One If By Land, Two If By Sea, Three If By Television?

Upon my arrival home the other day, I noticed the new TV Guide in my mailbox. As I flipped through it, I noticed a review of the up-coming season of one of my favorite shows. “Life on Mars”, premiering on 12/11 on BBC America, is about a Manchester police office (DCI Sam Tyler) who is involved in a car accident and wakes up in 1973. Say what you will about the plot, but it extremely well written and beloved by critics. David E. Kelley is even producing an Americanized version of it (it’ll be crap because it’s Kelley). It got me thinking that the British really know there television. BBC America is a virtual treasure trove of quality programming. Let’s run down the list of quality British programming that us Yanks have been privileged to watch over the last few years.

First, you have to mention “MI-5” (or “Spooks” as it is know across the pond). It is about MI-5, the UK intelligence organization (think the FBI). The first 4 seasons were on A&E, before they realized that the quality of the programming didn’t match there line-up of “Dog the Bounty Hunter” and reruns of “CSI: Miami”. It makes “24” look like “Emmett Otter’s Jug-band Christmas”. I think I figured that out when the leader of a racist terror group put an agent’s head in a deep fryer in the second episode. But it’s not all about deep fryers, as there is an intricate plot that needs your undivided attention. Also, within the first three seasons, they lost there three main characters and didn’t skip a beat. No American show can seem to do that.

Other classics included “Hustle”, the show of a group of high-end grifters in London who only con those who deserve it. This gem was brought to us by the good people at AMC. You also have “Murphy’s Law”, about an on the edge undercover police officer. The great thing about this is that the show completely changed gears and it’s still great. It started off with Murphy as a slightly unbalanced police officer who had recently lost his child to an IRA bombing coming back to work, and had a slightly comedic tone. It completely turned into a dark and brooding series when season 2 opened with his girlfriend dying in his arms. “Robin Hood” was yet another retelling of the classic story of Sherwood Forest. A list like this would be remiss without the mention of the classic “Doctor Who” and it’s spin-off “Torchwood”. “Doctor Who” started off cheesy, but had a great story behind it and made me want to tune in. As I have yet to see “Torchwood” yet (it’s waiting on DVR), my boy Seamus told me that it went more “X-Files” than cheesy, and was really well done (Seamus has never been wrong about these things).

Now, its not all dramas as they have given us two of the classic comedies in recent years (both Americanized, one failed, one succeeded). Start with “Coupling”, which is basically “Friends”, except good. Three guys and three girls, frank and funny. Basically, it starts with the start of the relationship between Steve and Susan. You have Jane, who is Steve’s psycho ex; Patrick is Susan’s ex, plus Sally (Susan’s best friend) and the exceptionally funny Jeff (Steve’s best mate and Susan’s co-worker). Its one big incestuous relationship between the 6, but it makes for high comedy. The second is “The Office”, which if you watch NBC, needs no introduction. Basically, we see life at paper company Wernham Hogg through the eyes of a documentary team following the daily work of the company. It is hilarious for anyone who has ever had an idiot manager and Ricky Gervais is a comic genius.

Basically, the Brits do it right. They keep most series short, with only about 6 to 10 episodes in a season, and only about 2 or 3 seasons per show. That keeps things fresh and they don’t beat a concept into the ground. They aren’t afraid to kill off main characters and it never affects the show in any major way. Maybe that’s why producers keep ripping off the concepts and putting them on American TV.