In an attempt to brighten our moods, while we all try to keep warm in mid winter, many of us seek relief in front of our beloved TV's ? Therefore hence this Topic.

We've just finished watching the first season of 'Fortitude', a collaboration between, British Sky Broadcasting Ltd. and a Norwegian organisation. It's set somewhere in the high Artic region on this mythical Island, with a population of 800 odd souls, with just 4 police officers to keep order ? It's been described as a 'thriller' with some supernatural overtones ?

I must be honest I thoroughly enjoyed it, particularly the beautiful vistas that we're all being continually treated throughout the series. The whole production (except for a few internal scenes) was filmed entirely in Iceland. The opening music with each episode could only be described as 'haunting', which added to the overtones of menace and ominousness ? The cast were an eclectic mix from the UK, US and Scandinavia. One of my favourites, Michael GAMBON plays a great part as he does with everything else he undertakes.

Finally, it's not for the kiddies I'm afraid, as it was awarded the highest censorship classification for TV that of; 'R'18 plus Restricted. Described as; 'High Impact violence & sexualised violence' ? There's a bit therein but I've seen worse, regrettably in real life ?

In conclusion, not a bad series in my humble opinion. I'm a bit of a 'yippie' fan too. A devotee of the 'Deadwood' series, and 'Hell on Wheels'. The only real problem with the former, was the in inordinate amount of 'swearing' contained therein, otherwise truly entertaining for this old bloke and his missus ! Though 'she who must be obeyed' is currently enamoured by the events at 'Downton Abbey', I quite like it too as a matter of fact.

Anyway I'd really like to hear of your favourites too ? Whether it's a sporting series, drama, period, comedy, etc. If you'd care to share them with us, would be really great !

Hi o sung wu,

I have been enjoying 'Banashed' on BBC First, Foxtel. A dramatisation of the life of convicts and soldiers including Governor Phillip etc in the early British colony of NSW.

My taste in TV is quite varied.

I enjoy watching News and Current Affairs programs.
Programs such as - Four Corners, Media Watch,
Q&A, The Insiders, The Drum, and when I'm home -
Question Time in Parliament,
(in small doses).

I love British crime
series such as - New Tricks, Pie In The Sky, Inspector Morse,
A Touch of Frost, Midsomer Murders, and I've recently
discovered - Inspector George Gently. And of course
Agatha Christie's Poirot, as well as Miss Marple.

I also enjoy comedy such as - The Vicar of Dibley and I
used to enjoy the old American golden oldie -
Frasier.

I enjoy - Grand Designs, Escape To The Country,
Sex and The City, And I've begun watching - The Voice.

cont'd ...

I'm also a fan of Australian drama series -
such as - The House of Hancock, and
The Secret River.

Hi FOXY and PAUL1405...

It would seem we're almost kindred spirits in our choice of TV programmes ! I too enjoy 'Banished' the trials and exploits of Governor Philip's administration in early Sydney. By golly life's cheap in those days, you could be hanged for even minor infringements, and the convict women could be 'used' to ease the sexual proclivities of the marines in charge ? Even the Anglican Minister wielded immense power amongst the convicts in the settlement, to a point that it would probably put you off church for life I reckon ?

I share your fondness for many of the British programmes too FOXY. Particularly their comedies, Fawlty Towers a series I can watch over and over again. Morse, Pie in the Sky, and Judge John DEED are amongst many of my favourites. POIROT is absolutely brilliant, together with his somewhat naïve aide, Captain HASTINGS as his sidekick of sorts.

To be very honest with you both, I've not watched a News presentation, or any sort of Current Affairs programmes, for years. I find it all far too depressing and biased for my liking, therefore I give it all the big 'heave ho' mainly for my own mental health ?

Thank you both for your contribution, I really appreciate it.

Well there was "Have Gun will travel" back in the 50s, & Maverick in the 60s, which I thought quite good. I'm afraid it's been all down hill since then.

Mid 60s I moved onto my yacht, & did not own a TV again until mid/late 80s. I must say I did not miss it.

I must be strange. I can't stand soaps, & John Cleese, & similar people turn my stomach. Most of these things are written to a formula, & once understood are too predictable to bother watching.

It took a while for the original CSI to become boring, but too many offshoots ruined it.

I used to love Catalyst, until it went from science to greenie propaganda, & all those great BBC/ABC documentaries were similarly ruined with massive doses of left propaganda.

Even the news today has lost it. ABC & SBS are full of left/anti Oz propaganda, & the commercials are full of bleeding heart garbage. Hell the only discovered Greece was a disaster zone about 5 minutes before disaster.

It appears the news is becoming like those dreadful woman's garbage on morning talk shows. I never could stand dinner parties, & those shows appear to be modelled on dinner parties from hell. Daily, or perhaps nightly, the news is following that formula.

So sorry o sung wu, apart from the odd documentary, RPA which I find fascinating, & 24 hours in emergency, also good, I don't bother with much TV.

