100 Fun Facts About British TV Shows

Coronation Street is set in which fictional Greater Manchester town?

Weatherfield is based on Salford, hometown of creator Tony Warren, and the soap has aired on ITV since December 1960.

EastEnders is set in which fictional London borough?

Walford is EastEnders' home; the soap launched on BBC One in February 1985 and reached number one in the ratings within eight months.

More than 30 million watched EastEnders' most-viewed episode, broadcast on which day in 1986?

Christmas Day 1986 brought Den Watts handing Angie divorce papers; the 30 million-plus figure combines the original showing and the omnibus repeat.

In Only Fools and Horses, what does Del Boy Trotter do for a living?

Del Boy is a Peckham market trader, forever chasing get-rich-quick schemes with his younger brother Rodney.

Which character was introduced to Only Fools and Horses after Lennard Pearce's death in 1984?

Uncle Albert, Grandad's brother played by Buster Merryfield, was a Royal Navy veteran whose endless stories began 'During the war...'.

Fawlty Towers is set in a hotel in which seaside town?

Torquay's Gleneagles Hotel inspired it: John Cleese based Basil Fawlty on its rude owner, Donald Sinclair, after the Pythons stayed there in 1970.

Who co-wrote Fawlty Towers with John Cleese and played Polly?

Connie Booth, an American actress who met John Cleese in New York and married him in 1968, co-wrote all 12 episodes with him and played Polly.

Who plays Baldrick, servant to every Blackadder?

Tony Robinson's Baldrick is famous for having 'a cunning plan', and Robinson later presented Channel 4's archaeology series Time Team for 20 years.

Who co-wrote the last three Blackadder series with Richard Curtis?

Ben Elton replaced Rowan Atkinson as co-writer after series one, when BBC1 controller Michael Grade's cost-cutting moved Blackadder from location shoots to studio sets.

The Office (UK) is set in the Slough branch of which fictional company?

Wernham Hogg's Slough branch is run by Ricky Gervais's David Brent; the American remake renamed the firm Dunder Mifflin and moved it to Scranton.

Downton Abbey is set on a fictional estate in which county?

Yorkshire is the setting, but Highclere Castle in Hampshire played Downton, and the story runs from 1912 to New Year's Eve 1925.

Which ship's sinking kills both Crawley heirs in Downton Abbey's first episode?

Titanic takes heir James Crawley and his son Patrick, so the estate passes to distant cousin Matthew, a middle-class lawyer from Manchester.

Who created Sherlock with Mark Gatiss?

Steven Moffat co-created Sherlock while also producing Doctor Who, and his wife, producer Sue Vertue, urged him and Gatiss to make it themselves.

In which city was Sherlock primarily filmed?

Cardiff doubled for much of Sherlock's London, while North Gower Street in London played the outside of 221B Baker Street.

Peep Show's Mark and Jeremy share a flat in which part of London?

Croydon is where Mark owns the flat and Jeremy lodges in his spare room; in 2010 Peep Show became Channel 4's longest-running comedy.

What camera technique gives Peep Show its title?

Point of view shots show events through Mark's and Jeremy's eyes, while voiceovers let viewers hear what each is really thinking.

Which production company took The Great British Bake Off from the BBC to Channel 4?

Love Productions wanted £75 million for three series, which the BBC refused; Mel, Sue and Mary Berry left, but Paul Hollywood moved with it.

The BBC's celebrity dance contest takes half its title from which 1992 film?

Strictly Ballroom lent 'Strictly' and the long-running BBC show Come Dancing the rest; abroad the format became Dancing with the Stars.

Who co-presented the BBC's celebrity dance contest with Tess Daly from its start?

Bruce Forsyth co-hosted from 2004 until 2013, when he was 85, and Claudia Winkleman then joined Tess Daly as co-lead presenter.

Before James May joined, who presented Top Gear's first revived series in 2002 alongside Clarkson and Hammond?

Jason Dawe, a motoring journalist, lasted one series before May replaced him, while the anonymous test driver, the Stig, featured from the start.

Which drama follows AC-12, the anti-corruption unit tasked with 'policing the police'?

Line of Duty was created by Jed Mercurio, who also wrote Bodyguard, and its 2021 finale peaked at 13.1 million viewers.

Gavin & Stacey's two families come from Billericay and which Welsh town?

