I’ll go first…The Office.
Now I know the two shows are fundamentally quite different, but they adapted what was already a very successful show, and turned It into an event more successfully one that lasted for significantly longer than the original did. I say that’s a win for them.
Anything else? Life on Mars, Being Human, The Inbetweeners…?
There’s quite a good Wikipedia article on this.
Amongst all the quiz and reality shows, there are a few intriguing obscure nuggets:
- The Golden Girls is an adaptation of a UK TV series, The Brighton Belles.
- They’ve tried to adapt Fawlty Towers three times.
- Not the Nine O’ Clock News was adapted for the US.
- One Foot in the Grave became Cosby - presumably the British version didn’t have enough (ie any) rapists.
- They tried to adapt Spaced, IT Crowd and the Young Ones but they failed at the pilot stage. This is probably A Good Thing. Although I might see if I can dig out the pilots.
Cosby predates One Foot in the Grave - I remember watching Cosby as a kid in the 80s, and OFitG didn’t show up until the 90s. OFitG became (I think) Curb Your Enthusiam.