10 Television Shows that are Perfect to Learn British English
By watching televisions shows you have a great opportunity to improve your understanding and comprehension of British English together with pronunciation and speaking. Choose a television show or series which interest you and then you are more likely to enjoy the program and watch the shows to the end. Try practising by speaking out loud the new vocabulary you here used within these programs. There are a number of excellent television shows that are perfect to improve your fluency of speaking British English and here is our choice of 10 television shows to help you:
The Crown
This series is shown on Netflix with the first series being shown last year and follows the marriage of princess Elizabeth to prince Philip in 1947, her accession to queen Elizabeth ii in February 1952 and continues until 1956. The second series will cover the lives of the queen and prince Philip from 1956-1964, which will be released at the end of 2017. This is a historical series and helps with British English vocabulary and accents.
Victoria and Albert
Series 1 of Victoria and Albert starts with Victoria becoming queen in 1837 at the age of 18 and covers her relationships with the then prime minister, lord Melbourne and her marriage to prince Albert and concludes with the arrival of their first child, princess Victoria.
Series 2 of Victoria and Albert has just started and follows the continuing relationship between Victoria and albert and how Victoria deals with being queen, being married and having more children. This is another historical series, which is educational (like the crown – above) and uses perfect British English, which can help improve your accent.
Downton Abbey
This is another brilliant historical television series. The first series starts with the sinking of the titanic and tells the story of the crawley family an aristocratic family who live at Downton abbey together with their staff, and continues until 1926. This series was recognized as the ‘most critically acclaimed English spoken language series of 2011 by the Guinness World Records.
This is another fabulous period drama series giving us an insight into life ‘above and below’ stairs in England in the years following the first world war, which will help with learning British English both in context and pronunciation.
Antiques Roadshow
This British series started in 1979 and is now in its 39-series starring Fiona Bruce. Each program is situated in a different location of Great Britain and people from the local area bring their antiques to be evaluated and valued by antique professionals. These professionals will give the history of the pieces they are studying in these shows, which are often held in the gardens of lovely country homes. These series are very interesting to watch and include many different discussions by people with a variety of British accents.
The vicar of Dibley
This is a very British sitcom set in a fictional village named Dibley, set in the English country of oxfordshire. Dibley has a lady ordained as vicar named as the reverend Geraldine granger played by the actress dawn French. There are 20 episodes together with three sets of winter specials. The series follows the amusing tales of how the residents of Dibley adjust to having their first lady vicar and follows the exploits of the vicar, her church congregation and village life. This series is well worth watching – showing British humor at its best.
University Challenge
This is a quiz program which first came on to British television screens in 1962 and continues to the present day. The current series is hosted by Jeremy packman and is a weekly quiz show between two different teams from British universities with each team comprising of 4 students from the same university. The questions asked to the contestants are on various topics and the contestants are either asked these questions individually or the team as a whole can answer the questions. A very interesting general knowledge program, which is good for more advanced learners to help improve British English
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Mastermind
This is one of the most intellectual quiz shows (with university challenge following not far behind) and the series started in 1972 and is now hosted by Jeremy Paxton. Each year the competition is to find the mastermind champion of that particular year. In each series there are heats with four contestants in each heat and they compete not only against the clock but also against their fellow contestants.
These contestants must answer as many questions as they can in the time allowed in two rounds – the first round is on a chosen topic and the second one contains general knowledge questions. The winners go through to the next round until there is finally a mastermind champion. Again this is another educational series covering many different questions and worth watching.
Fawlty Towers
Fawlty towers is one of the funnies series that has ever been on British television. The series is set in a hotel in torquay in the county of Devon and is run by basil Fawlty and his wife, Sybil, their Spanish waiter, Manuel and the chambermaid, Polly. The episodes follow the very amusing incidents of the day to day running of this hotel. There are two series with 6 episodes in each. This series is very good at helping to understand British humor together with helping improve British language.
MasterChef
This is a British cooking competition, which includes the series celebrity MasterChef and junior MasterChef. Gregg Wallace and john torode are the judges now with loyd grossman presenting the original series. The competition is decided by a number of heats, then quarter-finals/semi-finals and finish with the final.
The heats include the contestants cooking dishes of their choosing, an ingredients test when they are asked to identify a selection of produce, working under pressure in a restaurant and also cooking a two-course meal in a set amount of time. For those of us who enjoy cooking, this is worth watching not only to give us ideas of what we can cook but also helps with vocabulary and learning British English.
Location, Location, Location
Kirstie allsopp and Phil spencer team up in this very successful and long running series. Each week they try and help two couples try and find a new home, whether a flat or house, to buy within a budget in a location chosen by the couple anywhere in the United Kingdom. This show has a very successful format and is interesting for all of us who are looking at moving as well as helping everyone learning English.
Some of these are now out in boxed DVD sets for example Downton abbey and this enables you to watch them at a time to suit you, even sitting in airport waiting for your plane or sitting in a train on a train journey. By watching these television shows you will cover topics ranging from history, cooking, property, general knowledge and comedy. Make notes of new words and look up the meanings of these words in a good dictionary then practice saying them out loud. All these are series use British English and will help increase your English knowledge, confidence and fluency.
