20 British TV shows you definitely need to check out
16. Blackadder
Run date: 1983-1989
Why you should watch: Blackadder will give you a chance to see Mr. Bean in a completely different but still ridiculous light. Rowan Atkinson takes on the titular character, with a list of (now) high profile actors in various other roles. We’re talking the likes of Sir Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, and so many other familiar names from British TV shows and movies (and even across the pond).
One of the great things about Blackadder is how different seasons have different settings. You can watch the same characters in Queen Elizabeth I’s time, during the Medieval Period, and even during the First World War.
There are still connections though. Each incarnation of Blackadder is a descendant of a previous one. If you’re not sure about the seasons as a whole, there are plenty of Christmas specials too that will give you an idea of what to expect.
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15. Call the Midwife
Run date: 2012 to present
Why you should watch: Call the Midwife is based on the best-selling memoirs of Jennifer Worth and is the first period drama on our list. Set in the 1950s, it tells the story of Jenny, a newly qualified midwife living in East End London, who joins a community of kind and eccentric nuns, who are also nurses at Nonnatus House.
This is a relatively graphic series at times. It doesn’t shy away from some of the heartbreaking elements of midwifery in the 1950s, including the illegal and deadly abortions. However, it does also bring in some of the changes to medical care and the various situations the nuns find themselves in.
There’s more to the series than delivery babies. The midwives soon find themselves entangled into the lives of the mothers and their soon-to-be-born children. It’s one of the only British TV shows on this list still going so now is the time to catch up ready for the next Christmas special.