Some of my favorite British TV shows just went up on Hulu!

The Office

With so many adaptations that grew out of it, The Office hardly needs any introduction.. but I’m gonna write one anyway. The concept is pretty much the same as the US version, (the awkward boss, the office romance, weird employees) but the style of humor is completely different. Most of the stuff in the UK version would never make it to air on prime time US television, which doesn’t really say much about how good it is, but suffice to say that it’s like nothing you’ve ever seen before, or at least it was when it first came out.



Black Books

Black Books is set in a small book shop in London and follows the adventures of its grumpy, antisocial, Irish owner Bernard Black, his clumsy assistant Manny and old friend Fran. It features two of my favorite British comedians Dylan Moran and Bill Bailey and also has a great lineup of guest stars. Unfortunately, as is the case with many British shows, there are only 3 seasons, with each 6 episodes.


Spaced

I found out about Spaced after I became obsessed with Shaun of the Dead, which in fact was inspired by one of the episodes. It was created by Simon Pegg, Jessica Stevenson and Edgar Wright, and centers around two strangers who decide to pose as a couple in order to rent a flat, and their friends. It is stylistically very similar to Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz and has more pop culture references than you can possibly catch. It also happens to contain the most epic gun fight scene ever shot that doesn’t involve any guns.




Kingdom

Well, Kingdom is not an easy show to sell. It’s about a solicitor who lives in Norfolk, a quaint but rather mundane county of England. However it also features Stephen Fry, and for anyone who knows him, that should be more than enough of a reason to watch it. It’s funny, heartwarming and is just a pleasure to watch. Unfortunately ITV announced this past fall that they won’t be ordering any more episodes.

Now, I just have my fingers crossed for QI.