Summer of Rockets (UK)
I have been describing this six-part BBC Two drama as a "six and a half hour documentary about the creation of the pager," which isn't completely facetious. Set in England of 1958 when the cold war was beginning to heat up, Stephen Poliakoff's drama centers on the family of Samuel Petrukhin, a Russian jew in England who owns an electronics business that builds high quality hearing aids for high-profile clients such as Winston Churchill.
This is a gripping story that builds tension and suspense around sometimes trivial and absurd plot twists. Sometimes it feels like a staid BBC drama and at other times it feels like a Monty Python sendup of a staid BBC Drama. But at the end of the day, it is well-written, well-directed, and well-acted. Which translates into the fastest six and a half hours of television that I can remember watching.
Cast standouts include the always wonderful Keeley Hawes (Spooks (MI-5 in the US), Ashes to Ashes),Lily Sacofsky (who I've never seen before, but I'll be watching out for), and the always entertaining Mark Bonnar (Castastrophe).
So take a chance on this one, really.