Which British things are loved around the world that actual Brits cannot stand? – 17 puzzlingly popular exports

Britain may have its problems, but it’s also created lots of things that are beloved around the world. Oddly enough though, even the things Brits are a bit embarrassed about have found a global audience too.

Reddit user wheninrome5000 was curious to hear more about these cultural differences after meeting someone who – shock horror – disliked Mr Bean. As they explain on r/AskUK:

‘Living here but not British. The other day I mentioned here (in the UK) to someone that my kids love Mr. Bean and she frowned and said that’s the worst show but people outside Britain love it.

‘What are other examples of things that are famous or beloved abroad but disliked here, or at least thought of as mediocre?’

Thankfully, the comments did not stand for this Mr Bean slander. But they did offer up these alternative suggestions, which are NSFW in parts:

1.

‘Dinner for One, a 1963 black and white movie from the UK that no one has ever heard of is aired religiously on Christmas in Norway and is considered one of their biggest traditions. It airs on their equivalent of the BBC and has done so every year for almost 50 years.

‘Many other countries also air it on New Year’s eve or around Xmas.

‘The original script and play are from the UK, the actors are British but this particular recording used is a one-take filmed by a German studio. But it’s very much a British product.’
-TheEnglishNorwegian

2.

‘The Royals. As in the actual Royals.’
-Minionherder

3.

‘The class system.

‘A lot of shows romanticise the class system (one that immediately comes to mind is a recent watch, 1923. A main character called Alex was written as an aristocratic, but a very romanticised version of a British aristocrat). Downton Abbey is another culprit, Bridgerton. A lot of people romanticise traits of the British aristocracy – deb balls, titles, hierarchy.

‘In reality its something I think most Brits hate, but find difficult to extract ourselves from because 1. It’s so subtle and pervasive and 2. We’ve all been indoctrinated and buy into it to an extent. If you’ve ever made fun of a fiat 500 trope, a fairly innocuous little online joke, then even then you’re engaging in perpetuating that British class system.

‘It’s connected closely to another person’s suggestion of the royal family, who spearheaded the class system.’
-No-Taro-6953

4.

‘London.

‘So many Brits loudly despise London. But if you travel around the world as someone who lives in London, people are often so excited to find out you live in London.’
-Otherwise_Koala4289

5.

‘One that hasn’t been mentioned yet is our seafood, actually… We largely don’t seem to know what to do with it for ourselves.’
-BillyJoeDubuluw

6.

‘Going back a bit, but the band Bush. Huge in the US, barely made a dent in their native UK.’
-poptimist185

7.

‘Harrod’s gift bags’
–qqqwwweeerrrtttyyy-

8.

‘Harry Potter, relatively speaking. Definitely still popular here, but the way tourists obsess over it and buy all the tat from the dodgy shops on Oxford Street and in other places like Oxford and York is on another level.’
-EmberizaHortulana

9.

‘The BBC. People here often have no clue how influential and loved the BBC is outside of UK, its universally loved and trusted like very few things in the world and idiots here want to cancel and get rid of it.’
-AfternoonLines