The Best TV Shows on BBC Television

Bleak House is the first BBC adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel of the same name. It was adapted by Constance Cox as an eleven-part series of half-hour episodes first transmitted from 16 October 1959. It stars Andrew Cruickshank in the role of John Jarndyce, Diana Fairfax as Esther Summerson and Colin Jeavons as Richard Carstone. The complete series still exists.

...Not very long ago, in the top left-hand corner of Wales, there was a railway. It wasn't a very long railway or a very important railway, but it was called The Merioneth and Llantisilly Rail Traction Company Limited, and it was all there was. And in a shed, in a siding at the end of the railway, lives the Locomotive of the Merioneth and Llantisilly Rail Traction Company Limited, which was a long name for a little engine so his friends just called him Ivor..." ...And that was how it began, back in 1959: one of Oliver Postgate's most loved creations, Ivor the Engine. It was a series about the Welsh adventures of a little green railway engine and his many friends. But Ivor wasn't an ordinary steam engine. He pretty much wished he was a person and ended up doing things like singing in a choir and swimming in the sea! One season of six, 10 minute, Black and White films was made for and screened by Associated-Red.

Sherlock Holmes was a 1951 television series produced by the BBC featuring Alan Wheatley as Sherlock Holmes and Raymond Francis as Dr. Watson. This was the first series of Sherlock Holmes stories adapted for television.

Robin Hood was produced in 1953 by the BBC, during which time these episodes were transmitted live and then re-acted the following Saturday or Sunday in order for a repeat to be shown. However, in some cases, television programmes were recorded onto 16mm film; the age and technology used in order to film titles such as Robin Hood mean that they no longer survive in their original quality, which means that transmission of these episodes by today's standards would be deemed as 'unacceptable'. However, short clips of this serial have aired as recently as 2007 as part of a documentary presented by Jonathan Ross, covering Robin Hood from its beginnings to the more recent BBC production, and shown as an example of television production in the BBC series of documentaries entitled Children's T.V. On Trial The 1950s. The show lasted only for one season, and starred Patrick Troughton as Robin Hood. Later was aired the TV series The Adventures of Robin Hood.

Playbox was a British children's television show that ran on BBC from 1955 to 1964. Presenters who appeared on it included Eamonn Andrews, Rolf Harris, Tony Hart, Cliff Michelmore and Johnny Morris

An anthology of single plays offering up adaptations of either of prominent stage plays or novels.

The adventures of The Doctor, a time-traveling humanoid alien known as a Time Lord. He explores the universe in his TARDIS, a sentient time-traveling spaceship. Its exterior appears as a blue British police box, which was a common sight in Britain in 1963 when the series first aired. Along with a succession of companions, The Doctor faces a variety of foes while working to save civilizations, help ordinary people, and right many wrongs.

The World's Greatest Classical Music Festival. The BBC Proms is a classical music festival held every summer at the Royal Albert Hall in London, and in recent years has explored an innovative series of Proms around the UK with concerts in all four nations. Its aim: to bring the best in classical music to the widest possible audience, which remains true to founder-conductor Henry Wood’s original vision in 1895. Whether you are a classical connoisseur or think classical music isn’t for you, there is something for everyone in the eight-week stretch of concerts.

A fun-packed and informative magazine show for younger viewers with information and reports from around the world.

The Eurovision Song Contest is an international song competition, organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and featuring participants representing primarily European countries. Each participating country submits an original song to be performed on live television and radio, transmitted to national broadcasters via the EBU's Eurovision and Euroradio networks, with competing countries then casting votes for the other countries' songs to determine the winner.

Live performances from much-loved music stars, alongside the BBC Concert Orchestra, at the BBC's Maida Vale Studios.

Anthology series telling suspenseful tales.

Ann and Harold is a very early BBC television programme, and ran for five episodes, all broadcast in 1938. It is known to be the world's first drama serial ever transmitted, and explained the trials of a couple named Ann and Harold respectively, and starred Ann Todd. Little else is known about this programme. No material exists of the show today, as it was aired live before any means of recording programmes existed. In fact, it is unknown if even any photographs survive of this programme.

The Sooty Show is a British children's Puppet series which aired on the BBC from 1955 to 1967 and ITV from 1968 to 1992. It follows the adventures and comedic day to day life of puppets Sooty, Sweep and Soo with their owner Harry Corbett, and in later years, his son Matthew.

Telecrime was a British drama series that aired on the BBC Television Service from 1938 to 1939 and in 1946. One of the first multi-episode drama series ever made, it is also one of the first television dramas written especially for television not adapted from theatre or radio. Having first aired for 5 episodes from 1938 to 1939, Telecrime returned in 1946, following the resumption of television after World War II, and aired as Telecrimes. A whodunit crime drama, Telecrime showed the viewer enough evidence to solve the crime themselves. Most episodes were written by Mileson Horton. All 17 episodes are lost. Aired live, their preservation was not technically possible at the time.

Crackerjack was a British children's comedy/variety BBC television series. It started on 14 September 1955 and ran for over 400 shows, first in black and white and later in colour, until 21 December 1984. It was revived in 2020 on CBBC.

In the not-too-distant future of 1970, a mysterious signal from space arrives with instructions to build a powerful super-computer. Once completed, the evice's motives provokes discourse between scientists John Fleming and Madeleine Dawnay as further instructions are to create a living organism, which Dawnay develops. The entity compels lab assistant Christine to commit suicide, and, upon manifestation, adopts her form, now known as Andromeda.

A BBC television series of forty-five-minute excerpts from stage plays running in London.

Based on the diaries of the naval adiminister Samuel Pepys, it portrays life at the court of Charles II during the 1660s.

BBC anthology drama series that ran over four seasons and replaced the previous BBC Sunday Night Theatre series.