Granted, some of the BBC's production values leave a little to be desired, but the shows are usually pretty good.

The most recent episode, "Dalek" was excellent, and not just by Dr. Who standards.

I believe Stargate SG1 and a few others of my favorites
like Babylon 5 and Earth Final Conflict (not on my fave list)
originated in Canada.

OTOH I don't buy the notion that all or any Brit science
fiction is good either because it looks cheap or sounds
literary. Even such attempts at class such as LeGuin's
"Lathe of Heaven" or Dick's ... wait I lost it... all
of them look dreadful. And Red Dwarf. There's one by Neil Gaiman too.

Piffle, every bit of it.

They did do The Prisoner way back when. But as I said
earlier, the Prisoner is in a class by itself.

Some may wonder why I spend any amount of time with
Stargate SG1. It's directed by Dom DeLouise's son for the
most part, the stories are trite and melodramatic, the
acting is operatic on the part of most of the god-like
aliens and... well the list is quite long such as
the fact that projectile weapons never have ricochets inside
the alien spacecraft. Jeez.

But what show has lasted 10 seasons with such outlandish
characteristics besides this one?

I think the answer is that it's a propaganda show sponsored by
the military to make enlisting look glamorous. After all,
the SG1 team can defeat superior firepower and technology
with handguns and C-4 explosives. It's sort of a variation
on the video game-referenced ads on tv for "Be all you can be"
with the A-Team being the primary source material.

If you have any doubt about these speculations, I suggest
a documentary called "Operation Hollywood." It shows how
the military has strict control over any production in which
its properties such as uniforms, vehicles or arms are used.
SG1 had full Pentagon approval. Even though I'm a peace activist,
I'm looking forward to the next dvd box.

Have you seen the new Battlestar? It's a great show, and somewhat of an exception. The characters are hard, flawed and Edward James Olmos is absolutely brilliant as Adama.

Another truly awful adaption was the Earthsea mini series by SciFi. It resembled book in name only. I quit watching about 1/2 way in.

It is a good time to be a sci fi fan now. Quite a bit to watch. After a very long dry spell, with only Star Trek in the 90's.

And I guess my original premise is at least the BBC tried for the last 40 yrs.

As to the Hitchhikers Guide done in the 70's, I cannot
remember much of it. I haven't seen the new one and don't have much desire to either.