Best BBC One Shows, Ranked

An eccentric Time Lord travels through time and space. He fights injustice across the universe.

Blackadder covers four series and several one-off episodes of a BBC 1 period British sitcom. Rowan Atkinson played the anti-hero Edmund Blackadder. Tony Robinson played Blackadder's dogsbody, Baldrick. Each series set a different historical period. Two main characters appeared in several series, like Melchett and Lord Flashheart. Richard Curtis and Rowan Atkinson wrote the first series, The Black Adder. Other episodes got writing credit from C

This show spins off the novels by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It features the peerless Sherlock Holmes.

These are humorous skits from the British comedy troupe, Monty Python's Flying Circus.

Celebrity guests talk about their current projects and the latest gossip in the newsstands.

A detective gets thrown into the 1970s after a near-fatal car crash.

Top of the Pops, or TOTP, was a British music chart show. The BBC made it. It aired weekly from January 1, 1964, to July 30, 2006. It usually aired Thursday evenings on BBC1. It aired Fridays briefly in late 1974. It moved to Fridays in 1996. Then, it went to Sundays on BBC Two in 2005. Each week featured performances from popular music artists. It also had a special Christmas Day edition.

Shaun's flock lives peacefully under Bitzer's watch.

Ashes to Ashes (BBC One, 2008) is a British fantasy crime drama and police procedural. Matthew Graham and Ashley Pharoah created it. It is a sequel to Life on Mars. After being shot in 2008, police officer Alex Drake (Keeley Hawes) suddenly wakes up in 1981.

The Basil Brush Show is a British children's television sitcom. Basil Brush, the glove puppet fox, stars in the series. The Foundation produced six series. CBBC aired it from October 4, 2002, to December 21, 2007. This show spins off the 1960s/1970s BBC television series but features no original cast.

Room 101 is a BBC comedy series. It is based on the radio show of the same name. Celebrities discuss their dislikes and try to get the host to send them to Room 101. The name comes from the torture room in Nineteen Eighty-Four, which supposedly held "the worst thing in the world". George Orwell named it after a meeting room at Broadcasting House where he sat through boring meetings. Hat Trick Productions produces it for the BBC. Nick Hancock hosted the first three series from 1994 to 1997.

Color shows how color affects animal interactions.

A young couple inherits a grand country house. They soon find it filled with ghosts.

Forensic pathologists uncover the truths behind murders.

This covers the exploits of a dentist and his family.

Three stubborn seniors make mischief in the Yorkshire Dales.

Still Open All Hours (BBC One, 2013) is a British sitcom by Roy Clarke. It follows Granville (David Jason), now older, who owns Arkwright's shop in Balby, Doncaster, South Yorkshire, after his uncle dies. The show is set in the small grocer's shop.

Postman Pat is a British stop-motion animated children's show. Woodland Animations first produced it. It targets preschoolers and features Pat Clifton, a postman in the fictional village of Greendale. The first 13 episodes aired on BBC1 in 1981. John Cunliffe wrote the original treatment and scripts. Animator Ivor Wood directed it, and he also worked on The Magic Roundabout, The Wombles, Paddington Bear, and The Herbs. A second series followed the success of the first series and several TV specials.

This shows the colorful world of midwifery and family life in London's East End during the 1950s.

Mastermind is a British BBC game show. Creator Bill Wright took ideas from his Gestapo interrogation experiences during World War II. The show used an intimidating setting and tough questions. Four or five or six contestants play two rounds. One round tests a subject the contestant picks; the other is general knowledge. Neil Richardson composed the theme music, "Approaching Menace." The quiz began and filmed in Manchester at studios like New Broadcasting House.

The One Show is a daily magazine-style TV program on BBC One and BBC One HD. Alex Jones and Matt Baker host Monday through Thursday. Chris Evans replaces Baker on Fridays; stand-ins appear when needed. It airs every weeknight starting at 7pm, skipping a two-week Christmas break and a four-week summer break where The One Show: Best of British, hosted by Matt Allwright and Lucy Siegle, takes over.

The Day of the Triffids is a British TV series. The BBC first aired it in 1981. Douglas Livingstone adapted the 1951 novel by John Wyndham. David Maloney produced the six half-hour episodes, and Ken Hannam directed them. Christopher Gunning provided the original music. It premiered in the UK and Australia on ABC Television.

This covers life on the wards of Holby City Hospital.

A young woman from another world finds a sinister plot while searching for a kidnapped friend.

An unambitious lodger spends his time on the sofa or in the pub with friends.

A trusted doctor's life breaks apart as she probes her husband's dark secret.

A detective inspector moves from London to Saint-Marie, an island in the Caribbean.

The 1960s Profumo Affair threatened to bring down the government.

This drama series unfolds in a chaotic school setting.

A Lancashire housewife becomes a detective and helps the police greatly.

Points of View is a long-running British television series on BBC One. It began in 1961. Viewers send in letters with praise, criticism, and comments about recent television programming.

Sir David Attenborough commissioned The Old Grey Whistle Test. BBC2 aired it from 1971 to 1988. The show took the late night slot from Disco 2, which ran from September 1970 to July 1971, still playing non-chart music. BBC producer Rowan Ayers devised the show. Michael Appleton was the original producer, involved in the show's history as an executive. Presenter Bob Harris said the program got its name from a Tin Pan Alley phrase years earlier.

