Summer Talking Meme #1

[thisbluespirit]

I've had a few answers for this meme done or semi-done for a while, so it's about time I posted one, and here goes - From femme_slash_fan: Favourite TV shows almost nobody knows about and should watch? (Seriously... I need more stuff)

Shows that nobody else knows about seems to sum up my entire fannish life of late (and always, really), but since femme_slash_fan specified "and should watch", that's a whole other thing. I have plenty of strange things I love - I don't necessarily think anyone else should have to watch them!

I avoided anything with its own (reasonably active) fandom, like Blake's 7, Sapphire & Steel and The Avengers (obviously, people have heard of them, if they're being fannish about them), and anything I thought was too inaccessible to count as something people should watch. What counts as something 'nobody's heard of' is so relative anyway. (Some of these things really don't count if you're British but do count if you live anywhere else. What can I do?). Of course, much of it assumes some willingness to watch studio-bound, video-taped old British TV of some kind, which I know not everyone is up for. If you are, or you're willing to try, these aren't bad places to start.

Anyway, here's a list! Not in any particular order, really. (I numbered them so I would know to stop if I went over ten, because that would be silly.)


1. Adam Adamant Lives! (BBC 1966-67)



Adam: "You do realise that I abhor your interference in this affair?"
Georgie: "Oh, when you say things like that I go all warm and cuddly."
This is a cult 60s show about an Edwardian adventurer (Gerald Harper) who gets frozen in ice and wakes up in 1966, where he meets Georgina Jones (Juliet Harmer), a DJ at a night club, and together they fight (quirky) crime! Well, actually, they fight crime sort of separately, since Adam doesn't approve of girls putting themselves in danger and Georgie doesn't approve of being left out of the fun. The main characters are completed by Simms, Adam's limerick-loving manservant (Jack May). It was created by Sydney Newman and produced by Verity Lambert, whom you might have heard of. Like most 60s shows, I could list its flaws (it's not an ITC film serial, so expect Classic Who levels of quality & effects, rather than The Avengers or something like that), but such a list would be rendered completely superfluous by its adorable charm and sense of fun and the chemistry of the leads.

Here on YouTube. (Also, the amazing super-60s theme, and a [non-spoilery] Georgie & Adam vid I made, which hopefully captures some of the fun of it.)

tl;dr: adorable out-of-time 60s shenanigans you didn't know you needed in your life, but you did.


2. Press Gang (ITV, 1989-1994)



"Okay - it's like this. There's a tribe living by a river, and in the river there are crocodiles. The tribe has one particular piece of wisdom passed down through the generations. It goes like this: if you happen to meet a crocodile, don't stick your head in its mouth. Every now and then - and who knows the reason - people ignore this advice. Which is sad. Because they die. But very stupid because they were warned. They had a choice. The moral of this story is - you can't afford to be stupid. There are crocodiles."
90s teen drama that was the first thing Steven Moffat wrote, about a group of sixth-formers who run a newspaper for young people. It's funny, surreal, smart, and has a knack for taking running jokes and stabbing you in the heart with them. Julia Sawalha is outstanding as Lynda Day, the Junior Gazette's editor and resident dictator. Then there's the love/hate relationship between Lynda and Spike Thomson (Spike: "You don't happen to be jealous of a girl I've never even met, do you?"/ Lynda: "Of course I'm jealous, Spike. I wish I was a girl you've never even met!"), her best friend Kenny (who's so nice that teddy bears sneer at him), Sarah Jackson (brilliant at features, rubbish at exams), and then there's Colin, who is probably living on another planet (or has certainly sent the accounts there, honest). There is no way to explain Colin, which is another reason people just have to watch it. It's funnier than most comedies, sharply written, and willing to take you to hell and back in 20 minutes sometimes. I couldn't be happier than to have had this as my teenage obsession. You'll find, in addition to Julia Sawalha, a young Dexter Fletcher (sporting a dodgy US accent), Lee Ross, Paul Reynolds, Gabrielle Anwar and Lucy Benjamin. It takes a little while to get up and running, but once it does, there's no looking back. (For my money, the first episode that hits all the typical Press Gang notes is "A Night In". But S1 does show its age more than most of PG, but if that bothers you, it's perfectly accessible to skip to S2 or S3 and come back later.)

