Talk:List of longest-running British television programmes

Inconsistent
The method of calculating the number of years a program has been active is inconsistent. Doctor Who was created in 1963 but was off air between 1989 and 2005; and despite the film, it was officially cancelled and never certain to return. Despite this, it is calculated as running for 53 years. Similarly, University Challenge which was created in 1962 was ended in 1987 and not brought back until 1994, but is calculated as running for 54 years.

Red Dwarf on the other hand was created in 1988, but is calculated as having run only for 18 years due to a gap between 1999 and 2009. It is worth pointing out also that Red Dwarf has never been cancelled and was only ever on hiatus, the cast and crew (Rob Grant excepted) have never said they were finished with it. By the standards of Doctor Who and University Challenge, Red Dwarf should be listed as having run for 28 years. 86.187.160.149 (talk) 16:59, 2 September 2016 (UTC)

Soap Opera
Why are there two soap opera entries? Pobol Y Cwm is not only younger than Corrie, but also than Emmerdale. Rojomoke (talk) 11:20, 9 August 2010 (UTC)

Removed it Rojomoke (talk) 15:07, 12 August 2010 (UTC)
 * I was looking for something like that there is for US series, meaning the longest running series listed from longest to shortest. Not only genres longest running. Why could not this be like that? 82.141.95.131 (talk) 23:12, 4 January 2011 (UTC)

Unclear as to the meaning of this chart
example: Dr. Who: 1963–1989, 1996, 2005–present --> 50?

Obviously that doesn't add up to a 50-year run if the gaps are taken into account. The last column simply means how many years ago the first episode ran, and not how many years the series was actually running? So any show that had been canceled in 1963 and revived for the first and only time in 2013 would say 50 (or 51), right? Seems a tad odd, at least to me. 70.161.102.212 (talk) 16:58, 9 May 2014 (UTC)
 * I agree. I came here to look for anyone discussing this.  I would say not excluding gaps was likely an oversight,  If not, it is clearly misleading and should be changed to exclude the gaps.  My main concern is that the length in years is hard coded.  So they'll have to manually incremented each year.  I'm not sure how to do automate this.  Maybe using a combination of the  Age in years and Addition templates will do it assuming this works in a table.  I'll wait to see if there are any further comments about this subject before trying anything.Wantnot (talk) 07:14, 11 June 2014 (UTC)

Move discussion in progress
There is a move discussion in progress on Talk:List of longest bridges above water in India which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you. —RMCD bot 10:15, 22 April 2015 (UTC)

Pobol y Cwm
Pobol y Cwm has been running longer than Eastenders. It is one of the longest running progs on British TV, perhaps the longest running Welsh program.

How 2
Why does How 2 say: "Longest Running animated show, and first animated primetime show to reach 800 episodes." in source mode? As it isn't an animated show, it's an educational show with real people not cartoons. And why is it invisible on the article itself, and in visual mode?

Danstarr69 (talk) 02:25, 25 April 2018 (UTC)
 * The formatting hides it, so I would hazard a guess that it got accidentally moved from somewhere else in the list at some point. Doesn't apply to that row, have a source or appear on the live page, though, so I've deleted it. Yunshui 雲 水 12:57, 25 April 2018 (UTC)

Actual length
Concerns remain over the fact that, for example, Doctor Who is listed as running for 57 years. No it has not. It ran for 26 years and then was off the air for 16 years and has been running in its revival for 15. So that means it has run for 41 years and should be moved down the list. There are several others in this list where it is clear that they were also off the air for a time such as Red Dwarf, which actually includes the numbering of its seasons in its title, and is only at either 12 or 13 seasons, due to being off the air for a decade and having lengthy intervals between seasons. 70.73.90.119 (talk) 22:54, 9 December 2020 (UTC)


 * As this 2020 request has not been followed (Dr Who is currently showing as 59/60) I am adjusting the number for After Dark using that basis for determining the length. AnOpenMedium (talk) 13:37, 16 June 2023 (UTC)

later with jools?
later with jools? 2A02:C7F:860C:FC00:874:6DED:83D1:E85 (talk) 22:34, 19 February 2021 (UTC)

Requested move 18 March 2021

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion. 

The result of the move request was: moved. New titles are in conformance with WP:NCTVUS and WP:NCTVUK. (closed by non-admin page mover) – Lord Bolingbroke (talk) 15:40, 25 March 2021 (UTC)

– Per the change of naming conventions from "UK TV series" and "U.S. TV series" to "British TV series" and "American TV series", these article titles should be changed accordingly. It would also be consistent with other lists, including List of longest-running Australian television series and List of longest-running Indian television series. – DarkGlow (contribs • talk) 13:42, 18 March 2021 (UTC)
 * List of longest-running UK television programmes → List of longest-running British television programmes
 * List of longest-running United States television series → List of longest-running American television series
 * List of longest-running U.S. cable television series → List of longest-running American cable television series
 * List of longest-running U.S. primetime television series → List of longest-running American primetime television series
 * List of longest-running U.S. first-run syndicated television series → List of longest-running American first-run syndicated television series
 * List of longest-running U.S. broadcast network television series → List of longest-running American broadcast network television series

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
 * Support per consistency of article titles 😊😊 DaniloDaysOfOurLives (talk) 16:31, 18 March 2021 (UTC)
 * Support. — HTGS (talk) 02:00, 20 March 2021 (UTC)

Midsomer Murders is missing from list
Should be here 60.242.106.202 (talk) 22:28, 23 May 2023 (UTC)

Royal Institution Christmas Lectures is missing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Institution_Christmas_Lectures — Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.183.5.137 (talk) 09:49, 17 August 2023 (UTC)