I thought this might be of interest to the membership - after all, we are all Children of the Tube.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and ... 0-television-dramas

This is a list of TV series - naturally all in English - that The Guardian considers the best of all time. Probably, many will be unknown to those of you who didn't grow up in an English-speaking country. Others probably aired too long ago to be familiar to some.

The BBC production of Brideshead Revisited - the first time I saw Jeremy Irons - was brilliant, but I doubt many know it. The BBC series taken from John le Carré's novels (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy; Smiley's People) were excellent.

Battlestar Galactica is one of my favorite series of all time. Joss Wedon's Buffy the Vampire Killer made the list (I didn't care for it) but his wonderful Firefly didn't (the film Serenity was a continuation of the Firefly series).

Jewel in the Crown was a brilliant series of books by the English author Paul Scott - but I never saw the TV adaptation.

I've got to admit I've never heard of about half of the series on this list; I suspect many of those are unknown outside the UK.

In any case, I think I'll try to hunt some of these down on the P2P sites and check them out - it's always nice to have something for a rainy day.

Here's the list:

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

1. The Sopranos
2. Brideshead Revisited
3. Our Friends in the North
4. Mad Men
5. A Very Peculiar Practice
6. Talking Heads
7. The Singing Detective
8. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit
9. State of Play
10. Boys From the Blackstuff
11. The West Wing
12. Twin Peaks
13. Queer as Folk
14. The Wire
15. Six Feet Under
16. How Do You Want Me?
17. Smiley's People
18. House of Cards
19. Prime Suspect
20. Bodies
21. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
22. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
23. Cracker
24. Pennies From Heaven
25. Battlestar Galactica
26. Coronation Street
27. The Jewel in the Crown
28. The Monocled Mutineer
29. Clocking Off
30. Inspector Morse
31. This Life
32. Band of Brothers
33. Hill Street Blues
34. The Prisoner
35. St Elsewhere
36. The L Word
37. The Shield
38. Brookside
39. 24
40. The Twilight Zone
41. Pride and Prejudice
42. Red Riding
43. Oz
44. The Street
45. The X-Files
46. Bleak House
47. The Sweeney
48. EastEnders
49. Shameless
50. Grange Hill

Surprising list actually, as you already mentioned, I have no clue what the hell half of the shows are. Thus as you said, if you're outside the UK, you won't know what they are. I can't believe "24" is so low on the list of shows, as well as "rison Break" did not make it on the list?

Don't forget that these are the best series of all time, so some of them aired 30-40 years ago: Brideshead Revisited in 1981, the legendary The Prisoner with Patrick McGoohan in the late 60's.

Bleak House and Pride and Prejudice are from the novels by Dickens and Austen respectively, and are BBC productions.

The BBC has dome some great stuff btw, and proves the benefit of state-funded public broadcasting. Because the BBC doesn't have to worry about making a profit - no commercials - it can take artistic risks impossible in the States.

But just looking at the top 10, there are 7 I've never heard of!


3. Our Friends in the North
5. A Very Peculiar Practice
6. Talking Heads
7. The Singing Detective
8. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit
9. State of Play
10. Boys From the Blackstuff

I've seen some of 'The Sopranos' and just can't believe it's the best drama of all time. To me it was just average and certainly not something I ever made a point of watching.

Its great to see Mad Men up there on the list!

At least they got the number 1 show right.  The Sopranos mixed family, business, and crime and then took a step back to see which loyalties held and which didn't.  They had six great seasons and ended enigmatically with most of us wanting more.  Definitely my fave from the list.  Six feet Under was pretty damn good also.

Even I'm from the UK and never heard half of them. We could probably debate on this list for a long time since there are other productions which are favourities for others that are not on the list (especially ones that have massive cult followings)...

Corrie is only 26th on that list... I'm not a fan, but that's a real surprise nonetheless! Battlestar Galactica is definitely excellent, but I must admit I prefer ST Next Generation! Shameless was highly amusing a few years back, and it's just superb to see Grange Hill make the list, albeit at the bottom!

