Aparently it was.
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AFLW 2024 - Round 10 - Chat, game threads, injury lists, team lineups and more.
Britains Best Sitcom - Results are in.
- Thread starter Altum Volantes
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Aparently it was.
- Banned
- #27
I voted Only Fools and Horses.
I think it will be between Fawlty Towers, Only Fools and Horses and Blackadder. I suspect the first named may win out but I would personally go for the latter.
The rule was that you could never write a historical comedy but these people bucked that.
Series one was only moderate (they hadn't even worked out what the main character would be like at the start of shooting) but then they kicked in with some marvelous scripts and great characters, to say nothing of the quality cast.
I would also love to vote for Porridge - a great 'sit' and plenty of 'com' - another I can watch again and again, The Good Life or Yes Minister (both of whom have a very fine concentrated casts.
To The Manor Born is a gentle comedy with a very strong base.
A few outside the top 10 that I rated highly:
Drop the Dead Donkey
The Royal Family
Shelley (very clever)
The New Statesman
The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin (Leonard Rossiter - brilliant)
(Whatever Happened To) The Likely Lads
Whoops Apocalypse ( Very 'off the wall')
Butterflies (by far the best thing Carla Lane ever wrote - good cast too)
I'm very glad The Office didn't make it. Paper thin characters, poor acting and a script that relied on one feeble joke.
The rule was that you could never write a historical comedy but these people bucked that.
Series one was only moderate (they hadn't even worked out what the main character would be like at the start of shooting) but then they kicked in with some marvelous scripts and great characters, to say nothing of the quality cast.
I would also love to vote for Porridge - a great 'sit' and plenty of 'com' - another I can watch again and again, The Good Life or Yes Minister (both of whom have a very fine concentrated casts.
To The Manor Born is a gentle comedy with a very strong base.
A few outside the top 10 that I rated highly:
Drop the Dead Donkey
The Royal Family
Shelley (very clever)
The New Statesman
The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin (Leonard Rossiter - brilliant)
(Whatever Happened To) The Likely Lads
Whoops Apocalypse ( Very 'off the wall')
Butterflies (by far the best thing Carla Lane ever wrote - good cast too)
I'm very glad The Office didn't make it. Paper thin characters, poor acting and a script that relied on one feeble joke.
The Office was interesting but not one of the greats. I did think the receptionist is a very good actor though.
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That proves I've never grown up because I still find it amusing.
Someone mentioned 'Waiting For God' earlier, I missed that one in the list......I actually got quite a few laughs out of that show!
As I said before though, it's simply a matter of taste, we aren't all going to like the same things.
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I'd go Fawlty Towers followed by Blackadder. I'd also have On the Buses and Are You Being Served? much higher. It's probably just me but I love that double entrende British comedy of the 70s. Give me TV with a heap of Bristol and Dumpling jokes and I can be kept entertained for hours.
I'll have a go at a top 10, fwiw
Fawlty Towers
Black Books (series three in production currently.)
Blackadder
the Office
Drop the Dead Donkey
Young Ones
Yes Minister
Red Dwarf
On the Buses
The Goodies
Fawlty Towers
Black Books (series three in production currently.)
Blackadder
the Office
Drop the Dead Donkey
Young Ones
Yes Minister
Red Dwarf
On the Buses
The Goodies
Ahhhhhh..........................
I forgot The Goodies.
Very much 'of their time' but very funny. Of course Garden and Brooke-Taylor can still make us Brits laugh on "I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue" (do you get that in Oz?).
Good to see an excellent 'newcomer' - Early Doors, written by Craig Cash - in there. But the best comedy of last year for me was "Marion and Geoff". Needs to be watched and stuck with but really good.
"On The Buses" - I ask you???????????
I forgot The Goodies.
Very much 'of their time' but very funny. Of course Garden and Brooke-Taylor can still make us Brits laugh on "I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue" (do you get that in Oz?).
Good to see an excellent 'newcomer' - Early Doors, written by Craig Cash - in there. But the best comedy of last year for me was "Marion and Geoff". Needs to be watched and stuck with but really good.
"On The Buses" - I ask you???????????
I liked on the buses when I was a youngster.
So much so I wanted to be a bus driver when I grew up. Unlucky for me I ended up being a ship driver then an IT consultant.
Perhaps I could do the school bus when I retire.
So much so I wanted to be a bus driver when I grew up. Unlucky for me I ended up being a ship driver then an IT consultant.
