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Secret Scotland (UK)

In this travel documentary 4'11" comedian Susan Calman travels around her native Scotland uncovering the secrets behind famous historical places. 

Scotland is gorgeous, and this documentary is both beautifully filmed and genuinely informative. But the draw here is Calman's folksy presence. Her everywoman style serves as the perfect counterpoint to 1,000 year old castles and sweeping, majestic landscapes. The show moves at a wonderfully relaxed pace, and it will keep you grinning every step of the way. 

Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy (UK)

File Under: How did something this bizarre ever get made?

After an amazingly successful 10-year run as half of The Mighty Boosh, Noel Fielding's next project was Luxury Comedy, a showcase for his surreal, experimental brand of humor. This comedy takes many risks, and it certainly isn't afraid to fail. But when it works, it's mind-blowing.

My strong recommendation is to start with Series One, Episode Two: The Jelly Fox. Series one of Luxury Comedy is a psychedelic sketch show, while series two more of a surreal sitcom. When Luxury Comedy works, it blends the Noel's childlike surrealism, the amazing music of Kasabian's Sergio Pizzorno, and Noel's amazing art. All three hit their heights in this episode. The Jelly Fox skit, itself, is a wonderful peek at what goes on inside the the brain of Noel Fielding.

Cunk on Shakespeare (UK)

Diane Morgan's everywoman/journalist persona, Philomena Cunk, first premiered on Charlie Brooker's (Black Mirror, Dead Set) Weekly Wipe along with fellow man-on-the street character, Barry Shitpeas, where she would give her highly uneducated opinions on the news of the day. So popular were Philomena Cunk's appearances that she quickly had her own BBC specials which culminated in a five-part history of the United Kingdom, Cunk on Britian, which is a bit too much Philomena Cunk, even for me.

Easily my favorite Philomena Cunk BBC Special is Cunk on Shakespeare. Here Cunk explores the life and work of William Shakespeare, a man she clearly thinks is a bit fancy and hoity-toity for her liking. Armed with a something-less-than-elementary-school-level understanding of Shakespeare, she interviews experts and historians about the life and works of William Shakespeare in honor of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death.

This is mostly just a silly good time, with the occasional poke in the eye to the expert who might take himself just a little too seriously. Highly recommended.

Great Canal Journeys (UK)

Husband and wife Timothy West and Prunella Scales (Fawlty Towers) glide into their later years by sharing their love of piloting canal boats through some of the most beautiful canals in the world.

This show is so relaxing and genuine. It's more like their personal home movies than a travel show. I haven't watched the later seasons, yet. But it was revealed early on that Prunella was beginning to suffer from dementia due to Alzheimer's disease. While it slows them up a bit, they push push on with their adventures in the most English manner imaginable.

Jekyll (UK)

Before Sherlock, Steven Moffat developed a different piece of British literature for the BBC. Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde became Jekyll, produced in 2007. Have you noticed a pattern, yet?

Jekyll was billed as a modern-day sequel to the Stevenson novel, and it is delicious television. Darker than Sherlock, Jekyll stars likable film and television star James Nesbitt, soap opera actress Michelle Ryan, and comedic actress Gina Bellman (Coupling). All three are playing against type. And it is quite jarring and effective to see these beautiful, mainstream "television people" spiraling down into this dark and twisted maze of a story.

This is fun, engaging, and dark television. Released just as Steven Moffat's star was ascending, it has since been wrongfully overshadowed by Moffat's work in Sherlock, Doctor Who, and the Spielberg film The Adventures of Tintin. Jekyll can stand with any of those titles.

In December 2016 it was announced that Lionsgate films is making a feature film version of Jekyll starring Chris Evans (Captain America). 

Ooglies (UK)

Ooglies is a stop-motion animated children's television series produced by BBC Scotland. These people are presumably adults, yet they stick googly eyes on food and household items and create amazing adventures. It is as twisted as it is violent.

Sherlock

Steven Moffat (Doctor Who, Coupling) and Mark Gatiss (The League of Gentlemen, Doctor Who) co-created a reboot of Sherlock Holmes set in the modern day. 

Clever, funny, and smart, this reboot ran for four series, each consisting of three episodes which are much more like feature films than television episodes in length, production values, and ambition. Like the Conan Doyle stories, each episode is a standalone story—often a modern-day update of an original Sherlock Holmes short story. Recurring characters develop over time, and maybe it all gets a little too much like a soap opera by the final episode. But the overall result is the product of two great storytellers pushing each other to create fun and satisfying television.

For my tastes, the series hits its high-water mark in series two. It was a little too self-aware and too much of a cultural phenomenon by series four to say anything fundamentally new. But there are no bad episodes here. They just range from great to phenomenal.

1959: The Year that Changed Jazz

This BBC Four documentary examines four jazz albums released in 1959, Miles Davis's Kind of Blue, Dave Brubeck's Time Out, Charles Mingus's Mingus Ah Um, and Ornette Coleman's The Shape of Jazz to Come. Honestly, I can take or leave the latter two records, but the reverence that Davis' and Brubeck's albums receive here genuinely allows you to better understand the records.

This is just the coolest music ever made.

Nathan Barley

Charlie Brooker (Black Mirror, Dead Set) and Chris Morris (The IT Crowd, Brass Eye) wrote this six-part sitcom focusing on "the rise of the idiots" who sit at the intersection of technology, fashion, and media. While this series was produced in 2005, you know these kinds of idiots today as the hipsters who try to mow you down while riding their Lime scooters on crowded sidewalks. It seems that every age has its quota of idiots.

The show stars Julian Barratt (The Mighty Boosh) and features Richard Ayowade (The IT Crowd, The Mighty Boosh), Noel Fielding (The Mighty Boosh), and includes a small role for then-unknown Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock, Doctor Strange).

This is funny, dark stuff. Exactly what you'd expect from the minds of Brooker & Morris.

Total Riff Off Episode 4: Man V. Monster

RiffTrax is the creation of the second crew of hosts of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett) who have parlayed the art of making smart-ass comments at bad film and television into a life-long career. In the Total Riff Off series, they partner with the National Geographic channel to officially send up overly pompous documentarian Richard Terry.

Here is the description of the show from the RiffTrax website:

Never one to let something like “not finding the made up creature we all knew never existed in the first place” discourage him, monster hunter Richard Terry is back on the prowl again! This time he’s seeking out the Mekong Flesh Eater, a creature that if it were real* would have the Thai people living in utter terror!**

When a Thai woman is attacked by the creature while gathering shellfish in the river, Richard leaps into action and visits a cave that is not on the river. He bravely manages to get himself stuck almost immediately. Upon making the shocking discovery that the creature that attacked the woman in the river is not in an unrelated cave, he’s left to bumble around Thailand harassing the natives in search of a constantly changing goal that is at various times: a catfish, a cobra, a legendary creature called the Naga, D.B. Cooper, a fearsome catfish, and someone to lend him money for a plate of curry.

Will Richard track down the legendary Mekong Flesh Eater? Will he button his shirt? Will he mistake a floating log for a monster in a particularly chilling scene? The answer to one of these questions is YES! Join Mike, Kevin, and Bill for another episode of Man V Monster, as originally seen on National Geographic.

*It isn’t.

**But it isn’t so they aren’t.