You can usually find the entire series pretty cheap second hand in the UK; if you're elsewhere, it's all up on YouTube at the moment. (Keep an eye out for the inevitable Doctor Who references, and then later you can watch out for the inevitable Press Gang references in Doctor Who and Sherlock.)

tl;dr: living without Lynda Day in your life is just silly. (Unless maybe you're a rabid hater of Steven Moffat, I suppose. Which is sad. Maybe in 10 years you can come back and love Lynda and co anyway.)


3. Elizabeth R (BBC 1970)



"All my life, I have been shadowed by conspiracy. The axe, the dagger, the block... they are as familiar to me as spring flowers to a countryman. Fears and doubts circle my head like black crows around a corpse. Every time a new treachery is revealed, I am strangely surprised. Foolishly, I expect good in a world where men pursue evil."
This tends to vie with I, Claudius for the BBC's greatest historical drama of all time, and there's a reason for that (for my money, Elizabeth R's got the prize, but that may be because I'm still scarred by nightmares about Brian Blessed getting poisoned. Thanks, IC). It's six 1&1/2hr episodes - effectively six linked plays - really well written and Glenda Jackson is so amazing in the lead role that she puts all the great actors who've played that role before & since into the shade. It's still a studio-bound BBC effort (they really don't run to actual ships for the Spanish Armada), but it's layered, brilliantly played, critical of Elizabeth as well as being sympathetic to her & I love the collected Privy Council. Maybe slow in places, but still utterly amazing telly.

Here on YouTube.

tl;dr: Glenda Jackson rules. Come prepared for the occasional surprisingly graphic beheading.


4. Campion (BBC 1989-90)



"My dear young optimist, what you're saying is, here's a nice war, come and join it."
Pitch-perfect adaptation of the books starring Peter Davison and Brian Glover. It's charming, amusing, & engaging. It was also a main BBC drama and was shot on film, so it's relatively shiny compared to most of these things.

Here on YouTube.

tl;dr: Why wouldn't you want to see Peter Davison as a specialist in fairy tales 1930s detective?


5. Enemy at the Door (ITV 1978-80)



“Whatever may be the abuse of man, that is the use of nature - first survive. Oh, you’re right. We get used to anything, because we’ve had to over a million years or more. Evolution is an obstacle race. Need I tell a doctor that? And we are here to testify to our adaptability.”
Drama about the German Occupation of the Channel Islands in WWII. As I've mentioned before, it's just so well-written and willing to acknowledge the complications of life and humanity. The ensemble cast is strong (especially the German officers, but also Bernard Horsfall and others), and there are a lot of low-key but consistent ongoing character arcs across the two series. It can be rather slow-build at times, but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. Of course, it's also a bit heart-breaking, and unfortunately was cancelled before they reached the end of the war, but it remains one of my favourite things I've watched since I've been ill. Plus, there's an awesome librarian and wee Anthony Stewart Head.

I made a trailer and you can find the series here on YouTube (though it still seems to be minus ep2).

tl;dr: Show that thoughtfully uses its setting to explore all shades of the phrase "living with the enemy".


6. The House of Eliott (1992-1994)



"You know what I think? I think it's high time the Eliott sisters had some fun!"
Ah, House of Eliott, why do I still love you so much? Who can tell? But there is something eternally addictive about this 1990s historical drama starring Louise Lombard and Stella Gonet as sisters who set up their own fashion house in 1920s London after being left virtually penniless when their repressive father dies. If you're frustrated by Downton sometimes, this is a good alternative, as it deals with women in the 1920s at all levels (Bea, Evie, their rich clients, the workroom staff and more). Sometimes it may try too hard to check off all the relevant historical points, but I don't care. It's fun and covers an awful lot and the three leads are all ridiculously pretty and engaging. The BBC even have all three series legally up on YouTube for free, even if it may be blocked in some countries. (Judging by the border and lack of theme tune, I think someone's been getting round it here, and the DVDs have been out most places for ages, anyway, so you may be able to pick it up all sorts of ways). Plus, the main ship is actually moving & great. Fashion! Multiple vehicle crashes of all kinds! Social upheaval! Drugs! Movie-making! Aunt Lydia does not approve!

