The 50 Greatest British Sitcoms E-Book

Roger Barker

• Herausgeber: BookRix
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

Britain is famous for its sitcoms. Many have been been made and numerous sitcoms are regarded as all time classic British television shows. In the past sitcoms were ubiquitous on television - particularly in the 1970s - making up a key part of programme schedules. In later years sitcoms have become rarer, but are still shown. It is common for comedies today to have a modern take on the sitcom and have no laughter track and be almost like a comedy drama.

What are the greatest British sitcoms? This is a subjective opinion as people have different senses of humour; this book is the author's opinion, taking into account some other factors such as impact on popular culture, production values and so forth. There is a consensus on the best British sitcoms. These appear on greatest sitcom lists, or a critically acclaimed today. Another way to determine to the British sitcom can be to note which old sitcoms are repeated on British television channels.

Hopefully this book will be of interest to those interested in British sitcoms and comedy and hopefully the reader will be introduced to some new comedy classics.

Leseprobe

Roger Barker

The 50 Greatest British Sitcoms

BookRix GmbH & Co. KG81371 Munich

Copyright

© Copyright 2022 Roger Barker.

All Rights Reserved

Contents

Introduction

The Sitcoms

Facts British About Sitcoms

Introduction

Britain is famous for its sitcoms. Many have been been made and numerous sitcoms are regarded as all time classic British television shows. In the past sitcoms were ubiquitous on television - particularly in the 1970s - making up a key part of programme schedules. In later years sitcoms have become rarer, but are still shown. It is common for comedies today to have a modern take on the sitcom and have no laughter track and be almost like a comedy drama.

What are the greatest British sitcoms? This is a subjective opinion as people have different senses of humour; this book is the author's opinion, taking into account some other factors such as impact on popular culture, production values and so forth. There is a consensus on the best British sitcoms. These appear on greatest sitcom lists, or a critically acclaimed today. Another way to determine to the British sitcom can be to note which old sitcoms are repeated on British television channels.

Hopefully this book will be of interest to those interested in British sitcoms and comedy and hopefully the reader will be introduced to some new comedy classics.

The Sitcoms

Allo ‘Allo!

BBC

Written by Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft

Eighty five episodes over nine series.

First shown from 30 December 1982 - 14 December 1992.

Stars:

Gordon Kaye as Rene Artois

Carmen Silvera as Edith Melba Artois

Hilary Minster as Major-General bon Klinkerhoffen

Guy Siner as Lietenant Gruber

Kim Hartman as Helga Geerhart

Kirsten Cooke as Michelle

Vicki Michelle as Yvette

It is 1940 and World War 2. The French town of Nouvion is occupied by the Nazis. Local cafe owner Rene Artois is a reluctant member of the local French resistance group.

Another charming sitcom from Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft who wrote Are You Being Served together. Croft wrote other historical comedies It Ain't Half Hot Mum, Hi-de-Hi! and Dad's Army with Jimmy Perry.

The series is perhaps in poor taste having the SS, Gestapo and other Nazi figures as comedy characters. But it is in the British tradition of lampooning authority figures. The long running sitcom had a series of running plot lines through the period of World War II. The character of Rene gave a recap of the story at the start of each episode.

The series has a selection of rather cheesy jokes and over the top characters. It is laced with slapstick and innuendo. This creates a classic British comedy. The characters have many catchphrases of their own. For example French resistance leader Michelle says "I will say this only once.". One memorable is Arthur Bostrom as a British spy posing as a French policeman. When speaking French he (in English with a comedy accent of course) often mispronounces words resulting in double entrendes or innuendo. For example instead of Good Morning he says Good Moaning. The long suffering Rene is wonderfully played by Gordon Kaye, and there is a huge cast of actors in the show who are superb.

The show was a spoof of war films and some of the 70s British dramas about wartime resistance groups such as Secret Army. A classic show which is almost like watching a great stage show.

Are You Being Served?

BBC

Written by Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft; some episodes written by Michael Knowles and John Chapman

Seventy episodes over ten series

First shown from 8 September 1972 –1 April 1985

Stars:

John Inman as Mr Humphries

Molie Sugden as Betty Slocombe

Wendy Richard as Shirley Brahms

Frank Thornton as Captain Peacock

Nicholas Smith as Cuthbert Rumbold

Trevor Bannister as Mr Lucas

Arthur Brough as Ernest Grainger

Harold Bennett as Young Mr Grace

Larry Martyn as Mr Mash

Arthur English as Mr Harman

The show is set in the ladies' and men's' department of the London flagship Grace Brothers department store chain.

A classic and long running sitcom with many iconic characters. There is gay stereotype Mr Humphries played wonderfully by John Inman, with his catchphrase "I'm free", when asked if he is free to deal with a customer. Mollie Sugden plays the feisty Mrs Slocombe. Wendy Richard is charming as young cockney sales assistant Shirley. Trevor Bannister plays the cheeky womanising Mr Lucas. Arthur Brough plays the elderly and grumpy sales assistant Mr Grainger. Frank Thornton plays Captain Peacock a pompous middle manager in the department. Nicholas Smith plays Mr Rumbold another pomp's manager. Larry Martyn and Arthur English play maintenance men. Harold Bennett plays Young Mr Grace (a joke as he is elderly) the tight fisted store owner who always has a rather young secretary.

Due to the long running nature of the series some actors left the series or passed away. Arthur Brough died after the 5th series. Harold Bennett died before the ninth series. Trevor Bannister left after series 7 to work on other projects.

The series has a good ensemble cast. One of the keys to the show's success is that it almost like a stage play with a large set making up the department store. There are often musical or variety numbers involving the cast. One amusing regular item is dinner at the canteen as the fare is always awful. The show is full or slapstick and double ententes. Mre Slocombe refers to her cat as my pussy causing some confusion and almost creating a single entente! In between the rather broad humour there are some quite decent plots such as characters wanting to gain promotion or fearing the sack. There is a lot of commentary on the class system with some members of staff seeing themselves as above others and being overly obsessed with etiquette.

The show is a cult programme in the US after it was shown on PBS in the 1980s.

A film was released in 1977 where the staff go on holiday to the fictional Spanish resort of Costa Plonka. This is entertaining but takes place on a large set of a hotel lobby and garden/dining area: it was based on a play. It would have been nice to see the characters in outdoor locations in London in a film. If the 70 episodes and film are not enough there was an Australian version made. Two series of sixteen episodes were made between 1980-81. There were Australian versions of the characters (with different names) and John Inman starred as Mr Humphries.