Boob tube stuff to defeat the winter...

MaxPete

MaxPete

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Hi All:

I’m not much of a TV fan but we have latched onto several shows which have helped to quell the winter blues. Interestingly, they’re all British comedy/dramas and all are a bit obscure - but we have them on Netflix. Here they are:

  • Doc Martin - Martin Ellingham, a talented surgeon develops a blood phobia and must abandon his lucrative London medical practice and move to a small village in Cornwall where he becomes the town GP. Ellingham has a kind heart but a bedside manner that is a cross between Don Rickles and Sgt. Bilko - touching in many spots and very funny plus magnificent Cornish scenery.
  • Shetland - a brilliant police detective is stationed in the remote Scottish Shetland Islands and solves mysteries. Excellent writing, credible characters and great stories plus beautiful scenery.
  • Foyle’s War - during WW-II in the UK, a middle-aged policeman tries to keep law & order among a populace which is increasingly panicky about a potential German invasion. Superb writing, very interesting characters, a side of the war that is not widely known, plus authentic scenery and period production.
  • Still Game - two pensioners, Victor and Jack - lifelong pals, navigate their old age along with a cast of characters in a poor suburb of Glasgow, Scotland. The writing is brilliant and each episode has brought us to howling laughter more than once. CAUTION: the language will likely surprise you - but it really is representative of how many working class Glaswegians speak to each other.
Due to the thick Scottish accents and local dialogue, you may find that you need the subtitles turned on for Shetland and certainly for Still Game - but it’s worth it.

These shows rely on great writing rather than car chases, guns and sex for their appeal (not that I’m against any of the foregoing) - and they’re gems IMO.

Anyone else got any suggestions for tube-time?

Pete
 
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There's been a running series titled "The price of Empire", covering WW2. Includes elements and video I've not seen/heard before, especially more coverage of the Burma theatre...
 
Here's a couple that might interest you Pete
Last Tango in Halifax,(I might be a bit biased on this one it's where I was born);)
Another one set in Yorkshire, Happy Valley.
For a western with a difference try Godless, (My wife loved it)
And I'll second Peaky Blinder's.
 
Yup - Peaky Blinders was great as was Godless and I’ll check out Price of Empire, Happy Valley and LTiHalifax (I saw the title on Netflix and had assumed it was referring to Nova Scotia).

Thanks guys!
 
Last night:

1968 Academy Award winner (Cinematography and Special Effects) Ice Station Zebra

e09647d7-88b0-49f2-9389-5bdcf2862b71.jpg


Patrick McGoohan's fine performance of a secret agent (possibly a double agent, possibly a triple agent)
in search of a crashed Soviet satellite in the north artic.

02.jpg


isz21.jpg


isz31.jpg
 
I liked Peaky Blinders, was a little disappointed that each season was so short though.
Spotless was a good British one. Based on an independent contractor who cleans up accident and death/murder crime scenes for the police but gets sucked into working for the "Mob". Still waiting for season 2 to come out... if it does...
 
An interesting thing about British shows is that they often only produce 6-8 shows per season and then they don't do the show in sequential seasons. For example, Doc Martin is made only every second or even third year - and so even though there are 8 "Series" (which we would call seasons in North America) - the show has been in production since 2004.

Anyhow - thanks for the suggestions folks - we'll get through this dastardly winter yet!
 
Father Brown, and Death in Paradise are a couple more Brit whodunnits. I like the last one. I don't watch them but am around ppl who do, so...
 
I haven't watched a half hour of TV, cumulative, in 5 years or more.

I get through Winter on Netflix and Amazon Prime.

I've watched or am watching most of the ones mentioned above, plus a few some of you might find interesting (Assuming you have Netflix and/or Amazon Prime).

Netflix:
Babylon Berlin
The Crown
Longmire
Frontier

Amazon Prime:
Tin Star
The Last Post
The Marvelous Mrs. Maizel (language, but funny)
The Americans (several seasons, Cold War spies)
 
Thanks DE!

