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FAvorite British Comedy

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JamesWilson said:
I'm amused that some of the Classic British comedies that inspired American variants haven't made it to the list:

Steptoe & Son = Archie Bunker

Man About House = Three's Company

and there may be others, too....
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Steptoe and Son spawned Sanford and Son......Archie Bunker came about after "Till Death Us Do Part". You were close
 
Porridge co-starred Richard Beckinsale who was arguably a greater comic genius than Ronnie Barker, (and that is saying something), but he died tragically of a heart attack at an early age in 1979. His daughter Kate Beckinsale grew up to be a REALLY BIG MOVIE STAR, Pearl Harbor comes to mind. And she played Ava Gardner in The Aviator.
 
I love this Basil!! I have to check every day to see how the Comedy horse-race is doing....Aaand it's Monty Python by a nose! /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/laugh.gif
 
That's just...... SILLY!

/bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]You were close [/QUOTE]

Nearly. I wasn't here when most of the were first broadcast, and my arrival was years after most of the copy-cats were shown too.

But I liked the "Hitch-hikers Guide" when it was shown on PBS....
 
This is a tough one. I have the AYBS? on DVD. Don't forget Keeping Up Appearances from that era.

Another one I've heard of but never seen was The New Statesman.

Has anyone seen or heard of "Hi-de-Hi!"?

From the more modern era comes The Office and Little Britain.
 
Everyone here is all agog over "24"... "SPOOKS" ("MI-5" here) was first and MUCH better, IMO. And "The Sandbaggers" was BRILLIANT. Neither are comedy, but I prefer 'em. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif
 
I voted for Python, mostly because I've just started wading into the Python set I got for Christmas (the 16-ton megaset) and I'd forgotten just how much good stuff there was buried in between the "Lumberjack Songs" and the "Dead Parrot Sketches".

My real favorite Britcom is far more modern. Coupling , even the less than stellar fourth season without Richard Coyle, is far and away the funniest show I've ever watched. I've seen every episode multiple times, and it never ceases to make me laugh. Hard. Just brilliantly funny stuff, and in most cases very, very true. (Note to anyone who might decide, based on this glowing accolade, to go search out the Coupling DVDs, this show is naughty enough to warrant a pre-broadcast warning on both BBCA and PBS)

-Wm.
 
How 'bout the show Manchild?

All this talk kind of makes me wish that we could still have the BBC America. Some of those shows were too much fun.
 
Older, but classics form the 50s-60s... The Goon Show and Navy Lark! OOps, showing my age...those were radio shows!!
 
aerog said:
Baz said:
Bets that Mr. Bean gets no votes?
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If Father Ted wasn't there I would have voted for Mr Bean. Got all of both series on DVD too. Sick, eh? /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/laugh.gif
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I've got these as well as the cartoon version. I like Mr. Bean.
 
I wonder how a "Best British Detective" poll would turn out, what with Morse, Frost, Dalgliesh, Miss Marple, Poriot, Bergerac, Lovejoy, Inspector Lynley, Inspector Wexford, and Holmes etc. ... I'm sure I've overlooked one, or two, or more....

How many of those made it to the USA?
 
Not sure that Lovejoy would be classed as a Detective. They were frequently hunting him.
 
Whose line is it anyway... also a good british or canadian british comedy too.
 
I voted for Black Adder (especially liked the 2nd and 3rd series), just ahead of Monty Python.

But if Red Dwarf and Coupling were on the list, I would have had an even more difficult choice.

--Jiri
 
No-one mentioned "Hitchhiker's guide to the Universe"!!

The new movie version is prrety darned good too!
 
My inlaws are mountain folks from Virginia in their late 80s. They love to watch "Are You Being Served". I asked them once if they could understand what the actors were saying? The answer was "not a word". Funny how comedy can be just visual.
 
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