What you are missing from the Barmy land

America has stamped its authority on a majority of goods in our country- so much so that our economy is heavily dependent on the status of the US population’s spending. The Indian TV market for English shows is monopolized by American shows completely. Every television show we watch are American or adapted into an American version. Forget Indian soaps, they do not feature in the lists of any Indian youth today. But, are we missing some classy small screen action from our ex-rulers and current No.1Test team, England? You might not like the Brits and could have preconceived notions based on jokes and stories on their arrogance and attitude but their television work is something admirable.

There are numerous American shows based on the UK versions that the average viewer would be experience a ‘440 boltba’ going throught the list.The omniscient Wikipedia holds possesses this data here. For many of us, Hugh Laurie is probably the only name that comes to mind when asked to name an English small screen actor. That toois primarily attributed to his stupendous work in House M.D. Through this article we hope to give you enough reasons to follow the Brit TV scene. We promise, you won’t be disappointed!

1. Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry: If you haven’t seen these guys bring the roof down in any of their shows, you haven’t experienced TV yet. Blessed with immense talent and great camaraderie between themselves, the pair rocked the theater scene before moving on to TV. The first featured together as the inimitable Wodehousian duo Wooster and Jeeves. Brilliant would be an understatement to describe their performance. They carried their success to A Bit of Fry and Laurie, performing on screen sketches they themselves wrote. Now you can find Laurie and Fry in House M.D. and as host of the quite interesting quiz show,Q.I. respectively.

In the Wooster and Jeeves get ups..

2. Language:Every American show that you ever saw would have at least one utterance of the F word. The English shows too extensively employ the word but atleast we get to hear ‘shite’ or ‘bent’ in between the ‘fuck’ and ‘faggots’. The language is new to us, the Indian audience. Yeah, it is. We Indians, are not sure of the language we use and end up following the UK version for the spellings and the US idea for the constructions of sentences. Brit English is classier than the American English.

What do you get when you put 4 imbeciles together? The Inbetweeners

3. Originality:As mentioned earlier, some of the most popular American shows are copied from UK. And there is a reason it was copied, right? The original versions of these shows, The Office, Skins, Coupling, X Factor, Pop Idol to name a few are better than the American counterparts. You have to credit the creators for coming up with such awesome stuff! I mean you don’t see a character like David Brent every day. Like his counterpart Michael Scott says: David Brents don’t grow on trees. There is no David Brent tree.

Ricky Gervais rocking as David Brent

4. As short as they can get: When someone said a work of literature/cinema is more appealing when the characters grow with the audience, the Indian soap producers took it a little too seriously. The melodramas stretch to the limit. The characters literally grow with you everyday with Baa probably being the only exception (she grows old at half the rate of others). American shows continue for seasons together each with minimum 15 episodes. The Brit shows on the other hand are crisp and you can do away with them in a matter of days if you have the entire collection on hand. No season lasts more than 7-8 episodes.

5. Humour:Americans have a great sense of humour as is evident through the numerous hit sitcoms that are known to us. Some might be surprised to hear that Brits too have a sense of humour. Nevertheless, it is true and boy, are they good at it!Watch a few stand-up acts of Bill Bailey, an episode of Wooster and Jeeves from the old times or an episode of Q.I. The comedy in Brit shows is not predominantly racist or about immigrants. Guys like Bill Bailey take it to a whole new level where there is no particular template that the performer follows. It is more of a jocular interaction with the audience.

The master man Bill at work

Well well… what are you waiting for now? Get the best Brit show collection, sit back on the couch and enjoy the beautiful accent and humour, sipping a pint of lager without giving a shite to any wankers bothering you.

Posted in: American,Bill Bailey,Britain,Films,House,Hugh Laurie,Office,QI,Stephen Fry,TV Series,UK,US