BTW - I suspect you would get a huge bang out of Still Game - but I'm pretty sure you'll need the sub-titles.

Pete
 
If you have a spare 7 hours to fill you can watch the televised coverage of the 2017 Cemetery Circuit Motorcycle races

This year had the biggest field of F1 & F2 sidecars ever, and a reasonable field in the classics number 250 is an XS.

The best part is you can skip through to the events that interest you.

Go to the link below, find the event you want to watch. register your email and you will be sent a link to the video. I was suspicious but did so and have not had a tidal wave of spam or other bad things happen yet.

http://www.i-film.co.nz/
 
My wife and I binge watch shows on Netflicks. Father Brown and I think it was called Home Girls? Women from English city's working on a farm during the war. The Crown was good. We have watched many others but these 2 were my faves.
 
MaxPete said:
Hi All:

I’m not much of a TV fan but we have latched onto several shows which have helped to quell the winter blues. Interestingly, they’re all British comedy/dramas and all are a bit obscure - but we have them on Netflix. Here they are:

  • Doc Martin - Martin Ellingham, a talented surgeon develops a blood phobia and must abandon his lucrative London medical practice and move to a small village in Cornwall where he becomes the town GP. Ellingham has a kind heart but a bedside manner that is a cross between Don Rickles and Sgt. Bilko - touching in many spots and very funny plus magnificent Cornish scenery.
  • Shetland - a brilliant police detective is stationed in the remote Scottish Shetland Islands and solves mysteries. Excellent writing, credible characters and great stories plus beautiful scenery.
  • Foyle’s War - during WW-II in the UK, a middle-aged policeman tries to keep law & order among a populace which is increasingly panicky about a potential German invasion. Superb writing, very interesting characters, a side of the war that is not widely known, plus authentic scenery and period production.
  • Still Game - two pensioners, Victor and Jack - lifelong pals, navigate their old age along with a cast of characters in a poor suburb of Glasgow, Scotland. The writing is brilliant and each episode has brought us to howling laughter more than once. CAUTION: the language will likely surprise you - but it really is representative of how many working class Glaswegians speak to each other.
Due to the thick Scottish accents and local dialogue, you may find that you need the subtitles turned on for Shetland and certainly for Still Game - but it’s worth it.

These shows rely on great writing rather than car chases, guns and sex for their appeal (not that I’m against any of the foregoing) - and they’re gems IMO.

Anyone else got any suggestions for tube-time?

Pete
Click to expand...
I ate up Foyle's War and really enjoyed Shetland, altho I began to wonder just how much crime actually could occur in such a locale. If you have Amazon Prime, try Justified - 6 seasons, great writing, a lead character obviously born about 120 years too late. Wallender another good one, on Netflix, I think.
 
Downeaster said:
I haven't watched a half hour of TV, cumulative, in 5 years or more.

I get through Winter on Netflix and Amazon Prime.

I've watched or am watching most of the ones mentioned above, plus a few some of you might find interesting (Assuming you have Netflix and/or Amazon Prime).

Netflix:
Babylon Berlin
The Crown
Longmire
Frontier

Amazon Prime:
Tin Star
The Last Post
The Marvelous Mrs. Maizel (language, but funny)
The Americans (several seasons, Cold War spies)
Click to expand...
++++ Longmire, The Americans (hands down the best-written TV drama in years), The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. The there's Homeland on Showtime.
 
aldo5468 said:
I ate up Foyle's War and really enjoyed Shetland, altho I began to wonder just how much crime actually could occur in such a locale.
Click to expand...

ZACKLEY - I figured at the rate people were getting killed in Shetland, the place would be de-populated by season 5 or so.

Pete
 
Got to agree on Longmire, great show. We just finished watching Bloodline on Netfix, another good one. Now we are on to The Crown, so far so good. Another good British show is Lucky Man by Stan Lee. Third season starts up in the summer sometime. Another one we used to watch was the one with two Manchester cops, called Scott and Bailey, pretty good, not made anymore I think.
 
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