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Current British TV series that are popular abroad

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    Current British TV series that are popular abroad

    I write this because Midsomer Murders (aka Inspector Barnaby) — far beyond any other British TV series — is pretty much on permanent rotation on German TV. If you have a basic cable package, you can pretty much watch it every evening.

    Its popularity stems from two things Germans hold dear — Krimis and English villages. If they could have somehow shoehorned the Queen and Dinner for One into it, it would be even bigger still.

    Whether John Nettles (and his successor) has ever dared visit the Fatherland is not clear; I expect the poor bloke would be continually pestered wherever he went.

    So for the OTFers based abroad, what's continually doing the rounds on your country's TV?

    #2
    Isn't Midsomer Murders the most popular British TV export ever or thereabouts, with something like two hundred countries screening it? I gather we've managed to flog it to all the Scandinavians, for example, as they're all heartily sick of that Nordic Noir stuff and also 'Barnaby' sounds rather Scandi anyway.

    I also have the vague feeling I've heard at some point that a happy quirk of the name is that Barnaby (which I believe is the re-title in most overseas markets) happens to be easily pronounceable in just about all major languages, does that sound plausible...??

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      #3
      I like a bit of Bergerac. It's not like all those other police based crime dramas where the detective goes home and beats his wife up every night. Or if he does, they don't show it on screen. It maybe happens after they get back from the village cake show and he begins maniacally ranting at her after she asks him if he liked her marzipan.
      Last edited by Rogin the Armchair fan; 10-10-2018, 16:00.

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        #4
        Not sure if regular Romanian TV has a go to British show (I've never seen Midsomer murders here). The cooking channel here that Mrs hoc is a fan of, however, seems to be wall to wall Britishness. Rick Stein, Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsay, Hairy Bikers, Thingy out of River Cottage, something with two blokes on a sailing boat, the list appears to be endless

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          #5
          Originally posted by Rogin the Armchair fan View Post
          I like a bit of Bergerac. It's not like all those other police based crime dramas where the detective goes home and beats his wife up every night. Or if he does, they don't show it on screen. It maybe happens after they get back from the village cake show and he begins maniacally ranting at her after she asks him if he liked her marzipan.
          Yes, but Bergerac is a divorced, recovering alcoholic. A troubled home life is taken as read.

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            #6
            My TV finally gave up the ghost somewhere last month (got it fifth-hand about a decade ago). I don't miss having one.

            edit for thread relevance: as a consequence, I have no idea which British TV series currently run on Dutch TV. We used to rerun loads of Perry/Lloyd/Croft comedies.

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              #7
              If it's a cosy whodunnit it's on here forever. All the usual suspects from original Morse and Frost to all the sequels and spin-offs are showing 24/7 it often seems. Throw in Call the Midwife and Dr Who, and finally Top Fucking Gear is on everyday on BBC Canada (no exaggeration.)

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                #8
                PBS show the thing with Martin Clunes as a doctor, and the one with that ginger bloke, and the guy out of Red Dwarf, as cops in Barbados.

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                  #9
                  OK, I've got (1) Doc Martin, and (3) Death In Paradise, but you're definitely going to have to give us another clue for show (2) there Gero...

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                    #10
                    I think it might be Grantchester, featuring James Norton.

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                      #11
                      Well now, 'Grantchester' IS on a lot, but I was talking about Kris Somebody who is in 'Death in Paradise' too. (And has been pretty much consistently annoying in every fucking thing he has ever been in.)

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                        #12
                        Midsomerin Murhat is popular here, to the extent that the lead actors have recorded dedicated MM advertisements for the Finnish market. The latest episodes currently have a primetime slot on Saturday evenings. It gives me a chance to shout DONCASTER ROVERS FAN at anyone within earshot when John Dudgeon appears on the screen.


                        Finland seems to have a thing about Yorkshire-based tv programmes. Anybody up for visiting Emmerdale, Heartbeat, Last of the Summer Wine and All Creatures Great and Small country?

                        You know you want to

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                          #13
                          On a visit to Bruges last year, I needed to use some pay toilets in a coach park. The bloke in the kiosk who took the money was so engrossed in Midsomer Murders he didn't take his eyes off the TV as I gave him the money.

