Great British sitcoms

[yorksrob]

Who is actually calling for it to be ‘banned’ though? I imagine it’s not many people. Right wing media like to pretend there is ‘outrage’ about certain things when there isn’t really much of it. Such as taking a Tweet from one person and claiming it represents all views of every lefty.

Matt Lucas blacking up though… Not quite sure what they and the producers were thinking.

I was very disappointed when a second series wasn't commissioned. Whether that constitutes "banning", I don't know.

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Nobody seems to have mentioned 'Minder' yet. Even though it was more Cockney 'spivvery', I used to find the scriptwriting and characters to be of a much higher standard than 'Only Fools and Horses'.

I had that more as a "comedy drama" though. Seems to action focused too me to be a sitcom.

 

[VauxhallandI]

Anyone wanting to watch a decent comedy show will find early doors on bbc 2 from 7th Janaury.

It is the first time since it finished i can recall the show being broadcast by the bbc.

I know most here wont get it judging by some of the truly awful suggestions above but those sensible people who do should fill their boots!

Excellent, it’s brilliant

Pickles!

 

[D6130]

What about 'Please Sir' and 'The Dustbin Men'?

 

[Ashley Hill]

For those who followed it on YouTube was a very well put together comedy soap called Buggernation Street. It used footage from early 70s Coronation Street episodes and was overdubbed with new storylines. It was very,very rude,extremely un-PC and hugely funny. Sadly its 28 or so episodes got pulled by YouTube back in the autumn and its creators channel shut down.
This is not to be confused with Sorrynation Street which is a poor imitation using 90s footage.

 

[DarloRich]

Excellent, it’s brilliant

Pickles!

To the Regiment! I wish i was there!

 

[D6130]

Does anyone remember 'Brass', a pastiche of overblown, gritty Northern drama series of the 1970s and 80s? It was loosely inspired by the American sitcom 'Soap' and starred Timothy West as tight-fisted 1930s Yorkshire mill-owner Bradley Hardacre, Caroline Blakiston as his mad, aristocratic wife, and Barbara Ewing as the young working-class widow trying to hold her impoverished family together. I used to find it rather amusing.

 

[yorksrob]

Does anyone remember 'Brass', a pastiche of overblown, gritty Northern drama series of the 1970s and 80s? It was loosely inspired by the American sitcom 'Soap' and starred Timothy West as tight-fisted 1930s Yorkshire mill-owner Bradley Hardacre, Caroline Blakiston as his mad, aristocratic wife, and Barbara Ewing as the young working-class widow trying to hold her impoverished family together. I used to find it rather amusing.

I never saw it, but my family reference it quite often !

Butterflies was an excellent one that I re-watched recently.

 

[GusB]

Butterflies was an excellent one that I re-watched recently.

I'd completely forgotten about Butterflies. I used to enjoy watching that when I was a kid.

 

[Ashley Hill]

Does anyone remember 'Brass',

Brass was excellent. It’s a shame it’s never been shown since.
The defunct Forces TV used to show a variety of old ITV sitcoms. Oh No It’s Selwyn Frogget was one of the last shown.
There’s a Freeview channel,I think it’s called That’s TV! available in some regions (not mine). It shows several old comedies including the Alf Garnet ones.

 

[jfollows]

Never really “got” Only Fools myself. Often wondered if there’s something defective with me as I normally like every classic comedy.

I can't stand it, it's not even slightly funny to me, just goes to show how we're all different and how things like comedy affect us differently. But I don't therefore think this makes you defective!

 

[yorksrob]

I wonder what potentially enjoyable/interesting comedies have been wiped from the archives, in pre 1975 BBC fashion.

 

[duncanp]

I wonder what potentially enjoyable/interesting comedies have been wiped from the archives, in pre 1975 BBC fashion.

Most of Till Death Us Do Part , I should imagine.

 

[yorksrob]

Most of Till Death Us Do Part , I should imagine.

Indeed. I know not a sitcom, but I understand that most of Pete & Dud's output has been destroyed, which is a serious loss.

 

[VauxhallandI]

I can't stand it, it's not even slightly funny to me, just goes to show how we're all different and how things like comedy affect us differently. But I don't therefore think this makes you defective!

Yes it is odd isn’t it.

For example I am so gobsmacked at how anyone can find Mrs Browns Boys funny. For me it’s one of the worst shows ever made.

 

[gg1]

I voted for Blackadder, though could have just have easily gone for Father Ted, both works of comedy genius. I also really like Red Dwarf, Inbetweeners, Derry Girls and Spaced. Of the older sitcoms Porridge is the one which really stands out.

