Thread: Good British serial/sitcoms/movies

a great one is Foyle's War, another(it's only in disc format) is Danger UXB...

Mad Men is a smart and cinematic drama about the professional lives, social mores and sexual exploits of advertising executives on Madison Avenue circa 1960, when the industry was at its height of glamour, power, and prestige. The setting is the Sterling Cooper agency, which sells everything from cigarettes to political candidates. The protagonist, Don Draper, is a fast-rising creative director whose smooth exterior conceals any number of secrets.

http://www.surfthechannel.com/show/tele ... d_Men.html

Originally Posted by Жэнтос

Mad Men is a smart and cinematic drama about the professional lives, social mores and sexual exploits of advertising executives on Madison Avenue circa 1960

And what's British about Madison Avenue? Are you just trying to post as much irrelevant stuff as possible for the sake of post count?

Anyway, thanks to everyone else for suggestions. KV, I tried Black Adder, but it is just not my thing. I must confess that I started with the first season... maybe I shoud have started with the last one, as you suggested. And I just didn't find it funny. At all.

Then I had a period of several months where I was either busy or just had other things on my minds. Then I stumbled on "Only Fools and Horses". I found the link on some web site and decided to check it out. From the first minute, I was hooked. I haven't completed the first epsode yet (I am strugging through it, those damned Cockneys just can't speak proper English! ), but so far, I am fascinated. That accent, oh my god! :P

"Jonathan Creek"
"Keeping Up Appearances"
"Yes Minister"
"Black Books"
"Are you being served?"

Originally Posted by kalinka_vinnie

The best British comedy ever is: Blackadder!

I would recommend watching the series it in reverse order:
Blackadder IV
Blackadder III
Blackadder II
Blackadder I

You'll be hooked!

kalinka_vinnie, you didn't miss
Blackadder: Back & Forth (Millennium Special, 1999)
did you?
It happend so that that was the first episode I saw and that's how I got hooked.

Just to clarify, since there are no accents in Russia.... In British English, class background and geographical location make HUGE difference in the way people speak! You could say that Geography is the X-axis and Class in the Y-axis. Because of this, two people who are both brought up in London can speak in very different ways and even struggle to understand each other. Likewise, two people from an upper class background can speak identically, even though they come from completely different parts of the country. Being able to decipher accents is important in the UK and all native born Brits do it automatically. Regional and 'class' accents are slowly reducing and lines are being blurred. But this is still very much part of life in the UK - for the most part quite a negative part (in my opinion).

Working class and regional accent:
Only Fools and Horses
Shameless
Porridge
Big Brother UK

EastEnders (soap - London)
Coronation Street (soap - Manchester)
Emmerdale (soap - Yorkshire)
Trenchwood (Welsh)
Father Ted (Irish)

Upper class accent
Yes Minister
House of Cards
To the Manor Born
Inspector Morse
Love in a Cold Climate
Brideshead Revisited
The Way We Live Now


In-between
The Vicar of Dibley
Dr Who
Midsomer Murders
The Bill
Keeping up Appearances
Fawlty Towers

Australian and New Zealand English are variations of British/Irish English, which have developed away a bit on their own.

Classic Oz and Kiwi soaps that are popular in the UK:
Prisoner Cell Block H (Cult!)
Neighbours
Home and Away
Outrageous Fortune (New Zealand)
The Tribe (cult teen series from New Zealand)


These are mostly "classics" - I haven't been watching a lot of TV lately!

I haven't read all of the comments but you mentioned you love suspense and sci-fi and to see a wonderful sci-fi and a great variation of British English dialects I suggest Doctor Who! Also Sherlock, Merlin are great English series too. If you're into teen drama Skins UK is one of the best. I personally haven't watched but there's the Office UK and Shameless UK as far as I know. Call the Midwife is half drama half comedy.