Explore TV Series

A BBC TV cultural review show featuring celebrity interviews.

Drama series about the Ettaswell Brass Band and its musical director H.G. Bestwick.

An incompetently managed zoo becomes a metaphor for the state of Britain as a nuclear crisis looms over Europe.

Fanny by Gaslight is a four-part British television miniseries adapted by Anthony Steven from Michael Sadler's 1940 novel of the same mame, directed by Peter Jefferies, and produced by Joe Waters. It initially broadcast from 24 September to 15 October 1981 on BBC One. Victorian orphan Fanny Hooper navigates hardship and scandal, eventually discovering her true parentage and finding love amidst the city's demi-monde.

The Russ Abbot Show was a British television comedy series which starred Russ Abbot and ran on the BBC from 1986 to 1991, and for 14 episodes on Granada Television from 1994 to 1995. It featured comedy performers Les Dennis, Bella Emberg, Tom Bright, Maggie Moone, Suzy Aitchison, Gordon Kennedy, Paul Shearer and Sherrie Hewson among others.

Hardwicke House is a 1987 British sitcom produced by Central Independent Television for ITV. Seven spisodes were made, but the series was so poorly received that only the first two were transmitted. In the large comprehensive school Hardwicke House, the staff of which are as dysfunctional as the pupils. One teacher is a multiple murderer while the deputy headmaster lusts after male pupils. One teacher, Moose Magnusson, is on an extended exchange placement because his own school in Iceland refuses to have him back.

Grundy is a British television sitcom starring Harry H. Corbett as puritanical newsagent Leonard Grundy who, after a divorce, opposes the idea of a 'permissive society' and befriends the wife of the man who left with his wife. It was initially scheduled for late 1979, but a ten-week industrial dispute and a subsequent heart attack by Corbett caused broadcast to be postponed until 1980.

A deranged scientist discovers a formula by which to make himself invisible, but is driven mad by his inability to reverse the formula and is evoked to use his invisibility to terrorise those around him.

Doctor Tom Latimer splits from his wife Helen. Simultaneously, his father Toby, also a doctor, announces his intention to divorce his wife of 32 years, Angela. Father and son move in together and frequently quarrel about politics and medical practices, Toby being more of a 'Harley Street' type and well to the right of the more liberal Tom. The latter tries to get his parents back together, while beginning a romance with Toby's secretary Madeleine, whom he later marries.

Keep It in the Family is a British sitcom that aired for five series between 1980 and 1983. It is about a likable and mischievous cartoonist, Dudley Rush. Also featured were Dudley's wife, Muriel and their two daughters, Jacqui and Susan. Dudley's literary agent, Duncan Thomas, was also featured. It was made by Thames Television for the ITV network. A remake of Keep It in the Family was produced in the United States under the title Too Close for Comfort, starring Ted Knight.

The Movie Game was a United Kingdom children's game show that ran from 8 June 1988 to late 1996. The format was three teams of two players answering questions about films, the team with the least points at the end of the first round were eliminated. The other two teams moved on to a board game-style end game. The winning team could, depending on the points they earned, move on to the series final and the winner of that would win a film related prize such as meeting Steven Spielberg. Each show featured a celebrity guest.

The adventures of Spot, a little yellow puppy and his family and friends.

Sitcom about a troublesome clergyman who is sent to a convent to be kept watch over.

Leo Sayer brings us new songs and old hits, with added glamour from his dancers Total Eclipse, in this series of six episodes, featuring guest stars.

One By One is a British television series made by the BBC between 1984 and 1987. The series, created by Anthony Read, followed the career of international veterinarian David Taylor and his work caring for exotic animals at zoos in Britain, from the 1950s to the 1970s. Each series was set during a different decade, with exteriors filmed at Dudley Zoo, Chester Zoo and Knowsley Safari Park. Thirty-two episodes were made in total. Rob Heyland starred as Turner, while other major cast members included James Ellis, Sonia Graham, Peter Gilmore, Heather James, Catherine Schell, Peter Jeffrey, Andrew Robertson and Christina Nagy.

Friends, contemporaries and even enemies of Alexander the Great gather in a tent to tell his tale through their eyes.

Henry's Cat is an animated children's television programme, written by Stan Hayward and produced by Bob Godfrey, who was also the producer of Roobarb and Noah and Nelly in... SkylArk. The show starred a laid-back, ponderous yellow cat, known only as Henry's Cat, and his many friends and enemies. Henry's Cat was first screened on 12 September 1983 and has enjoyed reruns since then. Five series were made in total.

