Skip to main content
Tech Radar TechRadar the technology experts
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
RSS
Asia
flag of Singapore
Singapore
Europe
flag of Danmark
Danmark
flag of Suomi
Suomi
flag of Norge
Norge
flag of Sverige
Sverige
flag of UK
UK
flag of Italia
Italia
flag of Nederland
Nederland
flag of België (Nederlands)
België (Nederlands)
flag of France
France
flag of Deutschland
Deutschland
flag of España
España
North America
flag of US (English)
US (English)
flag of Canada
Canada
flag of México
México
Australasia
flag of Australia
Australia
flag of New Zealand
New Zealand
  • Phones
  • Computing
  • TVs
  • AI
  • Streaming
  • Health
  • Audio
  • VPN
  • More
    • Cameras
    • Home
    • News
    • Reviews
    • Opinion
    • How to
    • Versus
    • Deals
    • Coupons
    • Best
Tech Radar Pro
Tech Radar Gaming
Trending
  • Amazon Prime Day
  • Back to school
  • Nintendo Switch 2
  • Best VPN
  • ChatGPT
  • NYT Wordle today
  • Best laptop
  • Best web hosting
Recommended reading
Mark and Jeremy in Peep Show
Amazon Prime Video The best TV show on Prime Video? I can’t stop coming back to this comfortingly cringey comedy series from the 2000s
An animated robot smiles
Netflix Best Netflix shows: 58 great TV series to watch in May 2025
Phineas and Ferb holding a blue platypus, Perry
Disney Plus Phineas and Ferb returns after 10 years – here are 3 more nostalgic comedies to stream with over 75% on Rotten Tomatoes
Ellie and Joel holding rifles as they walk through a forest in The Last of Us season 2 episode 6
HBO Max The best Max shows: 39 great series to stream in June 2025
Logo Youtube su smartphone
Social Media 20 years of YouTube - here are 20 of our all-time favorite memes and moments
A group of women dressed smartly wearing dresses and hats
Paramount Plus The best Paramount+ shows: 26 terrific series to stream in June 2025
Stranger Things 3
Netflix I watch TV for a living and these are my top 3 Netflix shows that you should watch now
  1. Streaming
  2. Entertainment

The best and worst BBC Three shows in the channel's history

News
By Dave James published 16 February 2016

The classics, and the ones that are memorable for other reasons...

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

The best shows in BBC Three's history

The best shows in BBC Three's history

Early this morning, long after most of us were in bed and way before any sensible human being got out of it, the BBC flicked the switch and BBC Three went dark, never to see the broadcast light of day again.

From now on BBC Three will be a revised online-only offering, still focused on delivering content aimed at a younger demographic than its other channels, and with a few new features.

  • BBC Three going online-only is a risk BBC needed to take.

It's going to produce more lightweight, short-form content for its 16-34 age-range, aiming at an audience used to consuming its media online. That does mean it's going directly up against heavyweights like Facebook, YouTube and Snapchat on the snack-video front.

But over its 13-year existence BBC Three has generated quite an impressive heritage of successful programming, and it remains committed to keep on creating quality long-form content too. From classics like Being Human to The Mighty Boosh to Little Britain, BBC Three gave air to great shows that wouldn't have gotten broadcast time anywhere else.

Here are some of our favourite BBC Three shows. Which are yours?

Page 1 of 12
Page 1 of 12
Gavin and Stacey

Gavin and Stacey

The genuinely sweet comic romance-across-the-borders was one of BBC Three's biggest ever shows. The tale of Essex boy, Gavin, and valleys girl, Stacey, was only part of its charm, with both sides of the friends and family divide weighing in with the laughs. Created by Late Late Show host, James Corden and the excellent Ruth Jones, Gavin and Stacey may only have lasted 20 episodes, but they will go down as some of the channel's finest.