Barry, in the Vale of Glamorgan, is Stacey's home town, while Gavin's family lives in Billericay; James Corden and Ruth Jones wrote the show.

Who plays Stacey's uncle Bryn in Gavin & Stacey?

Rob Brydon plays Uncle Bryn, while Alison Steadman and Larry Lamb play Gavin's parents, Pam and Mick.

Father Ted is set on which fictional location off Ireland's west coast?

Craggy Island is where Bishop Brennan exiles Ted, Dougal and Jack, though the parochial house is a real house in County Clare.

Which two writers created Father Ted?

Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews wrote it for Hat Trick and Channel 4, and Linehan went on to create The IT Crowd.

In Red Dwarf, how long was Lister in suspended animation?

Three million years in stasis leave Lister the last human alive, with a hologram of bunkmate Rimmer and a creature evolved from his cat.

Which broadcaster revived Red Dwarf from 2009 to 2020?

Dave, the UKTV channel that took the name in 2007, revived Red Dwarf a decade after its BBC Two run ended in 1999.

Besides 45 BBC episodes, Monty Python's Flying Circus made two specials for which country?

West Germany's WDR produced Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus, shot mostly in Bavaria and aired in 1972, and its first episode was recorded in German.

Dad's Army is about which wartime organisation?

The Home Guard took volunteers too old or otherwise unable to join the regular forces, hence the title Dad's Army.

Who plays Geraldine Granger in The Vicar of Dibley?

Dawn French plays Geraldine, a role Richard Curtis created for her after the Church of England's 1993 changes allowed women priests.

In Absolutely Fabulous, who plays Patsy Stone?

Joanna Lumley plays Patsy, an ex-model and fashion director, opposite Jennifer Saunders's Edina in the sitcom Saunders created.

The IT Crowd is set in the basement of which fictional company?

Reynholm Industries is run by Denholm Reynholm and later his son Douglas, while Roy, Moss and Jen toil in its IT department.

Who plays DCI John Luther?

Idris Elba plays Luther, whose most dangerous ally is Ruth Wilson's murderer Alice Morgan; the film Luther: The Fallen Sun followed in 2023.

Broadchurch is set on the coast of which county?

Dorset's coast is home to fictional Broadchurch, where David Tennant and Olivia Colman investigate 11-year-old Danny Latimer's death.

Peaky Blinders is set in which city?

Birmingham is home to Cillian Murphy's Tommy Shelby, whose gang is loosely based on a real city gang active from the 1880s to the 1920s.

Call the Midwife was based on the memoirs of whom?

Jennifer Worth drew on her 1950s work as a midwife in London's poor East End, and Heidi Thomas adapted her memoirs for television.

Who created Taskmaster and serves as the Taskmaster's assistant?

Alex Horne devised Taskmaster as a live show in 2010 and plays the Taskmaster's assistant, while Greg Davies plays the Taskmaster.

Who are the two team captains on Have I Got News for You?

Ian Hislop and Paul Merton have captained the teams since the show began in 1990, apart from Merton's 1996 break, while host Angus Deayton was sacked in 2002.

Who hosted QI from 2003 to 2016?

Stephen Fry hosted from the first series in 2003 until 2016, when Sandi Toksvig took over, with Alan Davies still the permanent panellist.

Who presented Countdown for 23 years, from its 1982 launch until his death?

Richard Whiteley was the first person seen on Channel 4, since Countdown was the channel's launch programme on 2 November 1982.

Which BBC programme, on air since October 1958, is the world's longest-running children's TV show?

Blue Peter has handed out its famous badges since 1963, and in 2011 it left London's Television Centre for MediaCityUK in Salford.

ITV's Emmerdale dropped which word from its original title in 1989?

Farm went from the title in 1989, and in 1994 the show's fictional village, Beckindale, was renamed Emmerdale too.

Who played Queen Elizabeth II in the first two seasons of The Crown?

Claire Foy played the young Queen before Olivia Colman and then Imelda Staunton took over, as The Crown recast every two seasons.

Fleabag grew from Phoebe Waller-Bridge's one-woman show, which premiered in full at which festival in 2013?

Edinburgh Festival Fringe audiences saw the monologue after previews at Soho Theatre, and it won a Fringe First award there.

Derry Girls is set during the final years of what?

