Posted June 26, 200817 yr ok a tv based idea, see how it goes ive listed here my top 12 tv dramas 12 Persuaders roger moor and tony curtis from '71 in a 'saint' like prog, i got the theme! 11 The Boys From The Blackstuff '84 alan bleasdales cutting edge take on thatchers 80's. 10 Adam Adamant Lives '66 . interesting idea, cryogenically frozen dandy returns to life in the swinging 60's. heavy nostalgia value. 9 The High Chapparal '68 . life in the arizona desert, possibly the best western drama for its gritty, uncompromising, life in the heat. i visited the set in '81, near tucson. 8 Doomwatch '70 rather silly dated programme about environmental disasters, good for a 13 year old mushyboy though! 7 The Man From Uncle '64 great futuristic spy drama, a james bond type drama. 6 Take Three Girls '70 really liked this drama following the lives of 3 young women in late 60's london. the pentangle theme has been recently discussed 5 Secret Army '77 the drama that spawned 'allo allo' , dark drama about lifeline, an evasion group resuing and returning shot down british airmen in the second world war... great stuff and rather scarily enlightening. 4 Sharpe '93 still being aired on sky/cable , love this 'blokes' drama featuring sean bean and if i was gay...i would! lol set in the peninsula wars in the early 19th centuary 3 Dallas '78 lol i love old jr! what a character! apart from the silly women in it, the writers created a superb character in jr... most watchable. 2 Morse '88 imho the zenith of 'cop' shows, i doubt itll be beanten. john thaw the grumpy old bugger with brains and class, but retains his working roots. superb character. superb drama, set in oxford. 1 I Claudius '76 derek jacobi in the lead role reciting extracts from his diary about life in roman times... enthraling. :) (dates are start dates aprox)
June 26, 200817 yr Some good choices. Surprised to see though that Boys From The Blackstuff is as low as 11 (given some of the other programs above it). No argument about I Claudius ... but I have never, ever seen the appeal of Morse. Very glad that you've got the High Chapparal in there too though! Must post my top ten to see what you think. Norma
June 26, 200817 yr :cheer: Boys From The Blackstuff - Yosser Hughes - Giz A Job I would have to include: The Champions- The series starred Stuart Damon as Craig Stirling, Alexandra Bastedo as Sharron Macready and William Gaunt as Richard Barrett. The characters are agents for a United Nations law enforcement organization called "Nemesis", which is based in Geneva. The three have different backgrounds and skills: Barrett is a code breaker, Stirling a pilot, and Macready a scientist and doctor. During a mission, their plane crashes in the Himalayas and they are rescued by an advanced civilization living secretly in the mountains, who save their lives, granting them superhuman abilities in the process. The powers now possessed by the three heroes include the ability to communicate with one another over long distances by ESP (mental telepathy), and the ability to foresee events (precognition); they also have enhanced senses and reasoning power, and physical abilities up to the extent of human limits. Many of the stories featured unusual villains, such as fascist regimes from unspecified South American countries, neo-Nazis or the Chinese. The villains' schemes often threaten world peace in some way Nemesis's brief is supposed to be international, so the agents deal with threats that transcend national interests and concerns. One feature of the series was that the main characters had to learn about the use of their new powers as they went along. The only other series regular, Anthony Nicholls, played the Champions' boss, Tremayne. Tremayne does not openly acknowledge that his agents have acquired special abilities, though he does on occasion ask mock innocent questions about how they have carried out specific tasks while on missions. The Prisoner: The Prisoner is an allegorical UK 1960s science fiction television series starring and co-created by Patrick McGoohan. It follows a former British secret agent who, after abruptly resigning from his position, is held captive in a small village by the sea by an unidentified power which wishes to establish the reason for his resignation. Episodes typically feature the unnamed prisoner, labelled "Number Six" by his captors, unsuccessfully attempting to escape from "the Village", but successfully resisting interrogation and attempts of brainwashing. I have actually visited the place where it was filmed - Portmerrion in North Wales. Edited June 26, 200817 yr by Euro Music
