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| Classic British TV ComedyOnline Catalogue | Classic British TV Comedy Norman Stanley Fletcher... You have pleaded guilty to the charges brought by this court, and it is now my duty to pass sentence. You are an habitual criminal who accepts arrest as an occupational hazard and presumably accepts imprisonment in the same casual manner... We therefore feel constrained to commit you to the maximum term allowed for such offences. You will go to prison for five years.
- The opening narration, as voiced by Ronnie Barker
So began one of the best British comedy series of all time - Porridge. Detailing the lives of criminal Norman 'Fletch' Fletcher and his fellow inmates in HM Slade Prison, the series ran for three years and enjoyed a number of successful repeat runs as well as a spin-off series and theatrical feature film. It also helped consolidate its star, Ronnie Barker, as one of British TV's best-loved funny men.
|  | Ronnie Barker stars as Arkwright, the tight-fisted stammering shop-keeper, who would rather risk instant amputation than replace his death-trap of a till. A young David Jason plays Granville, Arkwright's ill-fated, over-worked, sexually-frustrated errand boy, while Lynda Baron is Nurse Gladys Emmanuel, the owner of an awesome bosom and an old Morris Minor and is the object of the grocer's undying lust. | |  Ronnie Barker's remarkable versatility as a performer can be traced back to his time in repertory theatre, where he was able to play a wide range of roles and develop his talent for accents, voices and verbal dexterity. It was during this time that he met Glenn Melvyn, who taught him how to stammer (something he would later use to great effect in the sitcom "Open All Hours" (1973)). Melvyn also gave Ronnie his break into television by offering him a role in "I'm Not Bothered" (1956). During the 1960s, Ronnie became well-established in radio, providing multiple voices for "The Navy Lark" and working with comedy great Jon Pertwee. He also became a regular face on television, appearing in "The Frost Report" (1966) (perhaps most memorably in a sketch about Britain's class system, with John Cleese and Ronnie Corbett) and playing character roles in "The Saint" (1962) and "The Avengers" (1961). In 1971, Ronnie teamed up with Ronnie Corbett again, this time for a BBC sketch series called "The Two Ronnies" (1971). This series proved enormously popular, continuing until the late 1980s. In addition to "The Two Ronnies", Barker starred in the popular BBC sitcoms "Porridge" (1973) (as a cockney prisoner) and "Open All Hours" (1973) (as a stammering Northern shopkeeper). In fact, only Leonard Rossiter could be said to have rivalled him during this time for the crown of British television's most popular comedy star. In 1982, he revived silent comedy in By the Sea (1982). Despite his extrovert performances on television, Barker remained a quiet, retiring individual in his personal life, much preferring to spend time with his family rather than mix with the celebrity crowd. This humility, combined with memories of his extraordinary abilities, meant that he continued to be greatly respected by his fellow professionals. In a BAFTA special shown by the BBC in 2004, stars as diverse as Gene Wilder, Peter Kay and Peter Hall paid tribute to his contribution to comedy and British television in general. Ronnie Barker died on 3 October 2005 after suffering from heart problems. | |  Regularly touted as one of the best British sitcoms ever, Only Fools and Horses kicked off in 1981 when mobile phones were the size of bricks and wine bars were the ultimate places to hang out in. The formula was simple enough: Cockney wide boy Derek Trotter (brilliantly played by David Jason) dreams of better things for himself while sharing a cramped council flat in the nicely named Peckham tower block Nelson Mandela House with his unworldly brother Rodney and his sweet but doddery old granddad. Trouble is, Del's endless money-making schemes (such as his attempt to flog a consignment of one-legged turkeys, or his plan to sell bottled tap water) inevitably backfire, like the knackered old van he uses to cart around all this faulty gear. Created by John Sullivan, who also sings the very catchy theme song, Only Fools and Horses is a wonderful mix of dodgy but loveable characters (such as Del Boy's dimwit friend Trigger), knockabout slapstick (no one falls down with as much comedic grace as Jason), and brilliantly crafted dialogue. The show ran seven seasons and ended with characteristic warmth in 1991, when Del Boy became a father; but the Trotters made occasional returns to the small screens with six hugely popular one-off Christmas specials. As Del Boy himself might say: "Lovely jubbly." | | Set in England at the end of the War of the Roses, we soon find out that the history we know is a Tudor fiction. In fact, Henry VII did not actually win the battle of Bosworth Field; he lost and though Richard III died in the battle, his nephew King Richard IV (who certainly was not smothered while still a boy in the Tower of London) reigned on for some years. The story focuses on Richard IV's younger son Prince Edmund, a sniveling coward who calls himself the 'Black Adder'. Assisted by his grungy servant Baldrick and the moronic Lord Percy, Edmund plots his rise to greatness. | |  Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister is a British comedy series about the wheeling and dealing of political life. Although the series is set within the British political scene, it deals with political games and clashes between politicians and the civil service that could be found almost everywhere in the world.
