If there’s one thing the British are good at, it’s watching telly. You may think the Americans would beat us at that, but we’ve taken watching telly and turned it into an art form. Like most people, our favourite TV subject is ourselves, which has led to a number of shows aiming to be as British as possible. So if you want to learn how to be British, you could do worse that sit down to a few episodes of these distinctly British shows。說到英國人的長項，看電視一定高居榜首。你可能不服，覺得美國人更懂看電視，但我們可是把看電視打造成了藝術。和大多數觀眾一樣，我們最愛的電視主題都與我們自身相關，因此相當一部分節目都把自己打造出百分百純英倫的味道。要是你想學出一身英倫范，坐下來看看幾集純英劇真是極好的！

　　DOCTOR WHO《神秘博士》

　　Nothing says ‘British’ like an alien which can turn into any creature in the universe instead of dying and yet inexplicably decides to return as a white Englishman (or, less commonly, Scotsman). Political commentary aside, Doctor Who owes its long television life not only to a brilliant central character, terrifying alien foes and intelligent scriptwriting, but also to a distinctly British way of doing things. If the Earth is the Doctor’s favourite planet, it’s clear that Britain is his favourite country。這部劇對主角“英國人”的設定可謂史無前例：長生不老，能幻化成宇宙萬物的外星人每次重生都莫名其妙地變回英國白人(或更為少見的蘇格蘭人)。拋開政論，《神秘博士》經久不衰不僅因為有超凡的主角、恐怖的外星敵人和聰明的編劇，其中典型的英國行為方式更是畫龍點睛之筆。如果說地球是博士最愛的星球，那英國一定是他最愛的國家。

　　MONTY PYTHON’S FLYING CIRCUS《飛行馬戲團》

　　The Monty Python legacy has been the backbone of British comedy for years. The happy chappies of the Python group are known all over the world for their special brand of absurdist humour, and their television series has been host to rip-roaring legends like the Dead Parrot and Cheese Shop sketch (if you’re unaware, a quick search on the Internet will change your life). Alongside their films, the Flying Circus show cemented the Pythons as the best thing on the BBC in the 1980s. Parodying Britishness has never been so quintessentially British。多年以來，《飛行馬戲團》一直都是英國喜劇的擎天柱。《馬戲團》以荒誕的幽默風靡世界，此部電視劇還衍生出《死鸚鵡》(Dead Parrot)和《芝士店》(Cheese Shop)這些驚艷的短劇(如果你還沒聽說過這些短劇，趕緊去度娘谷哥一下，說不定就發現了新大陸)。隨著《飛行馬戲團》的播出，Python的“喜劇六人組”也在BBC 80年代的歷史中留下濃墨重彩的一筆。沒有哪部劇能把英倫風展現得如此淋漓盡致。

　　SHERLOCK《神探夏洛克》

　　The global popularity of the modernised Sherlock Holmes series (and its many imitators) has proven yet again that no amount of big blockbuster all-guns-blazing cop shows can compete with the reserved and sharp detective work of one of Britain’s most well-loved characters. Benedict Cumberbatch has been rightly lauded for his depiction of the fast-thinking private eye, and his capers around London reaffirm that we Brits are good at more than drinking tea。橫掃全球的現代版福爾摩斯系列(及眾多類似作品)再次證明沒有哪家宏大制作、子彈橫飛的警匪片能與英國最受喜愛的偵探片相媲美，我們的夏洛克矜持又敏銳，迷倒全人類。本尼迪克特·康伯巴奇(Benedict Cumberbatch)因為傳神地刻畫了那一雙敏銳深邃的眼睛而備受稱贊，他在倫敦周圍的諸次歷險再次佐證了我們英國人不是光會喝茶的！

　　BLACKADDER《黑爵士》

　　In a similar vein to the Pythons, the brilliance of Blackadder is based in its genius application of witty and classically British humour. From the dulcet tones of lead man Rowan Atkinson to the bumblings of sidekick Tony Robinson, there’s no better show for ripping apart what makes the British British and having a good laugh at it (it also includes an entire season of pointing fun at the French, which is just about one of the most British activities you can do)。與“喜劇六人組”風格類似，《黑爵士》絕妙地融入了詼諧的元素與經典的英式幽默。從男一號羅溫·艾金森(Rowan Atkinson)悅耳的語調，到笨手笨腳的助手托尼·羅賓遜(Tony Robinson)，沒有哪部劇在如此精確地解析了何為英國人后又把這一切嘲笑一番(還有整整一季都在吐槽法國人，這也是英國人的日常活動之一)。

　　FRIENDS《老友記》

　　Now, I know what you’re thinking – Friends is an American show, about Americans living in America! How can it be distinctly British? But perhaps you’re not aware that, apart from Season 1, Friends was written entirely by British writers, and if you watch the first season in comparison to the others, the difference really shows. There’s just something about that British sense of humour that can’t be replicated artificially. It’s a fine art, and needs a natural hand. As an English student, take it from me –Friends is a comedy of errors in the Shakespearean tradition, and although they speak in American accents, it’s a British as you’ll get。等等，我知道你肯定在想——《老友記》不是美國片嗎？演的是美國人在美國！怎么成了“純英劇”了？但你可不知道，除了第一季，《老友記》全是英國作家寫的，如果用第一季做個比較，差別立顯啊！只是英式幽默可是模仿不來的，這是門精致的藝術，純粹的渾然天成。作為一名英文文學專業的學生，我敢向你保證——《老友記》用莎士比亞傳統戲劇的觀點看算是錯誤百出的喜劇，但即使演員說著一口美音，演的都是英國的事。