No wrong answers. Could be a game show, docu-series, fiction, sci-fi, anything that didn’t make it but should have.
Absolutely Fabulous is a great sitcom about a teenaged girl dealing with her narcissistic mother’s shenanigans. funny AND has some real moments.
Embarrassing bodies
I always felt Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace deserves more recognition.
Also has a special place as the start of both Richard Ayoade and Matt Berry’s careers! Came out in January 2004 and they wouldn’t be seen on the Mighty Boosh until later that same year in May.
It’s actually a work of art how meticulously they achieve the low budget 80’s B-horror aesthetic; acting, direction, cinematography, editing… everything. The random jump cuts (cemetery shotgun, lol), amateur framing, disjointed voiceovers, walking to nowhere at the end of a scene, or entering a scene for far too long, a Tombstone blowing in the wind.
It’s extremely difficult to intentionally make it all so shit while being so fucking funny. Perfection. Oh, and no fucking canned laughter!
The reason they only did one series is that everything you describe is much more expensive than doing it properly. It was the most expensive show Channel 4 had ever done to that point.
I know writers who use subtext, and they’re all cowards.
It’s amazing and I think about it often!
Matthew Holness has continued to do Garth Marenghi stuff post-TV series. You can actually read some of the novels Garth Marenghi wrote, and they’re just as good (by which I mean awful, in excellent ways) as you’d expect them to be. He’s even on a book tour right now!
The Young Ones
Dads army
LITTLE BRITAIN!
“Computer says no…”
Okay, no, I call bullshit. Not only was this not underrated, it’s also aged incredibly poorly, not to say it was ever particularly good, to say nothing of David Walliams recent controversies.
Fuck Little Britain.
It’s even been pulled from streaming because of how poorly it’s aged, and Matt Lucas has all but disavowed it.
“Basically, I wouldn’t make that show now. It would upset people. We made a more cruel kind of comedy than I’d do now.”
I’m gonna say Broadchurch. I don’t think it was unpopular, but I have to look it up every time to remember the name. It features a past and future Doctor (as in, Dr Who). David Tennant was a Doctor before he was on Broadchurch, and Jodie Whittaker was a Doctor after. She plays a mum whose child goes missing, and he’s the inspector sent to her remote (?) village to investigate. That’s the first season. The second season deals with the town’s issues with the bad guy from the first season, and I forget what the third season’s about, but it’s all good.
They made an American one, and some of the same people were in it, but it only lasted one season. So I’d say go with the British one.
I also appreciated Torchwood. It’s an adult sci-fi series set in the Dr Who universe, and it had its ups and downs (mostly downs), but it was generally worth watching. Unfortunately, the lead actor had a bad habit of pulling his pecker out backstage to prank his coworkers and he got canceled for it. Nobody said he ever abused them or that he pulled it out in public, it was just schoolboy antics backstage, but it was enough. Not defending him, I’m just saying he’s not a nonce or a public menace. He just has a problem with boundaries. So, while I don’t dislike him as an actor, being a viewer, I fully understand why people don’t want to work with him anymore. Torchwood has continued as audiobooks, I think, or maybe something like a podcast where they act out roles? They call it something else, like an audio drama or something. So I’m not sure if there are actual books they’re reading from or just a script that isn’t available in print, the audio recordings being the only medium. There were also a couple games as I recall, but nothing good. A less problematic and more straightforward series (albeit, American) is Warehouse 13. Same thing. Shadowy organisation collects alien relics and stores them for the government. Hijinks ensue. W13 was fun at first, but really didn’t go anywhere. (Also, it was on Syfy, if that tells you anything — as in, the network couldn’t be arsed to spell “sci-fi” properly and they cared about as much about how to make good sci-fi as they did about spelling it properly.)
The score to Broadchurch is also great!
“Fun” fact: Syfy originally was spelled correctly. Then they implemented this terrible rebranding. Though now that I think about it, had probably more to do with improving outcomes of trademark protection as Syfy isn’t a regular word. It was probably hard to go after others infringing on “Sci-fi” since that is a common word. Same probably goes for the “Trvl” channel.
Oh yes, I remember, and what’s even funnier is it was TNN (The Nashville Network) or something else not sci-fi related before that.
The network did not invent science fiction, so they had nothing to defend, and when they changed it to Syfy, no one was trying to take that name, either — and the quality plummeted after that. Probably because “well we’re no longer the Sci-Fi channel so here’s a bunch of reality TV.”
Then again, I’m also mad that most rock radio stations went away. We talk about AI slop, but the slop has been there for a while. It’s just, people used to make slop to satiate the masses. They still do, but now they use AI to do it, too. And it’s not AI’s fault, per se. The slop was always here.
I lived literally 100m from the church in Broadchurch. Jodie Whittaker and Olivia Coleman’s houses were just around the corner. We lived there while they were filming the third season, so it was kinda cool to see some of the local businesses dressed up as sets.
It was a proper headfuck to watch the show, and see people walk round a familiar corner, only to suddenly be in a town in Dorset, where the rest of the filming took place.
I know the feeling. I’ve watched a couple things set in my hometown. The continuity errors are a trip.
Charlie Brooker’s Screenwipe/Newswipe shows.
A lot of people missed those back in the day and they missed them as the origin of the voice of our generation: Philomena Cunk. I really miss her compatriot Barry Shitpeas.
Also Charlie Brooker’s police procedural sendup A Touch of Cloth starring John Hannah is similarly criminally underrated.
Just imho Brooker’s comedy is way better than his dark scifi of Black Mirror.
Touching, Cloth.
We’re going to lose face, Cloth.
I shall find this squad’s duty register, and have you cut from the same, Cloth.
“I want that report on my table first thing tomorrow morning, Cloth”
“But sir-”
“On my table, Cloth!”
Dead Set was a bit of fun too
Absolutely! Screen Wipe was outstanding. Black Mirror is fine
BBC Show - Post zombie apocalypse, they’ve managed to cure the zombies and they’re trying to re-integrate into society.
Spaced (1999–2001).
I’m genuinely curious how well known or underrated this one is.
Along with the mighty boosh (which is very… different) it is required viewing.
Hyperdrive with Nick Frost, Kevin Eldon and Miranda Hart
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperdrive_(British_TV_series)
This needs more upvotes
Actual clip from the show.
I n…need to do a wee! 🤣
That was actually the show I had in mind when I asked the question! 😁 It’s another one we quote constantly. If I ever want my wife to come see something cool I did, I’ll ask her if she’s marvelling “Did you marvel?! Are you marvelling?”.
Come Dine With Me and Four in a Bed.
I’ll never get over old mate putting the whole whisk in his mouth! 😂
hahahah absolutely!
The Goodies
Two old ones that still hold up.
“The Prisoner.”
Imagine if Franz Kafka and Ian Fleming collaborated on an episode of Dr. Who
https://youtu.be/osNmf_zmSyE?t=11
“Connections”
Science documentary that explores how progress twists and turns and almost never goes in a straight line.
Connections has some of the most tightly scripted cinematography. That perfectly timed rocket launch was absolutely superb for 1977.
They’re older shows, sir, but they check out.
Connections was the most mindblowing thing I’d ever seen. And I’d seen The Prisoner!
IT Crowd
Definitely worth mentioning but also definitely not underrated! We still quote it almost daily “Awright, 'arry? D’you see that ludicrous display last night?” 🤣
They just walked it in!
For us it’s always “Fire. Exclamation mark. Fire. Exclamation mark.” and Matt Berry’s “Faaaaatheeeeeeeeeer!!”
Father Ted is also incredible and highly underrated.