I've never even heard of Coronation Street, Grange Hill, or Shameless! We're these Brit productions, and did you see them here in HK?

I thought Star Trek TNG was a lot better than the original series, but that viewpoint is heresy among the Trekies.

Did you ever see Firefly or the movie made from it, Serenity? Both were damn good. I'm a huge sci-fi fan. There are some extraordinarily good sci-fi novels/authors.

I can tell you are a sci-fi fan. I love TNG best, much much more than other series, before or after it. Don't know about Firefly or Serenity. Actually, I don't watch much TV these days...

Have you read the Night's Dawn Trilogy by Peter Hamilton? Love it! Wonder when that will get the big screen treatment... Actually, Fallen Dragon would be easier to make into a movie...

[ Last edited by  CunningLinguist at 13-1-2010 03:12 ]

Read the first two Hyperion novels by Dan Simmons.

Also read The Book of the New Sun and The Book of the Long Sun quartets by Gene Woolfe - both are just amazing!

Peter Hamilton - I enjoyed the first two books of the Void Trilogy (3rd yet to come). I've got to admit that I was put off by the return of the dead plot element in the Night's Dawn Trilogy, but yes it was very well written

I really like Iain M Banks Culture series of novels - read Use of Weapons

Also enjoyed Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space series.

Vernor Vinge has written some great things.

You know I have all these things and thousands more in ebook format. I could give you a cd full of stuff if you're interested.

[ Last edited by  Marsupial at 13-1-2010 03:56 ]

Night's dawn was not really religious though, but I do have a slight disappointment with the ending - seems slightly speeded pace (kinda how LoTR was). Still a fabulous space opera, and a mesmerising work. Fallen Dragon is a brilliant single-volume story and I really recommend it.

Mars 'Serenity' was cool. They said the guy who directed it felt so bad for the actors when they abruptly cancelled the series that he made Serenity to give the actors and crew work and exposure since they signed on for the TV series and got screwed. Isn't that the story?  Since you're into sci-fi, what is your impression of Avatar?

I am a SCI FI freak..

My all time best science fiction series has to be .".Buck rogers in the 21st century.." ( I still think Elma is fit as fuck and TWINKEE is the coolest robot around..".RIBIT RIBIT.".)

Battlestar Galactica has to come next closely followed by Star Trek then Star Wars...

I love any films or series that has anything to do with SCI FI...

But i did not and still don't like the Doctor Who series...( Old and New..)..People with dressed in cardboard boxes going round saying .." EXTERMINATE.."

Best non SCI FI series has to be...(" LAST OF THE SUMMER WINE"..)

Any of the bros remember.."JUST FRIENDS" and "MOONLIGHTING.."

One of my personal favourites is House M.D.

what happened to Beretta, Starsky and Hutch and Kung Fu?

Now you have started the bells ringing in my brain now..

There are a few that have not been mentioned...

Dukes of hazzard..The A team...Knight rider...Night hawk..Blue thunder....Airwolf..

God am i that old...

Can't quite remember Beretta bro...Care to refresh my memory..

[ Last edited by  Rico at 13-1-2010 05:58 ]

I am a typical Hk er
so I have not watched most of them in pearl channel
I know The Sopranos,The West Wing,Six Feet Under,Buffy the Vampire Slayer,Battlestar Galactica,Band of Brothers,The Shield, 24,The X-Files and they are good of course

it is strange thar Friends not appearing in the list,it is very popular in the states

the best series ever is how i met your mother... its the story of how a guy met his wife.. but all the stories before that too.. soooo funny

For it is Friends, because 6 friends that can keep it for that long time: 10 seasons.
I am not sure that a lot of other can make it even if I like some.

As I have not yet seen it I do like also Numb3rs where 2brothers, one mathematics genius and one FBI agent work together to solve the crime.

ER was also good as it was one of the first in this categery even at the last season they have change a lot of people.