Top 50 TV dramas
In the “Guardian” today, there is a feature nominating what the newspaper’s seven TV critics believe to be the top 50 television dramas.
Although (perhaps surprisingly) “Brideshead Revisited” came in at No 2, it’s striking how many top-ranking British and American series are about crime in one form or another – a genre that generally doesn’t appeal to me much. So we have “The Sopranos” (No 1), “The Wire” (No 14), “Prime Suspect” (No 19), “Cracker” (No 23), “Inspector Morse” (No 30). “The Shield” (No 37), “24” (No 39) … But I suppose that crime does lend itself to drama.
Personally I think the best ever television series was “The West Wing” but this only comes in at No 11. Politics ought to be endlessly dramatic but doesn’t feature much in the list: “Our Friends In The North” (No 3), “State Of Play” (No 9), “House Of Cards” (No 18).
Personally I love series about relationships. “This Life” is there (No 31), but not “Thirtysomething”, “Friends”, “Sex And The City”, “Desperate Housewives”, “Brothers & Sisters” or “Gavin & Stacey”.
And then there’s “Battlestar Galatica”(No 25) which is really genre-busting and has been strongly recommended to me.
So what do you think?