The BEST Sky1 shows of all time
Every Sky1 show, ranked
We've compiled the average episode rating for every Sky1 show to compile this list of best shows!
#1 - Kingdom of Plants 3D
Entering the strangely slow world of plant time, Attenborough explores how plants cleverly adapt to the changing seasons, including the explosive drama of seed dispersal and the bursts of colour as they bloom. 'One of the most wonderful things about filming plants is that you can reveal hidden aspects of their lives,' said David Attenborough. 'You can capture the moment as one plant strangles another, and as they burst into flower. But whilst time-lapse photography allows you to see things that no human being has ever seen before, the added element of 3D takes the audience even further still.'
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#2 - Ross Kemp: Extreme World
Ross Kemp travels to Mexico, Congo, Chicago, Haiti and even the UK. In each episode, Ross confronts criminals responsible for drug dealing, human trafficking, murder and rape. He also sees the human cost of these crimes and meets those who risk their lives in the pursuit of justice.
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#3 - Delicious
Gina was once married to Leo Vincent, a successful entrepreneur, chef and hotel owner in Cornwall. Leo owes much of his success to Gina’s exceptional cooking, but since leaving her for the glamorous Sam, his business has continued to thrive. When Sam has suspicions that Leo is having an affair she confides in Gina, confident that she’ll recognise the signs. Only to later discover that it’s Gina herself who is the ‘other woman’. The secrets and scandals that spill out are proof that sleeping with another woman’s husband is never a good idea - even if he was your husband first. As Sam and Gina try to fix their broken families, will a friendship rise from the ashes of betrayal or will they tear each other apart?
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#4 - Ross Kemp On Gangs
'Ross Kemp on Gangs' sees former star of BBCs Eastenders and journalist Ross Kemp travelling the world and meeting with some of the most dangerous people in the world. Thanks to the determination and dedication of the team that made this series, it was rightly awarded a BAFTA in 2007 for 'Best Factual Series'.
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#5 - Terry Pratchett's Hogfather
As Hogswatch, the Discworld equivalent of Christmas, approaches, an unlikely group of figures must band together to, not only save the Hogfather, but to save the world as well. Join Death, his assistant Albert, Death's grand-daughter Susan, the staff of Unseen University and a magical computer on a fascinating and magical ride through the Discworld.
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#6 - Long Way Round
Setting off from London, Ewan and Charley travel through some of the most beautiful, but often dangerous, terrain the world has to offer. Crossing over into mainland Europe, they travel through France, Belgium, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Siberia, Alaska, Canada and three months later arrive at their final destination, New York City USA!
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#7 - Micro Monsters with David Attenborough
It s a small world after all. In this revolutionary new series, David Attenborough reveals the marvellous adaptability of the most successful group of animals on the planet. Using pioneering macroscopic filmmaking techniques, he explores in unparalleled detail the intricate, sophisticated behaviours of these fascinating creatures and the complexity of the environments they build and inhabit, in a world normally hidden from the human eye. From armies of killer ants to spiders weaving silken trap doors, ferocious scorpions with paralysing stings, beetles shooting boiling chemicals at their enemies, bees communicating with a waggle dance and assassin bugs that clothe themselves in their victims corpses; David Attenborough will as never before take viewers deep into the macroscopic world of bugs.
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#8 - Living the Dream (2017)
Mal’s bought an RV Park with plans for a booming family-run business, but it soon turns out that they are not going to be living the dream they hoped. Before they’ve even settled in, Mal discovers that the park is home to a group of eccentric residents who are not exactly thrilled to meet their new owners. Jen has to learn how to survive American suburbia and the kids have to navigate a US high school. With culture clashes aplenty, life in Britain soon seems even further away than they’d thought it would. But with the support of each other and their crazy new friends, they begin to learn how to live the American dream.
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#9 - An Idiot Abroad
Karl Pilkington is sent to foreign countries under the guise of visiting the New Seven Wonders of the World. Most of each episode focuses on Karl’s reactions to cultural differences and idiosyncrasies in the countries he visits.
