Best classic BBC TV series out of this random bunch of 70s/80s stuff

out of what i've seen, tinker, tailor

All of these are currently available on DVD btw, I made that my (v. questionable) criterion for classicness.

So much good stuff there. I think I have to plump for "I, Claudius" but could make a good case for everything there that I've seen, (about 2/3rds). The LeCarré and Triffids come close behind.

Threads is great, Singing Detective is not made to be watched all in one sitting, haven't seen the others.

I went through I, Claudius in about a month of Weekends watching on rental VHS as a teenager. Perhaps I'm voting because it was just redone as the classic serial on Radio 4 over christmas and I love the books, but it does seem to have made a stronger imprint on me than any of the others.

The Le Carre adaptations are the only ones I've seen. They was v good, but it would be unfair to vote for either really.

Private Schulz!! blimey, goes all nost...

Edge of Darkness. Bob Peck's finest hour. And Joe Don Baker's.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Smk1GvnrL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

Haven't seen Schulz since I was a kid, but iirc I thought it was pretty funny. When I read 'The Good Soldier Svejk' I kind of imagined Elphick as Schulz as Svejk.

I'd like to see that, love Ian Richardson so much. So, what, he's playing a comedy SS officer?

Threads as in the nuclear bomb drops on Sheffield Threads? That was a one-off, not a series. Still, it wins just about everything.

voted TTSS, coulda voted for lots of the others

Blott on the Landscape seems like the odd one out (ie prob shit, tom sharpe no thanks)?

Chap, yeah. Elphick plays a forger making British bank notes for the Nazis so they can drop them over England by plane and flood the economy, sort of like in The Counterfeiters.

I remember loving the shit out of Schulz, probably needs a re-screening. Claudius is a total classic but I feel that's more down to the books than the frequently stagey show? Maybe a bit harsh that. It's the only one I've seen again in the last 20 years I think. Both Le Carres are fantastic in my memory. Pennies from Heaven is pretty good I think but later Potter hasn't maybe aged brilliantly. Neither has any Bleasdale that isn't GBH. Voted Schulz cos I'm sure it's a thing.

Blott on the Landscape seemed pretty good when I was 16? Probly better than the books, I'd guess.

Oops Emily, you're quite right about Threads! Bought that the other day actually, guess I didn't read the back too well. xps

Ian Richardson plays at least two characters in it, one German, one Eng. (If I remember corrrx)

Seem to remember the combination of George Cole and Geraldine James in Blott was funny as hell, but maybe not Suchet as Blott himself.

so many classics. remember being very young and watching Secret Army with my mother, and it being quite disturbing? haven't seen it since.

http://images.tvrage.com/shows/6/5140.jpg

It also had this really dreary and depressing title sequence. Lots of grey Belgian countryside and sombre music, shots of neverending farm tracks and empty railway lines.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTkdxWCpJYM

Here you go, what a right bag of laughs on a Sunday night this was.

I can still clearly remember how upset I was when one of the young women in the secret army was thrown into the street and had her head shaved for being a collaborator. It just seemed so unfair.

My mother was so appalled at Secret Army being turned into Allo Allo that she refuses, even to this day, to have Allo Allo on in the house.

Threads is a one off yeah but still easily the scariest most upsetting film i've ever seen. We did a whole thread about it once where i was reduced to a wreck after seeing it's first repeat showing after 20 years. I wish they'd remake it with a load of up to date effects, it's so damn effective, i've never seen a better bit of anti-war/anti-nuke story telling/ movie making.

But in terms of a series Blackstuff wins!

wow what a run of series

going with edge of darkness but could be tinker tailor, i claudius, pennies from heaven, almost any of em really

bob peck kills it

http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kvvzw2M6ns1qa9bmvo3_500.png

traffik should be on this list too not that id vote for it necc

Wasn't Threads a two-parter? I know that still counts as "one-off", but I seem to remember it was in two parts.

TWO PARTS.

Pretty positive it wasn't.

will rep for Edge of Darkness

Nate, I guess you must be right. Maybe it was the other one that was a two-parter? The American one? The old memory's not what it was. Although I do remember them calling rabbits coneys or something similarly medieval.

