Explore TV Series

Route 66 was decommissioned as an official American Highway some time ago but try telling that to Henry Cole. Six years after his previous pilgrimage, Henry fires up the beast and feels the pull of a fresh adventure on 'The Mother Road'. The 90 degree heat, 100% humidity and torrential rain turn out to be the least of his problems. The real ones come in the shape of the UFO Hunters, real gun slingers, eccentric millionaires and other frightening bikers Henry meets as he traverses the 2500 mile route. Is the myth growing more magical or is it fading into folklore? You can trust Henry to tell you straight as he gets his kicks on Route 66.

Clone is a 2008 BBC Three comedy series starring Jonathan Pryce and Mark Gatiss, centred on the creation and education of the world's first human clone. Its first series of six 30-minute episodes premiered on 17 November 2008.

Fur TV is a comedy puppet show produced by MTV Networks Europe and airs on MTV channels throughout Europe. The show uses Muppets style puppetry, but in a more adult setting. The characters are shown to undertake human activities such as drinking and having sex.

Sunday Life was a British magazine/discussion television programme broadcast on Sundays on BBC One beginning 20 April 2008. It was presented by Louise Minchin and Colin Jackson. The show, which replaced the Heaven and Earth Show was intended to focus on "inspiring stories and thought-provoking discussion", with the slogan "Real stories. Real people. Real life." The show was partly intended to fill the public service remit of the BBC's broadcasting licence, as well as its Sunday morning religious quota. It was dropped from the schedule after one series and its slot in the schedule replaced by The Big Questions.

The Invisibles is a British 2008 comedy drama series created and written by William Ivory for the BBC. It was produced by Company Pictures, shot in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

This show features the LazyTown characters in short, humourous sketches whilst Ziggy visits the UK to encourage healthy eating and getting active.

Tracing the giant river from its origins, high in the Andes, to its end, where it meets the sea on Brazil's Atlantic coast, Parry stays with the many and varied tribes who are desperately trying to maintain their way of life in a rapidly disappearing landscape.

British show about possible x-files style stories.

The World's Strictest Parents is a television series developed by TwentyTwenty Television, originally broadcast in Britain by the BBC. America's CMT and Australia's Channel Seven have both created localised versions of the programme, with the CMT episodes frequently rebroadcasting on MTV. There is also a German version called "Die strengsten Eltern der Welt". The concept is that two so-called "unruly" teenagers are sent to live abroad with a strict host family for a week in an attempt to change their behaviour. During the week they receive an impact letter from their real parents with a list of issues they should try to fix.

Eight famous faces pair up with eight untrained rescue dogs. After weeks of hard work with their professional trainers, they face the challenge of competing live in a weekly Crufts-style competition

Battle of the Brains is a British game show hosted by Nicky Campbell and produced by Shine Limited for BBC Manchester. The first series was broadcast weekdays on BBC Two at 6:00pm, and started on 28 July 2008, ending on 22 August. The second series began on 9 February 2009 ending on 6 March. Two teams of 6 members plus a team captain play a series of games focusing on different parts of the brain. The original presenter was Paddy O'Connell.

Documentary series using dramatic reconstructions and testimony from witnesses to reveal the 'behind closed doors' politics of the Second World War.

Headcases was an ITV satirical animation show based on current affairs. It employed the same satirical style as Spitting Image, 2DTV and Bo' Selecta! but using 3D animation created by UK Visual Effects and animation house Red Vision. Red Vision evolved a series of unique production techniques and a sophisticated animation pipeline to deliver the weekly topical elements of the series to hitherto impossible deadlines. The programme's first series began on 6 April 2008, with weekly episodes until 11 May 2008, airing on Sundays at 10 pm. A seventh episode was televised on Friday, 30 May at 10:30 pm, and an eighth at 10 pm on Sunday, 15 June. The show included celebrities, politicians and members of the British Royal Family in their animated form, taking a role in sketches including scenarios from their own topical issues. The show's name comes from the fact that all the subjects' caricatured faces are out of scale with the rest of their bodies.

Sitcom about a pair of Glasgow house clearers, discovering the hidden lives people lead behind closed doors.

