David Bowie's Favorite TV Show Was An Obscure Drama You've Probably Never Heard Of

David Bowie was a singular talent. Known primarily as a musician behind beloved albums such as "Let's Dance" and "Heroes," he was respected as a true artist. Sadly, Bowie passed away at the age of 69 in 2016, but he had already made his mark on the world, both in music and in Hollywood, to be certain. Naturally, Bowie also appreciated art just as much as he enjoyed making it. Still, even for fans of his work, his favorite show will likely come as a surprise.

Bowie apparently very much loved an Australian TV soap opera by the name of "A Country Practice." The series kicked off its run in 1981 and has well over 1,000 episodes to its name. It centers on the residents of Wandin Valley, which range from the locals to the patients and staff at the rural town's hospital, and focuses on their daily lives. Yes, it turns out that the same artist who played an alien in the wild 1970s movie "The Man Who Fell to Earth" (among many other things) was a fan of this quaint drama.

"A big favourite of ours. We watched it all the time in Switzerland," Bowie's friend and fellow musician Iggy Pop confirmed in a 2020 interview with Mojo Magazine (via Daily Mail). "David loved that show." As further evidence of this, "A Country Practice" co-star Shane Porteous was once invited to see Bowie in concert with his kids. Here's how Porteous' daughter, Fiona Porteous, remembered their experience (via the Sydney Morning Herald):

"There was no way Dad was going to that concert without his three teenage kids! We got to meet him before the concert. It was an amazing experience, and I remember we all towered over him, David was quite short, and how exhausted he looked."

It's probably tough to imagine David Bowie being so into a soap opera. That's not to knock those shows (which clearly have their fans), but one might imagine an individual like Bowie preferring something a little more high art. For the record, Bowie was also a "Peaky Blinders" super fan, but he was genuinely into "A Country Practice" as well.

"We knew that David Bowie liked ['A Country Practice'] because he would have copies of the show taped and sent to him," as series star Shane Withington, who played Brendan Jones, told ABC Radio Brisbane in 2020. Withington added that the man known for playing the Goblin King in "Labyrinth" (a role that, weirdly enough, nearly went to Michael Jackson) also invited him to see a show during his tour. As he revealed in that same interview:

"I was in the makeup room getting made-up, while the other actors were in there as well, when my breathless publicist came running in. She went, 'Shane, we've had this unusual request ... David Bowie has asked you to come to the [Glass] Spider tour tomorrow night.' I went, 'Oh, that is so typical of David. No warning, nothing, just ring up out of the blue.'"

"We turned up at the Glass Spider tour and it was phenomenal, of course, because it was David Bowie," Withington continued. "I was ushered back with probably the most beautiful people on Earth. Just the wealth and beauty of the band and the backing singers was just so cool, and I felt really daggy. David came out, with his mismatching eyes, and came over to have a chat and said how much he loved the show."