Traffik wasn't BBC iirc. Someone with a better memory should do all those other good ones, I could certainly use some recommendations.

My favourite non-BBC drama from this era is Reilly Ace of Spies. Sam Neill ftw.

Never saw that! There's a whole load of stuff I missed cos we were living abroad and relying on people to post tapes to us.

Suprised I havent seen many of these (having grown up on a diet of 70s-80s BBC) but Pennies from Heaven and the Singing Detective were excellent.

Yeah, Singing Detective was amazing. Casanova is the other Dennis Potter thing on that list, but it was well before my time.

singing detective, along with twin peaks, is really one of the formative influences in my life, television-wise. It is the best thing I have ever seen on TV.

"I CLAVDIVS" call it by its name.

want to vote Singing Detective but haven't seen Blackstuff and loved later Bleasdale (ok GBH mainly). actually have only seen SD and Clavdivs, the latter in Latin class in high school. gay teacher would ffwd through the more extended boning scenes, lol

Love love love Singing Detective, Day of the Triffids, Edge of Darkness, Survivors ... and can't say I love Threads, but I have bought it and still can't bring myself to rewatch it because of the weight my original viewing still has on my soul

3 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars BBC Propaganda, 28 Nov 2009
By biasedbeeb "lyingbbc" - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Monocled Mutineer : The Complete BBC Series (2 Disc Set)(DVD)

Anyone interested in the historical truth of World War I should realise, whilst watching this garbage, that this is just another BBC attempt at brainwashing the modern British population. When considered as a piece of art, it should be placed alongside "The Eternal Jew" or "October: 10 days that shook the world" - as a fascinating artistic study of the way political elites attempt to indoctrinate the masses.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Can't remember much about The Monocoled Mutineer but it appealed to me as a teenage Stalinist. Have seen most of the original play of Blackstuff more recently and it felt very stilted - long lumpen speeches of straight Socialist rhetoric that just felt in the way, Bleasdale still hadn't got his "show don't tell" chops sorted. Accept he might have ironed this out by the time the series came round because I don't think his other 80s work suffers from this.

The politics definely didn't spoil the entertainment for me in the Monocled Mutineer. Seems to have upset the Daily Mail and the Telegraph back in the day though.

Yeah, because it's the old "upper classes not automatically the best people to run armed forces" undercurrent.

Accept he might have ironed this out by the time the series came round because I don't think his other 80s work suffers from this.

― I thought I lived in England (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, January 19, 2011 9:52 AM (34 minutes ago) Bookmark

im probably wrong but it kind of seems that single-plays were all quite left-wing (some of them terrible, most of them rendered period pieces now), series not

iirc some of them were american co-productions with some channel in boston?

maybe later on, I think Blackstuff was a proper Play for Today originally?

Still cross that No Surrender isn't available on DVD

Edge Of Darkness was discussed at some length here by the way
mel gibson is remaking 'edge of darkness' as a film

Toss-up between the two Potters - Detective, I guess, but Pennies is a brilliant piece of work too. Edge of Darkness is great but feels dated and the ending is iffy.

Boys from the Blackstuff

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Edge of Darkness is great but feels dated and the ending is iffy.

not as iffy as the original script where he turns into a tree.

is that true? I want it to be

from troy kennedy martin himself:

Running parallel with Craven’s journey but on a quite separate track was the notion of Craven as a ‘green man’, unconscious of his own past, his nature concreted over by generations of urban life — a man who has lost touch with his roots, not in terms of family and place, but of ancestors and folk memory. For the formulation of this part of Craven’s character, I drew on ideas from The Real Camelot by John Darrah. Darrah sees the Arthurian romances as a series of encoded stories which disguise much earlier tales, revealing the presence in Bronze Age Britain of a Druidic civilization. I wanted to fashion Craven’s ancestors from this period, to make him the reincarnation of the original ‘green man’, whose destiny was to confront and destroy in the name of the planet the free-market forces of modem entrepreneurial capitalism, as represented by the chairman of the Fusion Corporation of Kansas, Mr Jerry Grogan.

