedy with a cast of many familiar faces in British comedy, including Simon Pegg (from Shaun and Spaced), Mark Heap (Brian from Spaced), a couple of folks from the aforementioned Alan Partridge shows, etc. Funny stuff.

If you like those other shows, you need to go buy the complete collection. Now.



Well, whaddya waiting for? Get going!

But be warned that series one is very different from the rest (more slapstick and Mr. Beanish than later seasons.)

1:**
2:*****
3:*****
4:****

(Just my take on the seasons. The Complete Black Adder is a great collection and includes all the specials.)

Though it is a bit different, I enjoyed season 1 as much as the others, partly because it stands out from the rest. In the other seasons Atkinson is basically playing the same character, no matter how brilliantly.

1. Black Adder
2. Red Dwarf
3. Young Ones
4. Father Ted
5. Neverwhere
6. Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
7. Monty Python
8. Absolutely Fabulous
9. Dr Who
10. Ballykissangel (actually had a chance to visit the town of the same name that this was shot in a couple weeks ago)

the alan partridge shows were brilliant, I love the no way you're a mentalist ep..

Also I'll throw in Shameless, that show was fantastic.