Hi o sung wu,

'Fawilty Towers' what a gem, I can watch the 12 episodes, over and over, that is all they made 12. You reminded me of 'Pie in the Sky' great show, and what about 'Minder' George Cole as "Afer" Daley and Dennis Waterman Arthur's minder Terry. Don't tell me as an ex cop you could arrest those pair of lovable villeins.
So many great British shows from the past, impossible to name them all.

I love British comedy in particular, 'The Two Ronnies' is a favorite of mine, the way the Brits can take the piss out of themselves and laugh at the same time, no one else can do it like the Poms.

p/s A great fan of 'Mr Bean'!

'evening to you HASBEEN & PAUL1405...

HASBEEN...

Richard Boone in 'Have Gun Will Travel' was a brilliant show I thought. With that opening line, '...wire Paladin, San Francisco...' ! He wrote most of the plots himself, I believe, he possessed a rare talent not often seen these days, with all the unnecessary swearing, and violence ?

Interestingly there wasn't all that much violence in each of the episodes either, more of a play on the actor's personalities and character's, rather than resorting to mere 'gun play', as it were ?

I must confess, too much violence or swearing will put me right off a show very quickly indeed ? Of course the only real downside to that otherwise brilliant western series, 'Deadwood' was the amount of profanities contained therein ? Surely the most vulgar and filthy language I've ever heard on any TV show in this country? I suspect the censor's must of had quite a few days off, during the production of that series ?

It was really good to hear from you too, HASBEEN !

PAUL1405...

The British surely are the doyen's of 'comedy' I reckon, with their innuendo, and their suggestive dialogue and confabulation. Illustrated expertly by the likes of Benny HILL, the two Ronnies, the 'Black Adder' crew, as well as many others ? Their drama productions are equally as good, with the old but enduringly popular crime series 'The Sweeney' together with other superb shows like, 'New Tricks' and that amazing, indefatigable detective show, 'Morse' and much later, 'Endeavour', Morse when he first became a detective. All of which were exceptionally well done I thought, without resorting to a huge capital outlay, for the gala spectacles so often attributed to the American TV productions.

Of course nobody would be so mean to 'pinch' poor ol' 'Arthur' and Co in the 'Minder' series. Two loveable old rogues, if ever they were so ?

Thank you both for your tremendous contribution, I really appreciate it !

I've been re-watching British sitcoms online, The Thin Blue Line, Bread,Man About The House and Never The Twain. Usually I can't get into drama, one show I liked was The Sopranos, Breaking Bad was OK but Deadwood and Hell On Wheels irritated me, the main characters are too conflicted to be relatable. Take Al Swearingen, Cy Tolliver or Thor Gunderson, they make sense because their world is black and white, Seth Bullock and Colin Bohannon have this dual nature that rarely exists in real life. The leads in European shows like The Bridge or Matrioshki are more realistic, they're good guys forced to remedy bad situations or take on monsters like Ray Van Mechelen the human trafficker in Matrioshki, these wholly corrupt figures who only ever swim below the surface of society.

Hi there JAY of MELBOURNE...

I too enjoyed 'Bread' enormously. The interesting characters within the house, all thoroughly controlled by 'our marm' (sorry, I can't express the 'Liverpool-Irish' accent?) the head of the house ! A really delightful comedy with a dash of pathos entwined cleverly within the plot, employing all the characters ?

I quite enjoyed 'The Sopranos' as well, with the main character, Tony SOPRANO tending to carry the show ? The notion that a Mob Boss would have a need to seek psychiatric counselling is an interesting concept altogether, and a first too I'd expect. Whereas 'Breaking Bad' wasn't so good, though not altogether bad. Though the main problem being, the plot tended to stretch it's overall plausibility, almost to the point of exhaustion I thought, with all those psychotic, drug crazed Latino's, running around shooting everyone, with so much heavy artillery ?

'The Maigret' series with Michael GAMBON was absolutely brilliant I thought ? The French detective seeking out all those bad Parisian ne'er do wells, while puffing away on his pipe ! Have you seen the series JAY, if not I can really recommend it, especially if you like a crime series, just a little different to the orthodox genre.

Actually JAY I tend to agree with you, the Europeans do make excellent television, particularly the Scandinavians, as with many of their superb novels, they now have translated into English.

I willingly admit, I'm a real sucker for the old westerns, hence my liking for 'Deadwood' and 'Hell on Wheels'. The bloke who played the 'Seth Bullock' part, went on to star in another TV series, 'Justified', where he played the part of a modern day deputy US Marshal. I don't think the series was as engaging as 'Deadwood' despite the absence of all the abhorrent invectives so evident in the former ?

O'sung,
My workmate raves about Justified, I don't have pay TV so I've not seen it. If you get a chance to watch it check out a series called "Peaky Blinders" it's set in Birmingham's underworld in the 1920's, it's quite good though I haven't watched all the episodes.
Yes the amazing thing about the "Wild West" is that it was still going on in the 20th century, some crime writers rate the Dillinger Gang as the last of the real Western outlaws and they were active until 1934.

