Category talk:British television miniseries

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Category:British television miniseries

Hello there. I was just wondering about whether this category was really accurate, given that "miniseries" is not a term that's ever really used in the UK for home-grown products; "serial" is generally used, "miniseries" being an Americanism that tends to only be used here in reference to US imports. Therefore I would suggest that the category ought to more accurately be called "British television serials". Angmering 23:54, 7 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hello Paul, thanks for your note. Although the article miniseries agrees with you, I think it's out of date. I'm pretty sure I have read the word mini-series in UK TV guides, and I suspect that it will become more used here even if it did originate in America (wouldn't be the first time). As for the category Category:British television miniseries, I was wondering about adding a definition, at least on the British page, namely series consisting of 3 to 12 programmes. If there's only 2, it's a "two-parter". I just checked Google UK: there are 319,000 hits for "(tv,television) serial" and 123,000 for "(tv,television) mini-series", so it's certainly used here, even if it is mostly used for TV imports and exports.

Also, even if it's not used much in the UK, it is used about our productions, so I think it's a valid category. Evidence: over a dozen British shows were already in Category:Television miniseries before I moved them down. I considered renaming the new one as "British television serials", but that would emcompass longer-running series. So, I'm inclined to keep it. Fayenatic london 07:37, 8 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I don't see the presence of some British productions in the general miniseries category as evidence of usage here — they could just as easily have been added to the category by Americans. Definitions of the term may be trickier — the British Academy Television Awards include two-parters in the "Best Drama Serial" category, so basically it's any production of more than one but a finite number of episodes, where one over-arching story is told and concluded in the final instalment. The Forsyte Saga, for example, was a 26-part serial. Angmering 07:42, 8 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

You're probably right on all counts, but I don't think that invalidates the category. As Americans are already categorising our short serials as "television miniseries", these articles may as well be re-categorised as "British television miniseries". Even if it's not a term that Brits would generally use or prefer, it will apparently be useful to the American users of Wikipedia. However, if you want to propose that this category should be renamed e.g. "Short television serials made in the UK", I won't oppose that.

As for the Forsyte Saga, 26 parts is not short and not mini. Brideshead Revisited at 12 episodes may be the longest currently in the category. I have re-categorised Dr. Finlay's Casebook as that was clearly not mini. Perhaps Category:British television programmes wants a new sub-category of Category:Long television serials made in the UK. Fayenatic london 18:45, 8 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

It may not be short and not mini, but it's still a "serial" in British television definitions, which basically encompasses anything that lasts for a single run and tells one overarching story. (Mind you, you do sometimes get the odd sequel serial!). Anyway, this "miniseries" category worries me because it makes it feel as if we're writing purely for Americans, when surely the usual standard practice is for articles relating to a particular country stick to the conventions of that country? That's certainly the case as regards spelling, anyway.

At the end of the day, I know it's not a massive issue, I'm just putting in my two-penny's worth. Angmering 20:39, 8 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Many of the entries categorised here are not mini-series at all, but full-length series of 6 or 7 episodes (or more). Mini-series are generally 3 or 4 episodes long, with the episode length varying hugely - 30 minutes up to two hours or occasionally more. Niki2006 (talk) 23:55, 21 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

That's probably because series are typically much longer in the US than they are in the UK. A miniseries in the UK is 2, 3 or 4 episodes, whereas Americans often consider series of 6-10 episodes, which are normal length for a British series, as miniseries. Jim Michael (talk) 12:20, 13 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]