Programmes that have aged poorly and programmes that have aged well?

[HaveYouHadYourBreak]

What programmes that you loved have surprised you on rewatching?

I've just finished the first series of This Life and was surprised at how well it has aged for the most part (but so much smoking!). It was refreshing to see people with imperfect teeth and pubic hair and wobbly bums living in a grotty house share past their early 20s. I'm re-living my youth with the music too.

But Coupling! Oof! I remember it being really good but some clips I've seen (like making sex videos without consent and the way women are talked about) demonstrate exactly why I've never seen any re-runs.

Keeping Up Appearances has aged well imo. It’s still funny and it’s harmless.

Gimme Gimme Gimme had an awful episode I watched months ago when I was going through a nostalgic spell. They were trying to impress a black man so they dressed up in African attire. It was really grim.

Another vote for Yes Minister. There’s even a bit about a national database that could’ve been written word for word about ID cards and it’s around 45 years old lol!

I loved X Files growing up. I couldnt even finish the pilot this time because it was soooo boring! I still get a bit freaked out by toilets and Eugene in the middle of the night! 🤣

ER is on my rewatch list so good to know it wont make me shake my head.

I agree with "Yes (Prime) Minister". The EU problem with British sausages being called something like "offal-filled tubes" still resonates today.

A bit OT, but someone mentioned Father Ted. Anyone know where/if I can watch it, please ?

Dinnerladies is a comedy masterpiece.
It never got the recognition it deserved. I watch it regularly as a comfort show and I still laugh.

Love it, so well written, and amazing cast and I still laugh out loud after seeing it many times. Same with Vicar of Dibley

Coupling was total shite when it first aired, let alone now. "The British Friends", my arse.

Yes. I even thought it was a bit naive at the time there was still some decency and integrity in the White House then so it didn’t seem completely ridiculous.

I watched Men Behaving Badly recently and that has aged horribly.

Agree that Dinner ladies and Father Ted are still fab. Blackadder and Mr Bean are very loved still in our house even with the kids.

Are You Being Served is terrible for sexism and stereotypical homosexuality, but it was really a long time ago now, can't believe people found it funny (my granny loved it). The very early series of Midsomer Murders have aged badly as well.

I agree that Father Ted never gets old 😁

Except he bought that house when he was on less than eighteen and a half grand a year.

But most of those that haven’t aged well were also shit at the time. Either unfunny like Gimme Gimme Gimme, Coupling etc or plainly full of racist/homophobic/etc shit like Little Britain. I grew up watching presenters and characters on kids TV who were disabled or from a variety of different ethnic backgrounds and then along came Little Britain and it was completely obviously for people who still wished it was the 70s with blatant mockery of disabled people, black people, Asian people and women of all types. Load of crap.

Even Mr Bean is a bit questionable. I was watching one last night as my little girl loves it. In the swimming pool one he end up flashing a group of school girls, and in the school open day he uses static to make a girl's skirt go up to reveal her knickers, which is meant to be hilarious. I'm sure if it was made now it would be different.

The last blackadder episode will always be relevant, unfortunately.

It’s both reassuring and depressing that Yes minister remains so completely relevant. Genius writing.

The Royle Family. A piece of genius that’s never aged, still just as brilliant as it was the day it was made,

I couldn’t watch the thick of it until I’d left Whitehall - it felt like a documentary!

Yew Minister is every bit as relevant and funny as it ever was. Even the sexist lines such as 'Sun readers don't care who runs the country as long as she has big tits'. It ain't half hot mum was one I was disappointed to rewatch and felt it aged badly.

That’s another of my comfort shows, The Royle Family.
It makes me feel so warm and happy, and nostalgic for those late 90s/early 00’s days.

I couldn't disagree more! We have had a WW marathon and have just a few episodes to go. I don't think it's a question of aging badly but of wishing that we were in its a time of moral earnestness, when intellect and language matter and of course imagining what a president could be in the fact of the loathsome specimen that's in the White House today. And so many of the issues, Gaza, immigration etc are all too topical some 20 years on.

Love inspector morse and it’s my comfort watch too but Morse making a pass at all the female witnesses is a bit cringe.

Agree re Men Behaving Badly. I recently started rewatching it from the start and found series 1, where Harry Enfield was Martin Clunes' flat mate, really quite sweet and funny. But roll on series 2 where Neil Morrisey joins and it comes into its sexist own. There's an episode midway through that was really homophobic too and I admitted defeat at that point.

Oh I don’t think Morse had aged at all well, in fact I found it almost unwatchable. I remembered him as a gruff rather avuncular man who women seemingly find attractive but on rewatching recently he’s a total sleaze. When the new female pathologist joins the team and he asks her out… she’s about 30 years younger and he is not gracious about her gentle rebuff at all. I think he has a dodgy relationship with a witness or someone linked to the case in almost every episode.

Right! Less sexist than the other guys but yes there are some fairly ooh that's not ok moments with CJ. I can't quite remember them clearly but I noticed last rewatch.

I love The Royale Family and watch it regularly on iPlayer. I long to return to those days. Some of what Jim says can be a bit risky. He was mean to Antony (lurch).

Absolutely love Samantha on SATC. She was very ahead of her time. I’m try. I’ll try anything once 😅