The 4 plumbicon tube EMI 2001 camera introduced in 1966/67 was a very popular choice of camera in Britain the engineers apparently loved this camera. The EMI 2001 was used well into the early 1990s on some programs, one most notably Eastenders which didn't retire the camera till 1991.
Here's an EMI 2001 training video demonstration from 1975 on YouTube in 2 parts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGvO29NQ8xs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIW-EIq4qqo
The bloke conducting the demonstration states that the EMI 2001 is the engineer's camera.
So I dare say EMI 2001 would of probably been the best British camera.
I don't think PYE made any colour cameras apart from the experimental one in the 50s as there is none listed on the TV Camera Museum site:
http://www.tvcameramuseum.org/pye/pye_list.htm