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#10 - Galapagos with David Attenborough
Filmed in one of the most extreme and hard-to-reach locations in the world, Galapagos with David Attenborough is Sky 3D’s third collaboration with the multi-award winning natural history broadcaster. Using pioneering 3D-techniques and technology to explore the unique environments and species of the Galapagos, it will take viewers on a voyage to understand the stunning archipelago which changed the way we see the world and has long-remained a place of true interest with the nation’s favourite naturalist.
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#11 - David Attenborough's Conquest of the Skies
David Attenborough embarks on an extraordinary journey to search for the origins of animal flight, beginning his epic global exploration in the unexpectedly skilful world of the flying insects, through to the evolution of birds from their flying dinosaur ancestors..
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#12 - Spy (2011)
Tim is in a custody battle with his ex-wife, when he quits his job. He applies for a job as a civil servant doing data entry, but discovers during the job interview that he has been offered a job as a trainee spy for MI5.
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#13 - Strike Back
Follows the actions of Section 20, a secretive branch of the British Defence Intelligence service (DI), who operate several high risk, priority missions throughout the globe.
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#14 - The Moaning of Life
Karl Pilkington has never really worried about the big stuff until now at the age of 40. In this unique travelogue, he sets out to see how multiple cultures face life’s big issues: marriage(s), happiness, children, career(s) and death. Will Karl gain worldly wisdom or end up more puzzled and moaning on more than ever?
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#15 - Thorne
Thorne is a crime drama series based on the best selling books by Mark Billingham. The series stars David Morrissey as DI Tom Thorne.
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#16 - The Take
Freddie Jackson is just out of prison. He's done his time, made the right connections and now he's ready to use them. His wife Jackie dreams of having her husband home but she's forgotten the rows and the girls Freddie can't leave alone. His younger cousin, Jimmy, dreams of making a name for himself on Freddie's coattails. At first Freddie gets everything he ever wanted and Jimmy is taken along for the ride: a growing crime empire that gives them all the respect and money they've hungered for. But behind it all sits Ozzy - the legendary criminal godfather who manipulates Freddie and Jimmy's fates from behind the bars of his prison cell. Bitter, resentful and increasingly unstable, Jackie sees her life crumble while her little sister Maggie's star rises. In love with Freddie's cousin Jimmy, Maggie is determined not to end up like her sister. Freddie and Jackie watch Jimmy and Maggie achieve all the dreams that they themselves failed to realise: love, family, stability and respect. Jealous resentment and an inability to control himself force Freddie to put both the business and family at risk. Torn between being loyal to a cousin he loves and being true to his own destiny, Jimmy is forced to decide between protecting Freddie or the life he has built with Maggie. This is a powerful human drama about love, power, violence and betrayal.
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#17 - Terry Pratchett's Going Postal
Moist von Lipwig is a con-man with a particular talent-- he is utterly unremarkable. When his execution is stayed in Terry Pratchett's remarkable Discworld, he must work off his debt to society as the land's head Postman. Things are not always as they seem, and soon Lipwig is delivering mail for his very life!
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#18 - Trollied
Set in Valco, a fictional budget supermarket in the north west of England, Trollied finds the funny in one of our most familiar surroundings and focuses on the types of characters we all recognise: bored checkout staff, ineffectual managers and a range of customers, from the irate to the downright bizarre.
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#19 - The Smoke
This eight-part series follows the high-adrenaline adventures of White Watch, a team of London firefighters. At the heart of the story is a family of firemen and women who, no matter what, always have each other to fall back on. But being a hero isn't easy, especially in a world that regularly disregards them, and it certainly doesn't pay. Many crew members are forced to hold down other jobs on the side, taking some of them into the city’s after dark world. The stakes are high but, in "The Smoke," it's the very lives and souls of the White Watch crew that are at risk.
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#20 - The Trip
Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon star as fictionalised versions of themselves on a restaurant tour of northern England—and other places.