Oh, and then there's the French & Saunders parody here.

tl;dr: Two sisters take on the world and win. Also pretty dresses. \o/


7. The Flipside of Dominic Hide (BBC 1980)

This is an odd little one, but it's actually really good. It was part of the Play For Today series, and it's a time-travel story starring Peter Firth (aka Harry from Spooks), looking oddly like some kind of love child of the Fifth and Sixth Doctors. I was not at all sure what to make of it at first, but if you like old-school BBC SF, and time travel, then get it, keep watching and thank me after. I can't explain, because explaining would spoil it (and it's not so much the twist, which is kind of obvious, so much as the tone of the thing). The original's that bit better than the sequel, but they're both very enjoyable. Watch out for unexpected!naked!Peter Firth, though. (Mind, I suppose, after Equus, it isn't unexpected? It was for me; he's Harry Pearce! /o\)

Here on YouTube.

tl;dr: Great little one-off time-travelling drama. (Naked Peter Firth may be a bug or a feature; YMMV.)


8. Richard III (BBC 1980)


Can Richard III be a thing almost nobody's heard of? Maybe not, but of all the BBC Shakespeare plays this one probably surprised and impressed me the most (so far!). Jane Howell's direction (in this and in the Henry VI's) impressively highlights the power and lack of power of the women, Ron Cook manages to be sort of adorably villainous, and, without transposing anything to another century, it's fully aware of the play as a universal portrait of evil, finishing on the inevitable end result of any evil regime. It's very artificial and theatrical, but it's supposed to be. The set is made up as a children's playground, against which the Wars of the Roses are fought (as battle games that become more and more serious), and throughout the Henry VI's it gradually darkens until you can't quite see what it is in Richard III. It's also, I believe, pretty much the full play. So it depends a lot on your toleration for Shakespeare and old BBC TV, but if you like both, it's well worth seeing, & the cast includes Zoe Wanamaker and Annette Crosbie.

tl;dr: It's the ultimate portrait of evil on a really fake background. Welcome to the world of the BBC Shakespeare Collection. It is a silly yet awesome place.

(I stopped before 10! Yay me!)


(Also, femme_slash_fan, if your question had been what should I rec for you personally, I'd say maybe The Duchess of Duke Street, Zodiac, Survivors, the 1968 ITV Dracula and The Power Game, as I know you're an old hand at ancient telly, and there's some good female characters in those. ;-) )



I would have included Public Eye and The Power Game, but I couldn't honestly claim either of them were "accessible" at this point, though TPG solely because of the poor quality of the surviving film copies, really. (Sadly Network don't run to restoration unless it's a big cult thing). Otherwise it is the most brilliant, cynical and snarky thing about making concrete you'll ever see and if you don't mind murky b&w things, you should absolutely watch it, and write me all the fic. And Public Eye is one of the best things ever, honest. ;-p

I thought a lot about Wish Me Luck and Survivors, too, but this list had a nice happy/angst balance. Still, if you're interested in WWII lady spies or post-apocalyptic things, they're both well worth watching.)

Comments

[werepuppyblack]

Okay, you know of course that I am a huge Press Gang fan so it always makes me grin to see other people recommending it. Adam Adamant Lives is always something that has come up as recommendations to me when I mention the shows I like and yet I've never see it... I think I shall need to be correcting this.

(Only "newish" show I could think to add to this list would be Horrible Histories. I'd say Blackadder as well, but I think that and Monty Python have become standard viewing for any 'true comedy fan' the world over. Hmm, have you ever seen the series Please, Sir!? I don't know if there's any episodes online, but it's about a new - slightly posh - teacher trying to do his best taking over the worst class at his new school. Which is a secondary modern. I think you might enjoy it.)

[thisbluespirit]

Yes, I think Blackadder and Monty Python have become pretty standard. I actually have never properly seen MP - only so many sketches on various shows around! I haven't seen Please, Sir? although I think vaguely I remember it being on? I might need to look into that, thanks! :-)

AAL! is a lot of fun, though it is 60s TV, which takes a little getting used to if you haven't watched much of it before. (If you've done 60s Classic Who, AAL! is positively fast-paced and shiny, though.) Plus, there are a couple of episodes with some of the more unfortunate attitudes of the time, to say the least.

