24 was a cartoon with a huge budget. Even with helicopters, swat teams I was looking at my watch. Spooks whilst it may have had a fraction of the budget was grounded in solid real politik and characters. Fun in a purile bang, bang ridiculous manner.
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Quote: chipolata @ February 14 2012, 8:58 PM GMTName a Brit TV drama in the last few years that has come close to Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones etc etc. It's not so much less often as not at all recently.
Mad Men was well made but it was like watching very expensive paint dry....boring as f**k and I gave up with it halfway through series two.....and then AMC cancel Rubicon...WTF?!
I am just about to start watching season three of Breaking Bad so I am not sure what is to come. I do enjoy it but it reminds me of a very dark version of Falty Towers. The main dude lies and gets into deep shit because of it "Just tell the f**king truth you numpty"!
Game of Thrones is very, very good but it has enough time to shoot itself in the foot.
24 was shite. The Wire is one of my favourite shows but it does have flaws.
Luthor, Mad Dogs, Sherlock, The Hour, The Shadow Line. British TV has been on fine form for a long time now.
American TV tends to have too much of a moral compass that ruins any hope of some type of honest connection. I hate Dexter with a passion but people seem to love it. Other shows start off well and then forget why they were good in the first place. Its like the decision makers think "Hmmm, this is working really well but how can we change this into a steaming pile of shit?".
Don't get me started on The Sopranos....
Pile.Of.Shite.
The US can make great TV with huge budgets but the British make great TV at a fraction of the price.
Quote: Bob Hicks @ February 14 2012, 9:48 PM GMTI am just about to start watching season three of Breaking Bad so I am not sure what is to come. I do enjoy it but it reminds me of a very dark version of Falty Towers. The main dude lies and gets into deep shit because of it "Just tell the f**king truth you numpty"!
Breaking Bad is an all time great show.
Quote: Matthew Stott @ February 14 2012, 9:54 PM GMTBreaking Bad is an all time great show.
So far so good but it does frustrate me at times 
You are all insanely delusional. Dexter, Chuck, The Walking Dead, 24, etc. all metaphorically piss and shit over the last series of Doctor Who.
Who the fook wants to see James Corden galumping about rather then Jack Bauer blowing some bastards face off?
I haven't seen a lot of the other British dramas mentioned, soon as I see the advert for any of them, I can't face sitting through hours of depressing garbage full of characters I can't stand, waiting for them to self destruct in a pointlessly gritty climax.
Quote: Renegade Carpark @ February 28 2012, 12:55 PM GMTYou are all insanely delusional. Dexter, Chuck, The Walking Dead, 24, etc. all metaphorically piss and shit over the last series of Doctor Who.
Who the fook wants to see James Corden galumping about rather then Jack Bauer blowing some bastards face off?
I haven't seen a lot of the other British dramas mentioned, soon as I see the advert for any of them, I can't face sitting through hours of depressing garbage full of characters I can't stand, waiting for them to self destruct in a pointlessly gritty climax.
I would agree that the last series of Doctor Who was lousy, but I'd rather watch that than a loud, crass american shoot-em-up populated by models who are only interested in patriotism and the power of love. 
Quote: Renegade Carpark @ February 28 2012, 12:55 PM GMTYou are all insanely delusional. Dexter, Chuck, The Walking Dead, 24, etc. all metaphorically piss and shit over the last series of Doctor Who.
Who the fook wants to see James Corden galumping about rather then Jack Bauer blowing some bastards face off?
I haven't seen a lot of the other British dramas mentioned, soon as I see the advert for any of them, I can't face sitting through hours of depressing garbage full of characters I can't stand, waiting for them to self destruct in a pointlessly gritty climax.
24 Had
1 A cleaning lady changing the bedding in a bedroom with an atomic mushroom cloud visible outside the window.
2 Jack Bauer looking like even more of a bondage gimp in his body armour then batman.
3 The worlds most boring plot.
4 The worlds most incomprehensible plot.
5 The revelation that Farmer Hogett was Jack Bauers dad. And at that point I got to bored to care what else he wanted to be.
24 was noisy, shrill, pointless and a lot of money spent on nothing.
Dr Who had a duff series, with some very nice bits. And yes I know I'm going back on it, but that run had some stinkers.
Quote: Harridan @ February 28 2012, 1:00 PM GMTI would agree that the last series of Doctor Who was lousy, but I'd rather watch that than a loud, crass american shoot-em-up populated by models who are only interested in patriotism and the power of love.
Whereas for me the opposite is true. I love escapist television full of overblown drama and action. Anything 'kitchen sink-y' turns me right off, I have enough depression and grittiness in real life.
Until Dot Cotton comes flying through the laundrette windows in slow motion, duel wielding Desert Eagles and taking out half of Albert Square, I have no interest in watching any of it.
Quote: sootyj @ February 28 2012, 1:06 PM GMT24 was noisy, shrill, pointless and a lot of money spent on nothing.
Dr Who had a duff series, with some very nice bits. And yes I know I'm going back on it, but that run had some stinkers.
The first 2 series of 24 were beyond brilliant, it was exciting, original and had a cracking pace.
Aside from 'The Doctor's Wife', it was all noisy, shrill, pointless and a slightly less amount of money spent on nothing.
Quote: Renegade Carpark @ February 28 2012, 1:08 PM GMTWhereas for me the opposite is true. I love escapist television full of overblown drama and action. Anything 'kitchen sink-y' turns me right off, I have enough depression and grittiness in real life.
Until Dot Cotton comes flying through the laundrette windows in slow motion, duel wielding Desert Eagles and taking out half of Albert Square, I have no interest in watching any of it.
I can't stand kitchen-sink dramas either - I never watch soap operas, anything promoted as 'gritty' or 'urban' turns me off right away. But there's a vast distance between dramas about abusive relationships and dramas about explosions and I like things that fall in the middle of those extremes.
Quote: Renegade Carpark @ February 28 2012, 1:10 PM GMTAside from 'The Doctor's Wife', it was all noisy, shrill, pointless and a slightly less amount of money spent on nothing.
Ok granted series one of 24 was good fun.
But I think it struggled to hold it together for event the first 24 episodes.
A show that didn't so much as jump the shark, as jump the mountain lion.
When they said. 'No shit Sherlock.' They lied to some extent didn't they?
Quote: Harridan @ February 28 2012, 1:12 PM GMTBut there's a vast distance between dramas about abusive relationships and dramas about explosions and I like things that fall in the middle of those extremes.
Unfortunately, British drama doesn't do that many explosions anymore. 
*RC tearfully becomes nostaligic over all the great ATV stuff of the past. Come back Bodie and Doyle, I miss you.*
Dexter turned very boring a long time ago too; from a must see to a series I can't be bothered with in the space of a few episodes.
Quote: Renegade Carpark @ February 28 2012, 1:15 PM GMTUnfortunately, British drama doesn't do that many explosions anymore.
*RC tearfully becomes nostaligic over all the great ATV stuff of the past. Come back Bodie and Doyle, I miss you.*
Spooks was a 'terrorist plot of the week' sort of show - plenty of explosions and shootings and that sort of thing - but it was based in a more real world, where not everyone lives forever and not everyone moonlights as a Calvin Klein model.
And what about crime drama? Stuff like Messiah and Whitechapel which are very over-the-top in terms of the spectacle of the crimes and murderers?