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#21 - Hit & Miss
High concept and ambitious, Hit and Miss follows Mia (Sevigny), a contract killer with a secret: she's a pre-op transsexual. Mia's life is sent into a tailspin when she receives a letter from an ex-girlfriend dying from cancer revealing that Mia fathered a son eleven years ago. Faced with a difficult decision, Mia becomes the guardian to a new family, a choice that forces her to mix her killer instincts with her newly acquired maternal ones. Hit and Miss tells the story of a lethal killer at the heart of a troubled family and how all of their lives will be dramatically changed forever
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#22 - Stella (2012)
Ruth Jones stars as a 40-something mum juggling the ups and downs of family life amid the chaos of her eccentric friends, relatives and children's fathers. Stella's world is populated by a wealth of characters including her best friend Paula (Elizabeth Berrington), who is a functioning alcoholic and funeral director. Then there’s lollipop man and youth rugby coach Alan (Steve Spiers), who has been in love with Stella since 1984 but who finds stiff competition in the form of dishy Sean (Kenny Doughty)... The brainchild of Ruth Jones, co-writer and co-star of the multi-award-winning Gavin and Stacey, Stella is a ten-episode family saga set against the backdrop of the Welsh valleys.
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#23 - The Café
Set in and around a cafe in Weston-Super-Mare run by the generational trilogy of Mary, Carol and Sarah. Acting as the social hub of the seafront town, the café sees all walks of life pass through. Sarah is in her late twenties and has recently returned home from London as she attempts to pursue a writing career. Many of her old school adversaries still live in the area and are frequent visitors to the café. Richard, Sarah's former childhood sweetheart is a care home assistant by day and a musician by night whose feathers are ruffled when fellow class-mate and former love rival, John, now a successful events manager in London, returns to Weston to visit his elderly mother. Chloe is Sarah's oldest friend who works in the local hairdresser and always looks on the bright side of life. Her father, Stan is a frequent visitor to the café due in the most part to his fondness for Carol. Carol, however, has more pressing matters on her mind as Brenda Keily, a local successful entrepreneur, threatens to take her family business away. Also resident in Weston-Super-Mare are Ava, the polish receptionist at the hairdresser, and The Dobsons, regular customers at the café. Other regulars who drop by include 'Big Issue Frank' and Weston-Super-Mare's very own living statue, Keiran.
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#24 - Ross Kemp Back On The Frontline
In this series Ross Kemp returns to Helmand to see how the land lies four years after his initial trip. Spending time with Royal Marines, he discovers a more sophisticated game of cat and mouse utilising biometric identification and local informants.
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#25 - Critical
One story, in one place, in one hour - a real-time medical and emotional roller-coaster ride in which every second counts during the most life-threatening hour of a patient's treatment.
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#26 - Mount Pleasant
It's an insight into the lives of a tight knit close where you follow the families living in Mount Pleasant. You go through their every day lives and their struggles and hurdles along the way.
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#27 - Ross Kemp in Search of Pirates
Ross Kemp in Search of Pirates sees Ross taking a look at modern day piracy.
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#28 - Moonfleet
Ray Winstone leads a gang of smugglers in our brand new family drama, Moonfleet. Written by Ashley Pharoah (Life on Mars, Ashes to Ashes), this two-part adaptation of the much-loved John Meade Falkner novel is set in the small Dorset village of Moonfleet. In the story, young John Trenchard (Aneurin Barnard - The Truth About Emanuel, The White Queen) is desperate to join the local band of smugglers led by Elzevir Block (Winstone - The Departed, Hugo, Snow White And The Huntsman). Together they embark on an adventure full of action, friendship, and humour, and hunt for a fabled lost diamond. Their journey takes them from 18th Century Dorset, to the jewellery quarter of The Hague, and on to a gripping, final sea voyage. Newcomer Sophie Cookson joins the cast as John's first love, Grace, who is also the daughter of Moonfleet's anti-smuggling magistrate, Mohune, played by Ben Chaplin (Mad Dogs, Dorian Gray). Omid Djalili (Gladiator) will appear as a diamond merchant, Aldobrand, and Martin Trenaman (The Inbetweeners) as the Turnkey. Lorcan Cranitch (Silent Witness, Cracker) and Anthony Ofoegbu (Spooks, The Bill) play Elzevirs fellow smugglers, Meech and Loder. The show is directed by Andy de Emmony (The Bletchley Circle) and produced by Dan McCulloch (Endeavour).