But, Press Gang, yay! Yes. ♥

[st_aurafina]

Yay Press Gang!! It is so great.

Thank you for the youtube links - I am looking for things to watch while I crochet, and it's great to queue up a bunch of things on youtube and just work away. (Campion looks really interesting.)

[thisbluespirit]

It is! ♥

Aw, I'm glad. I should imagine you'd enjoy Campion, definitely. I think you might well like HoE, too. It would certainly be an apt thing to crochet to! ;-)

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

I started watching Dominic Hide, but gave up on it as I couldn't make head or tail of it.

[thisbluespirit]

It's a weird one - I nearly stopped too, early on, but I kept on and it wound up being so worth having kept with it, really lovely!

[rustydragonfly.livejournal.com]

I keep hearing so many good things about Press Gang. I gotta try it sometime. I vaguely remember it being on when I was a kid, but I did't watch it because I wasn't into school dramas that didn't have monsters in. My loss?

..the comment about coming back in ten years made me scream with laughter, and that's not hyperbole.

[thisbluespirit]

♥ Oh, as long as you don't have a Moffat or old telly allergy, you should definitely give it a go. Lynda is such a wonderful character & it's an unexpectedly brilliant teen drama. It isn't technically genre, no, but it is very surreal at the edges, so much so that an alien invasion would be taken in its stride. And probably with just an eye roll and a "What's Colin trying to sell this week? The planet?"

I mean:

Kenny: "I'm visiting my aunt in Sherrington."
Lynda: "Of course - your dear old aunt in Sherrington. What is it this time? Ill? Dead? Tell me, how do you justify being off work at her funeral on no less than eight separate occasions?"
Kenny: "She is my aunt."

Sarah: "Can you explain to me how I have just argued myself into doing exactly what you wanted me to do in the first place? You are a devious, unfeeling, calculating, manipulative bitch."
Lynda: "Well you were asking what made me a better choice for editor."

Kenny: "Thanks."
Lynda: "For what?"
Kenny: "I don't know. Everything."
Lynda: "I'm not responsible for everything. I just make it look that way."

Kenny: “I just don’t understand why it’s so difficult to discuss a problem with my best friend.”
Lynda: “And I don’t see why it has to be that particular problem. You’ve got hundreds.”

Lynda: "You and me Spike, we're held together by a force even stronger than true love."
Spike: "Which is?"
Lynda: "We both want the last word."

Colin: I'm no use. You know what I am? I'm a pink rabbit at a funeral. I'm a radioactive lizard in a filing cabinet. I'm the guy who tried to market the inflatable telephone for the poolside executive. My own mother doesn't believe a word I say without three independent witnesses and a death threat.

Kenny: People say I'm too reasonable to have opinions, but I don't know about that.

Frazz: Tell me something, Lynda. Given that we were already twenty-one goals behind, given that we were two players down because you personally sent them off for being consistently late on deadlines. Given those things, don't you think it was an unusual tactic to suddenly score against your own side and concuss your team captain?
Lynda: Well, it had the benefit of surprise.

Julie: You're late!
Lynda: You're fired! I win.

Bill Sullivan: Is this a discussion or a chance to agree with you, Lynda? Or do you not recognise the distinction?

Matt Kerr: You're editor. The only ideas you don't get the credit for are the good ones.

Mr Sullivan [on the conundrum of Lynda's woodcarving]: Well, it's obvious isn't it? A freak worm hole has opened up in the fabric of the space-time continuum. This seemingly insignificant woodcarving has been sucked back in time ten years to the bedroom of the infant Lynda Day. But what awesome celestial forces are behind this strange phenomenon? And what, Lynda, is their evil purpose? We shall have to act quickly to save the entire Universe!

Matt Kerr: [to Lynda] You are a lady of unexpected depths Lynda, to which you regularly sink.

(Sorry, I love it. You can probably tell.)