Dear o sung wu,

I have been traditionally a great fan of British TV series but the one I have most enjoyed in the last few years was Rake on the ABC. I have literally been on the floor in tears with it. It was just superb.

The other two that have captured my attention have been Breaking Bad which I thought had been done very well and Game of Thrones. GOT is an acquired taste in some measure but it is so refreshing to have a series where the main characters are regularly topped off. Keeps you very much on your toes. I commend it to your viewing.

My brother, the ex Fed, has told me he thought The Wire was the best cop series he has ever seen and quite possibly the best in any genre. I have yet to see it.

Hi there JAY of MELBOURNE...

'Peaky Blinders' is another fantastic British production, unfortunately I've only seen a couple of episodes. Birmingham in the 1920's was a pretty hard place by all accounts, parts thereof are still so, I believe ! I'm not entirely sure where the title 'Peaky Blinders' came from, or it's import ? It's said despite the name, the infamous 'Liverpool kiss' originated in the Irish sections of Birmingham ? The Pommy crims are a pretty tough lot too, equal to anything the Yanks can produce I should think ?

I guess, the Dillinger's were 'automobile borne' cowboys in the way they behaved, and acquitted themselves ? Their firepower appeared superior to the lawmen who were pursing them ? Thanks Jay, as always I appreciate your contribution.

Hi there STEELEREDUX...

Actually I've heard good things about 'Rake', a legal series I believe ? Though I've not seen an episode yet, but it's on my short list of 'must watch' ? Another good British (legal) mini-series is 'Silk' set in Chambers of the Inner Temple of Gray's Inn. The main character is a lady who's ultimately called to the Bar and conferred QC. But misses out as 'head of chambers' when the incumbent passes away ?

I've certainly watched several episodes of 'The Wire', though an excellent show, I found the series difficult to embrace. The main character a white, Irish American detective (McNALTY), surrounded by a plethora of hardened black male and female detectives, all of whom seemingly work 'the projects' (a public housing estate in Baltimore) with Drug crimes abundant ? I can certainly understand why many people enjoy the series, some say it's very realistic ?

Game of Thrones is a production I've never seen ? Somehow I don't think it would appeal to my less than eclectic tastes ? Anything that requires any effort to comprehend, is not within my viewing purview ? Anything more intellectually demanding than a relatively simple 'Tom & Jerry' cartoon, is definitely not something I'd choose to pursue ? Thank you, STEELEREDUX for your worthy contribution.

Hi o sung wu,

I must give a plug for a couple of Aussie cop shows from yesteryear with 'Homicide' and 'Division 4' and for comedy/satire 'The Mavis Bramston Show' even Bob Dyers 'Pick-A-Box' quiz show, it discovered Barry Jones. Australia has produced a wealth of great TV over the years, for our home grown tastes, even 'Skippy' As a kid I learnt to talk 'kangaroo' from that show ha ha.

G'day there PAUL1405...

We make some superb TV productions if we put our minds to it ? You mentioned the Mavis Bramston Show, a similar production was 'No 96' which starred amongst others, Abigail, the local 'sex siren', and in reality a lovely girl with a very high IQ I understand ? Therein was another 'first', Joe HASHAM played an 'openly' Gay man, something unheard of in those early days of Oz TV ?

The ABC's long running 'Country Practice' a favourite of my mother. And who can forget the brilliant Graham Kennedy with his 'on air' sound effects, that seemed to get him into endless amounts of trouble with the show's producers ? And do you recall the forerunner of all the Tonight Shows, 'Sydney Tonight' with Keith WALSH as the compare, shown in the mid to late 1950's. Then there was the urbane and charming Digby WOLFE'S 'Revue 60 & 61', and the Tommy LEONETTI shows !The latter had a great voice.

The Ch.9, nightly news, was read by Chuck FAULKNER for years. Born in the US, served in the US Army during WW11 (machine gun company, I think?), came to Oz joined Ch.9 and read the news for yonks !

Interestingly, both Chuck FAULKNER and later on, Don LANE were both charged with Armed Robbery - neither offences were related and were allegedly committed some years apart. Moreover there was no suggestion there was any collaboration between the two ? The only common denominator, both were high profile TV presenter's ! If my memory serves my correctly, LANE was charged with attempting to rob the Channel 10 payroll (I may well be wrong with the precise facts?) in any event, we took him out to Long Bay when I worked the old 'Four Wheels' division (police habeas). Fortunately neither were convicted of the offence's charged, to which I was glad.

Paul, you'll have me crying in my beer with all this reminiscence of times past ? Still we lived happier, less complicated lives in those days I believe, no ISIS no terrorism ?

Hi o sung wu,

One of Australia's finest actors in my book was the late John Mellon, I remember him as Wally' in the TV series 'My Name's McGooley, What's Yours' with Gordon Chater. For a relatively small country Australia can be well satisfied with the amount of quality TV produced over the years. The series 'The Sullivan' the number of world class actors that show produced.