Question for the Brits- Page 3

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 3/18/14 at 8:05pm

"I assume it's the same attitude as Maggie Smith's character in California Suite ("All that great work at the National and I get this for a comedy")."

And yet, she's done a ton of interviews for her current sitcom Vicious. Which I admit, I watched all of but is hardly any better (in fact I think Rising Damp is funnier, but there's only so much bitchy gay humour in *every* scene of every episode I can take--although it is nice to see Game of Thrones' Iwan Rheon playing a nice young guy instead of a castrating torturer as he does on Game.)

[Scripps2]

Posted: 3/19/14 at 5:57pm

'fraid so. Very lower middle class. Especially ITV.

There's obviously an appetite here for British pomposity and snobbery on TV, so let's go back to the beginning. The snob to start all snobs on British TV was the late, great Doris Speed, at whose altar Maggie Smith, Patricia Routledge, Scripps2 and Margaret Thatcher's hairdresser should all pay homage. Her performance as the landlady of a back street pub, running it as though she was a Countess to the frustration of her staff and the amusement of her patrons, ran from 1960 to 1984. Take this from 9:19 and watch it all the way through to the scathing punchline and the way her stooge takes it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1K12CgkY3t4

Recognise her stooge there? In my opinion, Hyacinth Bucket was never anything more than a crude, third-rate, outdated imitation. In fact the producers of the latter even stole another one of her stooges:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dV2XwsxzGzg







Updated On: 3/19/14 at 05:57 PM

[Scripps2]

Posted: 3/19/14 at 6:14pm

"although it is nice to see Game of Thrones' Iwan Rheon playing a nice young guy"

I've never seen Game of Thrones but he fully deserved his Olivier for the London production of Spring Awakening.

[HorseTears]

Posted: 11/7/14 at 6:47pm

Not sure if it still airs on any US channels, but the third season - or series, as they say - of the wonderful FRIDAY NIGHT DINNER aired on Channel 4 in the UK earlier this summer. You can stream all six eps on Channel 4's website on demand- at least for now. If you're outside of the UK, you'll need to download the "HOLA" add-on/extension for Google Chrome or Firefox in order to watch content on the Channel 4 site. If you haven't seen the show, I still think it's the most consistently funny thing to come out of the UK in the past 5-10 years. Most successful sitcoms these days make me knowingly smirk. This one makes me literally L-O-L. Loudly. You can still catch most of season 1 and 2 on YouTube or on Netflix UK and each season is just six eps long, so it's very easy to catch up. Short clip from season 3 below...

[Gothampc]

Posted: 11/7/14 at 9:26pm

Lately I've gotten into Benidorm which I love because of its quirkiness. And I can't believe that out of all the British shows that the US has adapted that they haven't attempted Benidorm.

How can you not laugh at an acerbic old lady who rides around on a motor scooter because "I'm on holiday, why should I walk?" And in the later seasons the Les/Lesley character and son Liam are two of the best characters.

I was sad to see that Kenny Ireland just died. His work with Janine Duvitski as the swinger couple really added that extra level of quirky.