Scully was a British television drama with some comedy elements set in the city of Liverpool, England, that originated from a BBC Play For Today episode "Scully's New Years Eve". Originally broadcast on Channel Four in 1984, the single series was spread over six half-hour episodes plus a one-hour final episode. It was written by playwright Alan Bleasdale. The drama is notable for featuring many of the Liverpool football club first-team squad of that era. Francis Scully is a teenage boy who has his heart set on gaining a trial match for Liverpool to hopefully fulfil his ambition of playing for the club. Francis, in everyday situations during his waking hours, occasionally "sees" famous Liverpool players such as Kenny Dalglish when they are not really there. These dream-like sequences recur throughout the episodes. The main plotline is the efforts of Scully's school teachers to persuade Scully to appear in the school pantomime which they attempt by promising him a trial with his beloved Liverpool if he will cooperate. When Scully and his friends are not in school making trouble for the teachers and the school caretaker, they are seen roaming the local streets upsetting the neighbours and getting into trouble with the police. Scully sometimes has visions of the school caretaker appearing as a vampire due to the caretaker's nickname being Dracula. These frequent waking dream sequences give the show a somewhat surreal atmosphere.

The History Man is a four-part 1981 British television drama miniseries written by Christopher Hampton, based on Malcolm Bradbury's 1975 novel of the same title. Ardently left-wing, or so it seems, Howard Kirk subtly extends his power over students and colleagues alike at a redbrick university.

Singles is a British sitcom set in a singles bar produced by Yorkshire Television. It aired for 3 series and 22 episodes on the ITV network between 1988 and 1991. Main character Malcolm, played by Roger Rees, was written out in the final series after Rees relocated to the United States, with Simon Cadell joining the cast in his place as Dennis Duval.

Bluebirds was a CBBC drama broadcast on 5 October to 9 November 1989, for six episodes. Set in London, youth group the Bluebirds try to protect their housing project from vandalism by local criminal Robbins.

David Attenborough examines the ways in which animals and plants adapt to their surroundings.

Happy Families was a rural comedy drama written by Ben Elton which appeared on the BBC in 1985 and told the story of the dysfunctional Fuddle family. It starred Jennifer Saunders as Granny Fuddle, Dawn French as the Cook and Adrian Edmondson as her imbecilic grandson Guy. The plot centred around Guy's attempts to find his four sisters - also played by Saunders, for a family reunion.

Chance in a Million is a British sitcom broadcast between 1984 and 1986, produced by Thames Television for Channel 4. The series was co-written by Andrew Norriss and Richard Fegen and starred Simon Callow and Brenda Blethyn. The producer and director of the series was Michael Mills.

Tales Out of School is a British anthology of television plays by David Leland: Birth of a Nation, Flying Into the Wind, R.H.I.N.O.: Really Here in Name Only, and Made in Britain.

The unconventional lives and loves of the family of Lord Alconleigh, dominated by the eccentric, irascible Uncle Matthew. The story encompasses the economic and political crises of the Thirties and the upheavals of the Second World War.

A middle-aged housewife and mother of two has to cope alone when her husband disappears.

After nearly five years away teaching in the Middle East, Shelley flies back to the UK. He's shocked to find a new world of high rent, yuppies, and wine bars - but Shelley is still Shelley - ready wit, work-shy behavior, and all.

In 1903, a young Scotswoman goes to join her diplomat fiancé in Manchuria. She marries him, and finds herself in a war zone. Disenchanted with her husband, she falls in love with a married Japanese nobleman, Count Kentaro Kurihama, and bears him a son. She carves out a life for herself in Japanese society, despite the hardships and ostracism she faces as both a Westerner and a woman.

Naked Video was a BBC Scotland comedy series, broadcast between 1986 and 1991 on BBC2, the series was created by Colin Gilbert who also created A Kick Up the Eighties and Naked Radio.

Airline is a British television drama created by Wilfred Greatorex and lasted for nine episodes broadcast from 3 January to 28 February 1982. Produced by Yorkshire Television for ITV1, the series stars Roy Marsden as Jack Ruskin, a pilot demobbed after the end of the Second World War who starts up his own air freight business.