Series combining stunning wildlife with high octane adventure. A team of explorers search the depths of the last great unspoilt jungle on the planet.

House Guest is a British reality programme that ran on ITV from 19 May - 19 December 2008. The show consists of a group of five people who each, along with a co-host, host a dinner party for the other guests. This involves a three course meal along with entertainment. The guests mark, out of 10, the host's food and hosting skills. After the party, one guest stays the night at the host's house and in the morning the guest marks their night's stay out of 10. The three individual scores give the host's total score, and at the end of the week, the host with the highest score wins the house guest trophy.

A look at the impact of television on British culture.

Wogan's perfect recall was a game show presented by Terry Wogan. It was broadcast on Channel 4 and ran from 25 August 2008 to 19 November 2010.

Extreme Fishing with Robson Green is a factual entertainment show broadcast on Channel 5. The show sees actor and fishing enthusiast Robson Green travel around the world in search of the greatest fishing destinations. There have been five series to date. A spin-off series entitled Robson's Extreme Fishing Challenge began airing on 9 April 2012.

Parents of the Band is a 2008 British comedy television series, created by Jimmy Nail and Tarquin Gotch and shown on BBC One. The show stars Jimmy Nail, and is set around a teenage musical band, which each band member's parents are trying to manage.

UK-produced partially improvised comedy based on the original Australian show with the same name. In the show, four guests are placed into a scene they have no knowledge about and have to improvise. The series is hosted by Paul Merton, who also acts as judge and performs his own improvised scene.

Forty-somethings Elizabeth and Matt are a glamorous and successful couple – or at least they would be if either of them could actually get a job. Matt has been replaced by his assistant in the publishing house where he worked for 15 years. Meanwhile, Hollywood actress Elizabeth seems to be paying the price for choosing an English husband and swapping sunny LA for suburban London. Despite being Oscar-nominated in her youth, Elizabeth is finding it hard to get an audition. Matt, in the meantime, is thrown the occasional scrap of editing by his former assistant.

Sport Relief Does The Apprentice is a celebrity version of the British reality television series The Apprentice, produced in 2008 to raise money for Sport Relief. Five male celebrities and five female celebrities took part in the show to complete a business-themed task. The show aired on BBC One on 12 and 14 March 2008.

The True Story is a documentary series shown on History in the United Kingdom and on the Smithsonian Channel in the US under the name The Real Story.

An expert visits a struggling country house and tries to turn its fortunes by giving advice and suggestions to the owners. The first four seasons saw Ruth Watson in this role. The fifth season saw Simon Davis take the role.

The Wall was a British comedy television programme presented by Alexa Chung and Rhys Thomas. The programme was produced by Zeppotron for BBC Three and premiered on the channel on 8 April 2008. The programme featured a regular cast of Lucy Montgomery, We Are Klang, Simon Brodkin and Jamie Glassman who performed comedy sketches, interviews and music and were joined each week by celebrity guests. At the heart of the programme was a large video wall on which viewers could rate sketches and make suggestions. The show was named the "Worst British TV Panel Show/Satire of 2008" in The Comedy.co.uk Awards.

Series in which famous people examine just why they are the way they are.

Living With The Dead is a British television program about a team of paranormal investigators who investigate ghostly goings on and supernatural occurrences in family homes around Britain. The team aim to resolve the paranormal activity for the family concerned. While mainly focused on ordinary family homes, investigations in celebrity homes such as comedian Freddie Starr's occasionally feature. Each run comprises 8 sixty-minute episodes. Now into its second series, the show airs on the Virgin Media Television satellite channel Living, plus Australian and Canadian channels.

David Attenborough narrates the lives of four growing tiger cubs using footage collected by hidden-camera-carrying elephants. Over two years, the elephants help capture the most intimate portrayal of tigers ever filmed.

BingoLotto was a hybrid lottery-bingo style gameshow based on the Swedish show of the same name, Bingolotto. Each week, viewers with a valid gamecard had a 1 in 9.5 chance of winning. However, unlike the National Lottery, prizes would be life-enhancing, rather than life-changing. In other words, prizes were "small," varying from more game-cards to the maximum cash prize of £100,000. The game cards were printed in Sweden by "Idrottens Digital Print".

