Flops: British TV at its worst
Naked Jungle
On this show, popular British TV personality Keith Chegwin, known as “Cheggers” to his fans, walked around in his birthday suitAdamskostümbirthday suit. With only a hat covering his privates (ifml.)Weichteile, Gemächtprivates, he encouraged naked contestantKandidat(in)contestants to give their best on a jungle assault course (UK)Hindernisparcoursassault course. What on earth were those producers thinking?
Heil, Honey, I’m Home!
This offensivebeleidigend, anstößigoffensive sitcom ran for just one episode and was about the life of a fictional Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun who didn’t get along with their Jewish neighbours. Talk about bad taste.
Minipops
Let’s not forget Minipops either, a show with children dressed and dancing provocatively like the original adult performers while singing completely unsuitable songs.
Tops: British TV classics
Coronation Street
First shown in 1960 and still going strong (it has six episodes per week), Coronation Street is the world’s longest-running TV soap opera. It is set in fictional Weatherfield, in inner-city Salford. Instead of glamorous, unrealistic soap-opera stars, the characters are working-class and down-to-earth. The series has a strong storyline and a lot of light-hearted humour.
Doctor Who
This is another long-running classic that has a firm place in British popular culture and has developed a cult following. The first episode was broadcast in 1963 and the show is just as popular today. The Doctor is an eccentric but friendly time lordhier: humanoider Zeitreisendertime lord who journeys through space and time in a machine known as the TARDIS.
From the outside, the TARDIS looks like a 1960s-style blue Polizei-Zellepolice boxpolice box, but as every viewer knows, “it’s far bigger on the inside”.
As the character of the Doctor is centuries old, he convenientlypraktischerweiseconveniently to regeneratewiedergeboren werdenregenerates every now and again, allowing a new actor to become the next Doctor. The latest regeneration, a woman Doctor, is a first.
Strictly Come Dancing
Strictly, as we Brits like to call it, is in a a league of one’s owneine Klasse für sichleague of its own. It has become an essential part of Saturday-evening viewing and is consistentlydurchgängig, dauerhaftconsistently one of the most watched TV programmes in British TV. The format is simple: a professional dancer and a celebrity dance in front of a panel of judgesJurypanel of judges and are given marks out of ten for their performance. The worst dancers are voted off the show until one winning couple remains. It’s all about glamorous costumes, sparklingprickelnd, sprühendsparkling chemistry on and off the dance floor and complete escapismFlucht aus der Wirklichkeitescapism.