Freud, also known as Freud: The Life of a Dream, is a 1984 six-part BBC television serial dramatised by Carey Harrison, and starring David Suchet as Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. Each episode begins with Freud and his family in London, where they had fled from Vienna in 1938 following the Nazi Anschluss, leading up to Freud's death a little over a year later. The rest of the episodes are told mainly in flashbacks to key moments in Freud's life and career

Jimbo and the Jet Set is a British animated cartoon series broadcast in the 1980s, featuring the adventures of the eponymous Jimbo, a talking aeroplane. Created by Maddocks Cartoon Productions, it originally ran for 25 episodes between 1985 and 1986. The premise of the cartoon is that Jimbo was originally intended to be a Jumbo Jet, but his designer could not tell the difference between inches and centimetres, resulting in his diminutive size. If Jimbo's designer switched the imperial measurements of the Boeing 747 for metric, the result would have been an aircraft with a fuselage length of 91 ft; this would make Jimbo roughly the length of an early-series Boeing 737. The television series features various talking airport-type ground vehicles: Tommy Tow-Truck, Claude Catering, Amanda Baggage, Phil the Fuel Truck, Sammy Steps and Harry Helicopter. Other plane characters appear from time to time, such as Old Timer, a Vickers Wellington bomber who gets into the story while flying to or from an airshow. The story is based at a fictional "London Airport", under the command of an irate controller who frequently ends episodes screaming "I want words with you, Jimbo!".

Sharon and Elsie is a British sitcom that aired for two seasons from 1984 to 1985. It starred Brigit Forsyth and Janette Beverley. Elsie Beecroft is a middle-aged, middle-class office administrator in a printing firm. Her world is perfectly ordered until young working-class Sharon Wilkes is hired as the new office secretary. Initially prone to be snobbish, Elsie soon learns to appreciate Sharon and the two become friends. Many episodes revolve around the family life of either Sharon or Elsie, with Sharon's brother Elvis, her boyfriend Wayne, and Elsie's husband Roland making regular appearances. Factory scenes would usually involve lecherous floor manager Stanley Crabtree and Sharon and Elsie's prickly responses to his womanising. Grumpy tea lady Ivy would also make appear regularly.

A middle-class family take in a teenage girl as a foster child, and her arrival has a disrupting effect on the household.

The Black Tower is a 1985 mystery television mini-series based on the book 'The Black Tower' by P.D. James. The title role of Commander Adam Dalgliesh was played by Roy Marsden.

The River follows the tranquil life of lovable, Cockney, ex-convict Davey Jackson who is lock keeper on the canal near the village of Chumley-on-the-Water.

The philosophical adventures of Murun Buchstansangur, a depressive, somewhat neurotic creature who lives in a crack under a kitchen cupboard. The series was notable for its oblique, downbeat tone. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given his surroundings, Murun was a somewhat melancholy, philosophical character, though he was not lonely - in fact he had quite a large number of friends, neighbours, family members and acquaintances. Rather than Murun having exciting adventures, the narrative of each episode usually centred around a problem or dilemma that Murun would ponder, sometimes helped by his friends and relatives.

Disc jockey, flyboy, con-man, compulsive fibber... Kit Curran is all of these and worse! A perfect storm of self-obsession and general apathy, Kit reigns as the undisputed king of small-time Radio Newtown; but sparks start to fly when a new boss arrives and Kit finds that his days of egocentric scheming may soon be numbered!

Alexei Sayle's Stuff is a comedy sketch show which ran on BBC2 for a total of 18 episodes over 3 series from 1988 to 1991.

Roisin and Septa are two young nurses from Dublin who go to work at a hospital in Belfast. Roisin meets and falls in love with Tom, a young Protestant car mechanic. This causes a series of problems for the young couple, their families and friends.

Hard-partying wine merchants Jack and Hugo lose all their money and are forced to work for a living.

When Dr. Edwin Lorrimer, a forensic scientist working at a private laboratory is found killed, Detective Superintendent Adam Dalgliesh is sent to investigate. Dalgliesh had been in the area a few months previously investigating the murder of a young woman found in an abandoned car. There are several suspects: Lorrimer's subordinate, Clifford Bradley, who despises him; the new head of the laboratory, Maxim Howarth, who is jealous of his sister's relationship with him; a colleague, Paul Middlemass, who had a fight with Lorrimer. There is also a gruff and likely unethical policeman who was on the grounds of the laboratory at the time of the killing and a local pathologist who is raising his two young children after his wife leaves him for another man. When one of the suspects is also murdered, Dalgliesh learns a key piece of information.

A seemingly perfect couple's life unravels when the husband's eccentric mother acts on intense jealousy, seeking revenge through a series of incidents implicating her ex-husband, his new wife, and an old friend, then leading to murder.

Drama series about the attempts to unmask Ludwig Kessler, the fictional head of the Gestapo in Belgium from the series SECRET ARMY, who escaped punishment, changed his name to Manfred Dorf, and became a successful businessman.