Honourable mentions for Allo Allo, Dad's Army, IT crowd, Keeping Up Appearances, One Foot in the Grave, Gavin and Stacey, Open all Hours (the Ronnie Barker ones only), Fawlty Towers and Last of the Summer Wine. I'm slightly embarrassed to say I've never seen Yes Minister/Prime Minister.

I'm glad other people share my opinion of the massively overrated Only Fools and Horses. My parents loved it (which I always found a little odd as I know my dad absolutely despised people who were at all like Del Boy in real life) so I'm sure I must have seen virtually every episode multiple times. The humour was generally repetitive and predictable, the often repeated scene of Del Boy falling through a bar sums up the series quite well for me, mildly amusing the first time you watch it but you could see it coming a mile off from the moment the hatch was opened. Why that one scene is regarded as one of the all time classic scenes of British comedy is completely beyond me.

Mrs Brown's Boys is an odd one, widely regarded as awful (I've literally only met one person who said they like it) yet it's still made so there must be an audience for it.

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

Birds Of a Feather?

 

[bspahh]

Its easy to measure if comedy is funny, because you listen for the laughter. Comedy which makes other people laugh but leaves you cold, is still comedy, its just not for you.

Sometimes the problem is you don't get the references. I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue has a round where they sing one song to the tune of another, and I really like it, apart from when they do it in the episodes from 50 years ago, where the lyrics and tune are from music hall songs and I don't recognise either. Then its just people singing a really bad song.


If you want to know how and why jokes work, Jimmy Carr wrote a book the Naked Jape. For sitcoms, Joel Morris is publishing a book Comedy Basic as a sample, he picked through the jokes in 2 minutes of the Simpsons.

That starts with "There’s an old saying that analysing comedy is like dissecting a frog. Nobody laughs and the frog dies". Its originally from E.B. White. Poking dead jokes and trying to reanimate them is the focus of the Jokes with Mark podcast. No live jokes are harmed.

 

[43096]

Birds Of a Feather?

There is a special place in hell reserved for that.

 

[Class 33]

Some great sitcoms in that list of options. But a lot of old sitcoms not listed. Such as....

Steptoe and Son
Please Sir!
The Fenn Street Gang
Mind Your Language
Hancock's Half Hour
Bless This House
George and Mildred
Man about The House
Robin's Nest
Slinger's Day
Tripper's Day
All at Number 20
No Place Like Home
Ever Decreasing Circles
Hope It Rains
Me and My Girl
The Upper Hand
Desmond's
Fiddler's Three
Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em
The Young Ones
The New Statesman
Fresh Fields
French Fields
Going Straight(the not so well known follow-up to Porridge)
The Good Life
To The Manor Born
Citizen Smith
The Likely Lads
Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads
Growing Pains
In Sickness And In Health
Till Death Do Us Part
In Loving Memory
Butterflies
Get Some In!
And Mother Makes Three
And Mother Makes Five
Rising Damp
Nearest and Dearest
For The Love Of Ada
On The Buses
Only When I Laugh
The Liver Birds
Shelley
The Rag Trade
The Gaffer
Home James
Up The Elephant And Round The Castle
Singles
Chance In A Million
Close To Home
Clarence
Terry And June
Watching
Surgical Spirit
Sorry!
No Job For A Lady
The Incredible Mr Tanner
First Of The Summer Wine
The Two Of Us
Young, Gifted and Broke
Joint Account
Just Good Friends
Roll Over Beethoven
After Henry
Andy Capp
Full House
Never The Twain
Second Thoughts
On The Up
Get Back
Game On
Home To Roost
Goodnight Sweetheart
Bread
Dear John
Brush Strokes
The Detectives
The Fall And Rise Of Reginald Perrin
2point 4 Children
Early Doors
The Brittas Empire
Oh Doctor Beeching!
You Rang M' Lord?



..... and a lot more! Just shows how many sitcoms there were about years ago compared to nowadays.

 

[yorksrob]

I used to enjoy "No Place Like Home" as a child. Wouldn't mind seeing it again.

Also "Don't Wait Up" with the Dr Latimers.

"Just Good Friends" was another one I watched again recently and was still very good.

 

[Pit_buzzer]

Although Black Adder and Fawlty Towers are way ahead of everything thing else for me I can't believe no one has mentioned League of gentlemen yet, proper dark humour but hilarious

 

[nlogax]

League of gentlemen

It’s always been great but it doesn’t really feel like a sitcom..if we’re going down the LoG road then I’ll have to nominate Spaced

 

[alex397]

The humour was generally repetitive and predictable, the often repeated scene of Del Boy falling through a bar sums up the series quite well for me, mildly amusing the first time you watch it but you could see it coming a mile off from the moment the hatch was opened. Why that one scene is regarded as one of the all time classic scenes of British comedy is completely beyond me.