ITV3 investigates how the costume drama genre has evolved over the decades - from The Forsyte Saga to Upstairs, Downstairs, Brideshead Revisited to Lost in Austen. Get closer to the drama with interviews with the stars and the people behind-the-camera, from the writers to the location managers.

Cracked is a Scottish comedy drama, which was broadcast on STV. Created and written by Clare Hemphill and Kate Donnelly, the drama series is set in a Scottish countryside residential rehab clinic, a place where people with various mental and emotional problems check themselves in for some professional tender loving care. Over six episodes, the series deals with issues that are difficult and dark, but also more light hearted and comical situations. Cracked was produced by STV Productions in 2005, but due to the lack of appropriate regional time-slots, the series wasn't broadcast until 2008, where it was shown on Thursday nights at 10:40pm, taking the place of popular comedy-drama High Times.

A 9 part DVD series included free with The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph newspapers.

Presented by Neil Oliver, A History of Scotland is a television series first broadcast in November 2008 on BBC One Scotland and later shown UK-wide on BBC Two during January 2009. The second series began on BBC One Scotland in early November 2009, with transmission at a later point on network BBC Two. Along with the series, BBC Scotland planned a range of radio programmes, a new website, an interactive game, and concerts. The Open University, in collaboration with the BBC, also created a series of audio walks around historic locations in Scotland, with narration from Oliver. In Australia, series one aired on SBS One Sundays at 7:30pm from 6 December 2009 to 3 January 2010. Series two commenced on 24 October 2010 running until 21 November in the same Sunday night Lost Worlds strand. It has since been repeated.

Last Choir Standing was a 2008 talent show-themed television series produced by the BBC in the United Kingdom. Broadcast on BBC One in July and August 2008, the series saw amateur choirs competing each week to be the 'last choir standing'. The series was presented by Myleene Klass and Nick Knowles, with judges Russell Watson, Sharon D. Clarke and Suzi Digby. In the final, following a public telephone vote, the winners were announced as Welsh male voice choir Only Men Aloud!. An collection of songs from the series was released as an album in November 2008.

Hi-5, a British children's television program, was aired at 2008. It was based on the original Australian TV show of the same name. Hi-5 is known as a children's pop music group as well as being a television show. They also teach arts and crafts.

A new all-female sketch series featuring the writing and performing talents of four hotly tipped new comics - Alice Lowe, Sarah Kendall, Barunka O'Shaughnessy and Clare Thomson. The four comedy actresses write and perform all the material, introducing audiences to a broad range of characters and the peculiarities of their own imaginary world, like being robots, owning a magic bin and dating a duck. Recurring characters include rude South African airline hostesses Jadine and Marla; and the Sex In The City girls, who annoy everyone by misbehaving and acting childishly in a highstreet bar.

Sofia's Diary is a British drama web series distributed through the social networking platform Bebo. Based on the Portuguese series of the same name, which debuted in 2003, it follows the life of a teenage girl named Sofia, portrayed by Rachel Hyde-Harvey. In 2008, the series was acquired by Channel Five, becoming the second web series to be broadcast on British television. Its first two seasons aired on Fiver. After an eight-month hiatus, Sofia's Diary returned to Bebo on May 29, 2009, with a six-week third season. Unlike the previous seasons, new episodes were released twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays. The series was initially sponsored by Sure Girl, while the third season was produced in partnership with Transport for London to support a road safety awareness campaign aimed at teenagers.

Dr Michael Mosley explores how pioneering doctors laid the foundations of modern medicine.

Cat Deely hosts the epic 'live' final of Britain's Got the Pop Factor, where musical acts R Wayne, 2 Up 2 Down and Geraldine battle it out for their own record deal and an automatic entry to the show Celebrity Jesus Christ Soapstar Superstar Strictly on Ice. Nicki Chapman, Neil Fox and Pete Waterman will judge their efforts, but who wins?

Six of the best British crime thriller writers are profiled during the running up to the ITV3 Crime Thriller Awards. Each author will be given their own week, featuring some of their finest TV adaptations every night, plus an exclusive documentary examining their lives and work, talking to the stars who have brought their characters to life on screen, fellow writers, fans and the authors themselves.

