The Guardian's top 50 television dramas of all time

[butchersapron]

It (tenko) was a bit rubbish. How did BG get to 25 (not knocking it, just not that popular surely)

 

[DotCommunist]

Sci Fi for idiots. Lost that is

Battlestar Glacrica was fucking cool. Caprica airs on the 22nd

 

[London_Calling]

Drew - how many years were you raving for?

 

[belboid]

See the Biederbecke Affair etc.

'i' before 'e' except after 'c'. And in the name'Beiderbecke"

How did BG get to 25 (not knocking it, just not that popular surely)

it's the natural successor to Buffy, smart, stylish, string women, fucking stupid. With a post-Iraq sub-text that was astoundingly leftist at times. And that only blew it a bit in the last episode.

 

[butchersapron]

'i' before 'e' except after 'c'. And in the name'Beiderbecke"



it's the natural successor to Buffy, smart, stylish, string women, fucking stupid. With a post-Iraq sub-text that was astoundingly leftist at times. And that only blew it a bit in the last episode.

Only in series 3 and for 6 or so episodes. I like BG, great series. Not that good that it's the 25th best ever.That's the nature of these things though. (edit:and i have't seen s4 so don't spoiler me please)

 

[belboid]

the first two didn't have it to the forefront, but it was clearly still post-911 drama.

and you can be assured you aint gonna be disappointed with 4 not till the very end anyway.

other than that, yeah of course 25th best ever is rather daft, but there are bits - that you have yet to see - that are still totally brilliant

 

[Fedayn]

Kaka - GBH was brilliant, but it seems to have a lot of haterz on here.

I think it's because it conveys Derek hatton as less than stellar, tbh, rather than its innate poor drama-ish-ness. It was a superb programme, some people are just blinded to that by its politics.

Or perhaps it told a number of lies and tried to portray them as truth. Perhaps Bleasdale's gutless claims it was nothing to do with Liverpool made it worthy of criticism. Television drama doesn't exist in a vacuum you know.

 

[butchersapron]

the first two didn't have it to the forefront, but it was clearly still post-911 drama.

and you can be assured you aint gonna be disappointed with 4 not till the very end anyway.

other than that, yeah of course 25th best ever is rather daft, but there are bits - that you have yet to see - that are still totally brilliant

I shall report back.

 

[RaverDrew]

Drew - how many years were you raving for?

Not enough, or too many ?

Depending on whether you listen to my fans or my therapist.

 

[RaverDrew]

Sci Fi for idiots. Lost that is

Battlestar Glacrica was fucking cool. Caprica airs on the 22nd

Lost is not sci-fi dude.

 

[DotCommunist]

Yes it is.

 

[RaverDrew]

I'm glad to see Oz there though. A very under-rated program.

I'm still well hacked off that Channel 4 never finished showing it.

 

[RaverDrew]

And the Wire is garbage btw.

Hyped up beyond belief.

 

[RaverDrew]

Yes it is.

I'd have it down as fantasy/drama.

There's no spaceships or aliens. Sci-Fi FAIL.

 

[strung out]

no Doctor Who or Star Trek

 

[janeb]

Interesting list but 2 major flaws

1) No Edge of Darkness

2) In the paper (but, i notice, not on the website) Coronation Street was described as Yorkshire based - YORKSHIRE - list was obviously originally complied by an idiot so is invalid

 

[belboid]

I'm glad to see Oz there though. A very under-rated program.

I'm still well hacked off that Channel 4 never finished showing it.

did you see the last couple of series'? Pile of fucking shite. Shame

 

[danny la rouge]

See the Biederbecke Affair etc.

Is that on the list? I loved that at the time.

Also, Tutti Frutti. Is that on? It should be.

 

[maximilian ping]

No Edge of Darkness?

No GBH?

seconded

 

[maximilian ping]

nah, probably just cos its shit

you too young to know init

 

[Kaka Tim]

GBH - politically it was all over the place and definitely had its iffy moments. Parts of it seemed to be a Kinnock inspired demonisation of Hatton and Militant (although - tbh - they were dickheads).

However the range of themes, its epic nature, the charcters, the brilliant performances (esp Robert Lyndsey) and the power of dramatic set pieces were breathtaking. Pathos, dark dark humour, the very best and worst of humantiy.

Pretty fucking impressive for a TV drama.

 

[goldenecitrone]

GBH - politically it was all over the place and definitely had its iffy moments. Parts of it seemed to be a Kinnock inspired demonisation of Hatton and Militant (although - tbh - they were dickheads).

GBH - GoodBye Hatton! Or so the arrogant cunt himself believed.

 

[discokermit]

gbh was shit.

 

[DotCommunist]

I'd have it down as fantasy/drama.

There's no spaceships or aliens. Sci-Fi FAIL.

Sci Fi knowledge fail my pedigree chum. It belongs to the genre of sci fi oft called 'mundane' sci fi. This lazy catch-all classification tends to get applied to anything that is not a Space Opera.

 

[London_Calling]

I'm not reading 173 posts so: Das Boot est Das Bollocks.

 

[Azrael]

Post Wire, it's gutsy of the Grauniad to stick The Sopranos first. Justification's a string of clichés, though, contradicted by their own list. Reads like American TV was The Waltons before HBO stormed the scene and began the revolution in '83. HBO was sports'n'porn'n'Larry Sanders until the late nineties, with a few decent TV movies. Hill Street Blues (no.33), NYPD Blue, Homicide and the rest of the Bochco stable were chipping away years before the wiseguys from Jersey rolled in.

The list makes me think that TV critics don't watch that much TV. Who needs to, with fashions to follow? Buffy bags fourteenth due to its feminist credentials, with no mention of its misogyny-fest of a sixth season, and Angel doesn't show up at all. The flashy but one-note Mad Men bags no.4 spot and beats The Wire, and Deadwood is beaten by Eastenders and Grange Hill. No Generation Kill? I've not seen it, but those who have rate it highly.

What's their criteria for drama series, anyway? Several mini-series get on the list, but we see nothing from Stephen Poliakoff. Not even Shooting the Past.

Oh, and they give The Wire credit for introducing novelistic structure to TV. That was Babylon 5, in the early 90s.

And no Rome. Bet they never got beyond the BBC2 hatchet job.

no Doctor Who or Star Trek

You could make a case for the original Trek, given the TV field it had to play in. Doctor Who's as inconsistent as a hyperactive inconsistent thing, although the Moffat reboot could make it a contender if it lives up to expectations.

 

[Riklet]

Six Feet and Shameless should be higher I reckon, where the fuck is Trailer Park Boys, Life On Mars i'm a bit surprised about too, but maybe it's too new hmm...

I think it's a pretty good list generally! Lost isn't there anyway, so can't complain!

 

[paolo]

I was too young to really understand Brookside for a lot of its run, but I do remember one of the final episodes, with Jimmy Corkhill talking about the evils of capitalism or something.

If it was the final episode, that monologue was transparently Phil Redmond (producer, also of Grange Hill, another ground breaker) having his final say on the axeing of the programme.

Brookie was getting well bonkers before then - it went from gritty realism to absurdity. But the early stuff was exceptional for soap.

 

[sir.clip]

I dont know a 3rd of these dramas.

Not having 'Prospects' on the list is a poor choice by me though.

 

[Louloubelle]

No Rome? No I Claudius?

Ridiculous