Sometimes, even with the embarrassment of riches that is American television (especially if you have cable), there’s still a hole in your heart. And, for whatever reason, you turn to your sexy part-time lover, British television.
What is it that makes us turn to British TV? As someone who regularly cheats on American TV, I can’t tell you. Maybe it’s the sexy accents. Maybe it’s the thrill of all the extra-legal maneuvering you have to take to see it before it’s going to air six months later in the US, at which point no one will care and you’ll be totally spoiled for it, anyway. Maybe it’s just better. (I have a long and mostly nonsensical/unfounded argument on how and why British TV does drama better than American TV, but I’ll spare everyone.)
For whatever reason, we all have a British show or five that we’re hooked on. For the purposes of brevity in this poll, I only included currently-running shows (which counts out Torchwood and its weird “is it over or is it a hiatus?!” break) and shows that were not spin-offs of other shows (Sorry, Brittany, that discounts Law & Order: UK, even if it is a totally different show than its American cousin). I’m sure, though, that I’ve missed some, so let us know in the comments. What’s that show from across the pond that does it for you more than anything else? We here at CliqueClack are dying to know.
Clacked by Julia Hass 
on Feb 15, 2012 @ 15:23 EST5EDT
BBC’s Sherlock is simply amazing TV … too bad they are going to screw it up when they make the US version … I definitely recommend downloading it from the internets via iTunes or whatever
FYI … if you do try downloading the episodes from Series 1 and Series 2 … make sure you get the BBC version and not the edited PBS version
THEYRE MAKING AN AMERICAN ONE?! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!
No, I believe ABC are making one in the US called “Elementary” I believe. It has nothing to do with the BBC Sherlock. It does rather feel like jumping on the bandwagon.
I so wanted to vote twice so Misfits can get some love.
I know Sherlock, Downton and Doctor Who are much better quality shows, but I have to vote Merlin as my favorite.
Where is the IT Crowd?!?
I guess I will just vote for Top Gear!
Dan, I nominated it, I swear. I’m not sure how it didn’t get on here.
*POST AUTHOR*
Isn’t it no longer filming new episodes, Katie? That was why I didn’t include it.
As far as I know (and this might have changed), they’re doing either a special or a few specials to end out the series. It’s a gray area, but I thought it counted. Realize I’m a bit biased because I love that show.
Unsurprisingly the top two shows are both Steven Moffat projects. He’s definitely my favorite TV writer today, and anyone who hasn’t seen either Coupling or Jekyll needs to throw them into their Netflix queues, pronto!
Jekyll is fantastical! And it’s on Netflix watch instantly too. :)
Thank you for including Peep Show, the greatest British sitcom ever (probably)
Coupling is/was one of the funniest shows recently on the BBC … shame they did such a bad job of the US version
What about The Hour? I thought it was awesome, and I’m almost positive they’re set for a second season.
The Sherlock votes. Yeah, I’m pretty sure more than 60% of those votes are because of tumblr. :P
The other 40% come from twitter. :)
I love Sherlock. But John Luther got my vote. In a genre that mostly knows procedurals, Luther is something entirely different.
Luther deserves love, it’s really awesome. I’m a fan of Who and Sherlock too though.
I really don’t know how to vote for this. How do you only pick one?! I have six I’m fighting between!