Top 10 British Shows Of The Last Decade

I’m moving to England in the very near future. I think it might be weird, what with all the driving on the wrong side of the road, the accents that I’m not used to, and calling french fries chips, but there’s one thing that shouldn’t bother me at all. The British have some pretty great shows that I love to watch. It’s just a different approach to what we’re used to seeing. The shows below are not a definitive list of anything, but they are definitely some of my favorites, and I think if you give them a chance, you’ll agree that they’re pretty good.

Top 10 British shows of the last decade:

10. Downton Abbey

It’s a show set in post-Edwardian era, where we see the life as it happens in an English country house, with all the high society and the lowly working class. It did lost a bit of it’s momentum after the third season though, as some of the cast left for other roles.

9. Merlin

It’s a show influenced by Smallville, where we follow the life of a young prince Arthur and a young Merlin, who struggles to keep his abbilities hidden in Camelot, where magic has been forbidden.

8. My Mad Fat Diary

It’s a show that follows the life of Rae Earl, an overweight girl who has just come out of the psychiatric hospital and is dealing with all the problems of being a teenager. It’s also filled with an amazing soundtrack for every episode.

7. Torchwood

This Doctor Who spin-off starts off pretty good, but you need to give it a chance until the third season when it really gets it’s feet on the floor and then just gets better and better.

6. The Office

A series created by Ricky Gervais, the very controversial, and very funny comedian, is a mockumentary following the lives of people working in a paper company, with all their quirkiness.

5. Top Gear

Cars. It’s all about that speed and elegance with this show. You’d think it’s boring to watch cars and hear about what they can do, but Jeremy Clarkson and his crew make this an exciting thing to watch.

4. Q.I.

Q.I. is a kind of a talkshow, hosted by Steven Fry, one of the most intelligent human beings on the planet. Q.I. stands for Quite Interesting, and the show has a panel of 4 contestants who try to figure out the answers to some of the seemingly very simple questions, mostly getting them wrong.

3. Skins

MTV made an American remake of this series, but to be honest, it can’t really compare to the original. The show follows the lives of a group of teenagers and their way of dealing with sometimes very controversial topics. It’s a dark, demented, crazy show, but done in a very beautiful way. It also changes the cast every two years, as the actors get too old to be in the format that the show demands.

2. Sherlock

Everyone knows Sherlock, right? Wrong, you’ve never seen him like this. They took the highly functioning sociopath and they placed him in the present day. It’s kind of House M.D. meets CSI, and a definite must watch.

1. Doctor Who

I shouldn’t even be wasting time with this one. If you’ve never heard of Doctor Who, then you have one job. Go find it somewhere and start watching. Then come back after a few months and thank me.