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The Best TV Shows on BBC One

Every BBC One Show Ranked From Best To Worst

Stay up-to-date with over 20 of BBC One’s elite series, with our list refreshed for April 2025. Opportunity Knocks and Points of View represent the pinnacle of BBC One’s programming, launching in 1956 and 1961. BBC One’s extensive portfolio includes more than 20 shows, spanning the years from 1956 to 2013.

  • The Generation Game
    The Generation Game (1971)9.0

    The Generation Game was a British game show produced by the BBC in which four teams of two competed to win prizes. The programme was first broadcast in 1971 under the title Bruce Forsyth and the Generation Game and ran until 1982, and again from 1990 until 2002. The show was based on the Dutch TV show Een van de acht, "One of the Eight", the format devised in 1969 by Theo Uittenbogaard for VARA Television. Mrs. Mies Bouwman - a popular Dutch talk show host and presenter of the show - came up with the idea of the conveyor belt. She had seen it on a German programme and wanted to incorporate it into the show. Another antecedent for the gameshow was 'Sunday Night at the London Palladium' on ATV, which had a game called Beat the Clock, taken from an American gameshow. It featured married couples playing silly games within a certain time to win prize money. This was hosted by Bruce Forsyth from 1958, and he took the idea with him when he went over to the BBC. During the 1970s, gameshows became more popular and started to replace expensive variety shows. Creating new studio shows was cheaper than hiring a theatre and paying for long rehearsals and a large orchestra, and could secure a similar number of viewers. With less money for their own productions, a gameshow seemed the obvious idea for ITV. As a result many variety performers were recruited for gameshows. The BBC, suffering poor ratings, decided to make its own gameshow. Bill Cotton, the BBC's Head of Light Entertainment, believed that Bruce Forsyth was best for the job. For years, The Generation Game was one of the strong shows in the BBC's Saturday night line-up, and became the number one gameshow on British television during the 1970s, regularly gaining over 21 million viewers. However, things were about to change. LWT, desperate to end the BBC's long-running ratings success on a Saturday night, offered Forsyth a chance to change channel to host The Big Night.

  • Peaky Blinders
    Peaky Blinders (2013)8.5

    A gangster family epic set in 1919 Birmingham, England and centered on a gang who sew razor blades in the peaks of their caps, and their fierce boss Tommy Shelby, who means to move up in the world.

  • Doctor Who
    Doctor Who (2005)7.5

    The Doctor is a Time Lord: a 900 year old alien with 2 hearts, part of a gifted civilization who mastered time travel. The Doctor saves planets for a living—more of a hobby actually, and the Doctor's very, very good at it.

  • Death in Paradise
    Death in Paradise (2011)7.5

    A brilliant but idiosyncratic British detective and his resourceful local team solve baffling murder mysteries on the fictional Caribbean island of Saint-Marie.

  • Match of the Day
    Match of the Day (1964)7.4

    BBC's football highlights and analysis. "The longest-running football television programme in the world" as recognised by Guinness World Records in 2015.

  • The Graham Norton Show
    The Graham Norton Show (2007)7.2

    Each week celebrity guests join Irish comedian Graham Norton to discuss what's being going on around the world that week. The guests poke fun and share their opinions on the main news stories. Graham is often joined by a band or artist to play the show out.

  • Last of the Summer Wine
    Last of the Summer Wine (1973)7.1

    Unencumbered by wives, jobs or any other responsibilities, three senior citizens who've never really grown up explore their world in the Yorkshire Dales. They spend their days speculating about their fellow townsfolk and thinking up adventures not usually favored by the elderly. Last of the Summer Wine premiered as an episode of Comedy Playhouse in 1973. The show ran for 295 episodes until 2010. It is the longest running comedy Britain has produced and the longest running sitcom in the world.

  • Have I Got News for You
    Have I Got News for You (1990)7.1

    Hilarious, totally-irreverent, near-slanderous political quiz show, based mainly on news stories from the last week or so, that leaves no party, personality or action unscathed in pursuit of laughs.

  • Have I Got a Bit More News for You
    Have I Got a Bit More News for You (N/A)7.0

    Based on the week’s news and fronted by guest hosts, this extended version of the satirical news quiz features more of the stuff that wouldn't fit into the regular programme.

  • Match of the Day 2
    Match of the Day 2 (2004)6.9

    A light-hearted look at the United Kingdom's Premier League action, rounding-up the weekend's football action.

  • Top of the Pops
    Top of the Pops (1964)6.6

    The biggest stars, the most iconic performances, the most outrageous outfits – it’s Britain’s number one pop show.

  • Escape to the Country
    Escape to the Country (2002)5.1

    The property show that helps prospective buyers find their dream home in the country.

  • Celebrity Big Brother
    Celebrity Big Brother (2001)4.9

    Celebrity Big Brother is a British reality television game show in which a number of celebrity contestants live in an isolated house trying to avoid being evicted by the public with the aim of winning a large cash prize being donated to the winner's nominated charity at the end of the run.

  • Doctors
    Doctors (2000)4.8

    Set in the fictional Midlands town of Letherbridge, defined as being close to the city of Birmingham, this soap opera follows the staff and families of a doctor's surgery.

  • The One Show
    The One Show (2006)4.6

    A topical magazine-style daily television programme broadcast live on BBC One.

  • Wogan
    Wogan (1982)4.5

    Chat show hosted by Terry Wogan, featuring live studio interviews with famous and notable personalities.

  • Daytime Live
    Daytime Live (1987)3.5

  • Opportunity Knocks
    Opportunity Knocks (1956)N/A

    A radio, and later television, talent show originally hosted by Hughie Green, with a late-1980s revival hosted by Bob Monkhouse, and later by previous winner Les Dawson.

  • Points of View
    Points of View (1961)N/A

    Points of View is a long-running British television series broadcast on BBC One. It started in 1961 and features the letters of viewers offering praise, criticism and purportedly witty observations on the television of recent weeks.

  • That's Life!
    That's Life! (1973)N/A

    A magazine-style television series on BBC1 which was broadcast from May 1973 to June 1994, presented by Esther Rantzen, with various changes of co-presenters. The show presented hard-hitting investigations alongside satire and occasional light entertainment.