As a fan of Only Fools, I do think it is silly how often that ‘falling though the bar’ scene has been repeated and been described as the funniest ever scene in a British sitcom.
It’s a funny scene and still makes me laugh, but analysing a scene or describing it as the funniest thing ever rather ruins it!

Mrs Brown's Boys is an odd one, widely regarded as awful (I've literally only met one person who said they like it) yet it's still made so there must be an audience for it.

I’ve only met one person who says they like it too. Incidentally, they think Carling is a decent beer.

 

[nw1]

Does anyone remember 'Brass', a pastiche of overblown, gritty Northern drama series of the 1970s and 80s? It was loosely inspired by the American sitcom 'Soap' and starred Timothy West as tight-fisted 1930s Yorkshire mill-owner Bradley Hardacre, Caroline Blakiston as his mad, aristocratic wife, and Barbara Ewing as the young working-class widow trying to hold her impoverished family together. I used to find it rather amusing.

I think I remember the name, but perceived it as something "the adults watched".

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I'm glad other people share my opinion of the massively overrated Only Fools and Horses. My parents loved it (which I always found a little odd as I know my dad absolutely despised people who were at all like Del Boy in real life) so I'm sure I must have seen virtually every episode multiple times.

Isn't that part of the humour?

For example I would probably despise real-life Basil Fawlty characters, but still find him one of the funniest comedy characters in history.

 

[McRhu]

I’m of the controversial opinion that comedy doesn’t need to be uproariously funny to do it’s job. If it generates a warm, cosy glow of feel-good and tickles the corners of my mouth by a few microns that’s enough for me.

 

[D6968]

I was very disappointed when a second series wasn't commissioned. Whether that constitutes "banning", I don't know.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 27 Dec 2022 ==



I had that more as a "comedy drama" though. Seems to action focused too me to be a sitcom.

I think Matt Lucas didn’t to be involved in a second series of ‘come fly with me’ for various reasons, it wasn’t banned, but looking back on it, it’s a little racist shall we say?

 

[gg1]

I think I remember the name, but perceived it as something "the adults watched".

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 28 Dec 2022 ==


Isn't that part of the humour?

For example I would probably despise real-life Basil Fawlty characters, but still find him one of the funniest comedy characters in history.

To a point, but Del Boy was intended to be a likeable character (the loveable rogue trope) whereas I don't believe Basil Fawlty was written as someone the audience should like, at best you might pity him but that's as good as it gets.

 

[ls2270]

I voted for Blackadder, though could have just have easily gone for Father Ted, both works of comedy genius. I also really like Red Dwarf, Inbetweeners, Derry Girls and Spaced. Of the older sitcoms Porridge is the one which really stands out.

Honourable mentions for Allo Allo, Dad's Army, IT crowd, Keeping Up Appearances, One Foot in the Grave, Gavin and Stacey, Open all Hours (the Ronnie Barker ones only), Fawlty Towers and Last of the Summer Wine. I'm slightly embarrassed to say I've never seen Yes Minister/Prime Minister.

I'm glad other people share my opinion of the massively overrated Only Fools and Horses. My parents loved it (which I always found a little odd as I know my dad absolutely despised people who were at all like Del Boy in real life) so I'm sure I must have seen virtually every episode multiple times. The humour was generally repetitive and predictable, the often repeated scene of Del Boy falling through a bar sums up the series quite well for me, mildly amusing the first time you watch it but you could see it coming a mile off from the moment the hatch was opened. Why that one scene is regarded as one of the all time classic scenes of British comedy is completely beyond me.

Mrs Brown's Boys is an odd one, widely regarded as awful (I've literally only met one person who said they like it) yet it's still made so there must be an audience for it.

Your choices are extremely similar to mine there!

 

[yorksrob]

I think Matt Lucas didn’t to be involved in a second series of ‘come fly with me’ for various reasons, it wasn’t banned, but looking back on it, it’s a little racist shall we say?

Lots of characters get pilloried in it, most of whom are middle aged and white, some of whom aren't. A pretty good representation of Modern Britain in that respect.

 

[alex397]

Lots of characters get pilloried in it, most of whom are middle aged and white, some of whom aren't. A pretty good representation of Modern Britain in that respect.

I think the main concern was the ‘blacking up’. I think making jokes about people from all sorts of backgrounds is perfectly acceptable (depending on context of course) but it might have been wise to get black actors to play black characters. It would have stood the test of time a bit better!