British TV has given us some absolute corkers over the years, entertaining audiences all over the world.
Slough-based mockumentary The Office made a global superstar out of its writer Ricky Gervais while teen drama Skins propelled actors such as Dev Patel and Kaya Scodelario all the way to Hollywood.
Inevitably, production companies in the US wanted the same hits on their hands and went about remaking some of the most popular programmes in British television.
However, some are much better than others. We take a look at which shows give the original a run for its money and which simply got lost in translation.
The Office
When The Office first burst on to our screens in the UK in 2001, Ricky Gervais' David Brent made us cringe with laughter.
His self-absorbed, narcissistic personality was used as a conduit for some of the show's greatest comedic moments and the same model was used in the US remake of the show, this time with Steve Carell’s Michael Scott taking the reins.
Set around the working lives of office employees at the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company, the American office has now run five seasons longer than the British version and is considered to be a huge success.
Both shows are so well-made, but the US version gained a huge following much sooner than the UK's and has received a staggering 42 nominations and five Emmys.
Shameless
The dramedy based on the British series written by Paul Abbott centres around siblings in an eccentric Chicago family, who struggle to deal with their alcoholic father.
The UK version provided a comedically dark outlook on working-class England, documenting the life of the outlandish Gallagher family and was a huge hit entertaining viewers for almost a decade before concluding in 2013.
However, in 2018, Shameless US became Showtime’s longest-running original scripted series in history and only aired its final episode last year, making it one of the most successful shows in the network's history.
Skins
The teen comedy-drama television series first hit US screens on MTV in 2017 and looks at the lives of a group of teenagers in Baltimore through their final two years of high school.
However, the show's creators couldn't recreate the success of the Bristolian-based drama. They pulled the plug after just one season, explaining that “Skins is a global television phenomenon that, unfortunately, did not connect with a U.S. audience as much as we had hoped.”
Advertisers apparently abandoned the series in response to low ratings and the controversy which arose over its portrayal of teen sexuality.
Another criticism of the show is that it tried to simply repackage the UK characters, which put most actor at a disadvantage having to be compared to the likes of Dev Patel, Nicholas Hoult, and Kaya Scodelario, who made the show the success it still is today.
The Inbetweeners
British audiences adored Inbetweeeners Simon, Will, Jay and Neil and their heartwarmingly pitiful portrayal of teenage life in the UK.
Sizing up the show's success, MTV decided to master a remake, however they failed to nail the essence of the British humour and their version was a massive miss..
The Inbetweeners US lasted for just one season before being canned due to low ratings and being savaged by the critics.
Cold Feet
Northern drama Cold Feet first arrived on UK TV screens more than 20 years ago, and still has a lovingly loyal fan base.
However, the American remake of the show, which cast David Sutcliffe from Gilmour Girls as the lead, was cancelled after just one month on air.
Embarrassingly, one episode of the US version, called How Much Is That Sex Act in the Window, reportedly made television history when it was ranked as NBC’s worst ever rating for an original Friday night show.
Payne (Fawlty Towers)
Cult classic Fawlty Towers needs no explanation. With a topnotch cast and actor John Cleese at the helm, the show has continued to entertain audiences for decades.
With beloved characters including Basil, Sybil and Manuel, the world took the Torquay hotel to its heart. Sadly, the same can’t be said for Payne.
John Cleese is Fawlty Towers and maybe this is why US remake bombed. Payne was actually the fourth attempt at an American depiction, and it appears the writing was on the wall before it even aired.
The show received damning reviews with critics likening it to a cheap knockoff of John Cleese's masterpiece. Payne-ful.