The Yes Minister (YM) series started airing in 1980 on BBC 2. It consisted of three series, each with seven episodes. Each episode is about 30 minutes long. The story focuses around three main characters: James (or Jim) Hacker MP, Sir Humphrey Appleby and Bernard Woolley. It starts off with the political party of Jim Hacker that has won the elections and forms a new government. Jim Hacker gets appointed Minister for the Department of Administrative Affairs. At his department he has to work with his Permanent Secretary Sir Humphrey Appleby. The interests of both are of course very different. Jim Hacker has to make sure he remains popular (for votes) and that he carries out cabinet's policies (for the PM). Sir Humphrey however is interested in securing and possibly extending the position of his department in terms of staffing and budget. These interests clash of course on numerous occasions. On some occasions however their interests coincide and they have to work together. The character of Bernard Woolley is positioned between the other two. Bernard Woolley is Jim Hacker's Principal Private Secretary. Although he is most of the time sympathetic to Jim Hacker's plans, he is also a civil servant and has loyalties to the civil service and Sir Humphrey.
| | Men Behaving Badly was a popular comedy series shown on BBC1 in the United Kingdom. Gary and Dermot share a flat in London. Gary has a girlfriend called Dorothy. When Dermot moves out at the end of the first series, Tony moves in and lusts after Deborah who has a flat upstairs. | | The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin brilliantly captured the mid-1970s zeitgeist.
It opened each week with a naked Reggie walking out into the sea to end it all before rapidly rethinking the whole idea, and told the story of a man desperate to escape his loving but dull marriage, disappointing offspring and the daily grind of his job.
The first series - while hilariously funny - was incredibly dark, focusing on a man in nervous breakdown.
Each week Reggie's behaviour becomes more erratic, his excuses to his secretary for lateness weirder and weirder ("22 minutes late, Joan: a badger ate a junction box at New Malden") and his fantasies of seducing her more vivid.
The mere mention of his mother-in-law is enough to send an image of a hippo lumbering through his head and each episode ends with Reggie screaming in frustration.
| |  A comedy involving an all male (and predominantly elderly) ensemble with major worldwide catastrophe as its backdrop would get laughed out of any current BBC commissioner's office.
Yet Dad's Army lasted longer than the war itself and is a timeless, oft-repeated jewel in the BBC's crown.
Jimmy Perry was acting in the David Croft produced sitcom Hugh and I when he suggested the idea of a sitcom (in which he'd cannily earmarked himself for a role) concerning those men who volunteered to be the last line of defence should the Germans invade.
Croft was impressed, and despite BBC misgivings that it may be disrespectful to the Home Guard, a series was commissioned. Their fears were unfounded, as there was nothing more palpable in Dad's Army than the affection the programme makers had for the characters.
For all their flaws, these men, we could rest assured, would give their lives to defend Great Britain.
Based in the fictional seaside town of Walmington-On-Sea, the series used its setting for a sublime mix of character comedy and lunatic, slapstick escapades.
| |  Edina Monsoon and Patsy Stone are two immature, prosperous, but preposterous substance-abusing fashion and fad-obsessed Londoners who value fame and style over substance (unless they are controlled substances). Saffron, Edina's daughter, provides the persistently dour voice of Monsoon and Stone's super-ego. Edina and Saffy live in a house in Holland Park, with Patsy spending most of her time there as well.
The programme circles around Eddy's ongoing struggle to achieve fame, success and a slender figure amidst the disapproval of her daughter and the constant presence of her increasingly senile mother. Throughout, Patsy is at her side encouraging the behaviours that are constantly causing her conflict. Much of the comedy of the show is physical, usually derived from Edina and Patsy's drunken and/or stoned states, with their favourite drinks being Bolly Stolly (a cocktail of Bollinger champagne and Stolichnaya vodka) and later Veuve & Bourb (a mix of Veuve Clicquot champagne and bourbon) or Dom & Bom (a mix of Dom Perignon champagne and Bombay Sapphire gin). The mutual loathing between Saffy and Patsy, as each tries to guide Edina's behaviour, also makes for many comic situations. A recurring gag found new ways for Edina to fall headfirst out of cars, windows, or down her kitchen stairs at least once every series.
| | “You were expecting a bloke with a beard, a bible and bad breath. You’ve got a babe with a bob cut and a magnificent bosom”. When their ancient vicar, Pottle, dies, the villagers of Dibley prepare for a suitable replacement, hoping that the new man is young and enthusiastic enough to stir the locals from their apathy and get a decent-sized congregation packing into the church instead of the recent single-figure attendances.
