British tv shows to stand alongside breaking bad the sopranos etc

The Office

The brittas empire

Haha. I guess The Office is more than ten years old bt I like it on a purely dramatic level prob more than Breaking Bad

My own, probably quite easily taken to fucking pieces on ILX opinion why the beeb is shit. Is that it has been socially firewalled and no mavericks are going to get through the gates. People like Clarke/Loach/Bleasdale don't get a chance anymore.

yeah, i have posited this as "everything went to shit when they stopped making Play for Today" syndrome

essentially the BBC's best work, bar a few sitcoms, was never its most populist stuff

shameless

I was a bit drunk and shouty last night disclaimer.

Re: Some of the BBC's populist stuff from now, once a show becomes a flagship show some terrible complacency creeps into it. An example is The Thick Of It which was dying a death by the last couple of series whereas I feel Veep is in safe hands, because they have a track record of maintaining good shit for 5/6 seasons, without turning shows into self parodic pantomimes.

it's all been downhill since del boy fell through the bar tbqh

trigger warning

hahaha

tbh the thick of it is as good a shout as i can think of?

Maybe the first three series of Peep Show.

I know I'm completely out of touch but I have absolutely no interest in (or intention of) watching some fucking TV show what lasts 10 fucking years and has 38 seasons or 42 series or whatever the terminology is. Life's too short.

i don't necessarily disagree, they still piss on anything produced in this country during the same period

life's too short

https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRgRs7angW4k70KxNFZEdSh_BEUCt1JSdtAWWBq-kXqnfiCFICW

Blimey, I forgot that thing even existed.

McGovern's The Street was very good from memory, never caught the whole thing, might have to remedy that.

there was an article on slate that was saying "true detective" rips of "red riding".

I'm much more concerned about the lack of good British animation tbh

http://www.bolexbrothers.co.uk/

An example is The Thick Of It which was dying a death by the last couple of series whereas I feel Veep is in safe hands, because they have a track record of maintaining good shit for 5/6 seasons, without turning shows into self parodic pantomimes.

Thank goodness Veep is being made by completely different writers and producers and directors to the smug complacent pack that made The Thick Of It.

[smug]Stopped watching The Thick Of It after that superlative 2-hour double-bill Xmas/NY special because it was pretty damn obvious they weren't gonna top it[/smug]

In fairness lj you've hardly to spell out the smug tags by now mayne

Thank goodness Veep is being made by completely different writers and producers and directors to the smug complacent pack that made The Thick Of It.

You are so full of shit, the beeb will have a job for you already.

that's definitely an unwarranted if perfectly-formed rejoinder. history written by the zingers

that superlative 2-hour double-bill Xmas/NY special

btw this is not a thing that exists, and the last series was incredible. anyone who'd deny themselves the glory of frustrated non-Opposition Mannion is an enemy of joy.

noodle vague there, proving himself the valuable discourse-encouraging ilxor we all know him to be oh hang on

I thought The Thick of It was entirely good up until the last episode, and slightly suspect anyone who doesn't is a miserable nitpicker.

loved the last series of TTOI

in answer to (perfectly reasonable) op: edge of darkness, state of play and i'd prob say the fall, too. different in pace & scale to yer hbo epics but certainly not 'lesser'

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v165/noodle_vague/bart-simpson-generator_zpsc16a2928.gif

Line of Duty, hmm.

It isn't the Wire. Doesn't need to be. Isn't that sort of thing anyway. More drama than realism. Scope is smaller. Hmm.

To really answer OP's question we probably need to think about this whole 'scope' and 'scale' issue

My own, probably quite easily taken to fucking pieces on ILX opinion why the beeb is shit. Is that it has been socially firewalled and no mavericks are going to get through the gates. People like Clarke/Loach/Bleasdale don't get a chance anymore.

'Socially firewalled' is accurate at least.

(Why LoD is not the wire – actor playing Manish doesn't come across as convincingly evil at all, compare and contrast with I dunno anyone on the wire where characters do things that are believable even when they're nailing people up in houses covered in lime - WPC who goes to prison situation is not an accurate depiction of what that would be, more for like, teachers or call centre mangers who feel stressed at work and feel they're being fucked over (and probably are) to look at and 'relate' to – I mean it's still fucking terrifying but ...)

To really answer OP's question we probably need to think about this whole 'scope' and 'scale' issue

idk Breaking Bad was pretty limited in scope. Though I guess it had more episodes than most British shows get.

Actually yeah - there's not that many characters in BB

Been watching a bit of the US House of Cards and I think the original had a far stronger authorial voice and more cutting humour. Only a few episodes in though (plus I know far more about the mechanics of British politics).

The UK House of Cards trilogy is utterly fantastic and anyone who hasn't watched it should, by the way.

Will second State of Play, even if the resolution lurches forward out of nowhere (my impression of it, anyway).

Live Soccer Saturday

^ OTM

red riding?

David peace adaptation

not sure which the rolling uk tv thread is right now so i'm just posting here but - just watched the 1st ep of happy valley last night. so good!

I'm up to ep 4, it's incredible. And incredibly brutal.

yeah even now it seems pretty grim, not sure if my wife will keep watching

but so good!

I'll give that a shot. I feel a bit bad sometimes that I pretty much spurn all homegrown TV drama in favour of the yanks (even the Danes get more of a look in).

One mention of Southcliffe above here and a short thread for it.

I only watched two episodes but I found it quite striking because it was so quiet and had a visual style that was really unusual for tv. Maybe a little bit Tarkovsky-ish? I've never seen another tv show like that, in a way it's just as cinema-like as Walking Dead or Breaking Bad.

There has been quite a few recent offbeat looking British tv shows but I never watched them. Utopia and Babylon I think.

I've never watched I Claudius, The Prisoner, Naked Civil Servent, Alec Guinness version of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy or that old show with Tim Roth as a criminal; but I always hear they are great.

Happy Valley was brilliant. I thought Keeley Hawes and Line of Duty had all the year's plaudits sewn up (rushed ending notwithstanding), but I've had a bit of a rethink of that now.

- Spoiler alert -

Really good but not fantastic otm. I really enjoyed the series (great cast and wow, Emma Thompson especially was brilliant). The penultimate episode was the best, but I thought the finale with the whole 'liberating Viktor' arch was a bit much. I don't think it's cynical per se: there's concentration camps all over the world (UK and US, too), but it hardly creates the stir it should.

But, as I said, pretty much great acting all around and RTD either got a lot of things right/made them scarily believable. It's just that some things aren't even predictions any more, they're real already :-/

Do wonder if there will be a second season, and if it can be 'not bonkers' after how this ended (with Edith uploaded in water molecules etc)

There will not be a second series.

the resolution will not be televised

Is this the closest thing we have to a general British TV drama thread?

I tried to get one going a (shockingly long) while back but it didn't take -

Rolling UK drama thread - "Paul Abbot, do you have David Simon's number by any chance?"

No programme that good should be tucked away on a rolling thread.