The Troubles' final years shaped Lisa McGee's own 1990s Catholic girlhood in Derry, which the show draws on.

Who narrated Gogglebox from its 2013 launch until 2016?

Caroline Aherne narrated until April 2016, shortly before her death, and her Royle Family co-star Craig Cash took over.

Who created The Thick of It?

Armando Iannucci created it, then spun it off into the film In the Loop and went on to create HBO's Veep.

Which Rowan Atkinson character began during his Oxford master's?

Mr. Bean ran for just 15 episodes, and Atkinson has described him as 'a child in a grown man's body'.

In Keeping Up Appearances, how does Hyacinth insist her married surname is pronounced?

Bouquet is how Hyacinth insists 'Bucket' is said, and Patricia Routledge played the snobbish social climber in 44 episodes.

Which drama sends detective Sam Tyler from 2006 back to 1973?

Life on Mars is named after David Bowie's song, and its sequel, Ashes to Ashes, sent a new detective, Alex Drake, back to 1981.

Which member of the Beatles was the first narrator of the children's series Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends?

Ringo Starr was hired because producer Britt Allcroft found his voice perfect for the stories. His fame as a Beatle played no part in her choice.

Ant and Dec first found fame as PJ and Duncan in which children's drama set in a Newcastle youth club?

Byker Grove launched the duo as teenagers, and their own production company bought the rights to the series in 2008. It was actually filmed across the city in Benwell.

Which actor played spin doctor Malcolm Tucker in The Thick of It before becoming the Twelfth Doctor in Doctor Who?

Peter Capaldi won a BAFTA for his sweary enforcer in 2010. Three years later he became the oldest actor to take the lead in Doctor Who since the very first Doctor.

Which prime minister named the Whitehall satire Yes Minister as a favourite television programme while in office?

Margaret Thatcher liked the satire so much that in 1984 she performed a short sketch with its two stars at an awards ceremony. The show mocks ministers outwitted by their civil servants.

In Doctor Who, a faulty chameleon circuit leaves the Doctor's TARDIS stuck in the outward shape of what?

Police box is the disguise the ship took in 1960s London just before its camouflage system broke. Real ones grew so rare that the shape is now tied more closely to the TARDIS than to the police.

In Fawlty Towers, Basil excuses the mistakes of the waiter Manuel by saying he is from which city?

Barcelona is Basil's stock excuse for everything Manuel gets wrong. When the Catalan channel TV3 dubbed the sitcom, it changed the waiter's origin to Mexico City.

Which actor played the foppish Prince Regent, employer of Rowan Atkinson's scheming butler, in Blackadder the Third?

Hugh Laurie played the Prince as a spoiled, dim-witted fop. Almost two decades later he reversed the image as the brilliant, bad-tempered American doctor in House.

Which actor played Tim Canterbury in The Office before starring as Dr John Watson in Sherlock?

Martin Freeman said in 2004 that Tim cast a very long shadow over him as an actor. He escaped it with Sherlock, a Fargo lead and Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit films.

Which Hampshire country house served as the main filming location for the ITV drama Downton Abbey?

Highclere Castle is the seat of the Earls of Carnarvon. The 5th Earl employed Howard Carter in the search for Tutankhamun's tomb, so the house also holds Egyptian artefacts.

Which girl group, formed on The X Factor in 2011, became the first group to win the UK show?

Little Mix began the live shows as Rhythmix. They changed the name mid-series after a children's music charity called Rhythmix objected to the programme trademarking it.

Which Irish actor leads the BBC period drama Peaky Blinders as gang boss Tommy Shelby?

Cillian Murphy played Shelby on television from 2013 to 2022. He then won the Best Actor Oscar for Oppenheimer before returning to the role in a feature film.

Which Liverpool-born actor won an Emmy as the assassin Villanelle in the spy thriller Killing Eve?

Jodie Comer won both a BAFTA and an Emmy for the part. Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the first series' head writer, had considered casting herself as Villanelle or Eve.

What is the name of the corner pub at the heart of the ITV soap Coronation Street?

Rovers Return was nearly called The Coronation. In the soap's backstory the brewery had to drop that name in 1902 because the new street had already claimed it.

In Only Fools and Horses, the Trotters' council flat in Nelson Mandela House is in which London district?

Peckham is so tied to the Trotters that writer John Sullivan first planned to call his prequel Once Upon a Time in Peckham. It finally aired as Rock & Chips.

