New Tricks is a British comedy-drama that follows the work of the fictional Unsolved Crime and Open Case Squad of the Metropolitan Police Service. Originally led by Detective Superintendent Sandra Pullman, it is made up of retired police officers who have been recruited to reinvestigate unsolved crimes.
ChuckleVision is a long-standing British children's series broadcast from 1987 to 2009. The Chuckle Brothers' famous comedy involves slapstick, other visual gags, wordplay, and catchphrases such as "To me, to you!" and "Oh dear, oh dear!"
The Brittas Empire is a British sitcom created and originally written by Andrew Norriss and Richard Fegen. Chris Barrie plays Gordon Brittas, the well-meaning but incompetent manager of Whitbury New Town Leisure Centre.
The show ran for seven series and 53 episodes — including two Christmas specials — from 1991 to 1997 on BBC1. Norriss and Fegen wrote the first five series, after which they left the show.
The Brittas Empire enjoyed a long and successful run throughout the 1990s, and gained itself large mainstream audiences. In 2004 the show came 47th on the BBC's Britain's Best Sitcom poll, and all series have been released on DVD.
The creators Andrew Norriss and Richard Fegen often combine farce with either surreal or dramatic elements in episodes. For example in the first series, the leisure centre prepares for a royal visit, only for the doors to seal, the boiler room to flood and a visitor to become electrocuted. Unlike the traditional sitcom, deaths were quite common in The Brittas Empire.
Get Your Own Back was a British children's game show, which ran from 26 September 1991 to 31 March 2003. It has been presented throughout by Dave Benson Phillips with the addition of Lisa Brockwell as a co-host from 2001 to the programme's end in 2003.
DIY SOS is a British DIY television series made for the BBC, presented by Nick Knowles. The first episode was broadcast on 7 October 1999 and the show is still airing today. As well as being a DIY programme it also features comic relief from the cast.
Hancock's Half Hour is a BBC television comedy series of the 1950s and 60s written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. The series starred Tony Hancock with Sid James. The final series, renamed simply Hancock, starred Hancock alone.
Comedian Tony Hancock starred in the show, playing an exaggerated and much poorer version of his own character and lifestyle, Anthony Aloysius St John Hancock, a down-at-heel comedian living at the dilapidated 23 Railway Cuttings in East Cheam.
The series was influential in the development of the situation comedy, with its move away from radio variety towards a focus on character development.
Real Rescues is a British documentary broadcast on BBC One exploring the daily work of the emergency services aired since 15 October 2007. Real Rescues is at the heart of the action with the emergency services of Hampshire including the police, fire, ambulance, coastguard and lifeboat crews. A majority of the footage has been shot around Portsmouth and Fareham. Reruns are on Watch and CBS Reality.
In the later series, other counties from across the UK began to be featured. Other emergency services, such as mountain rescue and animal rescue, were also featured.
Compact was a British television soap opera shown by the BBC between 1962 and 1965. The series was created by Hazel Adair and Peter Ling, who together went on to devise Crossroads. In contrast to the kitchen sink realism of Coronation Street, Compact was a distinctly middle-class serial, set in the more "sophisticated" arena of magazine publishing. An early "avarice" soap, it took the viewer into the business workplace, and aligned the professional lives of the characters with more personal storylines. The show was scheduled for broadcast on Tuesdays and Thursdays, thus avoiding a clash with ITV's Coronation Street on Mondays and Wednesdays.
When Compact began, the editor was a woman, Joanne Minster, yet it was not long before she was replaced by Ian Harmon, the son of the magazine's owner.
Despite being largely criticised by reviewers, Compact was popular with the general public, and in 1964 a regular omnibus edition was introduced, broadcast on Sundays. Morris Barry, a some-time actor and BBC director – h
Softly, Softly is a British television drama series, produced by the BBC and screened on BBC 1 from January 1966. It centred around the work of regional crime squads, plain-clothes CID officers based in the fictional region of Wyvern, supposedly in the Bristol area of England.
Mastermind is a British quiz show, well known for its challenging questions, intimidating setting and air of seriousness.
Devised by Bill Wright, the basic format of Mastermind has never changed — four and in later contests five contestants face two rounds, one on a specialised subject of the contestant's choice, the other a general knowledge round. Wright drew inspiration from his experiences of being interrogated by the Gestapo during World War II.
The atmosphere is helped by Mastermind's famously ominous theme music, "Approaching Menace" by the British composer Neil Richardson. The quiz programme originated and was recorded in Manchester at studios such as New Broadcasting House and Granada Studios, before permanently moving to MediaCityUK in 2011.
The Two Ronnies is a British sketch show which aired on BBC1 from 1971 to 1987. It featured the double act of Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett, the "Two Ronnies" of the title.
Big Break is a British game show based around the game of snooker, mixed with traditional game show elements. It was broadcast on BBC1 between 30 April 1991 and 9 October 2002. It influenced a later game show for the network called Full Swing, but based around golf, and itself was in part influenced by ITV's long-running darts quiz Bullseye.
A British comedy sketch television series featuring Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones that ran on BBC One and BBC Two from 31 January 1984 to 14 October 1998. From series 5 in 1989 the 'Alas' title was dropped and became simply Smith and Jones.
Wanted Down Under is a BBC One morning television series, which has been running since 2007. The programme shows families considering emigrating to either Australia or New Zealand.
United! was a British television series which was produced by the BBC between 1965 and 1967, and was broadcast twice-weekly on BBC1.
The series followed the fortunes of a fictional second division football team, Brentwich United. The football scenes were filmed on the grounds of Stoke City with Jimmy Hill acting as a technical advisor, and the efforts to achieve authenticity saw the show being criticised by the then management of Wolverhampton Wanderers, who complained that the series was based on their team.
United! was not a success, and was cancelled after two series. The programme was generally considered to be too soft to appeal to male viewers, and too male-oriented for the female soap opera audience. As was common television practice of the time, the series' episodes were wiped, and none of its 147 episodes are believed to have survived.
Created by Anthony Cornish, other writers on the programme included Gerry Davis, Brian Hayles, Malcolm Hulke and John Lucarotti. The directors included Innes Lloyd and De