Why British SciFi Television Is Better Than American
This one will ruffle some feathers. Okay full disclosure. I’m British. I live in America but I spent the first 28 years of my life in Scotland so I am unquestionably British. Maybe I’m biased.
But I’m not wrong.
Even Britain’s obscure or failed science fiction shows have a greater range and imagination than the majority of the scifi output from American television. I don’t think the distinction is nearly so clear cut with books and obviously Britain doesn’t have a movie industry to boast about in the first place.
For television though I think Britain wins on just about every category except budget. US productions have more money, that is inarguable. The result is generally (though not invariably) better sets and special effects.
Britain Was First
According to wikipedia (source of all knowledge both fact and fictional), the very first science fiction television program ever broadcast was a 35 minute adaptation of the play R.U.R which was broadcast by the BBC in 1938. I’ll probably be discussing this and other early science fiction in a future post for my History of Science Fiction series, so for now lets just acknowledge Britain was first.
Image via Wikipedia
Britain Has the Longest Running SciFi Program
I like Stargate: SG-1, but am I really supposed to be impressed that it ran for 10 years and now has some DVD releases? By every conceivable measure Doctor Who is the longest running science fiction series in the world. If we’re talking about a consecutive run and being conservative Doctor Who ran completely uninterrupted from 1963 to 1984, which is 21 years. The original series ran from 63 to 89 with only a brief break so that’s 26 years. And if you were to allow for the new series as well (a stretch I’ll agree) then it would be 45 years.
What about number of episodes then? Well Stargate: SG-1 managed 221 consecutive episodes. Not bad. Doctor Who however managed 695 episodes in the original run and the combined total is now up to 751 episodes.
Depth and Breadth
But those are just metrics, they certainly don’t speak to quality. Surely any claims towards being “better” must address quality? Indeed they must. And so we reach the core of my argument which is that British scifi television has offered a far greater range of styles and depth than American television.
Adaptations
The BBC by the nature of it’s public broadcasting remit has always been fond of adaptations of literary classics, and that includes both science fiction and fantasy.
One of the earliest adaptations was HG Wells Time Machine in 1949. George Orwell’s 1984 was first adapted by the BBC in 1954 (in fairness there is a 1953 CBS adaptation). This sort of adaptation was common in the early years of television, but has largely faded in the United States.
The BBC continued to adapt classic works and during the 80s offered up The Invisible Man, Day of the Triffids and The Tripods.
1996’s Neverwhere is an interesting anomaly having actually been written as a tv series first and then adapted by the author into a book.
Children’s SciFi
If it wasn’t enough to offer up classic adaptations for adults, there were even more offered for children. Those adaptations include: The Chronicles of Narnia, The Owl Service, The Box of Delights,
Tom’s Midnight Garden, James and the Giant Peach, The Phoenix and the Carpet and Five Children and It.
Not content with adaptations, children were offered dozens of original science fiction and fantasy shows over the years including: Ace of Wands, Timeslip, The Changes, The Tomorrow People, Captain Scarlet, Dark Season, Thunderbirds, Children of the Stones.
These shows often given every bit as much care and effort as their “grown-up” counterparts. The result was generations of British children, ready if not eager to accept science fiction and fantasy shows as they grew up.
Comedy
Science fiction comedy is quite a specialized sub-genre and one that American TV has dabbled in several times, but while US shows based themselves on earth with aliens visiting, British shows took a very different approach.
1970’s The Adventures of Don Quick was a satire riff on Don Quixote. Quick was a member of the Intergalactic Maintenance Squad.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy in 1981 gave us what perhaps remains the pinnacle of science fiction comedy. While Red Dwarf managed a global cult following during its 88 to 99 run
Drama
British television has a long history of quality scifi drama series. At the top of the heap of course is Doctor Who, followed by Blake’s 7. Lesser known, but equally worth watching series include Sapphire & Steel, the short lived Star Cops, Survivors (post apocalyptic tv) and Doomwatch (a show well ahead of it’s time in tackling “green” issues). Mention should also be made of The Avengers and The Prisoner as shows that would never be made in the US.
More recently we have seen the return of Doctor Who and a spinoff in the form of Torchwood (although I hesitate to mention that when I’m trying to prove the quality of British programming).
Also popular in the UK are serials, shows with a finite length to them. Classic science fiction serials include Quatermass and the sequels; A for Andromeda; Edge of Darkness (a dark thriller with science fiction overtones); Eleventh Hour and Primeval (soon to be shown on BBC America).
To see the full breadth and scale of British telefantasy I recommend looking at the British Telefantasy Timeline (which currently only goes up to 1979)
Moral Ambiguity
It’s not that all US shows are rubbish. Quite the contrary there are some genuinely classic sci-fi shows, Star Trek obviously amongst them. It’s that there’s not a lot of variety. American shows have been heavily constrained both by tight censorship on broadcast tv and the production by comittee approach that the television industry uses in the States.