Which original Great British Bake Off judge left the programme rather than follow it to Channel 4?

Mary Berry announced she was leaving on the very day fellow judge Paul Hollywood said he would stay. Both presenters also refused to move with the tent.

Which E4 sitcom follows Will, Simon, Jay and Neil through sixth form at Rudge Park Comprehensive?

The Inbetweeners is narrated by studious new boy Will, who suffers most of the humiliation. Comedian Greg Davies plays the menacing head of sixth form, Mr Gilbert.

The E4 teen drama Skins follows a group of sixth-formers living in which English city?

Bristol stayed the setting while the faces changed: Skins replaced its main cast every two years. Nicholas Hoult led the first group as the manipulative Tony.

Which satirist and former Guardian television critic created the dystopian anthology series Black Mirror?

Charlie Brooker wrote the Screen Burn review column for a decade before turning his unease about screens into drama. The first three episodes aired on Channel 4 in December 2011.

Which Scottish actor played protection officer David Budd in the BBC's hit 2018 thriller Bodyguard?

Richard Madden won a Golden Globe for the part. The finale became the most watched UK drama episode since current records began, and Netflix released the series worldwide weeks later.

Which actor became a star as Mr Darcy in the BBC's 1995 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice?

Colin Firth's Darcy inspired the Bridget Jones novels. When they were filmed, he was cast as Bridget's love interest, a man named Mark Darcy.

Which grumpy pensioner at war with the world is the central character of the sitcom One Foot in the Grave?

Victor Meldrew is pushed into early retirement at 60 and rages at everything that follows. Writer David Renwick ended the sitcom by having him killed by a hit-and-run driver.

Which 1970s BBC sitcom starred Ronnie Barker as Norman Stanley Fletcher, an inmate of Slade Prison?

Porridge takes its title from 1950s slang for a prison sentence, after the breakfast once served in British jails. Barker and the two writers each thought of the name independently.

Who created the sitcom Absolutely Fabulous and stars as its hard-drinking PR boss Edina Monsoon?

Jennifer Saunders grew the sitcom from a 1990 sketch called Modern Mother and Daughter, in which a wayward parent is kept in line by her sensible child.

Which actor co-wrote the sitcom Gavin & Stacey with Ruth Jones and played Gavin's best friend Smithy?

James Corden met Ruth Jones when both acted in the ITV drama Fat Friends. He later hosted the American talk show The Late Late Show on CBS from 2015 to 2023.

Who became host of the ITV quiz The Chase in 2009, having played Danny Baldwin in Coronation Street?

Bradley Walsh kept acting alongside the quiz, playing a detective in Law & Order: UK and travelling in the TARDIS as a companion in Doctor Who.

Which American-born member of Monty Python joined the troupe as the animator of Flying Circus?

Terry Gilliam started out as a strip cartoonist and only later won acting roles in the sketches. The one Python not born in Britain, he gave up his American citizenship in 2006.

The BBC drama Poldark, starring Aidan Turner as a returning army captain, is set in which English county?

Cornwall is where Ross Poldark returns from the American Revolutionary War, only to find his father dead and the family estate in ruins.

Which ITV detective drama has starred John Nettles and then Neil Dudgeon as cousins named DCI Barnaby?

Midsomer Murders has been broadcast in more than 200 countries and territories. Its fictional English county pairs picture-postcard villages with a remarkable body count.

Which actor played hard-bitten detective Jack Regan in The Sweeney before starring as Inspector Morse?

John Thaw was nominated for the Best Actor BAFTA four years running as Morse, winning in 1990 and 1993. He played the detective until a final special in 2000.

Which David Attenborough series of 2006 was the first BBC nature documentary to be filmed in high definition?

Planet Earth took five years to make and was the most expensive nature documentary series the BBC had ever commissioned. Its sequel a decade later was the corporation's first series in 4K.

Which astronomer presented the BBC programme The Sky at Night from 1957 until his death in 2012?

Patrick Moore made it the world's longest-running television series with its original presenter. The programme was going to be called Star Map until a new title was chosen in the Radio Times.

Which actress played secret agent Emma Peel, partner of John Steed, in the 1960s series The Avengers?

Diana Rigg played Peel in 51 episodes, then married James Bond on screen in On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Decades later she was the scheming Olenna Tyrell in Game of Thrones.