[thisbluespirit]

... sorry. I realise now that was a lot of quotes to throw at anybody! /o\

[swordznsorcery.livejournal.com]

A terrific list, with much to recommend it. I wholeheartedly second the nominations of "Adam Adamant Lives!", "Press Gang" and "Campion". There's some seriously enjoyable telly there - and more than that too. "Press Gang" has real bite, often in unexpected places, and certain episodes linger in the brain long after they've finished. It's the sort of show that, whilst ostensibly for kids, is very much more than that. And "Campion" really is a very satisfying realisation of the books; even if whoever adapted it clearly didn't share Margery Allingham's fabulously violent streak. TV Campion barely gets his hair ruffled. Book Campion seems to get beaten up every other page!

And "Adam Adamant Lives" is just plain lovely.

[thisbluespirit]

Thank you! And AAL! is; thank you again for introducing me. :-)

[evelyn-b.livejournal.com]

This is a great list of things I haven't seen! I enjoyed I, Claudius a lot, so more cheaply produced BBC acting-fests in the same vein would be awesome! And we have already discussed the necessity of my watching Campion! And ZOE WANAMAKER DOES SHAKESPEARE?!!? and "Adam Adamant Lives!" sounds like concentrated delight juice.

[thisbluespirit]

Thank you! And, to be fair, I, Claudius is rather in a special class of its own. If it weren't for the nightmares about Brian Blessed, I would probably have included it here. (Although people do tend to have heard of it, so maybe not??)

But certainly TV-as-theatre is very much the thing with old British TV and as long as you like that style (and are okay to deal with some of the less pleasant attitudes of decades gone by that sometimes crop up), there are quite a lot of things to enjoy, especially in this age of DVDs. And YouTube, for people not in Region 2!

Campion is fun; I'm sure you will like it if you ever get the chance to watch it.

Also, I have your own old-TV question to answer still - I'll get around to that sometime soon! :-)

[justice-turtle.livejournal.com]

"Maybe in 10 years you can come back and love Lynda and co anyway."

This is indeed my plan. ^_^

I keep thinking about watching Enemy at the Door, but I know I have trouble with things where we don't know how it turned out for all the characters I like... :P And because it's not a megafandom, there isn't even fixfic to pick and choose from. ;S

I might try some of your other recs here, though. :-)

[thisbluespirit]

*hugs you*

And sometimes a writer-allergy is just a thing, and there we are, one of those things. ♥

I keep thinking about watching Enemy at the Door, but I know I have trouble with things where we don't know how it turned out for all the characters I like... :P And because it's not a megafandom, there isn't even fixfic to pick and choose from. ;S

Aww. Honestly, I think the only person who would like all these things on my list - even though I think they are all v good things - is me, so it is a pick and choose thing. You might have fun with Adam Adamant, because it is just so light and adorable. 1960s-ness to contend with, but it's just plain fun, really. ♥

[scripsi.livejournal.com]

Oh, I have seen a whole lot of one of these! :) The House of Eliot was HUGE in Sweden when it come. :)

I don't think I would be able to make a list, well, I would, but they would either be Swedish and totally unknown outside Sweden, or they are unknown in Sweden, but huge elsewhere. :)

[thisbluespirit]

You are a dedicated old TV watcher! :-)

House of Eliott was huge over here, too, back in the day, but it's one of those things younger people and US-ians never seem to have heard of, so I included it anyway. I got the DVDs recently and it is one of those things that I still find I just eat up the episodes so easily!

It would be interesting, though, especially where there are subtitled editions available. I really know very little about most European TV. Because of the US (and sometimes Canada and Australia) as well as our own TV, there's so much English-language stuff around that it can make you very lazy about ever bothering with things in other languages, and we must miss out on some cool things & the different viewpoints you get from different cultures. :-)

[clocketpatch]

I must bookmark this post. You've talked so much about all of these. I'm excited to try them out for myself.

ETA oh dear, I've now gone and watched six episodes of Press Gang and now understand why Lynda Day is brilliant. I'm also hugely amused by Spike, both as a character and because it's an English actor with a fake American accent playing a character of that name. I can't decide if the reversed situation in Buffy is a hilarious coincidence or Joss Whedon making obscure references. It is very amusing in either case.

[thisbluespirit]

*flails at you* And keep going! (I mean, not right now, since you might need like air and food and sleep and things, but still!)

Lynda Day really is so amazing - I think, too, that unless you've seen the role, you've never really seen what Julia Sawalha is capable of, either. She got typecast in so many giggly parts, and younger roles for ages after.

