Recommend a non-American TV series

[WHF]

As a Canadian I have access to all the American TV shows and while there are some great shows, such as Dexter or Rescue Me, I'd like to watch TV from other countries as well. I've seen some British TV such as Life on Mars, Doctor Who, Torchwood, Lovejoy, Gerry Anderson stuff, Blake's 7 and I also watch as much Canadian programming as I can. I think I'm an exception as most Canadians watch very little Canadian made programming unless it's Hockey Night in Canada. I do not remember seeing a TV series from another country.

Even though it is now canceled I would recommend Intelligence , now available on DVD. The review I linked to does a good job of explaing why it's such a great show and I would add that one of the things I loved about this show was that every character was following their own agenda and I wasn't always sure what their agenda was. This show has a completely different feel to it than you get with your typical US crime drama.

Can you recommend a non-American show (for purposes of this thread shows like nuBSG, Stargate and its spinoffs, Xena, and Farscape should be considered American even though they are filmed in Canada, New Zealand or Australia) that people should watch?

 

[Kegek]

Not really. Only one I know of offhand is a Canadian show (Charlie Jade), so I presume that doesn't count. Our (Ireland's) national TV is pretty forgettable, as is the also-available the British fare. Which is probably why we spent most of our TV time watching American shows, just like everywhere else.

 

[Count Zero]

I could but due to the language barrier it would be pretty useless. Hardly anyone outside Germany, Austria and Switzerland knows German. Well, just in case the German speakers on this board haven't heard of them, I'll recommend the following shows:
Dr. Psycho: A mixture of police drama and comedy that is really funny and compelling. The acting is very good, too. A second season is comming soon, in June.
Ijon Tichy, Raumpilot: A genre show and only the second German Sci-Fi show ever made, I think. It's a loose adaptation of Stanislaw Lem's book and the weirdest series I've ever seen.
Irgendwie und Sowieso: So how did the events of 1968 unfold in the Bavarian countryside? This series answers that. It has a strong cult following in Bavaria, mostly due to the dialogues.

 

[Ethros]

It may be 27 years old, and is only six episodes, but I thought the BBC's adaption of Day of the Triffids was a great miniseries when I bought the DVD blind () last year

 

[WHF]

Only one I know of offhand is a Canadian show (Charlie Jade), so I presume that doesn't count.

If it is an American production filmed in Canada (or another country) mainly because of production costs then it doesn't count. I wiki'd Charlie Jade and since its a Canadian/South African co-production I think it should count. Go ahead and recommend it.

I think a show like Stargate: Atlantis or Battlestar Galactica are American shows even though they're filmed outside the US. A show like Extras I consider non-American even if it is partially financed by HBO. I'm not sure if I'm completely clear, or even if I can be, on what is American and what is not. If in doubt go ahead and recommend away.

 

[auntiehill]

Jonathan Creek--one of my all-time favorite shows. It's a British show, about a man who designs magic tricks for a living, but ends up solving mysteries with a female crime novelist. Their chemistry (or lack thereof) plus some incredible mysteries, makes it just fantastic and not like anything on American television.

The Original Cracker Mysteries w/ Robbie Coltrane. Absolutely brilliant character study, paired with crime-drama. It is gripping stuff. See also Prime Suspect, with Helen Mirren.

A lot of my friends like Spooks/aka MI-5, but I never really got into it much myself.

 

[Kegek]

If it is an American production filmed in Canada (or another country) mainly because of production costs then it doesn't count. I wiki'd Charlie Jade and since its a Canadian/South African co-production I think it should count. Go ahead and recommend it.

Okay. I thought it wouldn't count because I assumed you'd seen it as you mentioned you watched Canadian TV and as far as Canadian TV goes that has a degree of prominence. It's definitely not an American show; though I believe the title character is played by an American actor. The writing staff et cetera are Canadian, though I think there was at least one or two South African contributions on that front. I strongly recommend it, it's a fantastic, intelligent, confusing and entertaining science fiction series.

 

[Trekaholic]

The review I linked to does a good job of explaing why it's such a great show an I would add that one of the things I loved about this show was that every character was following their own agenda and I wasn't always sure what their agenda was.

