I confess, I may be a BBC addict. It started with Dowton Abby. Next I got hooked on Sherlock. Withdrawal set in, so I moved on to Mr. Selfridge. These were just the gateway shows. I met with my pusher, Mom. She introduced me to Call the Midwife and Doc Martin.
Doc Martin got me asking the question: What is so endearing about this curmudgeon and all the quirky characters in the hilly little town they inhabit? Why do I so look forward to these British TV shows?
The three of us: Ducky, Loved One and I began getting our fix, sharing a Doc Martin episode over lunch. Sometimes we laughed together, sometimes we laughed in tandem as a giggle, prompted another and then another to get the British humor. I loved the moments of bonding Doc Martin gave us.
But we caught up, and no longer had our lunchtime fix.
“It’s just like the old The Andy Griffith Show,” I exclaimed.
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwEvysDpNm0
Lots of quirky, funny people. Quirky like we all are to some extent. Misfits we love because they are a little bit like us.
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YafAKyRhfE
On to Call the Midwife: same thing. We laughed, we cried, we looked at each other and caught the emotion.
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVfdZevxf_o
Yes, each episode features at least one birth, but it is so much more than that. Each episode offers a new insight to understanding life and compassion for the idiosyncrasies of others. A little bit like the old Waltons or Little House on the Prairie. I crave this type of “faith in humanity” programming.
I got turned off to the humor presented by most current American sitcoms. They seem to rely on sarcastic humor; humor driven at putting someone else down, or easy (yes, funny,) not-so-double entendre.
Sherlock is BBS’s modernized version of Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories. I like linking the stories back to the written versions. Plus, some of the crimes are those of theft or intrigue, or sometimes not even crimes at all, but accidents that look like crime.
Most current American whodunit shows seem focused on grisly crimes, particularly against women and children, with remorseless perpetrators.
I may never be content without a BBC fix again.
I’m all caught up on Doc Martin and Call the Midwife. Orphan Black near the end of the season. (I got hooked on this just for the talent of former comedienne, Tatiana Maslany acting ability.) OMG, she plays more than nine women with distinctly different personalities and backgrounds. Orphan Black is darker than the others I mention, yet it features strong female characters unraveling and conquering difficult situations. For an analysis of the show, check out this link: O-B Re-cap and Analysis. Warning: the analysis gives away the story up until the latest episode.
I need a new fix. What’s your favorite BBC TV show?