June 26, 200817 yr My top 10 The Boys From The Blackstuff Mission Impossible I Claudius Homicide, Life on the Street Law & Order (all of them but especially SVU) St Elsewhere Life On Mars Clocking Off Drop Dead Gorgeous There are at least another dozen that I've really loved. The above nine are in no particular order of preference but my number 1 drama is just way ahead of any of them and that is - Hill Street Blues Norma
June 26, 200817 yr ok a tv based idea, see how it goes ive listed here my top 12 tv dramas 12 Persuaders roger moor and tony curtis from '71 in a 'saint' like prog, i got the theme! 11 The Boys From The Blackstuff '84 alan bleasdales cutting edge take on thatchers 80's. 10 Adam Adamant Lives '66 . interesting idea, cryogenically frozen dandy returns to life in the swinging 60's. heavy nostalgia value. 9 The High Chapparal '68 . life in the arizona desert, possibly the best western drama for its gritty, uncompromising, life in the heat. i visited the set in '81, near tucson. 8 Doomwatch '70 rather silly dated programme about environmental disasters, good for a 13 year old mushyboy though! 7 The Man From Uncle '64 great futuristic spy drama, a james bond type drama. 6 Take Three Girls '70 really liked this drama following the lives of 3 young women in late 60's london. the pentangle theme has been recently discussed 5 Secret Army '77 the drama that spawned 'allo allo' , dark drama about lifeline, an evasion group resuing and returning shot down british airmen in the second world war... great stuff and rather scarily enlightening. 4 Sharpe '93 still being aired on sky/cable , love this 'blokes' drama featuring sean bean and if i was gay...i would! lol set in the peninsula wars in the early 19th centuary 3 Dallas '78 lol i love old jr! what a character! apart from the silly women in it, the writers created a superb character in jr... most watchable. 2 Morse '88 imho the zenith of 'cop' shows, i doubt itll be beanten. john thaw the grumpy old bugger with brains and class, but retains his working roots. superb character. superb drama, set in oxford. 1 I Claudius '76 derek jacobi in the lead role reciting extracts from his diary about life in roman times... enthraling. :) (dates are start dates aprox) some great choices there Rob, agree with them all apart from no. 6, only one I don't remember :)
June 27, 200817 yr God I used to hate the High Chaparal. Mind numbingly boring cowboy soap with all the good bits of westerns taken out. Used to make Sunday afternoon a dreadful time of the week. I guess this would be my top 12 in no particular order. 1. Doctor Who - sorry but I am an absolute Who geek. Have been since I was about 5! 2. Twin Peaks - Amazing stuff from Mr Lynch. 3. Sapphire and Steel - Mind boggling stuff at times. 4. The Sweeney - Ok everyone together "Got you done bang to rights, you slaaag!". 5. Our Friends in the North - Brilliant plot, brilliant acting. 6. Heroes - I think this is the best programme in the last five years. 7. Boys From the Black Stuff - Bittersweet genius from Alan Bleasedale. 8. Cracker - Groundbreaking stuff. 9. Grange Hill - The early years up to the mid 80s was inspired tv. People of all ages should have been watching it. 10. Afterlife - The other best series of the last five years. 11. X-Files - I know, I know it's all sci-fi and fantasy but I love this. 12. American Gothic - Great show about the sheriff of a hick town being the devil in disguise. Edited June 27, 200817 yr by grebo69
June 28, 200817 yr Author God I used to hate the High Chaparal. Mind numbingly boring cowboy soap with all the good bits of westerns taken out. Used to make Sunday afternoon a dreadful time of the week. I guess this would be my top 12 in no particular order. 1. Doctor Who - sorry but I am an absolute Who geek. Have been since I was about 5! 2. Twin Peaks - Amazing stuff from Mr Lynch. 3. Sapphire and Steel - Mind boggling stuff at times. 4. The Sweeney - Ok everyone together "Got you done bang to rights, you slaaag!". 5. Our Friends in the North - Brilliant plot, brilliant acting. 6. Heroes - I think this is the best programme in the last five years. 7. Boys From the Black Stuff - Bittersweet genius from Alan Bleasedale. 8. Cracker - Groundbreaking stuff. 9. Grange Hill - The early years up to the mid 80s was inspired tv. People of all ages should have been watching it. 10. Afterlife - The other best series of the last five years. 11. X-Files - I know, I know it's all sci-fi and fantasy but I love this. 12. American Gothic - Great show about the sheriff of a hick town being the devil in disguise. i deliberately ommitted grange hill and dr who from mine so they could be included in a 'kids tv' thread :)
June 28, 200817 yr Author ps... i agree about grange hill which was often a better soap then the 'adult' ones.