Which 1960s pop star hosted the ITV dating show Blind Date, having already fronted Surprise Surprise?

Cilla Black got the job only after an unscreened pilot with comic Duncan Norvelle as presenter. She later sent herself up in a comedy sketch that put a hapless date on the show.

Which dance troupe led by Ashley Banjo beat Susan Boyle to win Britain's Got Talent in 2009?

Diversity won the live final while some of its members were still at school. The line-up that beat the Scottish singer ranged in age from 12 to 25.

Which ITV satire of the 1980s and 1990s mocked politicians and the royal family with grotesque puppet caricatures?

Spitting Image was turned down by many in television who thought puppets would only suit children. In 2018 co-creator Roger Law gave his whole archive, moulds included, to Cambridge University.

Which Steve Coogan character began as a hapless sports presenter on the radio spoof On the Hour?

Alan Partridge reached television in 1994 when the spoof became The Day Today. Later that year he got a chat show of his own, Knowing Me, Knowing You.

Which future Oscar winner played Detective Chief Inspector Jane Tennison in the ITV drama Prime Suspect?

Helen Mirren won three consecutive BAFTAs for the part. Tennison is one of London's first female DCIs, and the drama follows her fight against sexism inside the force.

Which actress played the social-climbing snob Hyacinth in the BBC sitcom Keeping Up Appearances?

Patricia Routledge relished the part because, she said, she couldn't stand people like Hyacinth in real life. She even played the character in a run of British Gas adverts.

Which gentle BBC sitcom about elderly friends in a Yorkshire town ran for 37 years, from 1973 to 2010?

Last of the Summer Wine began as a one-off Comedy Playhouse episode and lasted 31 series. Every one was written by its creator, Roy Clarke.

Which actor played the platoon leader Captain Mainwaring in the wartime BBC sitcom Dad's Army?

Arthur Lowe was nominated for seven BAFTAs and played the pompous captain on radio, on stage and in a 1971 feature film as well as on television.

Which comedian played the punk medical student Vyvyan in The Young Ones and later Eddie in Bottom?

Adrian Edmondson's Vyvyan kept a talking hamster called Special Patrol Group and drove a yellow Ford Anglia painted with red flames. He co-wrote Bottom with his comedy partner.

What trade do the father and son of Steptoe and Son ply from their yard in Shepherd's Bush?

Rag-and-bone men proved an exportable idea. The sitcom was remade in the United States as Sanford and Son, and also in Sweden, the Netherlands and Portugal.

In The Good Life, Tom and Barbara Good turn their house in which London suburb into a smallholding?

Surbiton was only the setting. The outdoor scenes of the couple's self-sufficient garden were filmed on the other side of the capital, in the north London suburb of Northwood.

Are You Being Served? follows the clothing-department staff of which old-fashioned London department store?

Grace Brothers is a stuffy, invented store forever out of step with the times. In 1996 a dance act borrowed its name to release a remix of the sitcom's theme tune.

The BBC detective drama Bergerac, starring John Nettles as the title character, was set on which Channel Island?

Jersey gave Jim Bergerac his beat as a detective sergeant in the island force's Bureau des Étrangers. He later left the service to work as a private investigator.

Which holiday village in north Wales, built by architect Clough Williams-Ellis, was the setting of The Prisoner?

Portmeirion appears in the 1960s series as the Village. In 2016 a permanent chess set was built beside its central piazza in remembrance of the programme.

Gerry Anderson coined which word for the filming style of his 1960s series such as Thunderbirds?

Supermarionation blends the words super, marionette and animation. Anderson said he coined it as a promotional tool, to set his shows apart from other children's puppet series.

The BBC began the world's first regular high-definition television service in 1936 from which north London venue?

Alexandra Palace was leased to the BBC in 1935 as its production and transmission centre. The local borough's coat of arms now carries lightning bolts to mark that pioneering role.

Which BBC programme, first broadcast in 1953, is the world's longest-running television news magazine?

Panorama was launched by the BBC in November 1953 and built its reputation on investigative journalism. ITV's World in Action did not arrive until 1963.

Which two-time Oscar winner played Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham, in Downton Abbey?

Maggie Smith found new international fame as Violet. In 2015 she announced that the sixth series would be her last, and it turned out to be the last one made.