However, it was inevitable that when a ‘green man’ is metamorphized into a detective in a TV thriller, those things that he might have represented in Bronze Age Britain tend to become marginalized. Furthermore, both the actor playing Craven and the director baulked at the idea that at the end of the story he would turn into a tree. This aspect of Edge of Darkness usually separated the men from the boys at Television Centre. ‘I am writing this story about a detective who turns into a tree.’ ‘Oh, yes,’ would be the guarded reply. ‘Who’s this for, Channel Four?’ Eventually I was persuaded out of the notion but not before some of its spirit had rubbed off on Craven’s character.

http://fabulousbakers.tripod.com/edge/intro.html

I heard it was Peck who nixed it: "I'm not turning into a fucking tree!" Gotta be EoD for me. I dunno if Bleasdale or Potter have aged particularly well...

Still it would explain it's original title, Hedge of Darkness.

its ffs

jeez actors shd have no say in any aspect of their work ever

I don't know. "He turns into a tree" is a bit "they all go to heaven", no?

not really. the latter is a crap deus ex machina but the former is a big metaphorical brain bomb

Doesn't Emma turn into a stream as it is? If it's good enough for Ovid...

There's that Bjork video where they all turn into shrubbery...

god the ending for eod is pretty sweet as-is, muldoon turning into a tree would only make it sweeter

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

ladies and gentlemen, to celebrate this historic victory... mr eric clapton!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eteUUZ8U4Bs

totally expected tinker tailor to walk away with this

What a surprising winner. And I've never even heard of Private Schulz. Wish I'd voted for Pennies from Heaven now.

http://www.btinternet.com/~pdbean/rtcover.jpeg

The whole thing is on Google Video too:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2023790698427111488#

Wow, that's a hell of a cover for the RT.

threads is a terrifying and affecting film. we were shown it in school when i was around 13-14.. i watched it recently and was like whoa

Pretty sure that this episode of QED was shown round about the same time, and is equally terrifying. I was 12, wtf were my parents thinking, letting me stay up to watch this stuff?

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2027585392890623612&hl=en&emb=1#

Yeah there was a themed week or a fortnight of Nuclear Armaggedon shows on the Beeb when Threads was first shown, they screened The War Game maybe for the first time? during this too.

Want to see this 'On the Eighth Day' thing, too

Anyone know anything about The Nightmare Man? Any good?

I bought the Nightmare Man on DVD when it came out because I got offered a deal for it, Day of the Triffids and the Mr Bronson version of the Invisible Man together. It's very much the inferior of the three and looks at times like a regional programme, made on a regional budget. They've clearly just hired a golf course to film on and you're half waiting for someone to play through the filming at one point. That said, it's well enough acted - the lead Russian guy is very good - but it's not any better than a well-made fan film and you can't shake that idea (although I suppose if you hadn't seen films by the likes of BBV it would never occur to you).

Bottom line, I guess, is that I've never felt the urge to watch it again and doubt I ever will.

Thanks aldo, sounds a bit dodgy!

By biasedbeeb "lyingbbc" - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Monocled Mutineer : The Complete BBC Series (2 Disc Set)(DVD)

Anyone interested in the historical truth of World War I should realise, whilst watching this garbage, that this is just another BBC attempt at brainwashing the modern British population. When considered as a piece of art, it should be placed alongside "The Eternal Jew" or "October: 10 days that shook the world" - as a fascinating artistic study of the way political elites attempt to indoctrinate the masses.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

One imagines Rupert Murdoch sitting late at night on his computer, typing this out while cackling evilly to himself.

I liked the opening credits to "secret army"! I keep meaning to compile something similar as a backdrop for a gig.

soooo civilization (kenneth clark)

reithianism yall

'engulfed in a squalid industrial suburb'

Weird--I was certain someone on this thread recommended 'Defence of the Realm', a 1985 UK movie which is VERY Edge of Darkness, and which I just watched and enjoyed, but nobody did. Hmm. Anyway, film is illegaly streamable/dl-able here: http://divxonly.com/thriller/defence-of-the-realm-1985/

i think defence of the realm is on netflix too?

spelled correctly though

bbc2/hbo remaking i claudius!

max this seems like it would be relevant to your interests

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2011/jun/19/page-eight-david-hare-review

oooooooooooooo

Just watched the first ep. of The Singing Detective on iplayer. 'Tis Really good!

