Alongside these there are a fair few interesting choices -- here's a selection of their quirkier choices (with which I agree), and (if I can be bothered) in a day or so I'll tell you which of the true greats they have stupidly left off their list.
A Very Peculiar Practice. A genius choice, surprisingly highly placed at number 5, this series has been appallingly neglected. Only season 1 has ever been released on DVD, but season 2 descends into dark, dark depths of despair. Grotesquely brilliant. And praised by me in the past.
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Smiley's People. Among the best telly ever made, this pair of series perfectly captures the silent terrors of the Cold War and the dull banality of everyday spying. With Alec Guinness's finest performance to boot -- a mesmerising George Smiley, the retired spymaster trying to do the decent thing. Also praised by me somewhere on one or other of my blogs.
Talking Heads. Utterly compelling, very witty, and surprisingly edgy, too, giving us among other controversies an attempt to get inside the head of a paedophile.
Hill Street Blues -- mould-breaking telly that showed how messy, arbitrary and unjust was so much police work. The police were real, flawed people, with lives and hinterlands not all of which were as wholesome as one might want.
Bodies -- vastly, stupidly under-rated, this is simply the best medical drama that has ever been made or ever will be made.
Oranges are Not the Only Fruit -- pioneering lesbo drama, and grippingly good telly.
More queer viewing next with Queer as Folk (the Original and Best UK version, not the dumbed-down and safed-up US soap opera). Shockingly provocative (starting with a frank scene involving on-screen rimming with an underage boy), QAF was so heart-warming it was like a big, playful puppy. No-one could resist.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Nuff said.
Oz -- as they put it: "drugs, sex, terrifying violence and a dash of humour... addictive late-night viewing". Yeah, all that plus more hot, full-frontal, male nudity than any other telly series, and some of the most compelling characters ever.
Bleak House: transformatory approach to Dickens, restoring to his work that feeling of episodic soap opera that was his original medium.
This Life. Perfect 1990s telly, with a group of young professionals who were as fucked-up as me, all struggling to find meaning and reason.
The Street and Clocking Off: two series both of which used the smart technique of having a common milieu but focussing each episode on a different character. Smart, gritty, provocative.
Overall, that's not a bad list at all. But they've made some stupid choices and left off a number of great cultural experiences. Feel free to guess entries for either category and in a bit I may put you out of your misery.
2 comments:
not all these are known to me but THIS LIFE was amazing and only avaialble in North America for a very short time-cannot even get it in US format DVD
As an American, I fully agree that the British version of QAF was superior to the remake on SHOWTIME.
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