Thanks for the link to my review. This is the first time anybody from Trekbbs has linked to one of my reviews. I used to post here a lot but haven't done so for years. Nice to see a bit of traffic come in from my old stomping ground.

Best regards,

Chris "Trekaholic" Neilson

 

[anais]

Foyle's war - British detective series set during WW2.

 

[Sheep]

Spooks (MI-5 in the U.S.) is required viewing for fans of action shows like 24.

 

[WHF]

I could but due to the language barrier it would be pretty useless. Hardly anyone outside Germany, Austria and Switzerland knows German. Well, just in case the German speakers on this board haven't heard of them, I'll recommend the following shows:
Dr. Psycho: A mixture of police drama and comedy that is really funny and compelling. The acting is very good, too. A second season is comming soon, in June.
Ijon Tichy, Raumpilot: A genre show and only the second German Sci-Fi show ever made, I think. It's a loose adaptation of Stanislaw Lem's book and the weirdest series I've ever seen.
Irgendwie und Sowieso: So how did the events of 1968 unfold in the Bavarian countryside? This series answers that. It has a strong cult following in Bavaria, mostly due to the dialogues.

These sound interesting. Do the DVDs have English subtitles? If they do I might be interested in checking them out. I'd love it if good non-English shows were aired here in Canada with subtitles. I suspect they wouldn't gain much of an audience but perhaps they could be put on one of the specialty cable channels here like Showcase.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

I second Foyle's War. I just wish they'd make them faster!

And if you like historical murder mysteries, check out Poirot (with David Suchet) and Sherlock Holmes (with Jeremy Brett).

 

[anais]

I second Foyle's War. I just wish they'd make them faster!

The future of Foyle's War is in limbo at the moment

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Not really. Only one I know of offhand is a Canadian show (Charlie Jade), so I presume that doesn't count. Our (Ireland's) national TV is pretty forgettable, as is the also-available the British fare. Which is probably why we spent most of our TV time watching American shows, just like everywhere else.

Sorry, but what exactly do you have against British TV shows? You say you don't watch it, but then say it's forgettable, or uninteresting, but how do you know, if you don't watch it?

Recommendations that spring to mind... Red Dwarf, Peep Show, IT Crowd, Coupling, Skins, Ashes to Ashes, Spooks, Teachers, Hustle.

I forgot to add Primeval, and Moving Wallpaper.

 

[Kegek]

Sorry, but what exactly do you have against British TV shows? You say you don't watch it, but then say it's forgettable, or uninteresting, but how do you know, if you don't watch it?

I thought it was fairly obvious. It is forgettable and uninteresting; therefore I do not watch it.

 

[Jax]

The IT Crowd

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Sorry, but what exactly do you have against British TV shows? You say you don't watch it, but then say it's forgettable, or uninteresting, but how do you know, if you don't watch it?

I thought it was fairly obvious. It is forgettable and uninteresting; therefore I do not watch it.

But how do you know, if you're not watching it? Have you watched any of the shows from the last few years?

 

[Kegek]

But how do you know, if you're not watching it? Have you watched any of the shows from the last few years?

Not consistently, obviously. I see no reason to regularly tune in to shows I don't like, or at all. Why?

 

[Bob The Skutter]

But how do you know, if you're not watching it? Have you watched any of the shows from the last few years?

Not consistently, obviously. I see no reason to regularly tune in to shows I don't like, or at all. Why?

I've just seen you say similar things a few times, and people have given examples, which you seemed disinterested in.
I know from your posts you have rather esoteric tastes, so the fact that they're popular with other people here doesn't mean really anything. It just seemed odd to pretty much write off most of UK and ROI output in a thread asking for recommendations, when you admit to not watching them. So I just wondered what you thought was so bad about it.

If this is coming across as an attack on your opinion, that's not how it's meant. I'm honestly just wondering. I don't blame you for not consistently tuning in to shows you don't enjoy, who would, it's just from remarks it just seemed like you'd never tried a lot of them.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I love The Red Green Show (it's a Canadian series).

Unfortunately, it's not being made anymore (Steve Smith, who played Red and created the show, decided to end it after 15 seasons), but there is talk of a prequel, an animated show called Planet Harold (about the younger years of Harold Green - Red's nephew, played by Patrick McKenna).