Day of the Triffids movie on iplayer at the moment, the black and white one

oh, my mistake, its colour

So these Ghost Stories for Christmas...
http://www.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org.uk/files/downloads/bfi-dvd-press-release-ghost-stories-for-christmas-2012-09-19.pdf

I can't afford the whole damn thing, but the discs are being sold individually. Any suggestions as which one is best?

Disc One
(1968 & 2010 versions)
Jonathan Miller and Christopher Frayling discuss the 1968 version (2012, 3 mins)
Introduction to the 1968 version by horror writer Ramsey Campbell (2001, 16 mins)


Disc Two
The Stalls of Barchester (1971) and A Warning to the Curious (1972)
Filmed introductions with director Lawrence Gordon Clark (2012)
Ghost Stories for Christmas with Christopher Lee
and (Eleanor Yule, 2000, 2 x 30 mins)

Disc Three
Lost Hearts (1973), The Treasure of Abbot Thomas (1974) and The Ash Tree (1975)
Filmed introductions with director Lawrence Gordon Clark (2012)

Disc Four
The Signalman (1976), Stigma (1977) and The Ice House (1978)
Filmed introductions to The Signalman and Stigma with director Lawrence Gordon Clark
(2012)

Disc Five
A View From a Hill (2005) and Number 13 (2006)
Ghost Stories for Christmas with Christopher Lee (Eleanor Yule,
2000, 30 minutes)

Sorry, disc one is Whistle And I'll Come To You

It's either Disc One or Disc Four, imho - tho' i imagine that the box set will eventually come down in price, as BFI releases tend to do

Fopp had the set for £35 a while ago, I think.

Yeah, we bagged the box set for around £30. It is absolutely worth it.

I could not choose a disc because they are all amazing, but my absolute favourite is on 4.

But then, I kind of wouldn't go for 4, as both Stigma and The Ice House are quite different in feel to the MR James ones...

Ok so the poll winner is being repeated again, starting on BBC 4 this Monday! should be on the iPlayer for a while after too, one presumes.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0074p8c

excellent

no idea if the HBO/BBC I, Claudius remake is still on

it will save me complaining about it not being as good, i guess

they shd just repurpose the empty BBC3 channel as BBC Classics, i'm sure it wdn't impact DVD sales much

i mean tbh they shd just give up and show all 60s/70s/early 80s stuff across the board but i'm a realist

otm tho

psyched for this

I watched a number of these series last year after discovering I claudius which was being repeated on BBC4 at a time inconvenient to me. I wound up downloading that and the others I saw.

Edge of Darkness is pretty great, much better than mel gibson would have you believe.

Also saw the Borgias the late 70s/early 80s version which was very good
Elizabeth R with Glenda Jackson in the title role
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy & I think Smiley's People the other Alec Guiness Le Carré
Private Schulz which was great and I think I'd seen when it was first broadcast, though not sure i caught the whole series.

I got Pennies From heaven but didn't watch it all the way through, also Brideshead revisited in the Jeremy Irons version but had trouble with the screen ratio which kept changing throughout the dvdr I burnt. Should try it again now that i have things on memory stick instead, might work better. Just found it really difficult to watch with the image dancing like that so gave up.

Boys From the Blackstuff was really good. I'd been aware of it at the time in as much as I'd seen trailers and Yosser Hughes became a figure in the public mind who impressionists frequently did. Good to know what the actual story behind the guy's quirks was.
I also just watched 2 Ken Loach films that seem very similar, Riff Raff and Dockers. That's as in last week.

that's a very unloved episode page for such a classic series. i will have a word...

"The singing detective" is the best show ever. Why don't BBC get their finger out and have a Potter season?