I adored 'Drop the Dead Donkey.' That show defined Channel 4 at the time; it was so inventive and off the leash.
What I can say that's different in American television... in Britain, they wouldn't cancel something after a couple of episodes. In the States they would. They would just decide it's not working, take it off and put something else in on the fall schedule.
For dramas, I love 'Downton Abbey.' I'm a sucker for the BBC.
I like 'Strictly' because it is warm, glamourous, and brings families together.
I read two mysteries a day when I was a kid. All of Agatha Christie, all of 'Sherlock Holmes.' I've seen every single British detective show ever made.
I've played the leads in two British TV series. I've done a bunch of mini-series. Everybody in Australia is a bit in awe of BBC. I've worked for there, and that was a great experience.
I'd like to helm my own series. Something British.
I'd definitely be up for 'EastEnders.' Just the same as I would if 'Coronation Street' was offered. Either way, it would be like going back to my roots.
The tried and tested becomes very boring. There's no way that the British equivalent of a Bryan Cranston would get the lead in a British equivalent of 'Breaking Bad.'
I fell in love with stories watching a British television puppet show called 'Thunderbirds' when it first came out on TV, about 1965, so I would have been 4 or 5 years old. I went out into the garden at my mom and dad's house, and I used to play with my little dinky toys, little cars and trucks and things.
I love Leon and June and I love 'Gogglebox,' it's a brilliant show.
In England, 'The Muppet Show' is very much seen as an English thing. So for us in the U.K., it is one of the treasures of the history of children's TV and of comedy, basically.
'Only Fools and Horses' was just one of those shows that could keep on going and going, that excited me. 'Hartbeat with Tony Hart' and 'Rolf's Cartoon Club' were my huge favourites, though. I used to love drawing and always sent work in to the show.
I think I must be one of the only actors I know who has never even auditioned for a small part in 'Eastenders.'
There are actually quite high profile British TV star cameos in it that you probably wouldn't even notice, that the British wouldn't even notice, let alone the American audience.
When I'm stopped in the street, people want to talk about 'The Two Ronnies' and the sketches we did.
Carla Lane's 'Butterflies' seemed to be on in our house at all times when I was a kid, as did 'The Good Life.' But it was 'Fawlty Towers that made me really sit up for the first time. Basil's incandescent rage made me howl.
I have to say that filming 'The Night Manager' was not just amazing but also very daunting at first. I used to describe myself as the token plebeian surrounded by all your national treasures. All that glittering talent in one place; I knew Hugh from Fry and Laurie videos that my grandpa used to watch, and Tom Hollander's 'Rev' is hilarious.
I love 'Top Gear'. It's my favorite show.
I grew up watching 'The Office' and 'Father Ted' and all the British things at that time - 'The Royle Family' - and the American ones like 'Friends,' 'Frasier' and 'The Simpsons.'
In British TV, if there is an Asian character, there usually has to be a reason for them to be Asian, whereas in America, you have a lot more roles where the person just happens to be Asian.
'Skins' is about a group of teenagers in Bristol, and it's all about what they get up to and all the different things they do. I think it's a good show because it's come from a very real place, and there's a lot of young people involved in the writing.
My friends adore 'TOWIE' - the TV documentary series, 'The Only Way is Essex.' They like it, I'm afraid, for the most unworthy of reasons: class mockery. They tune in to wonder in a 'can you believe those people?' way at the natives of Brentwood and Buckhurst Hill.
The Americans think British T.V. shows are amazing, and everybody references 'Downton Abbey', and, in my genre, 'Doctor Who', which everyone is crazy for. People are always asking me and are always disappointed that I haven't been in it.
I'm a 'Blackadder' girl.
