TV dramas of yesteryear that were so bad they were good (iyswim)

[MardyBraWouldDoEddieRedmayne]

Following on from all the chat about the Thorn Birds on the fancying priests thread in AIBU, I was thinking about all those corny dramas from my youth.

Like Secret Army Me and my mum used to try and remember the order of the roads, canals and railways each week.

Or Tenko. One of the few programmes of the 70s or 80s to pass the Bechdel test.

The Citadel ( Oh I Loved this SO much - Ben Cross)

To serve them all my days

Fair stood the wind for France

The Good Companions

I'm a sucker for those first half of 20th century period dramas

AlreadyScone I think the lunchtime drama one was The Sullivans I remember my mum watching it while I was eating my lunch (always missed the last 10 minutes as I had to go back to school) think the girl was called Kitty

Loved chips (Eric Estrada) and The Equaliser (Edward Woodward)!

beauty and the beast with ron perlman and linda hamilton
robin of sherwood
tj hooker

Three up two down with Michael Elphick.

Full house

I remember the sepia photo one - it might have been Sons and Daughters? (Awesome theme tune that one had)

I had The Tripods and Roots on DVD til recently - both still awesome but Tripods was dated and very wooden!

Yy Children's Ward - I sometimes watch it on YouTube.
Also The Biz which had a bizarre premise about a load of kids in a children's home who all wanted to be in Showbiz and were constantly going off to auditions.

Lives and Loves of a She-Devil was bloody brilliant... In fact I'm gonna hunt that down today.

We'll Meet Again - drama about a load of US airforce chaps in a English village during WWII. There was a character called Red Burwash (I think).

I loved Danger UXB! Also liked Tenco but didn't ever get understand what they were all doing in the camp.
I also watched Eldorado. It was a bit like eating junk food - crap and addictive.

Has anyone mentioned Sapphire & Steele?

I remember The Legend of Tim Tyler, in the same vein was Mika, some shit about a boy & a reindeer.

First Born was great, I cried when his mother beat him to death though.

I had the biggest crush on Paul McGann in The Monicled Mutineer.

Borgias - no question.

Youtube it. Still fab!

Can you buy?

I loved Cesare at the time but seem to prefer the Borgia Pope now!

GalaxyMum I loved By The Sword Divided. I remember passionate discussions about school about who was hotter, the Lacey hero or John Fletcher. I even wrote lots of fanfic about it (not that fanfic was a 'thing' in pre-internet days).

Tenko was amazing.

Would it be appalling to admit I've picked up VHS boxsets of several of these for a song second hand?

I've watched I Caludius, and The Thornbirds recently, have The Mayor Of Casterbridge on ice and have just started Brideshead Revisited.

My name is Acandlelitshadow and I adore trash TV

Claudius

I got some VHS tapes of 70s adaptations of Trollope novels out of the library a few years ago.
Turns out it really isn't a myth about old tv drama having shaky sets - the whole room literally did shake when they slammed a door.
However there was something about it being so long and slow that felt very luxurious.

I think the wonky sets and the long/slow scenes of yesteryear's TV has a certain charm - it's a more like watching a stage play.

MardyBra - there's so many interesting old TV shows mentioned here, and it would be a pity for the thread to eventually disappear. Maybe it could be moved to somewhere more permanent, such as Telly Addicts?

Great thread! Sadly I used to enjoy the Dukes of Hazard as a kid! But then grew up and got into Remmington steel Dempsey and Makepeace, St Elsewhere, Hill Street Blues which were of course far superior

The gentle touch.

Dempsey and makepeace.

We recently watched the original 70s series of Tinker tailor it was obviouslt high class drama in its day but I couldn't cope with the long slow drawn out scenes, it's all long soliloquys followed by 10 minutes of meaningful silences.
I've been spoilt by fast pace modern series, or I'm too old to concentrate for more than 5 minutes

I was enjoying a rerun of 'When the Boat Comes In' a while back but then James Bolam appeared wearing a flat cap closely resembling the shrinking cap he wears as Grandpa In My Pocket. After that I just kept thinking every time he came on about how hilarious it would be if he shrank.

DH and I just rewatched The Green Man which was very quirky.

Anyone remember Nanny with Wendy Craig? Happy memories!
I loved The Monocled Mutineer as well. Paul McGann was gorgeous.

I was just bobbing on to mention Wish Me Luck and Robin of Sherwood but I see ive been beaten to it.

Michael Praed - I still enjoy thinking of him in quieter moments...