July 1, 200817 yr God I used to hate the High Chaparal. Mind numbingly boring cowboy soap with all the good bits of westerns taken out. Used to make Sunday afternoon a dreadful time of the week. God yeah... My mum loved that sh!te...... At least "Alias Smith and Jones" had humour.... The best Western series that I have ever seen has to be "Deadwood"... You want gritty, uncompromising Western drama, this is by far your best bet..... After you've seen the ultra-realistic portrayals of Western legends such as Calamity Jane in this show, well, you aint ever gonna see Doris Day in the same light again..... :lol:
July 1, 200817 yr Author fek orf! i liked the high chaparal, because them cowboys were dirty, they wore dirty clothes and sweated (but in 100'f + its hard not too!), other westerns were all clean people... like the little house on the prairie, or bonanza... anyway cameron mitchel (buck) played a great role!
July 1, 200817 yr ps... i agree about grange hill which was often a better soap then the 'adult' ones. Same goes for "Press Gang".... Excellent stuff that was, I think to call it a "kids show" kind of belittles it in a lot of ways, it just happened to be a very good prog aimed at children which didn't patronise them, it also had a level of sophistication that adults could equally enjoy....
July 1, 200817 yr Here's my 12.. Probs a few crossovers with some others... And they're not in any particular order, so it shouldn't be read as a "countdown"..... 1. The Avengers - Loved this show, bizarre plots, a great sense of absurdist humour... Particularly the Diana Rigg years... A truly radical show for the time, Emma Peel really was a proto-feminist icon, and the relationship between her and Steed was one of true equals built on a mutual respect.. Emma Peel was no "damsel in distress" needing to be saved in every episode, quite often, she was the one doing the saving of Steed, and she could kick ass with the best of them... Mrs Peel was the first action-heroine. As for Steed, well, he was just THE MAN, a true gent..... 2. The Prisoner - "I AM NOT A NUMBER I AM A FREE MAN".... Just legendary.... Thank fukk no one has seen fit to ruin this classic show by "hollywoodising" it (as the b/astards did with Steed and Mrs Peel..... <_< ). To say they dont make them like this anymore is an absolute fact, NO ONE really has the guts to do a show like "The Prisoner" anymore..... 3. Twin Peaks....unless you're David Lynch of course..... :lol: Surreal, absurd, Brechtian, at times absolutely INFURIATING..... But never, ever dull or uninteresting.... "Twin Peaks" was, on the surface the story of the investigation of the murder or Laura Palmer, but it went WAY deeper than that, implying that everyone was guilty in some way of the crime. Possession, madness and horror mixed in with surrealism, melodrama and almost gentle humour..... Twin Peaks could just turn on a sixpence at any moment, literally one second could be humourous, the very next could be genuinely horrific and disturbing.... "Twin Peaks" was probably one of the most inspirational shows ever, it gave people a lot of ideas to play with and without this show you probably wouldn't have stuff like "X-Files", "American Gothic" or "Lost".... 4. Hill Street Blues - The cop show which set the benchmark by which ALL others would be judged in my opinion... The cops in the precinct were portrayed extremely well as this very large, very dysfunctional family group, with the "Sarge" being the de-facto Patriarch.. His fatherly advice of "Hey, let's be careful out there" was as much directed at his superiors as his subordinates, all of whom were very much his "children"... Stories were compelling, would often over-lap, and there was never an easy "wrap-up" at the end of the episode where the good guys got their man and always won.. Sometimes, they didn't, sometimes it ended in absolute tragedy, and when characters did die, it was a real shock to the system because the quality of the writing was superb that it made you care about the characters, despite their flaws. 5. Homicide - Pretty much the best Cop Show to be made in the vein of Hill Street Blues... 6. The X-Files - As with The Avengers, you have a strong male/female partnership built upon equality and mutual respect... Mulder and Scully were in so many ways the "perfect couple" who complimented each other, each one needing the other - Mulder needed Scully's grounded science to keep him honest, Scully needed Mulder's absolute conviction and belief in "the truth" to open her mind, in so many ways the relationship between the characters and how they related to one another was more important than the plots themselves... The first five series of this show (and the film) were utterly superb, the other four, a bit patchy, especially when Mulder left the show and Scully became a more marginal character, their replacements, Doggett and Reyes just didn't really have the same sort of frisson... 