Perhaps I could do the school bus when I retire.
Booze Hound, I can see why you might question my choice of On The Buses. The answer is partly to do with the reasons why a pom might like Prisoner, (Cell Block H, not THE Prisoner,) and why an Australian might like The Bill. i.e. the foibles of an alien culture, with weird vernacular and curious idiosyncrocies (sp?). Like Mr. Rusty Brookes, I've somehow grown up liking the "oo-er, sounds a bit rude, fnarr fnarr" approach to comededy. And OTB is the one from the past that I find the most watchable & enjoyable. It has a lovely spirit - truly pathetic creatures bustling about like the universe was their own, bitching & moaning all the way, while trying to shag saucy clippies. Making jokes about how their boss is like Hitler and their life is ****e, all the while super-busy trying to get their end in.
It's to do with the strength of the characters, plus the decent writing, (for it's time,) plus the overall atmosphere they inadvertantly captured. it's not thesaurus-funny like a Blackadder, but it's tragic/f'ked-up/down-to-earth funny. Plus you could make jokes about funny things in those days, that you're not allowed to make in the post Ben Elton era. And I think OTB is the standard bearer of the times. I mean, the Goodies weren't too many years after all this, and I generally consider their outlook to be a great improvement, but they clearly were from another generation.
Reg Varney - Stan - was Benny hill's stand-up straight man for a long time, and it shows in a flattering way. OTB is the most resilient example from that era, mostly because they captured so much dark reality without even trying, plus there was lots of boob and knob gags.
It's to do with the strength of the characters, plus the decent writing, (for it's time,) plus the overall atmosphere they inadvertantly captured. it's not thesaurus-funny like a Blackadder, but it's tragic/f'ked-up/down-to-earth funny. Plus you could make jokes about funny things in those days, that you're not allowed to make in the post Ben Elton era. And I think OTB is the standard bearer of the times. I mean, the Goodies weren't too many years after all this, and I generally consider their outlook to be a great improvement, but they clearly were from another generation.
Reg Varney - Stan - was Benny hill's stand-up straight man for a long time, and it shows in a flattering way. OTB is the most resilient example from that era, mostly because they captured so much dark reality without even trying, plus there was lots of boob and knob gags.
re "I'm sorry, I haven't a clue" - never seen it on telly here, but I have heard one or two episodes searching for Bill Bailey (of Black Books) stuff on the net. He's a superstar in the making - the Victor Borge of our times - but he makes musical jokes about Slayer or Toto or Lou Reed or medieval porno music. And that's just his stand-up act. In sitcom format, he's got it all too. In what other sitcom could a lost hairy guy happily become a pornstar dressed as Bo Peep in a Japanese fetish mag called "Big and Beardy"?? It wouldn't happen in To the Manor Born, I'm telling you.
re Felicity Kendall .... "Well it's the first time I've heard it called that!"
"Oooh, lordy dordy..look what I've found. All of Felicity Kendall's underwear..and it needs a good wash." "ooowaaaaahh"
My favourite Young Ones quote "Oh not that speaker... Jimi Hendrix once ****ed on that!" - Neil Pye, boom shanka.
re Felicity Kendall .... "Well it's the first time I've heard it called that!"
"Oooh, lordy dordy..look what I've found. All of Felicity Kendall's underwear..and it needs a good wash." "ooowaaaaahh"
My favourite Young Ones quote "Oh not that speaker... Jimi Hendrix once ****ed on that!" - Neil Pye, boom shanka.
jim boy
Umpires Association Head
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- #37
Never really listened to it when I lived in Blighty, but now that I've moved away I listen to it most weeks its on, as well as other shows like The News Quiz and Quote, Unquote.. Prefer Just a Minute though, less contrived and a better range of contestants such as paul merton, Graham Norton, lisa tarbuck or even Clement freud!
Possumisagun
Team Captain
"The time for diplomacy is over. Vyv, chuck the tele out the window.... Now that I did not expect"
Hungry29
Debutant
I absolutely love British comedy, but if I had to choose......
Only Fools and Horses
Delboy and Rodders (and as much as I love Uncle, I have a soft spot for Grandad) are just brilliant. Doesn't get much better IMO.
Only Fools and Horses
Delboy and Rodders (and as much as I love Uncle, I have a soft spot for Grandad) are just brilliant. Doesn't get much better IMO.