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#29 - Mad Dogs
Woody, Quinn, Baxter and Rick have been friends since sixth form. The fifth member of their gang is Alvo, a risk-taking opportunist who, having made his fortune in property, leads a luxurious lifestyle in Majorca. Now in their 40s, they've all taken different paths in life with varying degrees of success. When Alvo flies them to his extravagant villa to celebrate his early retirement, they enjoy a trip down memory lane. However, all does not go to plan and they find themselves entangled in a web of deception and murder involving beautiful police women, large yachts, Speedos and a rather short assassin in a Tony Blair mask...
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#30 - Jamestown
Set in 1619, “Jamestown” follows the first English settlers as they establish a community in the New World. Amongst those landing onshore are a group of women destined to be married to the men of Jamestown, including three spirited women from England.
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#31 - In The Long Run
The Easmon family living in London in 1985 sees their quiet life disrupted when their relative from Sierra Leone moves in. The comedy, inspired by the childhood memories of Idris Elba follows the story of Walter and Agnes Easmon whose life is all about quiet routine. They arrived from Sierra Leone 13 years ago and work hard to pay the bills, raise son Kobna as well as support their family back home.
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#32 - A Touch of Cloth
Hannah plays DI Jack Cloth, who is called in to investigate an apparent series of serial killings alongside his new partner, DC Anne Oldman, described as a "plucky, no-nonsense sidekick". Playing with the cliches and conventions of British police dramas, subplots include Cloth dealing with visions of his dead wife and the bisexual DC Oldman coming to grips with her feelings for both her female fiancee and Cloth.
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#33 - Brainiac: Science Abuse
Brainiac is The Alternative science series that shows you the experiments you were never allowed to do in school. Richard Hammond aims to answer the scientific questions that have been bothering us all such as what you shouldn't put in a microwave and Do mobile phones really cause explosions in petrol stations.
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#34 - Ross Kemp In Afghanistan
Ross Kemp and his BAFTA-winning documentary team experience life on the front line, providing an unprecedented insight into the heat of a war zone in this landmark five-part documentary.
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#35 - Hooten & the Lady
The charismatic and roguish American adventurer Hooten and his fantastically feisty partner in crime, Lady Alexandra travel the world, from the Vatican to The Himalayas, the Amazon to Egypt, in their quest to save the world's lost treasures.
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#36 - Moone Boy
Martin Moone is a young boy who relies on the help of his imaginary friend Sean to deal with the quandaries of life in a wacky small-town Irish family in the 1980's.
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#37 - Duck Quacks Don't Echo (UK)
A British television comedy entertainment and science panel show presented by comedian Lee Mack.
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#38 - Terry Pratchett's The Colour of Magic
The Discworld—a magical realm quite unlike, yet hauntingly familiar to, ours—has got its first tourist Twoflower. Rincewind, an inept ex-student wizard, is given the task of guiding Twoflower through the city state of Ankh-Morpork. Rincewind has two problems: firstly, as an expert coward, he doesn't feel he's the best person to guard a naive—and by local standards extremely rich—tourist through one of the roughest cities in the multiverse. And secondly, the world is coming to an end. Never rains, eh?
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#39 - Bulletproof
Action drama following Bishop and Pike; two NCA agents taking down hardened criminals in London.
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#40 - Stan Lee's Lucky Man
Clayton is a detective who finds a magic bracelet that brings him good luck. The bad news is that someone very nasty wants it back.
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#41 - Yonderland
A bored young mum steps through a portal and discovers a world of incompetent knights, monks who are incapable of lying, and a race of people intent on firing the cleverest amongst them into the sun.
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#42 - Threshold
Threshold, from producers David Heyman, David Goyer, and Brannon Braga, and written by Bragi Schut, revolves around a female government contingency analyst who leads a team of scientists and military personnel who get in contact with a mysterious alien lifeform.
