The ten best British TV series of all time - Line of Duty only at number 9

As a nation, we know how to do some things right - one of those being TV. With big players such as the BBC, Channel 4, and ITV producing massive amounts of binge-worthy content year after year, it is truly impossible to get through it all.

Some of my personal favourites have included My Mad Fat Diary, Skins and Peaky Blinders - which, of course, is placed in this listing. But with television in this country having thrived for more than just the 21st century, there is much to choose from. Luckily, IMDb have created a ranking of the 38 best British TV series. Here, we look at the top 10, but with Line of Duty only at number nine, what will pip it to the post?

10. Endeavour

Endeavour is a British television detective drama series that began airing in 2012 on ITV. It is a prequel to the long-running Inspector Morse series, and Shaun Evans portrays the young Endeavour Morse beginning his career as a detective constable, and later as a detective sergeant, with the Oxford City Police CID. Endeavour was the third of the Inspector Morse series, following the original Inspector Morse (1987-2000) and its spin-off, Lewis (2006-2015). The series' synopsis reads: "Bored of his mundane job, Endeavour Morse plans to resign from the Oxfordshire Police. But his superior Fred Thursday notices his potential and assigns him a tough case that changes his career."

9. Line of Duty

Line of Duty is a police procedural and serial drama television programme created by Jed Mercurio. It began broadcasting on BBC Two in 2012. The series' plot is as follows: "As a result of refusing to participate in a cover-up, DS Steve Arnott joins a special and controversial unit dedicated to rooting out corruption within the police."

8. Broadchurch

Broadchurch is a crime drama television series broadcast on ITV for three series between 2013 and 2017. It was created by Chris Chibnall, and is set in Broadchurch, a fictional English town on the coast of Dorset; it focuses on Detective Inspector Alec Hardy (David Tennant) and Detective Sergeant Ellie Miller (Olivia Colman). Other members of the ensemble cast appearing in all three seasons are Jodie Whittaker, Andrew Buchan, Arthur Darvill, Carolyn Pickles, Jonathan Bailey, Matthew Gravelle, Charlotte Beaumont and Adam Wilson. The series synopsis states: "The murder of a young boy in a small coastal town brings a media frenzy, which threatens to tear the community apart."

7. The IT Crowd

The IT Crowd is a television sitcom originally broadcast by Channel 4, created, written, and directed by Graham Linehan, produced by Ash Atalla and starring Chris O'Dowd, Richard Ayoade, Katherine Parkinson, and Matt Berry. The series' plot reads: "The comedic misadventures of Roy, Moss and their grifting supervisor Jen, a rag-tag team of IT support workers at a large corporation headed by a hotheaded yuppie."

6. Peaky Blinders

Peaky Blinders is a historical crime drama television series created by Steven Knight. Set in Birmingham, it follows the exploits of the Peaky Blinders crime gang in the direct aftermath of the First World War. It stars Cillian Murphy, Helen McCrory, Paul Anderson, Sophie Rundle, and Joe Cole. Peaky Blinders' synopsis reads: "A gangster family epic set in 1900s England, centering on a gang who sew razor blades in the peaks of their caps, and their fierce boss Tommy Shelby."

5. 'Allo 'Allo!

'Allo 'Allo! is a sitcom television series, created by David Croft and Jeremy Lloyd, and starring Gorden Kaye, Carmen Silvera, Guy Siner and Richard Gibson. The series' summary reads: "In France during World War II, René Artois runs a small café where Resistance fighters, Gestapo men, German Army officers and escaped Allied POWs interact daily, ignorant of one another's true identity or presence, exasperating René."

4. Coupling

Coupling is a television sitcom created and written by Steven Moffat that aired on from 2000 to 2004. The series was inspired by Moffat's relationship with producer Sue Vertue, to the extent that they gave their names to two of the characters. Critics compared the show to the American sitcoms Friends and Seinfeld. The series' plot states: "Six best friends talk about all aspects of sex and relationships on their never-ending quest to find true love."

3. Fawlty Towers

Fawlty Towers is a television sitcom written by John Cleese and Connie Booth, it aired in 1975 and 1979. The series is set in Fawlty Towers, a dysfunctional fictional hotel in the English seaside town of Torquay in Devon. Alongside Cleese, Prunella Scales, and Andrew Sachs star in the show. The series synopsis reads: "Hotel owner Basil Fawlty's incompetence, short fuse, and arrogance form a combination that ensures accidents and trouble are never far away."

2. Luther

Luther is a psychological crime thriller television series starring Idris Elba as DCI John Luther and Ruth Wilson as Alice Morgan. It was written by Neil Cross and first aired in 2010. The series synopsis states: "John Luther is a brilliant homicide detective with a knack for getting inside the minds of murderers. Unfortunately, his unconventional methods and personal demons put him at odds with his team."

1. Sherlock

Sherlock is a British mystery crime drama television series based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes detective stories. Created by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, the show starred Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman as Doctor John Watson. Thirteen episodes were produced, with four three-part series airing from 2010 to 2017. A summary of the series' plot reads: "The quirky spin on Conan Doyle's iconic sleuth pitches him as a "high-functioning sociopath" in modern-day London. Assisting him in his investigations: Afghanistan War vet John Watson, who's introduced to Holmes by a mutual acquaintance."