Ask UK

1227 readers

41 users here now

Community for asking and answering any question related to the life, the people or anything related to the UK.

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

tom@feddit.uk

What's a British TV show that the Yanks did better? (feddit.uk)

submitted 9 months ago by Oneeightnine@feddit.uk to c/askuk@feddit.uk

45 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I'll go first....The Office.

Now I know the two shows are fundamentally quite different, but they adapted what was already a very successful show, and turned It into an event more successfully one that lasted for significantly longer than the original did. I say that's a win for them.

Anything else? Life on Mars, Being Human, The Inbetweeners.....?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] Emperor@feddit.uk 20 points 9 months ago (14 children)

There's quite a good Wikipedia article on this.

Amongst all the quiz and reality shows, there are a few intriguing obscure nuggets:

The Golden Girls is an adaptation of a UK TV series, The Brighton Belles.
They've tried to adapt Fawlty Towers three times.
Not the Nine O' Clock News was adapted for the US.
One Foot in the Grave became Cosby - presumably the British version didn't have enough (ie any) rapists.
They tried to adapt Spaced, IT Crowd and the Young Ones but they failed at the pilot stage. This is probably A Good Thing. Although I might see if I can dig out the pilots.

[–] IggyTheSmidge@kbin.social 3 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Cosby predates One Foot in the Grave - I remember watching Cosby as a kid in the 80s, and OFitG didn't show up until the 90s. OFitG became (I think) Curb Your Enthusiam.

[–] GombeenSysadmin@lemmy.world 8 points 9 months ago (1 children)

The Cosby Show was the 80s. Cosby was 96-2000.

[–] IggyTheSmidge@kbin.social 2 points 9 months ago

Huh - I assumed they were the same thing.
I wonder if it never aired in the UK...

load more comments (11 replies)