As for Spike, it does seem kind of hard to imagine that Joss Whedon would have set it up in tribute - I don't think many people in the US in the 90s would have heard of Press Gang, so I'd imagine it's just a coincidence! (Funnily enough, afterwards, Dexter Fletcher went to the US and was in lots of TV over there and learned to do a perfectly good US accent. He was in Band of Brothers, I think?)

(But, yes, keep going! How to Make a Killing next, which is the first real Kenny, and Kenny-Lynda ep, and I adore Kenny and Lynda.)

[jaxomsride.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed Dominic Hide, though if you want something more obscure than that, try Kinvig. Also as strange as Dominic Hide.

[thisbluespirit]

Aha, thanks! It's weird but good, I agree. I'm not sure I need to be any more obscure, though! ;-)

[a-phoenixdragon.livejournal.com]

OMG, YAY Campion!!!

*HUGS*

[thisbluespirit]

It's a lovely show, isn't it? :-)

[hyarrowen.livejournal.com]

You've sold me on "Enemy at the Door" - I'll see about buying it when I'm over in Blighty in a few weeks' time.

As for Elizabeth R, Glenda Jackson is indeed astonishing in the role. Though last time I watched it I kept expecting Morecambe and Wise to turn up in the background.

[thisbluespirit]

You've sold me on "Enemy at the Door" - I'll see about buying it when I'm over in Blighty in a few weeks' time.

♥ ♥ ♥ It's an odd thing for WWII, because it's very much civilans and Germans, so it has a different feel, but I suspect you might well like it. It's not the sort of thing that's easily in the shops, though, so I don't know if you'll be able to get hold of it. Amazon marketplace usually have some copies at a reasonable price & Network have it new for £20 (and they were super speedy when I bought something off them last month). Er, not that I'm getting over-excited at the idea of someone wanting to watch it, sorry! *cough*

As for Elizabeth R, Glenda Jackson is indeed astonishing in the role. Though last time I watched it I kept expecting Morecambe and Wise to turn up in the background.

If there were any justice in the world, that would happen in a DVD extra. Indeed, there would be DVD extras on it.

[liviapenn.livejournal.com]

Ooh, these sound awesome! The only one I've seen is Adam Adamant Lives! and it is definitely worth watching (although I do feel like people ought to be warned about the STUNNINGLY RACIST one where they go to Japan.) To this day my roomie and I yell the theme song at each other if anything really dramatic seems to warrant it.

[thisbluespirit]

Thank you! (I think, sadly, that AAL!'s couple of examples of racism are so par for the course with that kind of genre 60s TV, that I'd mention it in a detailed write-up, but not in passing like this, but yeah, I know! (I'd reserve big warning signs for the Tomb of the Cybermen and the awful two-parter in S3 of The Power Game & a particularly dreadful New Avengers ep I saw. Or Ben Steed's 3 eps in B7, when it comes to jaw-dropping misogyny. It's one of the downsides of watching old TV. I suppose maybe too big a one for some people, which is fair enough. I worry about myself some days, but I still love my old TV.) :-/

[oonaseckar.livejournal.com]

This is a cult 60s show about an Edwardian adventurer (Gerald Harper) who gets frozen in ice and wakes up in 1966
Is there any fic out there about Adam teaming up with Captain America after they've both defrosted like frozen peas, and going on the hunt for HYDRA/Bucky/quirky British criminals together? There certainly should be.

Also, Queen Liz, smart lass by the sound of it.

Dominic Hyde! Oh, MG, that play and the sequel have lingered around the corners of my mind for decades now. Plus back in the day it was, I think, even before VHS (at least for my tech-despising folks) so all I could do was pine hopelessly for repeats after first catching it. I think I preferred Another Flip For Dominic, actually, but both were so great.

There, now along with I Capture The Castle we have a whole two obscure tastes in common!

What no A Very Peculiar Practice, though? *surprised* Reelly? With Peter Davision too, I would have thought it right up your street. *wistful* Andrew Davies is so great in some ways, with the unpredictable women characters and the jokes. His short stories are a bit grim though. Don't read Coming Mince, anti-rec alert.

[thisbluespirit]

Is there any fic out there about Adam teaming up with Captain America after they've both defrosted like frozen peas, and going on the hunt for HYDRA/Bucky/quirky British criminals together? There certainly should be.

