The Writers Guild of America, East and West (WGAE and WGAW), recently announced the 101 Best Written TV Series of All Time, and ten of the programs are British productions or co-productions. Kudos and congratulations to them and to all that made the list.
The “TV 101” list, as determined by online votes cast by WGAW and WGAE members, is comprised of “classic, trailblazing series and miniseries, as well as current and critically acclaimed programs, from comedies and dramas to variety/talk and children’s programming.”
Any series that were written in English, featured onscreen writing credits, and aired in the U.S. from the early years of television through the present on broadcast TV and basic or pay cable, including animation, children’s, comedy, daytime/serial, drama, scripted anthologies, miniseries with six hours or more of programming, and variety/talk series, were eligible. Individual episodes, specials, non-serialized or individual programs, including telefilms/movies-of-the-week and miniseries with less than six hours of programming, were not eligible.
The top five series are no surprise, as they are all critically-acclaimed audience favorites. The Sopranos, starring the late James Gandolfini, took top honors, followed by Seinfeld, The Twilight Zone, All in the Family, and M*A*S*H.
Among the British programs that made the list, the worldwide fantasy sensation Game of Thrones
Another mega-hit, the period drama Downton Abbey,
The brilliant The Office (UK)
There was another tie at #58, between the laugh-out-loud Fawlty Towers
The epic historical miniseries I, Claudius
On their heels at #79 were the outrageous (in a good way) Monty Python’s Flying Circus
The extraordinary war drama Band of Brothers
At #90 was the thriller The Prisoner,
And rounding out the Brit list was the absolutely hilarious Absolutely Fabulous,
WGAE President Michael Winship and WGAW President Chris Keyser said this about the “TV 101” list in a joint statement:
“At their core, all of these wonderful series began with the words of the writers who created them and were sustained by the writers who joined their staffs or worked on individual episodes. This list is not only a tribute to great TV, it is a dedication to all writers who devote their hearts and minds to advancing their craft.”
Here, here!
That said, lest you think that ten British television series are a rather meager showing in of a list of 101, especially when brilliantly-crafted programs such as The Hour,
- #9 The Wire — Idris Elba, Dominic West
- #27 Lost — Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Naveen Andrews, Dominic Monaghan
- #28 ER — Alex Kingston, Parminder Nagra
- #32 Deadwood — Ian McShane
- #48 Homeland — Rupert Friend, Damian Lewis
- #50 The Good Wife — Alan Cumming, Archie Panjabi
- #74 House — Hugh Laurie
- #79 Star Trek: The Next Generation — Patrick Stewart
- #93 Boardwalk Empire — Stephen Graham, Kelly Macdonald
- #101 Oz — Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Eamonn Walker
To read the entire list, visit the 101 Best Written TV Series page on the WGAW website.
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