What they get is Geraldine Granger (Dawn French), a chocolate-guzzling, joke-cracking, irreverent reverend who breezes into the place like a breath of fresh air. Geraldine's optimistic outlook and obvious enthusiasm prove popular with the wacky villagers. The show relies upon the interplay between the major characters, which make up the comedy ensemble. | | Charting the comedic progress of two feuding families (the Simcocks and the Rodenhursts) as they are thrust together at a changing series of social events (or Do's). Mr Simcock is in metalwork (toasting forks, coal scuttles, door knockers) while Mr Rodenhurst is a very respectable up-market dentist thank you very much; A BIT OF A DO is a hilarious TV series written by David Nobbs (THE RISE & FALL OF REGINALD PERRIN) witnessing the hilarious snobbery and petty jealousies between people thrown together in those fateful, sometimes fatal, occasions. Starring comedy legends David Jason and Gwen Taylor and featuring a young David Thewlis, this set contains all 12 episodes from the first and second serie | |  Rene Artois is a cafe owner in the Nazi-occupied French town of Nouvion, whose efforts to appease a range of opposing factions without being killed provide the unlikely scenario for this long-running hit BBC One sitcom.
German Colonel Von Strohm is on good terms with Rene but exploits the cafe to hide a stolen painting (the oft-mentioned Fallen Madonna with the Big Boobies by Van Klomp) he plans to sell after the war for his retirement.
Unfortunately Hitler also wants the painting and has sent Gestapo agent Otto Flick to find it. But the Germans aren't Rene's only problem.
The French Resistance, led by Michelle, force him to aid their persistent attempts to return two bumbling British airmen to England and all the time Rene must keep secret from his wife his long-running affairs with his two waitresses or risk losing his cherished cafe.
An innovative trick was the portrayal of languages, with French characters speaking English in a French accent whilst the 'English' had an upper-class twang.
Hence the poor French of Englishman Crabtree (disguised as a gendarme) could be depicted by his serial mispronunciations, especially his famous greeting "Good Moaning".
It's the best known of a raft of catchphrases (Michelle’s "Listen very carefully, I shall say zis only once" coming a close second).
| | Auf Wiedersehen, Pet began in 1983 with a thirteen episode series where three bricklayers from Newcastle upon Tyne in England set off for Germany in a desperate attempt to find work, and to have some fun along the way. They eventually get a job in the German district of D?sseldorf, where they meet, and share a hut, with other building workers from across the U.K. This series chronicles their antics and lives during their six month stay abroad. The series starred the now infamous Jimmy Nail, as 'Oz'. It also starred other famous British names such as Tim Healy (as Dennis), Kevin Whately (as Neville) and Pat Roach (as Bomber). Timothy Spall (Barry), Christopher Fairbank (as Moxey) and the late Gary Holton (as Wayne) also starred in this fine series, which earned itself a BAFTA nomination. | | Share the fun as three lovable senior delinquents enjoy the simple pleasures of being unemployed in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales. Who else would try to return a bike purchased in 1946, launch a suspicious-looking wonder-cleaner on an unsuspecting public, and take an invalid friend on an all too final frolic? The rascals are ready for romance, too! This long-running series will steal your heart with its whimsical charm, gentle humor and picturesque setting.In this classic comedy, three elderly delinquents (Bill Owen, Peter Sallis, and Michael Bates) have a series of wacky misadventures as they try to avoid work. | | Hyacinth Bucket ( pronounced 'Bouquet') has become a true icon among viewers on both sides of the Atlantic. First and foremost she is an average middle class woman, married to a local public official, Richard, of a director's assistant in the department of finance. They have a son at 'university' - actually a polytechnic - but he is never seen and only referred to second hand. Yet despite these common facts, she is anything but common. She inflates everything around her, distorting it for all and making them more grandiose than it actually is. More than anything she is ambitious and longing to climb the social ladder and become one of the aristocracy, or 'connected' as she has put it. To that end, she often makes the lives of those around her unbearable with her constant insistence on any and all things wholesome, prim, and proper. | | The term 'ground-breaking' is so often used that it seems to have lost its impact. But love it or hate it there's no denying the indelible mark Monty Python's Flying Circus as left on television as it practically shaped our concept of what sketch comedy is all about. Spanning four series, this show has little to no continuity; little to no repetition of characters; and little to no conformity with what is conventional comedy. Instead, it broke long standing traditions and til this day has yet to be outdone in the realm of pure zaniness. One may be quick to dismiss this zaniness with low-brow humour, but often it was nothing of the sort. High culture references peppered the sketches. Furthermore, they often pointed their wit at contemporary conservative ideas and ideals, often satirically dissecting them and questioning their validity in modern society. | | Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie met while they were undergraduates at Cambridge University and members of Footlights. They were introduced to each other by fellow student Emma Thompson.
