From foreign thrillers to wonderful fantasies, it was a golden year for television, largely thanks to streaming and the BBCThe problem, getting ever harder, is what to leave out. For those who just think I’m feeling sorry for myself, let me remind you of 1979, a year often cited as a high point in
British television.
Among the delights – this is not me, this is Wikipedia – were Quatermass, the finale of Fawlty Towers, and the debuts of Minder, of To the Manor Born and of Thomas & Sarah, a failed Upstairs, Downstairs spin-off. BBC2 launched an “ident” and half the televisual world was on strike. And I could have compiled a list of 10 best back then in two shakes of a damp parka.