North Texas = BBC West on Saturdays


Ok, the BBC and Channel 4 may not have “officially” established a western division of the best of their broadcast line-up, but North Texas viewers will become a bit more anglophile beginning tonight (Saturday) on KERA with an all-new line up of the best of the best from the UK.

We begin the night with the regularly scheduled broadcast of the great Doc Martin, starring Martin Clunes, at 7:00pm. Then….

8:00pm – Last of the Summer Wine – Roy Clarke’s 38 year run as writer for the longest running sitcom in television history comes to a close with the final two seasons of the series never before seen in North Texas.

9:00pm – Hustle – lead by the master, Mickey Bricks, this team of con artists ‘liberate’ greedy fat cats from the ill-gotten gains. While the life of a grifter is exciting, there are risks that come with the rewards.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZMlosrxU7g

10:00pm – Worst Week of My Life – Howard (Ben Miller, Primeval) and Mel (Sarah Alexander, Coupling) are getting married…if they can survive the week leading up to the wedding. The groom manages to lose the wedding ring (a priceless family heirloom), knock out the best man, accidentally grope his future mother in law, hospitalize his fiances granny, throw the in-laws’ beloved dog Binky into a cement mixer and was accused of impregnating a psychotic stalker from the office. And, we’re not even to the wedding day yet….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hNBYnk2IPM

10:30pm – Black Books – Bernard Black is, in a word, foul-tempered. Ok, that’s two words. Call him eccentric and you’re being too kind. Along with his best, and for obvious reasons only friend, Fran, he single-handedly keeps the wine and tobacco industry in business. Add in someone to play with, his assistant, Manny, played to perfection by the great Bill Bailey, and you a book store that prides itself on selling no books.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJW604qCEhs

11:00pm – Outnumbered – imagine you’re a couple with three, relatively ‘difficult’ kids. Ok, let’s just come out and say unruly to be on the safe side. Ben is a pathological liar that loves hypothetical questions, Karen asks more questions than the law allows and Jake, who’s the easy one, as he’s just a teenager who is obsessed with girls. Essentially, you’re “outnumbered”. The cool thing about this series is that much of the kids dialogue is improvised which gives it that perfect childlike, inquisitive, dialogue that the adult actors have to react to accordingly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kk57pjPpcRQ

11:30pm – Reggie Perrin – you know the story from the classic original with Leonard Rossiter. The great Martin Clunes stars as the middle-aged, bored executive who is rapidly tiring of the daily grind at work and at home after ten years at Groomtech as you can see here.


In: Action/Drama,Actors/Actresses,Comedy,Mystery

  • Oh wow, they’re showing Outnumbered? That’s great news. Hopefully Miranda won’t be far behind.

    I enjoyed the first few episodes of Reggie Perrin then it sort of went stale for me.

  • Diane

    All Hail the return of Black Books! 🙂 Probably my most favorite Brit Com, though it really is hard to choose.
    Hustle was great too! I was just mentioning it to someone the other day.
    Thank you Bill & KERA

  • Linda Cooke

    All of these shows were smart and funny in true British comedy style, but the one that made me laugh loudest was Black Books! My cat had to leave the room because my hysterical laughing was disturbing his nap!

    • @Linda: unfortunately, you cat is in for some sleepless Saturday nights. It only gets better…

  • Jason

    Black Books has me laughing every minute. Great new show! “Hustle” has a nice twist to the starting episode, and I wonder how they’re going to top it. “Outnumbered” is cute as well as funny. “Reggie Perrin” will probably be most funny to those of us who watched the original, but it definitely at least lives up to the original so far. (My parents were thrilled when I told them it was a remake)

    • @Jason: Thanks for the feedback. There’s a great twist to each Hustle episode in addition to the point where it rewinds to show you just what happened. Like Leverage, it doesn’t always work out for them. I like that it doesn’t tie up all nice and neat each week so you never know what happens.

  • cantonman

    Terrifically strong Saturday night schedule. One of the best in many years. Every show is enjoyable and a nice blend of comedy and drama. I still think Hustle is terrific and who can fault LOTSW even in its last few seasons.
    New comedy to consider for future use: Green, Green Grass
    Starring “Boysie” and “Marlene” from Only Fools and Horses. Fun, light-hearted, not genius but quite enjoyable and 3 series worth of fairly recent shows.
    I’ve recently re-watched the entire “Dinnerladies” series and it remains one of my favorites. You’d have to decide if its “broadcastable” but its very well written and has a very likable cast and story line.
    Great job on Saturdays!

  • w

    Thank You! for the new sat night lineup… it’s excellent!

    21:00: ‘Hustle’ is clever, & fun… perhaps a bit too ‘cute’, but at the very, very least a ‘guilty pleasure’.
    22:00: ‘Worst Week Of My Life’ is funny, & has that particular unique British ‘frenetic’ quality.
    22:30: ‘Black Books’ is hysterically funny, & has become a classic British zany comedy favorite of mine, among ‘Monty Python’, ‘Black Adder’, ‘Fawlty Towers’, etc.
    23:00: ‘Outnumbered’ is hilarious & smart; & the performances, especially the kids, & most especially of the little girl, are superb.
    23:30: ‘Reggie Perrin’ is marvelous & witty; this remake is at least as good as the original. (I was a fan of the first season-or-two of the original, ‘Fall & Rise Of Reginald Perrin’ through ‘Grot’, though not quite as much after that.)
    24:00: ‘Robin Hood’… well, *shrug*, it has its moments, though it requires so much ‘willing-suspension-of-disbelief’; still, great bad-guy.