7. The Sweeney - I dont think I really need to add anymore... Just a brilliant show.... 8.Miami Vice - Comes across a bit naff these days, but at the time, it was a great show.. Another one of these shows where often things just would not be tied-up all nice and neat with a bow, it could show you the really dark side of humanity as well as revelling in all the shallowness of the 80s.. It probably didn't go as far as it wanted to go in how it portrayed Miami at the time (after watching the superb "Cocaine Cowboys" documentary, Miami in the 80s really was pretty much Hell on earth in many ways....), but at this time you didn't have cable networks like HBO, so the show's producer Michael Mann went only as far as the mainstream networks would allow..... If Miami Vice were done as an HBO show now, I reckon you'd see a portrayal of Miami in the 80s that would make "Scarface" seem tame.... 9.Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy/Smiley's People - Probably the best Spy series ever... Makes "Spooks" look like utter c**p..... 10.Inspector Morse - Morse was a more calm, sedate, cerebral copper than Jack Regan, but no less driven and compulsive... Again, it's the characters of Morse and Lewis and how they interact which throws up the best of this show... Morse, the intellectual investigator with a healthy disdain for privelege and "upper class flummery" as he put it in one episode, Lewis the working class sergeant... Of course, a lot of the time, it's actually Lewis who turns up the key to unlocking the crimes.... :lol: 11. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - As far as I'm concerned, Jeremy Brett IS Sherlock Holmes..... No one else comes close to his portrayal of Holmes, he got it so 100% spot on it was frightening....
July 1, 200817 yr Author Here's my 12.. Probs a few crossovers with some others... And they're not in any particular order, so it shouldn't be read as a "countdown"..... 1. The Avengers - Loved this show, bizarre plots, a great sense of absurdist humour... Particularly the Diana Rigg years... A truly radical show for the time, Emma Peel really was a proto-feminist icon, and the relationship between her and Steed was one of true equals built on a mutual respect.. Emma Peel was no "damsel in distress" needing to be saved in every episode, quite often, she was the one doing the saving of Steed, and she could kick ass with the best of them... Mrs Peel was the first action-heroine. As for Steed, well, he was just THE MAN, a true gent..... 2. The Prisoner - "I AM NOT A NUMBER I AM A FREE MAN".... Just legendary.... Thank fukk no one has seen fit to ruin this classic show by "hollywoodising" it (as the b/astards did with Steed and Mrs Peel..... <_< ). To say they dont make them like this anymore is an absolute fact, NO ONE really has the guts to do a show like "The Prisoner" anymore..... 3. Twin Peaks....unless you're David Lynch of course..... :lol: Surreal, absurd, Brechtian, at times absolutely INFURIATING..... But never, ever dull or uninteresting.... "Twin Peaks" was, on the surface the story of the investigation of the murder or Laura Palmer, but it went WAY deeper than that, implying that everyone was guilty in some way of the crime. Possession, madness and horror mixed in with surrealism, melodrama and almost gentle humour..... Twin Peaks could just turn on a sixpence at any moment, literally one second could be humourous, the very next could be genuinely horrific and disturbing.... "Twin Peaks" was probably one of the most inspirational shows ever, it gave people a lot of ideas to play with and without this show you probably wouldn't have stuff like "X-Files", "American Gothic" or "Lost".... 4. Hill Street Blues - The cop show which set the benchmark by which ALL others would be judged in my opinion... The cops in the precinct were portrayed extremely well as this very large, very dysfunctional family group, with the "Sarge" being the de-facto Patriarch.. His fatherly advice of "Hey, let's be careful out there" was as much directed at his superiors as his subordinates, all of whom were very much his "children"... Stories were compelling, would often over-lap, and there was never an easy "wrap-up" at the end of the episode where the good guys got their man and always won.. Sometimes, they didn't, sometimes it ended in absolute tragedy, and when characters did die, it was a real shock to the system because the quality of the writing was superb that it made you care about the characters, despite their flaws. 5. Homicide - Pretty much the best Cop Show to be made in the vein of Hill Street Blues... 