Well, apart from them being 40 years apart, no. But there could be if you watched it! ;-)

And hurrah! \o/

Also I've never watched A Very Peculiar Practice, so that's one reason it's not on my (very short!) list. I may have to make good on that sometime, then. :-)

[liadt]

I've never seen Derek Jacobi in I, Claudius but I always think he should be wearing a toga!

Glenda Jackson was ace in E.R. If anyone's wondering why people moan about how Liz has been portrayed in other things should watch it. I could've done without Foggy Dewhurst the tantric master of torture though:S

Yay, AAL! Not that I'm biased;p

[thisbluespirit]

You should watch him and get the toga out of your system! I have issues with it because it actually disturbed me and gave me nightmares, but that in itself is a tribute to it. And to how ill I was, but still.

Foggy was indeed very scary! Poor wee stupid treacherous David Collings! ;-)

[elen_nare]

Bookmarking this post so I can try some of these out! I have just managed to amuse myself thoroughly while trying to pick out one to start with. My starting point was "probably something short would be best, since I am also (very slowly) working through Star Trek". Then I went to check how long the two that had interested me most, Press Gang and House of Eliott, were... yup, I picked the two longest. *facepalm*

I might tackle then anyway, though... I do like that Press Gang has 30 minute episodes, but it is absolutely the longest. Hmm... what do you recommend? :)

[thisbluespirit]

I would have vaguely thought that Campion was the longest of these! Press Gang is actually more like 20-25 minute episodes, so it may technically have more eps, but they're half the length of all the 50 mins thing. It feels like a series that's much, much too short to me.

I think House of Eliott might well be a good place to start, if you're attracted to it - it's great for the women, and it's a historical and it's not too dark. I feel sure you'd like Stella Gonet as Bea! And as you're probably not so used to watching ancient British telly, something like Adam Adamant, for all its charm and lightness, might be a shock to the system, whereas HoE (and Campion) are at least that bit more presentable to the modern eye!

Both HoE and PG would make a nice palate-cleanser for watching in between Star Trek, I should think! It's probably a fair rule with anything just to go for whatever it is you're most attracted to, really! ♥

[dimity-blue.livejournal.com]

Campion! You have no idea how much I love that series and those books. I'm only sad that they didn't adapt all the books for TV. Traitor's Purse would have been awesome.

Elizabeth R is one of those series I like a lot and I should love, but it's so graphic at times. The same with I, Claudius. I find them both hard to watch for that reason.

[thisbluespirit]

Oh, yes, I really wish they could have done a few more, especially with Amanda - Traitor's Purse would have been very nice to have!

Elizabeth R is one of those series I like a lot and I should love, but it's so graphic at times. The same with I, Claudius. I find them both hard to watch for that reason.

I do find ER hard in places, but not like I did with I,Claudius, I have to say. That really disturbed me, more than any other old TV I've watched and more than most new TV! Maybe I just couldn't be that disturbed by anything with a smug Robert Hardy in it, I don't know? ;-)

But they are both seriously good.

[acciochocolate.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the recs! I'm happily awash in Morse/Lewis/Endeavour, thanks to our PBS station, and early Midsomer Mysteries, but these are lovely to see. :)

[thisbluespirit]

Glad you enjoyed the post! :-)

[newmoonstar]

House of Eliott & Campion! Yes yes yes! Everyone must watch! I tried to get some friends to watch HoE a while back- they're Whovians, so I pushed the 'created by Jean Marsh!' angle & did some picspams on my Tumblr- they seemed interested, but haven't bitten yet, so I'm waiting for the right time to pounce on them again. I know if they just watch one they'll be hooked- that's all it took for me!

And gah I've been meaning to watch Elizabeth R for ages- but I haven't really been keeping up with my to-watch list of old British period dramas since I started Classic Who. It seems I can only take so much British TV from the 70s at once, and Doctor Who is currently filling my quota up.

I really should do a list of obscure shows to watch myself- I have plenty of recs that'd fall under that category. More obscure TV love is always a good thing. :)

[thisbluespirit]

Well, DW is the best; it definitely has to take priority! :-)

Hopefully if enough of us keep on about things, we'll get a few takers here and there! \o/