What British TV programmes do you get in the USA?

Kiwi: "Summer Wine",to me,isn't dull,just too predictable as to what the characters will do.
I agree about Robson Green. Also,John Hannah,and Robbie Coltrane.

No, sorry, I haven't seen that.

I'll keep a lookout for if it ever comes back though.

Reyn: It's called "All the King's Men".about the Sandringham Company in WWI.

open all hours

Thanks!

You were mentioning you weren't aware David Jason didn't do comedy. Here's another one: The Darling Buds of May :wink:

I've enclosed a good site that tells about him:

All about David Jason

hehe, He's got all his hair there, eh? That takes him back a few years. And that's Ronnie Barker, right?

I wish we could get Eastenders

Jonsey:) Amen !!! What little I've seen of it I love it

What British.....
Jonsey: Are you aware that you can read daily plot summaries of Eastenders on the BBc website ?
I think the exact website is BBC.co.uk/eastenders/.
If that doesn't work,you can get in through the BBC website.

David Jason is "Dell boy", the main character in "Only Fools and Horses" that I keep banging on about.

Although his face was familiar from when he appeared in "Open All Hours", he became very much a household name, and possibly one of the most famous people in the UK, when he played the lead role in "Only Fools".

In actual fact, it was very odd to see him playing serious roles, such as Frost. I for one, couldn't take him seriously for the first episode of Frost, but his superlative acting soon won me over.



"Dell Boy".....doing his usual thing, and trying to sell some dodgy cutlery.
His other stock included such things as flood damaged umbrellas, japanese dolls that swore when one pulled the string at the back, mobile phones that changed the channels on TV's within a mile radius and self inflating sex dolls that were filled with inflammable gas, and exploded at random times........

One to watch out for in the near future, is "Bleak House" (Charles Dickens) , a new adaptation from the BBC.

It started last week with an hour long episode, which will be followed by fourteen half hour episodes (two episodes a week, here), stars Charles Dance and Gillian Anderson (ex X-files). I must say that Ms Anderson was always rather fanciable, but she looks absolutely beautiful in full "Lady Dedlock" costume.

It already has me hooked, and really brings the whole thing to life. The camera work is fantastic, there are lots of dark brooding scenes with spooky music, and the acting is the best I've seen for a long time.

All in all, thoroughly enthralling.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2005/10_october/04/bleak.shtml

On a completely different subject (and yes, I know that technically it is a film as opposed to TV) ...... I have a question for you in the various Colonies.

Did "Withnail and I" ever make it big in your neck of the woods?

Wonderful film, set at the end of the swinging 60's in London. Two out of work actors (drug taking hippies, actually) go to the country to get away from it all.

Richard E Grant's first major role, I believe. Cool music, great story and absolutely hilarious situations.

My favourite quotes from the film..........

"I feel like a pig shat in my head" (hangover)

"Warm up? We may as well sit round this cigarette. This is ridiculous. We'll be found dead in here next spring"....... (city boys, trying to survive in the wilds during a wet winter)

"These are the sort of windows faces look in at"..... (sitting in a dark deserted farmhouse at night, with the wind howling outside)


"This place has become impossible. Nothing to eat, freezing cold and now a madman on the prowl outside with eels"...... (same farmhouse, but with strange goings on outside)

"Right, here's the plan. First, we go in there and get wrecked, then we eat a pork pie, then we drop a couple of Surmontil-50's each, means we'll miss out on Monday and come up smiling Tuesday morning"..... (darstardly plan to avoid the dreaded Monday syndrome)

.....and my absolute favourite, from Danny the Hippie drug dealer that has tried everything on the planet, and is in a constant state of drug induced awareness..........he says everything in an absolute deadpan manner, and is totally serious ..........

Danny:- "I don't advise a haircut, man. All hairdressers are in the employment of the government. Hairs are your aerials. They pick up signals from the cosmos, and transmit them directly into the brain. This is the reason bald-headed men are uptight."


If you haven't seen it, you must try to......as long as you don't mind a bit of swearing.


..........Dys would LOVE it!


Try reading the first page of the script, and you'll get a rough idea of what to expect............

http://corky.net/scripts/withnail.html

I saw "Bleak House" last night (on VCR from last week), milord.

It is terrific, I agree. Marvellous. Can't wait for this week's episodes.

Did you see the piece in last week's Radio Times about the making of the series? Fascinating in its detail.
This will be bigger than The Forsyte Saga, Brideshead Revisited, or any other historical drama you could name, I bet.

"Withnail" sounds interesting. So does "Bleak House". I'll look for both of them.

Five or six episodes later, Bleak House is getting better and better.
You're right McT, it will go down as one of THE best TV productions ever.

I hope that its success will inspire the BBC to go on and cover some of Charles Dickens' other fine works.

Little Dorrit would be good for starters.

I can look for "Withnail and I" today. I'm headed to the premier video rental shop, the one that has the entire Criterion Collection. I'm looking for another from Criterion called "Rififi" or "Du rififi chez les hommes" and I might as well look for this one you recommend, too.

That should take care of all my TV watching time for the week.

have been watching "my family" for the last few weeks. imo one of the better family/situation comedies. i see that it is now listed as "in hiatus" - sorry to hear that. this show made us laugh at pretty normal family situations - no laughtrack was needed . hbg

"Welcome to the 'My Family' guide at TV Tome The show is centered around the Harper family, who seem very 'normal', a married couple with 3 children, but they are nowhere near normal. Ben is a Dentist who wishes he'd become a doctor. He frequently tries to understand his kids, often with little success. He just cannot wait until all 3 of them have left home"

Here I am, banging on about the new BBC production of "Bleak House" again.

We're now up to about episode eight, and it just gets better and better.

Charles Dance is one hell of an actor, and portrays sinister ruthlessness in such a believable way, that you feel like booing and hissing whenever he appears on screen.

The sets are magnificent, the camera work is terriific and the background music really sets the tone.

It's a "must watch" for me now, and Thursday and Friday evenings will not seem the same, once it has finished.

It has inspired me to re-read my Dickens collection of books.

TV drama at its very best.

Did you find it, Piff?

I would imagine that it is not one that they would normally stock. Worth a search though.

I have the VHS AND the DVD, so if you want one........my rental terms are favourable.

Since I skipped from page 1 to page 10, I may have missed this, but "Monarch of the Glen"--such thick Scots accents I had to watch the first couple I saw again on VCR with headphones on before I could figure out what they were saying and adjust my ears.

Love the way they'd invent a new "ancient tradition", a different one each episode, loved the lousy ceilidh band.

But WGBH just keeps showing the same three years worth of episodes over and over. They get to the end and start again at year one and completely stiff us on years four and five when I understand they completely reinvented the cast, and I resolutely refuse to read the plot summaries on the Beeb's web site in protest. Not that that helps.