If there’s one thing the British are good at, it’s watching telly. You may think the Americans would beat us at that, but we’ve taken watching telly and turned it into an art form. Like most people, our favourite TV subject is ourselves, which has led to a number of shows aiming to be as British as possible. So if you want to learn how to be British, you could do worse that sit down to a few episodes of these distinctly British shows.

　　说到英国人的长项，看电视一定高居榜首。你可能不服，觉得美国人更懂看电视，但我们可是把看电视打造成了艺术。和大多数观众一样，我们最爱的电视主题都与我们自身相关，因此相当一部分节目都把自己打造出百分百纯英伦的味道。要是你想学出一身英伦范，坐下来看看几集纯英剧真是极好的!

　　DOCTOR WHO

　　《神秘博士》

　　Nothing says ‘British’ like an alien which can turn into any creature in the universe instead of dying and yet inexplicably decides to return as a white Englishman (or, less commonly, Scotsman). Political commentary aside, Doctor Who owes its long television life not only to a brilliant central character, terrifying alien foes and intelligent scriptwriting, but also to a distinctly British way of doing things. If the Earth is the Doctor’s favourite planet, it’s clear that Britain is his favourite country.

　　这部剧对主角“英国人”的设定可谓史无前例：长生不老，能幻化成宇宙万物的外星人每次重生都莫名其妙地变回英国白人(或更为少见的苏格兰人)。抛开政论，《神秘博士》经久不衰不仅因为有超凡的主角、恐怖的外星敌人和聪明的编剧，其中典型的英国行为方式更是画龙点睛之笔。如果说地球是博士最爱的星球，那英国一定是他最爱的国家。