They also suffer from a lack of moral amibguity. With a few honorable exceptions (the new Battlestar Galactica), American telefantasy takes a very firm moral stance and relies on spectacle rather then complex character interaction. This is wildly different to British sci-fi which (lacking the budget) puts plot and character above all else. In fact it’s notable that when UK series do try to match the US for spectacle those are usually the ones which fail miserably (Invasion: Earth, Space: 1999).
But character and plot are what makes a great story, not special effects.
8 Comments, Comment or Ping
Manxom Vroom
Interesting argument. I can’t say that I agree with you this time, but I haven’t watched as much sci fi television as other fans have. The current incarnation of Dr. Who is certainly some of the best tv programming ever, but I have a hard time liking the old Dr. Who because the production values leave much to be desired. The first time I ever saw Dr. Who (I can’t remember who was playing the Doctor) but the evil robots looked like refrigerator boxes wrapped in tin foil! Christopher Eccleston won me over though, and how can you not love David Tenant? I do hope he sticks around.
(Bit of a side note here - what old episodes of Dr. Who are considered to be the “all time classics?” This might be a good post to write for fans like me who are recent converts, curious to delve into the Doctor’s past but intimidated by the sheer volume of material out there).
The BBC production of “Hitchhiker’s Guide” also had some very shaky production values, but my love of the story and the characters won me over (so long as I didn’t look at Zaphod’s other head).
Britain also produced “The Prisoner,” which is still an incredible, mind-bending program to watch years later. No qualms there. There’s no other spy program quite like it, American or otherwise. I think American television programs tend to be much more neatly wrapped, more easily taken in than the more challenging British programs. I think this is because the producers of these shows were hoping to reach a wider audience.
I don’t really have a coherent case here…these are just my rambling thoughts. I don’t feel the need to be a champion for US programming because I haven’t watched a lot of it - I never got into Buffy, the X-Files, Heroes or some of the others.
Manxom Vrooms last blog post..Funny Jesus.
Jul 23rd, 2008
Eoghann
Well I have to admit there’s a certain amount of tongue in cheek with the title. Living in the States now I’m always seeing claims that America is the best in the world at one thing or another. I thought I’d just reverse it.
American TV certainly has better production values and I’m actually a big fan of several series. But I really do think it lacks variety. And I suspect one of the reasons for that is the obsession with 20 episode seasons which is actually quite limiting.
Jul 23rd, 2008
Xilmin
I feel I should be agreeing here, being British myself… however I’m not entirely convinced. Not currently anyway. Maybe I’m missing a whole load of good shows but I gave up watching TV a while ago. I did try both Doctor Who and Torchwood but found them not to my taste (to put it lightly). Are there other shows being made just now? Never turning the TV on means I never know if there is actually anything worth watching. But there rarely seems to be any decent sci-fi programs other than reruns of Red Dwarf and the like.
But I do agree on the point that classic British programming was some of the best. Admittedly I’m of a younger generation and so haven’t seen most of what you refer to, but I remember the children’s programs vividly. Fantastic beyond a doubt!
Jul 24th, 2008
Eoghann
I’ve really been expecting someone to come forward and defend American scifi on the basis of the last 10 or so years which have given us some really good shows.
As far as recent British shows, one that I forgot to mention is Jekyll which starred James Nesbitt, Gina Bellman and Michelle Ryan. An absolutely brilliant series that ran for six episodes. Other recent ones are The Eleventh Hour and Primeval (which I haven’t seen yet).
If memory serves there are currently remakes of The Survivors and Blake’s Seven in the works (though who knows what they quality will be).
Jul 24th, 2008
Iris Labadie
I agree with you. I love the British sci-fi movies and tv series. I was hoping you knew of another series that I just can’t seem to find anywhere on the web yet. I only remember a few things about it:
The intro scene was a guy whistling an eerie tune with video(film) of a carnival at night
I think the first episode was about a woman who was trapped after hours in the public library on the anniversary of a famous murder
Another episode was about an eccentric woman who dressed her son (or nephew?) as a girl - this was disocvered by a motorcyclist who somehow wound up at her house.
I hope this series isn’t a figment of my imagination. I thought the name of the series was “The Other Side of Midnight”.
I don’t know how many episodes were shown here in the States but they were all very good from what I remember - very offbeat; too advanced or controversial for American audiences I guess. Does anyone else remember this show?
Thanks,
Iris
San Marcos, CA
Aug 3rd, 2008
Eoghann
I’m afraid I don’t know that show. It sounds interesting though so if anyone does recognise it, please let me know.
Aug 3rd, 2008
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