Sunday, March 31, 2013

The Amazing British TV Shows

I'm not sure if you've realized, but I have a bit of a thing for British TV shows. My parents and my sister think I'm weird. Maybe I am. I first got obsessed with the BBC show "Sherlock". The adaptation, featuring Benendict Cumberbatch as Sherlock and Martin Freeman as Dr. Watson, is (in my opinion) the best adaption of the Sherlock Homes mysteries books ever. The creators really followed the books (which I read in 5th grade) even though the TV series is modernized. There are so far only two seasons of the Sherlock stories, but they're coming out with a third one soon. (Only three episodes in each season. But each beautifully done and 1 hour and 30 minutes long)  I can't wait! I was so sad after the end of Season 2 of Sherlock, it was SUCH a sad, heart wrenching episode.  Those of you who read Sherlock knows that in the Reichbach Falls story, Sherlock supposedly dies!

In the meantime, American might have noticed that Martin Freeman starred in the Hobbit, as the hobbit Bilbo Baggins, and Benedict Cumberbatch is going to be in the next Star Trek movie as a villain. I can't wait, because Star Trek is one of my favorite TV and movie series.

Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman
So, in order to compensate for the lack of Sherlock in between seasons, I decided to try out other BBC shows. In particular Doctor Who. My gosh what did I get myself into. It's SO good. I can't really tell you if Sherlock or Doctor Who is better because I love them both. It's impossible to give a short summary of Doctor Who. The genre is sci-fi. It's basically about a time traveler named "The Doctor" who's species is a Time Lord. He's the last of his kind because the evil Daleks killed the rest of his race. He travels around in the TARDIS (A blue police box) through time and space and saves people and other alien races. Through the decades that the shows has been on, the Doctor usually time travels with a human companion. He has been portrayed by 11 actors now. Each time he reincarnates into a different doctor for survival. After he reincarnates he remembers everyone but he just looks different from before. I haven't gotten to the eleventh doctor yet. I'm still on the Tenth Doctor.
David Tennant as the 10th Doctor. Tardis
As a tribute to my love of Doctor Who and Sherlock, my cousin and I have created an Instagram fan account that features images from, and about just these two shows and their stars. We put so much time and care into it that in a mere 4 months, we have gained over 1000 follows. Here is the web address: http://instagram/doctorwho_sherlock. It's a great page. Our followers say so. My cousin and I have even started to make T-shirts and buttons featuring Doctor Who and Sherlock to give away to our followers every time we reach a milestone.

My family likes to watch Downton Abbey. This is the one show that we all watch together. (I personally prefer Doctor Who and Sherlock....but...I love Downton Abbey also.) Downton Abbey is. like all British shows, really well done. The sad part is that BBC is not afraid to kill off their own main characters and it makes for completely unexpected, spectacular shows, but also the most heart wrenching moments ever. I bawled my eyes out during the episode of Downton Abbey when yougest sister Sybil died from childbirth, and another episode when leading man Matthew Crawley is killed in a car accident right after he and his wife has a new baby!

The Cast of Downton Abbey

Well I suggest watching all of these British TV shows.  They are completely different from each other, but they're the kind of shows that make you fall in love with the characters and sometimes feel sad about sharing them with anyone else because you want to think you are alone in this great fandom .....Or maybe that's just me.