As Line of Duty and Doctor Foster both return for new series, we asked what TV programmes you’d like to see revived next. Here are your responses.
Peep Show (2003-2015)
Peep Show is one of the greatest sitcoms of all time, and we need an update on what Mark, Jeremy, Sophie and Super Hans are up to these days. Are Mark and Jez still living together? Did Sophie have any more children? Did Super Hans ever make it to Macedonia to open his moped rental business? Mark Hawksley, 46, Wisconsin
Green Wing (2004-2007)
Green Wing is the coolest, funniest comedy I’ve ever seen, with so many new ideas. Please can we have another series – and one without the “sad” part that crept into the latter third? I loved the visual and physical comedy pioneered in Green Wing – at least, I hadn’t seen it before – for example, the cart-wheeling through the glass corridors, slow and fast-motion, dancing and walking – by Joanna Clore from HR especially. It was also the first comedy I had seen with such a great mix of well drawn characters. It was just very, very funny and without being too cringey. I haven’t listened to the new audio version … but then where’s all the visual fun in that? Uli Sattler, 59, Manchester
Sapphire & Steel (1979-1982)
Sapphire & Steel was grownup TV for kids. It scared the pants off me, but I was hooked. I would even go out on a limb and say I preferred it to Doctor Who! It starred David McCallum and Joanna Lumley, who were brilliant. Obviously, we have lost David, but Joanna would still be great in it, and we could bring in some other elements to keep it new. Just a great opportunity for some intelligent spookiness. I am a film-making lecturer, and a few years ago one of our students started a campaign to bring it back, but it came to nothing. Ian Crook, Garstang, Lancashire
Deadwood (2004-2006)
Deadwood was just the best thing on TV at the time. My husband and I had embarked on an odyssey from London home to Scotland, and were gutting and rebuilding a stone cottage in Argyll, so all the building and mud in this western was relatable. There was no streaming back then so my husband (no longer extant) and I waited agog for each new episode. The story was well written and multilayered. It was easy to be interested in and want to follow the characters. I think my favourite was Seth Bullock but there were so many – Trixie, Seth’s sidekick, Al Swearengen himself. As I haven’t seen the final film I’m not qualified to say where next. There were so many good actors playing so well in a set which reeked of dirt and difficulty. Judith Witts, 79, Edinburgh
Foyle’s War (2002-2015)
Foyle’s War is the finest historical detective drama ever. Although it isn’t possible to revive it, as the writer-creator, Anthony Horowitz, has moved on to other projects and the lead actor, Michael Kitchen, has retired, the programme was robbed of the opportunity to tell more stories of the second world war home front by meddling, wrong-headed executives who cancelled and re-commissioned it twice. Fans have long speculated on the possibility of a prequel, as per Endeavour and Morse, exploring young Foyle’s great war experience and his interrupted early police career. Lesley Johnson, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Top Gear (2002-2022)
Top Gear, with EVs and alternative fuel cars. I loved the trio of Jeremy, James and Richard, but I think a modern Top Gear should be almost like the pre-00s version, with a focus on news and reviews. But I would also include the big adventures as once-per-series specials. For presenters, I would choose Jack Scarlett from Everything Electric, paired with Alex from Autoalex on YouTube and Richard’s daughter, Izzy Hammond. Automotive journalism is needed now as the car industry is facing its biggest changes in a generation – from EVs to alternative fuels to hydrogen. If we had education on TV, attitudes to net zero and transport based on net zero might change. Luci Bassindale, 21, Newcastle
Firefly (2002-2003)
Firefly was probably the best sci-fi show ever produced for the small screen, and a good movie too. It was a brilliant realisation of cowboys and Indians in space with an excellent cast of actors all showing their good and bad sides – some very bad. Their interactions could be cutting, but it was obvious that they were friends who would willingly die for each other. It would be very interesting to see the characters in middle age. Kevin Brown, 73, Ynys Môn (Anglesey), Wales
The Peripheral (2022)
I’d like to see The Peripheral return, as anything involving William Gibson is always going to be fascinating, and while I love the book, the TV series was taking things in an interesting new direction. I liked the world-building too; the collapsed and civil-war racked “post-jackpot” US seems far more prescient today than when series one was broadcast, as does a London run by kleptocrats. When it comes to characters, I really liked Chloë Grace Moretz’s Flynne Fisher; she is sorely underused these days and deserves meaty roles like this. However, Alexandra Billings’ magnetically scary Inspector Lowbeer stole the show from the moment she arrived, late in series one, and I really wanted to see how the character would develop. Ian Simmons, Southend-on-Sea
This Life (1996-1997)
This Life really captured the post-uni life, trying to forge a path. It had a tight script, strong characters and great acting. Since This Life aired, there are so many other things that would have to be considered – the size of student loans, shrinking job markets, the growth of AI, social media toxicity, how the drinking culture changed – phew, where do you stop? But post-university life is still a rich, fertile ground for storylines. They could introduce a new set of actors, giving opportunities to even more diverse characters – although it would be good to see if Egg managed to get a Michelin star. Jeanette, London
