I think I’m living my life in English TV shows and books

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I have met my people on this thread. Thank you all for your comments and suggestions many of which I was unfamiliar. Also early forties lawyer. Do not discriminate based on career or age. Will discriminate based on television and book choices. Am feeling warm and fuzzy just from reading all posts. Will be bookmarking thread for future reference. Currently on season 7 of Foyle’s War (tbh I preferred seasons 1-5), but genuinely believe I am in love with DCS Foyle. Dying for Hotel Portofino’s next season.

You’ll have to fight me for Christopher Foyle. He is absolutely my dream man. (If I were 20 years younger a young Morse, as in Endeavour, would be my dream man, though I’d have to divorce him before he turned into old Morse, who I didn’t care for).

PP from earlier, whose DH is a Foyle fan. I would love to watch TV with you and the "met my people" PP! While you're all distracted by Foyle I'll nip down to (fictional) Devon to solve almost murder-free crimes in picturesque "Beyond Paradise." Which I recommend for the "cozy mystery" crowd. I get worn down by shows with constant murder as the sole crime, and realism palls after a while; this series so far has not been terribly murder-y but has had some clever mysteries. And you do NOT have to have watched "Death in Paradise" (of which it's a spinoff) to pick it up instantly. I didn't like "Death in Paradise" and never watched much of it but I do love "Beyond Paradise." (Britbox)

And yeah, that sensitive, tortured Endeavour is tempting. Seriously though, the final episode of Endeavour gutted DH and me. We just hadn't realized we were as invested in him, and especially Thursday as we were, by the end. Thursday is one of the great characters in British detective/cop TV for us, but never gets talked about much.

Yeah, I don’t often lose sleep over TV shows, but some of the Endeavour episodes were big, including the final. And agree that Thursday is a truly great character.
I haven’t seen Death in Paradise or Beyond Paradise, but will check them out. I can’t take anything too scary — one of the reasons I enjoyed Foyle is that it was rarely in your face frightening (save the last 2 seasons maybe). These both sound right up my alley!

I'm PP to whom you're responding. Enjoy! I will note that Death in Paradise isn't set in the UK, which is fine, but it does...go on a loooot of seasons. It's about British detectives assigned to a Caribbean island. I don't know how scary/gory it gets, since I didn't watch much of it, but I think every episode is a murder.

Beyond Paradise is (so far) much less death-filled than most British detective series. It does have its sad storylines, but is mostly quite gentle and humorous, and isn't ever gory. Beyond Paradise follows one of the detectives from Death in Paradise as he returns to the UK with his fiancee and they settle in her hometown in Devon, where he joins the local police. It's comparable to Doc Martin in setting and humorous tone, but the characters are much more engaging (to me!) than in Doc Martin.

I've been to Devon countless times, as the family was all there until my in-laws passed away, and Beyond Paradise makes us very homesick for Devon--even though it's actually filmed next door in Cornwall!

NP, Death in Paradise does have a murder in each episode (of the ones I've seen) but it is not scary or gory.

[Anonymous]

I don't know if Professor T has been mentioned in this thread, but it's another really good show. There are three seasons available on PBS.

[Anonymous]

Midsomer murder! Also written by Horowitz who did Foyle

[Anonymous]

A friend gave me a little box she got in Jordan that gets tv from all over the world. It has all the uk channels as well as many other countries. Pretty cool, although not legal obviously. It has made the Olympics much more watchable though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know if Professor T has been mentioned in this thread, but it's another really good show. There are three seasons available on PBS.

It is good but it's a version of a Dutch (?) show and a lot of it is not even filmed in the UK.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know if Professor T has been mentioned in this thread, but it's another really good show. There are three seasons available on PBS.

The mention of Professor T reminded me -- it stars Ben "Death in Paradise" Miller and way before Death or T, he was half of the sketch comedy team Miller & Armstrong. Quirky and/or surreal sketch comedy by comedians who go on to do a lot of both comic and serious acting is A Thing, over there. For those who like British humor, go on YouTube and check out these now older (or if you prefer, "classic") sketch series:

That Mitchell and Webb Look (You'll know David Mitchell if you watch Would I Lie to You. This series also occasionally features the divine Olivia Colman.)

French & Saunders (You've seen them both in many other things including Dawn French as The Vicar of Dibley, and Jennifer Saunders in Absolutely Fabulous)

Goodness Gracious Me (You'll recognize quite a few of the cast of this sketch show which pokes fun at British Asian culture--including Sanjeev Bhaskar of the super serious Unforgotten and the sweet The Indian Doctor. BTW, "Asian" in UK parlance refers to what we here call India.)

Miller & Armstrong

A Bit of Fry & Laurie (As in, Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie both of Jeeves and Wooster, and so much more)