6. The X-Files - As with The Avengers, you have a strong male/female partnership built upon equality and mutual respect... Mulder and Scully were in so many ways the "perfect couple" who complimented each other, each one needing the other - Mulder needed Scully's grounded science to keep him honest, Scully needed Mulder's absolute conviction and belief in "the truth" to open her mind, in so many ways the relationship between the characters and how they related to one another was more important than the plots themselves... The first five series of this show (and the film) were utterly superb, the other four, a bit patchy, especially when Mulder left the show and Scully became a more marginal character, their replacements, Doggett and Reyes just didn't really have the same sort of frisson... 7. The Sweeney - I dont think I really need to add anymore... Just a brilliant show.... 8.Miami Vice - Comes across a bit naff these days, but at the time, it was a great show.. Another one of these shows where often things just would not be tied-up all nice and neat with a bow, it could show you the really dark side of humanity as well as revelling in all the shallowness of the 80s.. It probably didn't go as far as it wanted to go in how it portrayed Miami at the time (after watching the superb "Cocaine Cowboys" documentary, Miami in the 80s really was pretty much Hell on earth in many ways....), but at this time you didn't have cable networks like HBO, so the show's producer Michael Mann went only as far as the mainstream networks would allow..... If Miami Vice were done as an HBO show now, I reckon you'd see a portrayal of Miami in the 80s that would make "Scarface" seem tame.... 9.Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy/Smiley's People - Probably the best Spy series ever... Makes "Spooks" look like utter c**p..... 10.Inspector Morse - Morse was a more calm, sedate, cerebral copper than Jack Regan, but no less driven and compulsive... Again, it's the characters of Morse and Lewis and how they interact which throws up the best of this show... Morse, the intellectual investigator with a healthy disdain for privelege and "upper class flummery" as he put it in one episode, Lewis the working class sergeant... Of course, a lot of the time, it's actually Lewis who turns up the key to unlocking the crimes.... :lol: 11. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - As far as I'm concerned, Jeremy Brett IS Sherlock Holmes..... No one else comes close to his portrayal of Holmes, he got it so 100% spot on it was frightening.... half of them dramas i could never get in to... they just didnt appeal... odd , i have no doubt that they were good, but the avengers, prisoner, sweeney, hill st blues, just didnt hook young mushy!
July 1, 200817 yr Author ..... oh and scott... youve chosen 11 not 12 as your first line would indicate :)
July 1, 200817 yr ..... oh and scott... youve chosen 11 not 12 as your first line would indicate :) That's a pedantic quibble! Norma
July 1, 200817 yr Author That's a pedantic quibble! Norma ... maybe but he might have forgotten a 'goodie', or he cant count! :lol:
July 1, 200817 yr ... maybe but he might have forgotten a 'goodie', or he cant count! :lol: I think his 12th one just may have been The High Chapparal! :lol: Norma
July 3, 200817 yr ..... oh and scott... youve chosen 11 not 12 as your first line would indicate :) I was somewhat running out of time cos I had to get to work.... :P
July 3, 200817 yr I think his 12th one just may have been The High Chapparal! :lol: Norma Nah, it's 12 = Robin Of Sherwood - Fukk the crappy Hollywood films and that pretty dodgy new Beeb drama, THIS is probably the only really authentic portrayal of the Robin Hood legend. Period flavour is spot on, and the series was praised by historians for its authentic detail... And the series had an edge about it which was completely lacking in any later adaptions. Okay, Michael Praed and Jason Connery were perhaps not the best actors in the world (mind you, is Kevin Costner either..? :lol: ), but they had some pretty formidable back up from the likes of Ray Winstone (Will Scarlet), Clive Mantle (Little John) and Nikolas Grace (the Sheriff of Nottingham). 12 = Babylon 5 - Probably about the best Sci-Fi show ever made IMO.... Stories were consistently invloving and pretty way out... I certainly preferred Bab 5 to the Star Trek spin offs in just about every way....
July 3, 200817 yr Robin of Sherwood was superb! Still got the first two series on video and I keep meaning to get the DVDs. I was tring to remember some of the things I used to like watching in the 70s. I used to really like The Streets of San Franscisco with Karl Marlden and wasn't it a young Michael Douglas. I also used to like The Rockford Files a lot. I also used to watch Shoestring and The Chinese Detective as well. The best cop show had to be Between The Lines. God I used to watch a lot of cop shows. Can't stand most of them now.
Create an account or sign in to comment