The Unique Way ‘NCIS’ Fans In England Watch the Series
NCIS is a record-breaking police procedural drama that has been earning new fans since 2003. Although it originated as a spinoff of the popular TV show JAG, it has gone on to well exceed the success of the show that inspired it. And to this day, NCIS is still going strong.
As one of the longest-running scripted shows of all time, NCIS has won a slew of awards and accolades. While millions of Americans tune into new episodes and binge reruns on a weekly basis, fans who live in England watch the series in a very out-of-the-box way.
How do ‘NCIS’ fans in England watch the series?
NCIS is considered by some to be as American as apple pie. The plotlines and characters are immersed in the culture of the United States military. But the series has a thriving fanbase across the pond. Many fans in England love the show. But due to the fact that the series isn’t in syndication in the U.K., fans have to watch it in “movie” form.
According to a video on the Looper YouTube channel, a total of eight NCIS movies have been broadcast in England since 2013. These movies are essentially longer-form broadcasts of various episodic arcs, edited together to feel like movies rather than individually-broadcast television shows.
These movies were exclusives for English fans, put together by network executives. But fans in the U.S. can recreate the feel of them by watching shows with the same story arc back to back.
‘NCIS’ has received major critical acclaim in the United States
NCIS wasn’t an immediate hit for CBS. In fact, it took several seasons before the series really took off. But by the sixth season, according to IMDb, it became a top-five hit. It has remained at the top ever since. Many times over the years, NCIS has been named in various polls and articles as one of the greatest television shows of all time. And it has inspired a handful of popular spinoffs as well, all with their own dedicated fanbases.
NCIS has a powerful reach in the United States. In addition to its status as a rating juggernaut, it has received many awards and nominations over the years. A few of these include multiple Emmy Award nominations, an NAACP Image Award nomination, and more than a dozen nominations for People’s Choice Awards, including one win for Mark Harmon in 2017 as Favorite TV Crime Drama Actor, according to IMDb.
What’s next for ‘NCIS’?
NCIS “movies” are popular in England. So, it stands to reason producers would bring the series to the big screen in the United States. Popular crime-fighting TV shows sometimes make the transition to big-budget movies, like Charlie’s Angels and The A-Team. But it takes a lot of time and effort to craft a standalone film based on a television series.
Additionally, an NCIS movie would require a whole new plot, the introduction of some new characters as well as the presence of existing fan-favorite characters, making it an endeavor that could take years and years to pull off. Still, as popular and enduring as NCIS remains to this day, a feature film probably isn’t far away.
