Yes for shared indulgence!!

[alyrthia]

Yay, my kid is coming home for Spring break today-and we are going to have a mighty fine week of evening walks and talks to coffee shops and hours of watching her downloads of The Mighty Boosh, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Project Runway and Dr. Who.

The girl is heavily into British television (no, not Project Runway--but the others are British).

Comments

[mechtild]

Dear Alyon,

I am also pretty much in the same era of British television you described, adding in the "Prime Suspect" series with Helen Mirren, and shows my mother watches on BBC's satellite TV station when I've visiting her: reruns of "Monarch of the Glen" (which I grew very fond of), and comedies she likes that I don't: "Are You Being Served", "Keeping Up Appearances", and some other innocuous sit-coms. I didn't mind sitting through one with Judi Dench, though, "As Time Goes By"). I used to love to watch the old mystery series with her very much: the Miss Marple series with Joan Hickson, the Hercule Poirot series starring David Suchet, and especially the P.D. James stories starring Roy Marsden as her detective protagonist, Adam Dalgliesh.

Of your list above, I've heard of "Dr. Who", of course (but never seen it), from all the K-D fans of the show from the U.K., but I've never heard of the other three shows you listed at all. And who are Noel Fielding and Russel Brand?

~ Mechtild

[alyrthia]

Yes and yes

and as an aside--Isn't it funny how many British TV shows shown on American television feature the same actors? I remember years ago reading a Beatles biography in which there was a comment made about British TV, and how there is a small group of actors recycled again and again. That was a long time ago--then again, some of the shows we see again and again on PBS are older. But I do find it true for the ones shown on our local station-- there are lots of the same faces seen in different series.

Noel Fielding is one half of The Mighty Boosh, which is a very surreal comedy act and TV show. See what Wendy wrote below. Russel Brand is also a comedian and he has a radio show. I've had more limited exposure to him--I just saw the two paired up in a British quiz show and they were adorably funny. They are both young and rock and rolly.

[mechtild]

I read Wendy's reply, Alyon. Thanks for pointing it out. I doubt these shows are available to us, our cable company offers so little. But even if it does, we stopped getting cable after our daughter left for college. But maybe these shows are on DVD. I have definitely seen Dr. Who tapes and DVD's being checked out at the library.

[wendylady2]

Alyon,
Russell Brand I find to be too manic, and too loud for my tastes, but "The
Mighty Boosh" is very funny, and very surreal as well - Noel Fielding is quite charming though - very gentle and subversive in his humour !!
"Never Mind the Buzzcocks" is one of our favourite spoof-type quiz shows, and we always play against the teams - "Doctor Who", of course, we all know and love...

What excellently British taste your daughter has !!

[alyrthia]

Well, she is home and the watching has commenced. We just watched the 2006 Big Fat Quiz of the Year. Did I get that right? It was hilarious. And Russell Brand and Noel Fielding were paired. They were adorable together. But daughter does tell me that Russell can border on the obnoxious in other settings and she can understand it is harder for people to like him. He was great on this, however.