The Trap Door is a claymation-style animated television series, originally shown in the United Kingdom in 1984. The plot revolves around both the daily lives and the misadventures of a group of monsters living in a castle. Although the emphasis was on humour and the show was marketed as a children's programme but also for family entertainment, the show drew much from the genres of horror and dark fantasy. The show has since become a cult favourite and remains one of the most widely recognised kids' shows of the 1980s. Digital children's channel Pop started rerunning the show in 2010.

The Price is Right in the UK was hosted by Leslie Crowther, Bob Warman, Bruce Forsyth, and Joe Pasquale. It ran discontinuously from 24 March 1984 to 7 April 1988, with a second run from 1989, a third run from 4 September 1995 to 16 December 2001 and a fourth run from 8 May 2006 until 12 January 2007.

Anthology series of six plays by writers new to television.

Tucker's Luck was a British television series made by the BBC between 1983 and 1985. The series is a spin-off from the school drama Grange Hill and capitalised on the popularity of one of the series' original characters — Peter "Tucker" Jenkins, played by Todd Carty. Tucker's Luck followed the exploits of Tucker and his friends, Alan Humphries and Tommy Watson, after they had left school and their attempts to find employment and cope out there in the "real world". Three series were made, with several former Grange Hill cast members reprising their roles for the spin-off, although the programme never came close to matching the popularity of Grange Hill. The third and final series saw the first appearances of Tucker's younger sister, eight-year old Rhona, and Tucker's elder brother Barry.

Thompson is a 1988 British TV variety series hosted by actress Emma Thompson the show also starred Imelda Staunton, Kenneth Branagh and Stephen Moore. The show featured musical numbers, as well as comedy skits and…

Young Nicholas Nickleby sets out to make his fortune in order to prevent his mother and sister from depending upon his uncle, Ralph Nicklby. But he finds his first job as master at a Yorkshire school to be cruel, and runs away with one of the students. Meanwhile, Kate is subjected to the unwanted attentions of Sir Mulberry Hawk, aided by her uncle. Nicholas and his new friend, Smike, begin their adventures and eventually set out to rescue Kate, with the usual Dickensian twists, turns and asides.

Fortysomething wife and mother Molly Pargeter leads a stable but dull life in 1980s West London. She feels overweight and there is no passion in her relationship with her husband Hugh, who is secretly seeing another woman. For most of her life, Molly has found escape in detective novels and art books, especially on 15th-century Italian fresco painter Piero Della Francesca. Suddenly, in the small ads, she spots the details of a Tuscany villa to let, and after a viewing, she takes it for holiday.

A series of plays written by Alan Bennett.

Running Scared is a British television children's drama serial produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC 1 in 1986, based on the Bernard Ashley novel and is set in Woolwich with the Woolwich Ferry featuring in a key scene. A gritty series, Running Scared deals with a teenage girl, Paula, whose life is put at risk when she uncovers evidence that could put a local criminal gang leader behind bars. The series is notable for its use of the then recently released Kate Bush pop song Running Up That Hill as its main theme tune.

It Takes a Worried Man was a British TV sitcom. It was made by Thames Television and ran for three series, broadcast from October 1981 to November 1983. The first two series were broadcast on the ITV network, and the third and final series on Channel 4. Most episodes were written by the star, Peter Tilbury, who played office worker Philip Roath.

Fax was a Notes and Queries show by the BBC, shown in the late 1980s. It was presented by Bill Oddie, Wendy Leavesley, Debbie Rix and Billy Butler.

Pulaski is a British television drama series produced by the BBC in 1987. Created by Roy Clarke, the series was a parody of detective dramas centred around Larry Summers, an American actor starring in a British detective series in the title role of Pulaski, who finds himself involved in real life cases. He was assisted by his co-star Kate Smith, who played his sidekick Briggsy in the series. The theme music was performed by The Shadows.

The Nation's Health is a 4 episode series written by G.F.Newman based on his book of the same name, originally broadcast on the fledgling Channel 4 UK TV channel in 1983. The series consists of four episodes that are, in order, titled: Acute, Decline, Chronic, and Collapse. In it we are faced with a maelstrom of political issues, illnesses, fatalities, personal greed and professional vanities. As may be clear from these titles, the series draws a relentlessly bleak view of the NHS in 1980s Britain. The protagonist of the series is a newly-qualified doctor, Jessie Marvill (Vivienne Ritchie). The series follows Jessie through four different sectors of the NHS, although the episodes are not focused entirely through Jessie: the NHS is seen from a variety of different perspectives, from doctors and patients to administrators and kitchen staff.

As World War II looms in Europe, an ambitious young English lawyer embarks on his tempestuous career, and even stormier romantic life. Based on the novel series of the same name by C.P. Snow.