The Guardian's top 50 television dramas of all time
Mad Men, the tale of 60s New York ad men, made the No 4 slot, just behind Our Friends in the North, an epic 1996 BBC2 series that traced the fates of four people across several decades.The overall winner was The Sopranos, the compelling tale of New Jersey mobsters created by David Chase. They almost all raved about this show, praising it as an original, absorbing and affectionate study of complicated family values. But it only made the top spot by a fraction. Their second favourite was Brideshead Revisited, the 1981 ITV adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's novel about religion, nobility and paisley dressing gowns. The Wire – HBO's widely praised series about Baltimore – attracted plenty of praise, but only ranked at No 14.Here's an interesting thing, though: ahead of some great US drama that has attracted such praise and attention in the last 10 years – The West Wing, Six Feet Under, Buffy the Vampire Slayer – comes a raft of British drama from the 1980s. A Very Peculiar Practice, Talking Heads, The Singing Detective, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, Boys From the Blackstuff – these are among the "national treasure" series that have seared themselves into our critics' imaginations. "BBC4 and UK Gold should be repeating them but instead they're playing Coast 24 hours a day and bloody Silent Witness," complained Grace Dent.
Their top fifteen:
1. The Sopranos
2. Brideshead Revisited
3. Our Friends in the North
4. Mad Men
5. A Very Peculiar Practice
6. Talking Heads
7. The Singing Detective
8. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit
9. State of Play
10. Boys From the Blackstuff
11. The West Wing
12. Twin Peaks
13. Queer as Folk
14. The Wire
15. Six Feet Under
Ok. So maybe The Sopranos is number one, but for my money, the list has the only one that comes close to it--The Wire--way down at number 14! Outrage! And how Twin Peaks can find itself outside of the top five is mindboggling. I love Our Friends in the North at number 3, though--for anyone interested in the class history of Britain, or class history in general, it's a must see; and it stars a young Daniel Craig, a young Christopher Eccleston and a young Gina McKee! Mad Men at 4 seems a bit premature, and while I'm a bit miffed that Battlestar isn't further up the list (25!), I have to agree that it really fell off in the later seasons. Prime Suspect (19) is also underrated on this list imo.
Also, this list is clearly British. Any changes we might make for a Born in North America version?