Page 2 of 12
Page 2 of 12
Being Human

Being Human

This supernatural drama centred around a spooky flat-share in Bristol between Lenora Crichlow's reluctant ghost, Aidan Turner's vampire and Russell Tovey's werewolf. At times darkly comic and at others just plain dark, Being Human has been one of BBC Three's most successful dramas, even getting a US retelling.

Page 3 of 12
Page 3 of 12
Him and Her

Him and Her

Russell Tovey returns again as the titular him to Sarah Solemani's her in this gentle, realistic warts-and-all comedy. It's as unromantic as a couple's comedy can get, detailing all the mundanity of a comfortable, loving relationship between two people in their early 20's and all the more groundbreaking because of it.

Page 4 of 12
Page 4 of 12
In the Flesh

In the Flesh

BBC Three created its fair share of supernatural dramas, between Being Human, The Fades and In The Flesh. In a switch on the traditional Living/Walking Dead zombie apocalypse trope In The Flesh is set after the zombie outbreak has been contained and a 'cure' found. It centres around partially dead Keiran returning to his small Lancashire home town after his rehabilitation is complete.

Page 5 of 12
Page 5 of 12
Little Britain

Little Britain

Another of BBC Three's mighty comic exports. The Walliams and Lucas run show is a catchphrase-spawning sketch comedy like few others; more League of Gentlemen than Fast Show, but no less quickfire. It lost some of its creativity when it moved to BBC One, but that always-outstanding Tom Baker narration is an ever-present joy.

Page 6 of 12
Page 6 of 12
The Mighty Boosh

The Mighty Boosh

There was pretty much no way The Mighty Boosh could have found itself anywhere else other than on BBC Three. The unashamedly weird, surreal world created by Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding found its feet on the radio, but found a huge cult following when it made the transition to the television. Too weird to live, and too rare to die.

Page 7 of 12
Page 7 of 12
Don't Tell the Bride

Don't Tell the Bride

This is car-crash TV at its most romantic, where somehow the car-crash is always avoided at the last minute. And no one dies. The simple premise is that the groom is given a set amount of cash and four weeks to plan his wedding, completely without the involvement of the bride, but with a fair amount of involvement from the producers to make sure there is always the potential for disaster. Guilty pleasure indeed, but the BBC Three episodes were the most compulsive.

Page 8 of 12
Page 8 of 12
Nighty Night

Nighty Night

Another comedy that would likely never have found a home were it not for BBC Three, and without Nighty Night we might not have creator Julia Davis going on to create the brilliant Hunderby. It's a darkly comic sitcom starring Davis as the sociopathic Jill Tyrell, a beautician with a terminally ill husband and a thick murderous streak...

Page 9 of 12
Page 9 of 12
Our War

Our War

BBC Three wasn't all about kooky comedies and car-crash TV (though sometimes it literally was with Barely Legal Drivers…), it also created its fair share of documentaries, from Reggie Yates' insightful look at South Africa to Stacey Dooley's wide-eyed investigations. Our War was one of its most bold, poignant, sometimes harrowing documentaries. Much of the footage from the programme made around the 10th anniversary of the war in Afghanistan was shot by the soldiers themselves, making it even more personal.

Page 10 of 12
Page 10 of 12
Monkey Dust

Monkey Dust

This animated sketch show was one of from the early days of BBC Three, and was one of the darkest, most subversive animations on British TV. Each episode featured animations from different companies, but all with the writing of the woefully-shortlived Harry Thompson and Shaun Pye. Some of it makes for uncomfortable viewing, in a similar way to Chris Morris' Jam on Channel 4.

Page 11 of 12
Page 11 of 12
And the worst...

And the worst...

BBC Three may have given us some comedy classics and insightful documentaries but it also delivered its share of utter dross too. The prime candidate has to be the awful Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps, a show which became utterly synonymous with the channel's worst lowest-common-denominator offerings.

