British vs American Television: The Great TV Debate

This post was originally published in November 2014 and has been lightly updated. I’ve kept many of the original programme references because they reflect what I was watching — and arguing about — at the time.

Not long after moving to London, I found myself regularly having the same debate: which is better, British or American television?

As an American, perhaps I should instinctively defend the television I grew up watching. Instead, I often found myself arguing in favour of British programmes.

At the time, my Sunday mornings followed a familiar routine. I would get up, make a pot of tea and watch Doctor Who on BBC iPlayer on my computer. I didn’t own a television.

For the next 45 minutes or so, I would sip my tea and watch Peter Capaldi play the Doctor with a level of brilliance that rivalled David Tennant.

That should reignite the usual debate over who played the best Doctor. Off you go; debate away in the comments.

It felt like a particularly British way to begin a day dedicated to writing.

How British Television Won Me Over

Being American, you might expect me to come down firmly on the side of American television. It was what I grew up watching and, for much of my life, it was all I really knew.

Unless you count the occasional episode of The Benny Hill Show, which I never quite understood. If Benny Hill had been my only experience of British television, perhaps I would have chosen the Americans. Somewhere along the way, however, A&E began showing MI-5, and I was immediately converted.

I loved that show. It was thrilling but understated, and it opened the door to a whole range of British programmes I had previously known very little about.

Before moving to London, my BBC America, PBS and streaming queues were filled with shows such as Luther, Downton Abbey, Doctor Who, Sherlock, Whitechapel, The Fall and Spaced.

The growing popularity of programmes such as Downton Abbey, Sherlock and Doctor Who showed that I was hardly the only American seeking out British television.

American Television Still Has Plenty to Offer

Before my fellow American readers start listing all the wonderful programmes the US has produced, don’t bother — I can already do that.

I have watched and loved shows including Breaking Bad, Homeland, The Big Bang Theory and CSI. When I first wrote this post, I had also recently started watching Mad Men.

My original intention was to watch Mad Men for research, but I quickly began enjoying it for reasons that had absolutely nothing to do with work.

I also knew that Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead were enormously popular. I wasn’t suggesting that the US had stopped producing quality television. I simply found myself preferring what British television had to offer.

Before I go any further, let me be clear: I’m talking about scripted drama and comedy.

I am not including so-called reality television, which, quite frankly, is often rubbish on both sides of the Atlantic.

It has introduced me to far too many people whose lives I never needed to know about. As an American, I was particularly disturbed whenever one of my British friends admitted to watching the Kardashians. I feared they might be taken as an accurate representation of all Americans.

But that particular rant could fill an entirely separate post.

Why Do We Look Across the Atlantic?

What surprised me most when discussing British vs American television was how many people in London preferred American programmes.

They would name many of the shows I had already mentioned and argue that the writing and character development were much stronger on American television.

There was some validity to that argument. American dramas such as Breaking Bad and Mad Men were willing to centre their stories around deeply flawed and sometimes unlikeable people.

British television was not entirely lacking in that area. I would hardly describe the central character in Luther as uncomplicated or consistently moral, but American television often appeared more willing to take that risk.

My question, then, was why Americans like me were spending so much time seeking out British programmes. Why had I spent years watching BBC America and PBS? Why were my streaming queues full of British dramas and comedies?

Part of the answer was simply access. Streaming services made it much easier for American audiences to discover shows that might once have appeared only occasionally on PBS or cable television.

My own reason was slightly different. Much of the American television I had been watching had started to feel stale. I had enjoyed many shows at first, only to lose interest when the storylines became repetitive after several series.

British programmes often seemed more willing to tell a shorter story and then stop. They did not always continue simply because the audience was still watching.

Is One Really Better Than the Other?

I still don’t know whether one side of the Atlantic produces better television.

Once you filter out the drivel—and accept that every country produces some of it—both Britain and the US have created genuinely brilliant programmes.

There are American shows I adore, but moving to the UK introduced me to British programmes that quickly captured my attention. I didn’t miss American television as much as I expected because there was so much else to discover.

More than a decade later, my preference still tends to lean British. However, some of my favourite programmes now borrow from both traditions.

Ted Lasso is a perfect example. It combines an American lead character with a British setting, cast and sense of humour—and somehow makes the mixture work.

Perhaps the most interesting television is not always purely British or American. Sometimes it is what happens when the two meet.