TV Anorak: An American Intro To British TV-The P's
anorak
1. British: A person obsessively interested in a thing or topic that doesn't seem to warrant such attention.
This series of Challenge posts is an introduction to British TV shows for my fellow Americans. For instructions on how to play different region-coded DVD's, please go either here or here to read my previous blog posts that should clear up any confusion. Next up:
Let's get back on track with British television series now, with another pretty varied group.
Primeval
Another one of my first series on BBC America, it has gotten a bad rap and I don't know why. The general premise is time anomalies are ripping holes in the world, causing dinosaurs from different eras to roam free in modern day UK. A government agency is created to deal with the threat and try to hide everything from the general public's knowledge while trying to find out what's causing the anomalies in the first place. This entire series is filled with gorgeous hotties for the girls (starting off with James Murray and ending with Ciaran McMenamin...who I might have mentioned a couple of times before), but also plenty of dinosaur flesh-eating action for the boys. There were five series of this, but it has been reincarnated as Primeval New World which has just been shipped out, so verdict is still out on that one.
Peak Practice
This is a different kind of medical show, centering around GP's in a small English community. It's very character driven and is more about relationships than the medical profession, but that's OK. They have several cast changes throughout the six series that have been released. It starts off with Amanda Burton (from one of my upcoming "S's") and Kevin Whately (from Lewis). For some reason they stopped releasing new DVD's mid series, which really sucks once you get into the show. But don't despair, there are more series on the way finally (the seventh has just been added for pre-order). I honestly don't know how many total series there were.
Prime Suspect
Again, not the crappy American try at a remake (which I think got cancelled after just a couple of episodes), but the series that put Helen Mirren on the map. This is a very gritty and dark police drama about a woman officer making her way up the ladder any way she can while dealing with her alcoholism. She changes coworkers and even cities numerous times, but it pretty much spans her whole career (since the show ran for so long).
Honorable mention to:
Psychoville
Talk about your dark comedies, I don't think it gets any darker than this series. It's really hard to describe it without giving away the plot, but it follows the individual lives of several different insane people who have a link, but you don't know what or why. I can't really tell you more than that. Again, this is another Dawn French part and she is my favorite character. A lot of the actors play more than one character. The mother and son push the "comedy gone too far" border, so prepare yourself. There are two series here, and no word about a third, although, considering the varying cast, it may take forever for them to get back together to film another series.
As these posts go on, I'm managing to get shorter and shorter (which I'm sure is a plus for my readers)! Last year's Disney posts kept getting longer and longer, so I'm making progress!
1. British: A person obsessively interested in a thing or topic that doesn't seem to warrant such attention.
This series of Challenge posts is an introduction to British TV shows for my fellow Americans. For instructions on how to play different region-coded DVD's, please go either here or here to read my previous blog posts that should clear up any confusion. Next up:
Primeval
Another one of my first series on BBC America, it has gotten a bad rap and I don't know why. The general premise is time anomalies are ripping holes in the world, causing dinosaurs from different eras to roam free in modern day UK. A government agency is created to deal with the threat and try to hide everything from the general public's knowledge while trying to find out what's causing the anomalies in the first place. This entire series is filled with gorgeous hotties for the girls (starting off with James Murray and ending with Ciaran McMenamin...who I might have mentioned a couple of times before), but also plenty of dinosaur flesh-eating action for the boys. There were five series of this, but it has been reincarnated as Primeval New World which has just been shipped out, so verdict is still out on that one.
Peak Practice
This is a different kind of medical show, centering around GP's in a small English community. It's very character driven and is more about relationships than the medical profession, but that's OK. They have several cast changes throughout the six series that have been released. It starts off with Amanda Burton (from one of my upcoming "S's") and Kevin Whately (from Lewis). For some reason they stopped releasing new DVD's mid series, which really sucks once you get into the show. But don't despair, there are more series on the way finally (the seventh has just been added for pre-order). I honestly don't know how many total series there were.
Prime Suspect
Again, not the crappy American try at a remake (which I think got cancelled after just a couple of episodes), but the series that put Helen Mirren on the map. This is a very gritty and dark police drama about a woman officer making her way up the ladder any way she can while dealing with her alcoholism. She changes coworkers and even cities numerous times, but it pretty much spans her whole career (since the show ran for so long).
Honorable mention to:
Psychoville
Talk about your dark comedies, I don't think it gets any darker than this series. It's really hard to describe it without giving away the plot, but it follows the individual lives of several different insane people who have a link, but you don't know what or why. I can't really tell you more than that. Again, this is another Dawn French part and she is my favorite character. A lot of the actors play more than one character. The mother and son push the "comedy gone too far" border, so prepare yourself. There are two series here, and no word about a third, although, considering the varying cast, it may take forever for them to get back together to film another series.
As these posts go on, I'm managing to get shorter and shorter (which I'm sure is a plus for my readers)! Last year's Disney posts kept getting longer and longer, so I'm making progress!
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