A woman from Botswana starts the first female-owned detective agency in her country.

The Sky at Night is a monthly BBC documentary on astronomy. Patrick Moore presented the show from its first broadcast on April 24, 1957, until January 7, 2013. Moore died on December 9, 2012. This made it the longest-running program with one presenter. Tapes were wiped or episodes were broadcast live, causing many early episodes to be missing. Starting February 3, 2013, Lucie Green and Chris Lintott co-presented with Maggie Aderin-P.

The Quatermass Experiment was a British science-fiction serial on BBC Television during the summer of 1953. BBC Four re-staged it in 2005. The story sets near the future against a British space program. It covers the first manned flight into space, supervised by Professor Bernard Quatermass of the British Experimental Rocket Group. When the spaceship carrying the first crew returns, two of the three astronauts are gone, and the third acts strangely. An alien presence entered the ship during its flight.

SMart, a British CBBC show about art, ran from 1994 to 2009. It filmed at the BBC Television Centre in London, moving from Studio A at BBC Pebble Mill in Birmingham. The format mirrored Tony Hart's Take Hart and Hartbeat. The show changed into an hour-long format in 2007; it was a 25-minute show before that. Earlier 25-minute shows from 1994 to 2005 featured Morph, which came from Take Hart. SMart had 199 episodes. CBBC ended SMart on August 11, 2011.

This action-packed fantasy-drama revisits the story of King Arthur and his wizard, Merlin.

War & Peace (History, BBC, 2016) adapts Leo Tolstoy's 1869 novel, War and Peace. The six-part drama follows the novel's events.

A woman with a passion for life and a business mind defies society's expectations constantly.

Escape to the Country is a British daytime TV show. It premieres on BBC One, airs on BBC Two, and runs internationally in syndication.

A magician and a journalist team up to solve mysteries.

Four sisters live through the Civil War.

Alan Bennett wrote dramatic monologues for BBC television, a series called Talking Heads. The two series aired in 1988 and 1998. BBC Radio and A-level and GCSE English Literature syllabi now feature these monologues. A West End production, also titled Talking Heads, opened at the Comedy Theatre in January 1992 for ten weeks. Patricia Routledge and Alan Bennett starred, and Bennett directed, with Jeremy Sams providing piano interludes. Some episodes aired on PBS in the United States during its Masterpiece Theatre program.

The House of Eliott is a British TV series. The BBC produced and broadcasted three series between 1991 and 1994. Stella Gonet played Beatrice Eliott, and Louise Lombard played Evangeline Eliott. These two sisters lived in 1920s London, starting a dressmaking business and later their own haute couture fashion house. Maggie Ollerenshaw played their loyal, sharp head of the workroom, Florence Ranby, and Aden Gillett played Beatrice Eliott's husband and filmmaker, Jack Maddox. Jean Marsh and Eileen Atkins created the series, having previously made Upstairs, Downstairs.

Andrew Norriss and Richard Fegen wrote and created the British sitcom 'The Brittas Empire'. Chris Barrie played Gordon Brittas, the well-meaning but inept manager of Whitbury New Town Leisure Centre. The show ran seven series and 53 episodes, including two Christmas specials, from 1991 to 1997 on BBC1. Norriss and Fegen wrote the first five series, then they left the show. 'The Brittas Empire' had a long, successful run through the 1990s and drew large mainstream audiences. In 2004, the show placed 47th in the BBC's Britain's Best Sitcom poll.

Harry Enfield and Chums was a British sketch show featuring Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse. The show first aired on BBC Two in 1990 at 9 pm on Thursdays, establishing a time slot for alternative comedy on television. Enfield already had a name from his 'Loadsamoney' character. The series gave Paul Whitehouse and Kathy Burke more presence. By 1994, the show became 'Harry Enfield and Chums'.

Strictly Come Dancing is a British television show. Celebrities dance with professional partners in Ballroom and Latin styles. The title hints at the long-running Come Dancing series and the film Strictly Ballroom. Over 40 countries exported the format. Strictly Dance Fever, a modern-dance spin-off, also inspired by it. Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman present the show now. Sir Bruce Forsyth fronts special episodes. BBC One has shown the program since May 15.

The Doctor and his friends travel from the start of human history to faraway alien worlds.

Eggheads is a BBC quiz show. A team of five 'Eggheads' faces teams of five 'challengers' in each episode. Challengers try to beat the Eggheads through various rounds. The program first aired in 2003, presented by Dermot Murnaghan. Jeremy Vine joined for the 2008 series when Murnaghan hosted the spinoff 'Are You an Egghead?'. Murnaghan presented the second series of the spinoff show in October 2009. Murnaghan and Vine continued hosting the series after the spinoff ended.

The Family-Ness is a British cartoon series made in 1983. It first aired on BBC One from October 5, 1984, to April 5, 1985. CBeebies showed repeats briefly in 2002. Peter Maddocks of Maddocks Cartoon Productions created it. Maddocks later made Penny Crayon and Jimbo and the Jet Set in a similar style. 'Family-Ness' followed the adventures of a family of Loch Ness Monsters and the MacTout family, especially siblings Elspeth and Angus. The children called the 'Nessies' from the loch using their 'thistle whistles'.