"I've always wanted to visit the UK. This might sound absurd to you, considering I'm from California home of sunshine, half-naked bodies and the studio where they film Jeopardy. What could possibly pull me to the cold, damp, gray shores of England? The oppressively brown food? The dodgy colonialist history? Tesco? No, it was the glowing box that vibrated with whatever passed for culture in my small town: television."
"British television, especially the comedies, assumed a certain futility to life. It probably won't get better. In fact, it might get worse. Often. This is a tradition that carried over to other classic sitcoms such as I'm Alan Partridge and The Office, which I discovered in college. If it's a small-town crime drama or a half-hour comedy, British TV is usually going to express something close to misery by the time the credits roll."
"My obsession with all things British (even the food) carried on into adulthood, but despite that abiding interest, I had never visited the UK until this year. I seemed to have picked the worst year imaginable. Or maybe the best. The country is in the midst of a political upheaval. Nigel Farage's far-right Reform party is on the march, commanding the polls."
A California native developed a long-standing fascination with British television, ranging from Masterpiece Theatre to broad comedies like Are You Being Served? and Keeping Up Appearances. Accents and double entendres sometimes obscured jokes, yet the programs conveyed history, class tensions, and a darkly comic worldview. British comedies often assume life's futility and conclude with pessimism or misery, a contrast to American optimism that felt like a corrective. The fascination endured into adulthood and motivated a first trip to the UK during a period of political upheaval marked by Nigel Farage's far-right Reform party gaining momentum in the polls.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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