But who could forget the frightening glimpse into the depths of blinkered vanity with Snog, Marry, Avoid or hardman Danny Dyer's I Believe in UFOs. Then there was My Life as an Animal where Z-list 'celebrities' lived four days as a particular animal, which sounds either like something from Time Trumpet or a show idea straight from Alan Partridge's dictaphone.

And, of course, there was F*** Off! I'm A Hairy Woman!

  • The best TV shows you can stream right now.
Page 12 of 12
Page 12 of 12
Dave James
Read more
Mark and Jeremy in Peep Show
The best TV show on Prime Video? I can’t stop coming back to this comfortingly cringey comedy series from the 2000s
An animated robot smiles
Best Netflix shows: 58 great TV series to watch in May 2025
Phineas and Ferb holding a blue platypus, Perry
Phineas and Ferb returns after 10 years – here are 3 more nostalgic comedies to stream with over 75% on Rotten Tomatoes
Ellie and Joel holding rifles as they walk through a forest in The Last of Us season 2 episode 6
The best Max shows: 39 great series to stream in June 2025
Logo Youtube su smartphone
20 years of YouTube - here are 20 of our all-time favorite memes and moments
A group of women dressed smartly wearing dresses and hats
The best Paramount+ shows: 26 terrific series to stream in June 2025
Latest in Entertainment
Lego R2-D2 Prime Day Deal
The force is strong with Prime Day: this R2-D2 Lego set just crashed to its lowest price ever
Amanda Anisimova of the United States celebrates her victory with her nephew Jackson after her victory against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the Quarter-Finals of the Ladies' Singles Competition
How to watch Wimbledon women's final on BBC iPlayer (it's FREE) today
Owen Farrell in training for British & Irish Lions.
AUNZ Invitational vs Lions FREE streams: How to watch British & Irish Lions tour live online from anywhere
Three members of staff wave towards a red helicopter in Billion Dollar Playground
How to watch Billion Dollar Playground season 1 for free online from anywhere
Jofra Archer in practice for England cricket.
How to watch England vs India 3rd Test: Live stream cricket online – scores level on 387 after both first innings
The Amazing Race Canada presenter standing in front of the season 11 cast in an American Football stadium.
How to watch The Amazing Race Canada season 11 online FREE from anywhere
Latest in News
Google Pixel 9 in green Wintergreen color showing AI features on screen
A fresh leak means we may have pricing details for the Google Pixel 10
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra camera
The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra is rumored to be be getting a major camera upgrade
The Oakley Meta HSTN smart glasses being used by a basketball player
You can finally preorder the Oakley Meta smart glasses, but there's a catch
Squid Game's masked enforcers line up in a V formation
Squid Game: The Challenge season 3 is a win for Netflix, but one unhinged game from the K-drama can’t be replicated
ICYMI graphic
ICYMI: the 8 biggest tech stories of the week, from Prime Day deals to Samsung's shiny new foldables
Intel Core Ultra processor
Intel CEO reportedly admits 'it is too late for us' to catch AI leaders like Nvidia, but here's how it could still recover
LATEST ARTICLES
  1. 1
    What a claim! This KVM docking station switch can handle two 8K monitors - yes, you heard it right, that's 66 million pixels (or 32 Full HD displays)
  2. 2
    Want a quad-socket server with 768 cores? Sure, Intel's 192-core Diamond Rapids Xeon CPU will deliver that in 2026 — but I wonder whether it will be too little, too late
  3. 3
    Good news, movie fans! Sony's gone deals-crazy with its soundbars, and I'd rate these 5 as the best affordable home theater upgrades
  4. 4
    7 Amazon-beating appliance deals at Walmart and Best Buy knock up to $200 off air fryers, coffee makers, and more
  5. 5
    Apple deals still running! These 15 huge deals on AirPods, Apple Watch, MacBooks and more didn't end with Prime Day – don't miss out!

TechRadar is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Contact Us
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Web notifications
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...