series or serial

[ostap77]

I was watching a Canadian series or serial "The Listener" on TV?

 

[bhaisahab]

I was watching a Canadian series or serial "The Listener" on TV?

A serial is one story divided into episodes, so that each week the same story continues. A series is a collection of stories, usually a different one each week, with the same actors playing the same roles.

 

[ostap77]

A serial is one story divided into episodes, so that each week the same story continues. A series is a collection of stories, usually a different one each week, with the same actors playing the same roles.

But both episodes?

 

[bhaisahab]

But both episodes?

Sometimes in a series one story is split into two or more episodes.

 

[magdalena]

I am never clear on this one, could you give some examples, pelase, please, please

 

[Rover_KE]

Downton Abbey was a serial.

Law and Order is a series.

Rover

 

[JTRiff]

not teachr

The Serials can be a reference to early movies, usually cliffhangers like Perils of Pauline.

 

[freezeframe]

Series is just a show where characters/settings are the same but the stories in each episode are unrelated. ex. "Friends"

A serial is a type of series where there is a story that is broken into several episodes.

To make you more confused, what the Brits call "serial" (or so I've heard), Americans call "miniseries". This is a TV production that has a small number of episodes and has one story broken up into a few episodes. Ex. "Pride and Prejudice" with Colin Firth :roll: