Recommend a non-American TV series

[Captain Shaw]

Spooks or mi5 as it is in the USA but from talking to people in the USA you should watch the uncut bbc version.

 

[Rowan Sjet]

Spaced

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Coupling
Jekyll
Foyle's War
Agatha Christie's Poirot
Extras
Sarah Jane Adventures (so what if it's intended for children?)
Fawlty Towers
Monty Python's Flying Circus

 

[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.

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.

I just checked and I don't think they have have English subtitles. Too bad. It would be pretty difficult to translate these adequately and do no one bothered, I guess, due to lack of interest.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Spaced

Coupling
Jekyll

Extras

Monty Python's Flying Circus

Seconded.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

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

WHAT!?! Why? That sucks! I want to know how the war turns out!

Seriously, I can't believe a show like that would get bad ratings. Grr.

 

[auntiehill]

Originally Posted by Emh
Coupling
Jekyll

Yeah, I really like Jekyll. They did a great job with that.

 

[Teraka]

I didn't see this listed above, but I really like Primeval.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primeval_(TV_series)

 

[Bob The Skutter]

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

WHAT!?! Why? That sucks! I want to know how the war turns out!

Seriously, I can't believe a show like that would get bad ratings. Grr.

It didn't, and it's not in limbo, it's ended. The last series was over the slot average with 7.1m viewers. But the last series was set in 1944/5, so they're at the end of the war...

~edit~
Sorry, I just read, it didn't come to an end, it was axed by an out going chairman, and they're in thinking about bringing it back.

The return of the wartime drama Foyle's War brought 7.1 million viewers to ITV1 last night, Sunday April 13.
ITV1's long-running drama, which comes to a close after six years next week, easily dominated its slot, averaging a 28% share between 8pm and 10pm, according to unofficial overnights.
Last night's film saw Michael Kitchen's eponymous detective investigating a death at a psychiatric hospital in October 1944, while next week's final instalment will be set on VE Day in May 1945.
The strong ratings for Foyle's War will confirm its writer Anthony Horowitz's dismay at ITV's decision to axe the audience favourite.
Horowitz blames the outgoing ITV director of television, Simon Shaps, for bringing it to a premature end, telling the Radio Times that the decision was "completely mystifying".
However, ITV has since indicated it may revive the programme, confirming it is in "early discussions" with Horowitz and the producers Greenlit.

 

[Holdfast]

Can you recommend a non-American show that people should watch

Some recent & some not so recent. Mostly light comedies since that's my favourite genre but some dramas too:

Blackadder
Poirot
Jeeves and Wooster
Sherlock Holmes (the Jeremy Brett ones)
The High Life
Red Dwarf
Spaced
Yes Minister/Yes Prime Minister
Sharpe
Hornblower

Shrewd UK readers will realise from a large chunk of that list, that I'm pretty much ITV3's ideal viewer!

 

[Rincewiend]

Inspector Morse...
A Touch Of Frost...

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

Any Trek fan who speaks German or is able to find a subtitled version of it should check out the seven episodes of Raumpatrouille.
It`s a fun sci-fi show much like the Original Trek, roughly from the same time period and it did a great mixture of stand-alones and an arc story. Four episodes deal with an invasion force with an outstanding conclusion while the other three show a robot insurrection, a hostage scenario on a prison planet and a forgotten matriarch earth colony.

 

[anais]

WHAT!?! Why? That sucks! I want to know how the war turns out!

Seriously, I can't believe a show like that would get bad ratings. Grr.

Oh they finished with the war years, it's what happens now that's uncertain. I think it's cancelled but being considered new post-war seasons. If that makes sense.

 

[Barbados Slim]

Garth Marenghi's Darkplace
Touching Evil
Hustle
MI-5
Life on Mars
Horatio Hornblower

I tried but couldn't get into Robin Hood. And Wire in the Blood just looks like a Brit take on CSI and I hate procedurals.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

I tried but couldn't get into Robin Hood. And Wire in the Blood just looks like a Brit take on CSI and I hate procedurals.

Robin Hood is pretty hit and miss.
Wire in the Blood is actually based on a series of books by Val McDermid. I wouldn't say it's fantastic, but I quite like it.

 

[Agent Richard07]

Yes, definately try Hustle if you haven't already. The six-part mini series Jekyll is great too. It's the best Jekyll/Hyde themed movie/mini I've seen to date hands down. The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard is a good one too. It's about a an ordinary everyday woman with no political experience who becomes Prime Minister of the U.K.

 

[Daedalus12]

The IT Crowd

Agreed. The really downside is there are only 12 episodes! I am going through IT Crowd withdraw right now after I finished those in about a week.

 

[Frodo Lives]

Well, since everyone else has named all the classic Brit shows I can think of, I may as well be patriotic, and name the only decent thing on Kiwi television in the last 50 years: Outrageous Fortune.

 

[Defcon]

Any Trek fan who speaks German or is able to find a subtitled version of it should check out the seven episodes of Raumpatrouille.
It`s a fun sci-fi show much like the Original Trek, roughly from the same time period

Actually the first airings (Trek in the USA, Raumpatrouille in Germany) were only a week or so apart.

 

[Australis]

Life on Mars sequel, Ashes To Ashes.

Also agree with most of the above (coupling, Porot, Frost, etc)

Also anything by Stephen Poliakoff and Dennis Potter.