BFI TV 100

The BFI TV 100 is a list compiled in 2000 by the British Film Institute (BFI), chosen by a poll of industry professionals, to determine what were the greatest British television programmes of any genre ever to have been screened.

Selection and criteria

The BBC produced 70 of the 100 programmes on the list.

Granada Television produced 7 of the 100 programmes on list - the largest by a commercial broadcaster.

Initially, a 'big list' of 650 programmes was drawn up by BFI personnel, and this provisional list was then distributed to a range of television industry professionals in the UK, who were each given 30 votes. The listing was split into six categories: Single Dramas, Drama Series and Serials, Comedy and Variety, Factual, Children's / Youth, and Lifestyle & Light Entertainment. Each voter was required to cast a minimum of three votes in every category. News stories were mostly excluded—with exceptions such as the coverage of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales—on the basis that it would be impossible to determine whether it was the coverage or the news itself that made them important. Sport was excluded for similar reasons, and also because many events such as the 1966 World Cup, while important to those in England, would not necessarily matter to those in other areas of the United Kingdom.

Some programmes are represented on the list by an entire series. For some series, such as the anthology The Wednesday Play and current affairs show This Week, individual episodes are listed. Television programmes no longer existing in the archives were excluded from consideration.

Full list

No.	Title	Broadcast on	Year/s
1	Fawlty Towers	BBC2	1975, 1979
2	Cathy Come Home (The Wednesday Play)	BBC1	1966
3	Doctor Who	BBC1	1963–1989, 1996
4	The Naked Civil Servant	ITV	1975
5	Monty Python's Flying Circus	BBC	1969–1974
6	Blue Peter	BBC1	1958–
7	Boys from the Blackstuff	BBC2	1982
8	Parkinson	BBC1 / ITV	1971–1982, 1987–1988, 1998–
9	Yes Minister / Yes, Prime Minister	BBC2	1980–1988
10	Brideshead Revisited	ITV	1981
11	Abigail's Party  (Play for Today)	BBC1	1977
12	I, Claudius	BBC2	1976
13	Dad's Army	BBC1	1968–1977
14	The Morecambe & Wise Show	ITV / BBC2 / BBC1	1961–1983
15	Edge of Darkness	BBC2	1985
16	Blackadder Goes Forth	BBC1	1989
17	Absolutely Fabulous	BBC2 / BBC1	1992–1996
18	The Wrong Trousers	BBC2	1993
19	The World at War	ITV	1973–1974
20	The Singing Detective	BBC1	1986
21	Pennies from Heaven	BBC1	1978
22	The Jewel in the Crown	ITV	1984
23	Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?	ITV	1998–
24	Hancock's Half Hour	BBC	1956–1961
25	Our Friends in the North	BBC2	1996
26	28 Up	ITV	1985
27	The War Game  (The Wednesday Play)	BBC1	1965
28	The Magic Roundabout	BBC1	1965–1977
29	That Was the Week That Was	BBC	1962–1963
30	An Englishman Abroad	BBC1	1983
31	The Royle Family	BBC2/BBC1	1998–
32	Life on Earth	BBC2	1979
33	The Old Grey Whistle Test	BBC2	1971–1987
34	University Challenge	ITV / BBC2	1961–1987, 1994–
35	Porridge	BBC1	1974–1977
36	Blue Remembered Hills  (Play for Today)	BBC1	1979
37	Mastermind  (original format)	BBC1 / BBC2	1972–1997
38	I'm Alan Partridge	BBC2	1997
39	Cracker	ITV	1993–1996
40	Coronation Street	ITV	1960–
41	Top of the Pops	BBC1 / BBC2	1964–
42	Inspector Morse	ITV	1987–2000
43	Grange Hill	BBC1	1978–
44	Steptoe and Son	BBC1	1962–1965, 1970–1974
45	Only Fools and Horses	BBC1	1981–
46	Auf Wiedersehen, Pet  (series 1)	ITV	1983–1986
47	Tiswas	ITV	1974–1982
48	Elgar	BBC	1962
49	Nuts in May  (Play for Today)	BBC1	1976
50	Father Ted	Channel 4	1995–1998
51	The Avengers	ITV	1961–1969
52	Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy	BBC2	1979
53	The Forsyte Saga	BBC2	1967
54	Hillsborough	ITV	1996
55	Dennis Potter: The Last Interview  (Without Walls Special)	Channel 4	1994
56	Bar Mitzvah Boy  (Play for Today)	BBC1	1976
57	Edna, the Inebriate Woman  (Play for Today)	BBC1	1971
58	Live Aid	BBC1 / BBC2	1985
59	World In Action	ITV	1963–1998
60	Thunderbirds	ITV	1965–1966
61	Talking Heads / Talking Heads 2	BBC1 / BBC2	1988 / 1998
62	Ready Steady Go!	ITV	1963–1966
63	Z-Cars	BBC1	1962–1978
64	Culloden	BBC1	1964
65	The Ascent of Man	BBC2	1973
66	A Very British Coup	Channel 4	1988
67	Civilisation	BBC2	1969
68	Prime Suspect	ITV	1991–
69	The Likely Lads / Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?	BBC2 / BBC1	1964–1966 / 1973–1974
70	Have I Got News for You	BBC2 / BBC1	1990–
71	The Snowman	Channel 4	1982
72	Walking with Dinosaurs	BBC1	1999
73	Nineteen Eighty-Four	BBC	1954
74	The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin	BBC1	1976–1979
75	Quatermass and the Pit	BBC	1958–1959
76	Between The Lines	BBC1	1992–1994
77	Blind Date	ITV	1985–
78	Talking to a Stranger  (Theatre 625)	BBC2	1966
79	The Borrowers	BBC1	1992–1993
80	One Foot in the Grave	BBC1	1990–2000
81	Later... with Jools Holland	BBC2	1992–
82	Tutti Frutti	BBC2	1987
83	The Knowledge	ITV	1979
84	House of Cards	BBC1	1990–1995
85	This Is Your Life	BBC1 / ITV	1955–1964, 1969–
86	The Tube	Channel 4	1982–1987
87	The Death of Yugoslavia	BBC2	1995
88	Till Death Us Do Part	BBC1	1966–1975
89	A Very Peculiar Practice	BBC1	1986–1992
90	TV Nation	BBC2	1995
91	This Life	BBC2	1996–1997
92	Death on the Rock  (This Week)	ITV	1988
93	The Nazis: A Warning from History	BBC2	1997
94	Drop the Dead Donkey	Channel 4	1990–1998
95	Arena	BBC2	1975–
96	The Railway Children	BBC1	1968
97	Teletubbies	BBC2	1997–
98	Spitting Image	ITV	1984–1996
99	Pride and Prejudice	BBC1	1995
100	Made in Britain	ITV	1982

See also

• Britain's Best Sitcom
• 100 Greatest
• BFI Top 100 British films

External links

• BBC News coverage
• British TV News