Their shared sense of humour immediately clicked, forging a comic partnership that became one of the strongest and most enduring in Britain across the 80s and 90s.
| | Red Dwarf is a hilarious British comedy set in space set on the mining ship "Red Dwarf" then after a few seasons moving onto it's shuttle craft, the "Starbug". The show mostly revolves around the character of Dave Lister (Craig Charles) who is possibly the last human in the galaxy after the rest of the crew were killed while Lister was in suspended animation. Three million years later is is revived by the senile computer Holly and occompanied by the Hologram of his dead bunkmate Rimmer, Cat (who evolved from Listers old cat into a human form) and the robot Kryten as they try to get back to Earth and find out whats left. | | The YOUNG ONES was a ground breaking British sitcom about four college students sharing a house. What's so ground breaking about that you may ask? How many other comedies do you know that feature four leads with little to nothing in common, irreverent humor, giant sandwiches crashing through the roof, headless ghosts, musical guests that often appeared with no explanation in the middle of the living room, the Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse talking animals and food, and Alexei Sayle?
The main cast consisted of Rik Mayal as Rick, self proclaimed People's Poet and anarchist, Nigel Planner as Neil Pye the hippie, Ade Edmondson as Vyvyan Basterd the punk, and Chris Ryan as Mike the Cool Person. Comedian Alexei Sayle appeared as their landlord Mr. Balowski as well as other members of the Balowski family. | | Hancock's Half-Hour was a situation comedy based on the radio series of the same name. It was different from other sit-coms in the way Tony Hancock's character changed profession from week to week. Sidney James was the only other constant performer on the show. When Sidney James left before the final series the show was retitled Hancock as its air time was trimmed back to just 25 minutes. | | The Carry On Films series ran in the main part for an incredible twenty years, from 1958 to 1978, with what has so far proven to be an all too brief, one-off comeback production in 1992. The films feature many of Britain's top comedy stars of the era, including Sid James (pictured left), Kenneth Williams, Barbara Windsor, Joan Sims and many, many more. The film themes touched upon everything from Anthony and Cleopatra and the Court of Henry VIII, to campsite capers and high jinks in what were at the time modern day hospitals. Some of them were hilarious, some - at the very best - mildly amusing, but each one played its part in forming a collection that will surely be remembered, watched and revered for a long time yet to come. | | For millions of viewers, Terry Scott and June Whitfield became synonymous with the happily-married, middle-aged suburban couple. The bumbling, sometimes pompous, sometimes sympathetic, Terry found a perfect foil in June, his understanding, but doubting wife. Together they created a partnership that will always be remembered in television history.
| | Ordinary situations can be very funny at Grace Brothers. It is an aging British department store, that has some not-so-ordinary staff. Young Mr. Grace is cheap and refuses to spend any more than necessary on the operation of the department store. That requires the staff to find creative ways to increase sales and increase profits, besides cutting their pay, of course.
Besides the conflicts with management, the ladies of the Ladies Intimate Apparel Department don't always get along with the gentlemen of the Men's Ready-Made Department very well either. That wouldn't be a problem except they have to share the same floor next to each other. | | The comic genius of two of Britain's most extraordinary scriptwriters and the talents of two comedy actors come together to produce this wildly popular British television series.Steptoe and Son was a situation comedy series shown on BBC1 in the United Kingdom. Harold Steptoe is a rag and bone man who still lives at home with his father Albert. Everytime Harold has a chance of happiness it is ruined by Albert. | | Fall in!... for a feast of classic fun as the boys from the concert party parade their special brand of army camp. This much-loved BBC comedy series stars the members of the Royal Artillery Concert Party including Gunner 'Gloria' Beaumont (Melvyn Hayes), Gunner 'Lofty' Sugden (Don Estelle) and 'La-di-dah' Gunner Graham (John Clegg), all under the watchful eye of Sergeant Major 'SHUUUUT UUUUP' Williams (Windsor Davies). | | Two single girls living in London find a third person--male chef Robin Tripp--to share their house. Now the landlord's on the war-path; two girls and one man sharing. What is the world coming to? Man About The House was a comedy series which aired on ITV in the United Kingdom. Chrissy and Jo are looking for a third person to share their flat and Robin Tripp ends up moving in. Their landlord George Roper doesn't approve of the living arrangements. | | The Goodies was a successful comedy series broadcast on BBC2 and ITV in the United Kingdom. The Goodies was like a live action version of a cartoon and featured Graeme Garden, Bill Oddie and Tim Brooke Taylor in a variety of sketches. | | Hi-de-Hi! was a comedy series created by David Croft and Jimmy Perry. The series was set in the lat 1950's and early 1960's and followed the staff working at Maplin's holiday camp at Crimpton-on-sea. | |
Online Catalogue | Classic British TV Comedy |
