Can You Identify These British TV Shows from the First Frame?

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Last Updated on August 15, 2021 by Stefanie Hutson

Every now and then, we like a good game. That's why we created the British TV Variety Puzzle book (GET IT: Our Shop | Amazon). Today, we thought it would be fun to see how easy it is to identify popular British TV shows from the very first frame of their first episodes.

Some shows do begin with the opening credits rather than an intro scene – and in those cases, we skip ahead to the first actual scene of the episode.

Below, we've grabbed the opening shot for 26 popular British TV shows – and at the end, we include the answers and details on where you can stream each of them. If that sounds like fun, grab a pen and paper and let's see how you do! Some are surprisingly difficult.

1 | An older woman rides her bicycle through an idyllic village

 

2 | The rocky English coastline…

rocky english coastline

 

3 | A quiet country churchyard…

 

4 | A man behind a hotel desk answers the phone

 

5 | An old car drives through the pouring rain

 

6 | The sun shines through a field

 

7 | An isolated landscape at night

 

8 | An ambulance is loaded

 

9 | The camera pans up along a skyscraper

 

10 | A quiet city street at night…

 

11 | We see a young woman on the viewfinder of a camera

 

12 | An urban industrial scene from days gone by

 

13 | Close view of a fern…

 

14 | A telegraph transmission key/knob

 

15 | The dark ocean…

Since that shot of the ocean gives you almost nothing to go on, we'll give you one more hint – the second shot, a town scene.

 

16 | Dramatic mountain scenery

 

17 | Plants sway in the foreground, rocky cliffs peek out of the background

 

18 | A bathroom, seen through the crack of a door

 

19 | We see the night sky and a quarter moon

 

20 | A horse races across a field…

 

21 | A man enters a restaurant

 

22 | A vicar exits the churchyard

 

23 | The camera pans over a young woman's face

 

24 | A sunny coastal scene…

 

25 | A young woman sits on a mostly empty bus

 

26 | A lovely country home…

 

And Now, the Answers…

Ready to tally up your score? Here are the answers – along with the current streaming details for each show.

1 | Midsomer Murders – Acorn TV (all seasons), 

2 | Doc Martin – Acorn TV

3 | Vicar of Dibley – BritBox

4 | Fawlty Towers – BritBox

5 | Endeavour – PBS Masterpiece

6 | Detectorists – Acorn TV, Tubi, Filmrise, Roku Channel

7 | Shetland – BritBox

8 | Keeping Up Appearances – BritBox

9 | The IT Crowd – Netflix

10 | Mr. Bean – BritBox

11 | CB Strike – HBO Max

12 | Call the Midwife – Netflix

13 | Poldark – PBS Masterpiece

14 | Downton Abbey – BritBox, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Peacock

15 | Broadchurch – Netflix

16 | Outlander – Starz

17 | Foyle's War – Acorn TV

18 | The Crown – Netflix

19 | Doctor Who (New) – HBO Max

20 | Pride & Prejudice (1995) – BritBox

21 | As Time Goes By – BritBox

22 | To the Manor Born – BritBox

23 | Father Brown – BritBox

24 | Death in Paradise – BritBox

25 | Vera – Episodes are divided up over Acorn TV and BritBox

26 | Monarch of the Glen – IMDb TV

 

How did you do? Some were incredibly tough, so don't feel bad if you didn't score 26/26. I'm not sure any of us here would have, and we watch British TV for a living! 

 

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Guess the British TV Show by its Opening Scene

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