Beat the Star is a British game show airing on television network ITV. It is the British version of the Schlag den Raab franchise, based on the German game show Schlag den Raab. A candidate who can beat a celebrity in a number of disciplines wins the jackpot, starting at £50,000.

Keith Lemon's Very Brilliant World Tour is a travel-style comedy series hosted by Keith Lemon, a character portrayed by comedian Leigh Francis. The series was first announced during an appearance by Lemon on the Big Brother companion show Big Brother's Big Mouth in 2007. The series featured Lemon travelling around the world on a shark-shaped flight plan, visiting six different countries, and meeting various celebrity guests, including Spice Girls Mel B and Mel C, along the way.During the series, Paddy McGuinness played the role of Lemon's cousin Gary. The show premiered on 11 March 2008, attracting 565,000 viewers, and concluded on 15 April 2008. In May 2008, Francis announced that he would not be filming a second series in the near future, as he would be busy filming his panel show Celebrity Juice commencing in August 2008. The show was released on DVD on 3 November 2008. Francis announced in May 2011 that he would like to write and record a second series, but said he would struggle to find the time to do so.

Historian Niall Ferguson tells the story of money and the rise of global finance. Bringing context and understanding to the current economic crisis, he reveals how the history of finance has been punctuated by gut-wrenching crashes.

It Pays to Watch! is a money saving show presented and written by money saving expert Martin Lewis, co-presented by Ruth Liptrot. It airs on UK terrestrial Channel Five. It is repeated on UK digital channel Fiver as an extended version on Sundays providing extra tips known as It pays to watch More! A new series began on 17 September 2008.

Stephen Fry journeys across America, hoping to visit all 50 states of the country which has always fascinated him.

Teenage Kicks is a British sitcom starring Adrian Edmondson, Ed Coleman and Laura Aikman, filmed at Teddington Studios. Originally as a radio show for BBC Radio 2 in 2007, it was turned into a TV series by Phil McIntyre Productions for ITV. The show ran for 8 episodes beginning 28 March 2008 although the show was not recommissioned for any further series. The opening theme tune is "Teenage Kicks" by the band The Undertones.

Lab Rats is a 2008 BBC 2 situation comedy set in a university science laboratory starring Chris Addison, who co-wrote the series with Carl Cooper. The series was produced by regular collaborator Simon Nicholls and directed by Adam Tandy. Its executive producer was Armando Iannucci with whom Addison worked in The Thick of It. Iannucci stated that the programme would be a traditional-style sitcom recorded in front of a live audience. He hinted that it will be a "very cartoony" show featuring "lots of giant snails". A pilot was announced as part of a series called "Behind Closed Doors" in Autumn 2006, but was never aired. A series of six episodes was broadcast in 2008, although the show was not recommissioned for further series.

The Dark Side of Fame with Piers Morgan is a BBC television series presented by Piers Morgan exploring the downside of fame. The show follows an interview format in which each episode is devoted to one particular celebrity figure who has seen the "dark side of fame". Morgan, a former tabloid editor, questions the guest on these experiences. The show is similar in nature to another show Morgan previously presented on the BBC You can't fire me, I'm famous!.

Iain Stewart reveals some surprising facts about the world's most destructive and spectacular natural phenomena, from earthquakes and tsunamis to avalanches and volcanoes.

White was a series of documentaries shown in March 2008 on BBC 2 dealing with issues of race and the changing nature of the white working class in Britain. The series alleged that some white working class Britons felt marginalised and poses the controversial question, "Is white working class Britain becoming invisible?"

Massive is a sitcom broadcast on digital channel BBC Three. It is set in Manchester and stars Ralf Little and Carl Rice as Danny and Shay, who leave their office jobs to set up a record label when Danny inherits £10,000 following the death of his grandmother. The series began airing on BBC Three on 14 September 2008.

At Heathrow's Terminal Three, officers stop a student from entering the UK after a trip home to his native India, while the team in Calais search lorries they suspect are being used to smuggle illegal immigrants.