British Telly

[DanaC]

Bit of a side step ...

Documentary about London's Met police. This is a side of London you probably won't see much of on US tv.

[it]

So are there any recommendations in the realm of current british comedies? Hidden gems the rest of us might not have heard of yet?

I could really use one like that right about now...

[DanaC]

Have you seen Babylon? That's pretty funny.

There's a one-off feature length / pilot - and then the series followed six months later, so make sure to watch the pilot first.

[it]

"I WILL VERBALLY DOMINATE YOU" <3 ok if the trailer alone can make me laugh that hard the show must be good. Thank you, I am going to give it a go.

[DanaC]

I know I've mentioned this show before, a long timeago, but I whole episodes just poppedup on my youtube recommends and reminded me about it. It's from the early noughties. Not sure if it'll play outside uk, but just in case it will:

The Governor and the Doctor face off :P

[DanaC]

I saw this come up as a repeat on the tv listings and hadn't seen it when it aired a few years ago, so went looking for it.

There's been some talk recently of the gang getting back together for a new series... I have mixed feelings about that. On the one hand, a whole new series of Blackadder is something to get excited about ...on the other hand what if it doesn't live up to the enormous expectations?

Anyhoo - this was aired for the 25th anniversary of the series starting and is very entertaining. Narrated by David Mitchell, and with some really nice cast interviews and behind the scenes stuff.

[Carruthers]

For a number of reasons, I've not bothered with any TV drama for some considerable time but I thought I'd watch 'The Night Manager' based on the John le Carre novel of the same name.

I'm not used to seeing Hugh Laurie in anything other than comedy, Black Adder, Jeeves and Wooster etc., so I wasn't too sure that he could carry off the role of Richard Roper, international arms dealer.
However, he acquits himself splendidly with just the right level of menace bubbling along beneath the surface.
His Chief of Staff, Major Corkoran (Tom Hollander), although somewhat effete, is an equally unpleasant piece of work, the sort you'd cross the road to avoid even if you had never set eyes on him before.

The first episode, aired on Sunday, got the series off to a good start.
It's due to be shown in the US on Tuesday 19th April on AMC and in Australia on BBC First later this year on a date yet to fixed.

The trailer is slightly misleading as it's not a blood and thunder production by any means and that side is somewhat over represented.
Can't wait for the next episode and might even buy the DVD when it comes out in a few months.



BBC Link Might not work outside the UK for copyright reasons.

[fargon]

It don't work^^^

[Carruthers]

Originally Posted by fargon

It don't work^^^

Try the AMC link above. There's a video there which, probably for reasons of copyright, won't work here!

It's a funny old world.

[fargon]

Thank You Sir. I might watch that if we get cable by then.

[DanaC]

He was great as Dr House.

[Carruthers]

Originally Posted by DanaC

He was great as Dr House.

I was wondering about that series. I take it you'd recommend it?

I expect the DVDs are pretty expensive, but might be worth pursuing.

[DanaC]

I loved that show. It's not the greatest television ever made, and is quite formulaic, but it does some interesting stuff, is funny and dark by turn, and his performance is excellent. One thing I really liked about it is that having established a strong formula, they were then able to play with that and at times subvert it in really interesting ways.

[Carruthers]

Originally Posted by DanaC

I loved that show. It's not the greatest television ever made, and is quite formulaic, but it does some interesting stuff, is funny and dark by turn, and his performance is excellent. One thing I really liked about it is that having established a strong formula, they were then able to play with that and at times subvert it in really interesting ways.

Thanks Dani. I'll add that to my ever expanding Amazon Wish List (DVD Section).

[DanaC]

Rather than taking a complete punt on the dvd, here's the pilot episode on Youtube to see if it grabs you first:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FanXU570rYc

(part 1, other parts on the side bar)