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#43 - Chickens
This sharp-witted comedy written by and starring Simon Bird and Joe Thomas, of The Inbetweeners fame, and their long-term collaborator Jonny Sweet (Playhouse Presents). It's 1914, the Great War rages, millions of men have shipped off to join the fight, yet in the sleepy English village of Rittle-on-Sea, three young chaps, Cecil (Bird), George (Thomas) and Bert (Sweet), have stayed behind.Cecil would love to have earned his battle stripes and has all the makings of a brave soldier, but isn't physically fit to fight on account of his flat feet. Pacifist teacher George, on the other hand, has no intention of being a part of the conflict because he fundamentally disagrees with it, and Bert, well, he hasn't got a clue what's going on, an outstanding liar and unscrupulous cad who should be in the army and has no legitimate reason not to be. Lumping the boys together and labelling them cowards, the ladies of Rittle-on-Sea are none-too-pleased about their decision to stick around, including Cecil's sister Agnes (Emerald Fennell, Any Human Heart) and Winky (Sarah Daykin, Dead Boss), George's increasingly embarrassed fiancée.
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#44 - The Five
A mystery series created by author Harlan Coben. Jesse, a five year old boy goes missing, 20 years later his DNA shows up at a crime scene.
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#45 - Sick of It
A middle-aged man recently ditched by his long-term girlfriend, ‘Karl’ lives with his elderly Auntie and his closest companion—his doppelgänger alter-ego.
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#46 - Space Precinct
"Space Precinct" was a 1990s sci-fi cop show from veteran TV producer-creator Gerry Anderson ("Thunderbirds", "UFO", "Space 1999"). The show is set in Demeter City on the planet Altor and follows Lieutenant Patrick Brogan (Ted Shackleford -"Knots Landing"), a former New York cop, who is transferred to Demeter City's Precinct 88. He and his wife and two kids have to adjust to life in this new world, which is populated by humans as well as two alien races, the Creons and the Tarns. Brogan is partnered with his patrtner from his NY stint, Officer Jack Haldane (Rob Youngblood) and his boss is an Irish-accented(!?) Creon called Captain Rexton Podly (Jerome Willis). Brogan and Haldane are well supported by another human officer, Jane Castle (Simone Bendix) who has lived on Altor for a year. The show ran for 1 year (1994-95)but was not renewed.
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#47 - You, Me and the Apocalypse
In this bold, adrenaline-fueled new comedy drama, the news that a comet is on an unavoidable collision course with Earth sets in motion the most hilariously unexpected chain of events imaginable. Set against the backdrop of apocalyptic chaos, the story follows an eclectic group of seemingly unconnected characters around the world as their lives start to intersect in the most unexpected ways. And when we say "eclectic," we mean a rebellious priest, an unhinged white supremacist, a mild-mannered bank manager, a germophobic cyber terrorist and an American five-star general. Some of these misfits are destined to make it to a bunker deep beneath the English suburb of Slough, and as a result will become the hugely unlikely (and totally unsuitable) future of mankind. Wouldn't that be a disaster!
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#48 - Two Weeks to Live
Kim Noakes is a young misfit who lives a secluded country life. When an unlikely prank goes wrong, she finds herself on the run from a murderous gangster and the police with a massive bag of stolen cash. With the survival techniques she has picked up from her upbringing, however, she might just get through.
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#49 - The Runaway
Cathy Connor and Eamonn Docherty are brought up together in the East End. As the daughter of a prostitute, Madge, Cathy's life is difficult, especially when everyone assumes that she will be following in her mother's footsteps. But when Cathy is forced to protect Madge from a violent attack by a punter it changes her life forever. Cathy is taken into care but she suffers institutional abuse which leaves her with no choice but to run away. She ends up destitute, on the streets of Soho. Desrae, a transvestite, unexpectedly comes to her rescue. Meanwhile, Eamonn joins Dixon's firm and rises up the ranks of the East End criminal underworld. He gets involved with his boss's daughter but in a moment of violent rage, kills her. Eamonn flees to New York to escape retribution where he gains a reputation as a ruthless villain with a specialism for sourcing weaponry. Adapted from Martina Cole's best-selling novel this is an explosive action-packed thriller with two star crossed lovers at its centre.
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#50 - Gates
Gates is an ensemble comedy headed by Sue Johnston (The Royle Family), Tom Ellis (Miranda) and Joanna Page (Gavin & Stacey) set in the all too familiar chaos of the school gates. Mark and Helen are parents who've recently moved to the South East where their nine-year-old daughter is starting at a new primary school. And they're about to discover what happens when your children choose your friends.
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