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                            #14
                            Originally posted by Various Artist View Post
                            OK, I've got (1) Doc Martin, and (3) Death In Paradise, but you're definitely going to have to give us another clue for show (2) there Gero...
                            Erm...wasn't he just referring to different versions/series of the same show i.e. as you say, Death in Paradise?

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                              #15
                              Here in Holland we get BBC First.It relentlessly churns out all the drama productions the Beeb makes. Midsomer, Death in Paradise, Frost, Vera,etc., etbloodyc. are on virtuallynon-stop every day. My girlfriend is addicted to it and will often record aweek’s output and then spend all day Sunday watching Barnaby. When the cablecompany (KPN) gave us this gammon fodder they took away BBC4, which was aboutthe only thing worth tuning in to. Bastids!

                              Last edited by Aitch; 11-10-2018, 11:08.

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                                #16
                                About 6 years ago, I spent a few evenings in various Croatian hotels; at 6pm-ish each evening, on the main channel (or at least, the first that came up when the TV came on), 'Allo Allo' was on, dubbed into Croatian. I presume that it was popular because of the 'Nazi's in comic situation' set-up, but given that a large part of the 'comedy' was based on 'Good moaning' and suchlike - 'French' mispronunciations of English words - I couldn't get my head around it.

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                                  #17
                                  Only Fools and Horses is very big in the former Yugoslavian countries.

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                                    #18
                                    The popularity of Midsomer Murders is puzzling. It's basically set in the one remaining rich part of the UK. It about as representative of UK life as Poirot was back in the thirties.

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                                      #19
                                      Originally posted by The Awesome Berbaslug!!! View Post
                                      The popularity of Midsomer Murders is puzzling. It's basically set in the one remaining rich part of the UK. It about as representative of UK life as Poirot was back in the thirties.
                                      I don't think realism is much of a criteria for fans of Midsomer Murders. Unless there's a comparable homicide rate where you live.

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                                        #20
                                        Well it's not just midsomer murders, it's morse and Lewis as well. Greater Chipping Norton seems to have a murder rate comparable to baltimore in the 1870's.

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                                          #21
                                          Benny Hill still get a fair airing on French channels it seems...

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                                            #22
                                            Death in Paradise is brilliant though. Perfect casting, idyllic setting, clever plots, comfortably repetitive formula. It's the British version of Murder She Wrote.

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                                              #23
                                              I've had French TV in the UK for 20 years Moonlight (terrestrial channels and TNT - the French Freeview - so about 30 channels) and I've never noticed that Benny Hill gets "a fair airing". It was however reasonably popular in the 1970s-early 1980s (although confined to FR3, so the then least-viewed channel, out of only 3 or 4 existing channels) and it's possible that it's very occasionally re-aired on some Freeview channels but it's not a regular thing at all. According to this wiki, the last time they broadcast it in France was 2000 ("En France, l'émission est diffusée tous les dimanches à 20h du 14 septembre 1980 jusqu'au 10 septembre 2000 sur FR3 puis France 3.")

                                              This wiki gives the lowdown on British series shown in France: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_...s_britanniques

                                              Recently, Vera, Death in Paradise and Broadchurch I think have been quite popular.

                                              You can tell the popularity level by the channel they're broadcast on. If it's TF1 or France 2 = quite popular (only a handful of British series are broadcast on these two channels). France 3 = OK-ish popular. TNT channels = TV audience of < 1 million, so not very popular, which is the case of most British series shown in France, they're broadcast on the TNT channels.

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                                                #24
                                                Fussbudget's parents watch that Death in Paradise. I saw some of it when we were there in the Summer, having been utterly ignorant as to its existence previously. I then then spent the episode going, 'oh it's them off whatever', culminating in a spotting of Porkpie off Desmond's, to the interest of no-one.

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                                                  #25
                                                  Downton Abbey must be all-time No.1 in the US. Year-round repeats on PBS.

                                                  Death in Paradise is filmed in Guadeloupe. Very lightweight stuff.

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