The Best TV Shows on BBC Three

Every BBC Three Show Ranked From Best To Worst

Leading the pack on BBC Three are Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps and Little Britain, with their initial broadcasts in 2001 and 2003. From 2001 through to 2024, BBC Three has accumulated a diverse collection of over 20 television shows. As of June 2025, our compilation of BBC Three’s top-rated series boasts over 20 unique shows.

  • Doctor Who Confidential
    Doctor Who Confidential (2005)8.1

    Doctor Who Confidential is a documentary series created by the British Broadcasting Corporation to complement the revival of the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Each episode was broadcast on BBC Three on Saturdays, immediately after the broadcast of the weekly television episode on BBC One. The running time of the first two series was 30 minutes, being extended to 45 minutes in the third. BBC Three also broadcast a cut-down edition of the programme, lasting 15 minutes, shown after the repeats on Sundays and Fridays and after the weekday evening repeats of earlier seasons. Described as focusing on the human element of the series, Confidential features behind-the-scenes footage on the making of Doctor Who through clips and interviews with the cast, production crew and other people, including those who have participated in the television series over the years of its existence. Each episode deals with a different topic, and in most cases refers to the Doctor Who episode that preceded it. There have also been two episodes of Doctor Who Confidential broadcast apart from the showing of Doctor Who episodes: in November 2006 an edition subtitled "Music and Monsters" was produced going behind the scenes of a televised concert of soundtrack music produced as part of that year's Children in Need appeal, and on 3 January 2009, a special edition was broadcast to announce the actor chosen to play the Eleventh Doctor.

  • Ideal
    Ideal (2005)8.0

    Sitcom about a small-time dope dealer and his strange collection of acquaintances.

  • Merlin: Secrets and Magic
    Merlin: Secrets and Magic (2009)8.0

  • The Mighty Boosh
    The Mighty Boosh (2004)7.6

    A British comic fantasy containing humour and pop-culture references. Episodes often featured elaborate musical numbers in different genres, such as electro, heavy metal, funk, and rap. The show has been known for popularising a style called "crimping"; short acappella songs which are present throughout all three series.

  • Gavin & Stacey
    Gavin & Stacey (2007)7.5

    Gavin is an ordinary boy from Billericay, Essex. Stacey is an ordinary girl from Barry Island, South Wales. They’ve spoken on the phone every day at work for months but they’ve never actually met… until now.

  • Torchwood
    Torchwood (2006)7.3

    The exploits of a team of people whose job is to investigate the unusual, the strange and the extraterrestrial.

  • A Good Girl's Guide to Murder
    A Good Girl's Guide to Murder (2024)7.3

    Five years after the death of schoolgirl Andie Bell, Pippa Fitz-Amobi sets out to uncover what really happened to her. Sal Singh, Andie's boyfriend, admitted to the murder before taking his own life, but Pip doesn't believe he's responsible and teams up with Sal's brother Ravi to uncover the truth. If Sal Singh isn't a murderer and the real killer is still out there, how far will they go to keep Pip from finding out the truth?

  • Little Britain
    Little Britain (2003)7.2

    A zany comedy show with Matt Lucas and David Walliams, featuring characters from all over Little Britain.

  • RuPaul's Drag Race UK
    RuPaul's Drag Race UK (2019)7.2

    RuPaul has made the trip across the pond in search of a queen with the most charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent in all the land.

  • Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive
    Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive (2006)7.1

    Comedy series in which Rob Brydon plays himself as the host of a low-rent panel show

  • Don't Tell the Bride
    Don't Tell the Bride (2007)7.0

    "Don't Tell the Bride" is a British reality television series in which couples are given money to fund their wedding ceremony. However, every detail of the event must be organized by the groom, who has no contact with the bride during the planning process.

  • Russell Howard's Good News
    Russell Howard's Good News (2009)7.0

    Russell Howard offers his unique perspective on the big stories dominating all of our news outlets, from online and print to broadcast, as well as picking up on those sometimes overlooked things. He uses clips, sketches and studio guests to look at things that have made him smile during the week.

  • Being Human
    Being Human (2009)7.0

    Deciding to turn over a new leaf, a group of friends who also happen to be vampires and werewolves move into a house together, only to find that it is haunted by ghosts of people who have been killed under mysterious circumstances. As they deal with the challenges of being supernatural creatures, their desire to be human bonds them.

  • Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps
    Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps (2001)6.8

    Sitcom about the lives and loves of five twenty-somethings in Runcorn.

  • Cuckoo
    Cuckoo (2012)6.8

    Cuckoo is every parent's worst nightmare - a slacker full of outlandish, New Age ideas. Ken is the over-protective father of a girl who's impulsively married an American hippie on her gap year.

  • White Van Man
    White Van Man (2011)6.6

    The incredible misadventures of two handymen on the road and the extraordinary people they meet along the way.

  • Doctor Who: Unleashed
    Doctor Who: Unleashed (2024)6.6

    Following the same format of Doctor Who: Confidential, Steffan Powell takes audiences behind the scenes of each episode of BBC's Doctor Who.

  • The Apprentice: You're Fired!
    The Apprentice: You're Fired! (2006)5.0

    The Apprentice: You're Fired!, sometimes named You're Fired!, The Apprentice: You're Hired! or You're Hired!, is a British television show made by the BBC and filmed at Riverside Studios as a spin-off from the reality TV hit The Apprentice. It was hosted by Adrian Chiles from 2006 to 2009, and Dara Ó Briain took over as host in 2010 after Chiles' move to ITV. The programme airs in a 30 minute slot after each episode of The Apprentice finishes. It was originally shown on BBC Three, but moved to BBC Two in 2007. Its format is similar to that of Big Brother's Little Brother and Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two. The final episode of each series is renamed "The Apprentice: You're Hired!" and involves interviews with the winner, the runner-up and Lord Sugar himself, and a reunion with all of the former candidates.

  • Bizarre ER
    Bizarre ER (2008)N/A

    Series about eye-watering cases which come through the doors of British A&E departments.

  • The Women's Football Show
    The Women's Football Show (2013)N/A

    The big names and the big games from the Women’s Super League, with highlights and analysis of all the action.