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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

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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.....?

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[–] Emperor@feddit.uk 15 points 9 months ago (5 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.

[–] its_me_gb@feddit.uk 11 points 9 months ago (2 children)

They also did a pilot of Red Dwarf!

[–] Emperor@feddit.uk 4 points 9 months ago

Monsters!

[–] UKFilmNerd@feddit.uk 2 points 9 months ago

They tried that one twice!

[–] IggyTheSmidge@kbin.social 3 points 9 months ago

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.

[–] shiveyarbles 2 points 9 months ago

I would argue that not the nine o'clock news was better than anything stateside

[–] cdf12345@lemm.ee 2 points 9 months ago

British television audience are very accepting of the American originals while being much less accepting of British remakes (see, for instance, the failure of The Brighton Belles, the British remake of The Golden Girls).

[–] DarkNightoftheSoul@mander.xyz 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

presumably the British version didn’t have enough (ie any) rapists.

You forgot Little Jimmy. shoe-in for such a role...