Best British Sitcoms – my take
March 2008 Update: I have updated this post after Richard Spendlove, MBE kindly left a message to point out that it was he who created and co-wrote “Oh, Doctor Beeching!”. My apologies to him for the incorrect credits (now-corrected).
I see that the results of the BBC’s poll for Britain’s Best Sitcom are in. As far as the top ten are concerned, oh dear, it’s a fairly predictable lot. Quite how the Vicar of Dibley got to number three is beyond me… do most people really consider this pap to be better than Father Ted (11)? And much as I love Ronnie Barker, what is Open All Hours doing in the top ten? Mind you, numbers 11-100 aren’t much better; I find it deeply disturbing that there are people out there that find ‘Allo ‘Allo! (13) and Last of the Summer Wine (14) funnier than Steptoe and Son (15). Some people should not be allowed to vote in BBC polls, let alone general elections.
Anyway, I was thinking about my top ten British sitcoms, and came up with these:
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10 Babes In The Wood (BBC rank: none)
A comedy set in a St John’s Wood flat shared by three bright, independent young women. Despite Samantha Janus and Denise Van Outen being horribly miscast as blonde, Essex-girl slappers, the subtle script meant that the series was often mistaken for a gritty drama. As an added bonus, their lecherous friend and neighbour Charlie was played by Karl “Let Flash Take Care Of The Hard Work” Howman (“Jacko” from another of my favourites, Brush Strokes). -
9 Oh, Doctor Beeching! (BBC rank: none)
The thing with superbly written, rounded comedy characters is that they can be transplanted into any scenario or setting, and still work brilliantly. And that’s exactly what happened when “Hi-de-Hi!” came to an end; rather than discard the best characters, Jimmy Perry OBE and David Croft OBE wrote a new sitcom around them, using the same actors and gags. Instead of a 1950s holiday camp, the setting was now “below the stairs” at a 1920s country house in You Rang, M’Lord?. And just as recycling can help save the environment, their comedy recycling arguably helped to save the British sitcom. After “You Rang, M’Lord?”, David Croft went on to jointly write “Oh, Doctor Beeching!”, which was created and co-written by Richard Spendlove MBE. The setting was a small railway station at the start of the sixties, and many of the storylines were based on Mr Spendlove’s 35 years working on the railways.
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8 No Place Like Home (BBC rank: none)
The early 80s saw many alternative comedians and writers breaking through into the mainstream to produce a new breed of original, imaginative situation comedies that didn’t rely on tired cliches. “No Place Like Home” was not such a programme. Instead, the writers opted for a more classic formula: middle-aged, middle class couple with amusing neighbours (Vera and Trevor Botting) and demanding grown-up children. Even the names of the lead characters – Arthur and Beryl Crabtree – tell you you’re in a safe pair of comedy hands. The Crabtrees are looking forward to a quiet life now their kids have flown the nest, but gradually the children all return home, and the house soon degenerates into chaos, forcing Arthur to find a little peace in the garden shed. -
7 Slinger’s Day (BBC rank: none)
Leonard Rossiter, the actor playing the main character in your sitcom about a supermarket suddenly dies, so what do you do? Cancel the series? No, you rename it and and bring in Bruce Forsyth to play Supafare manager Cecil Slinger! Sadly this was the first and last time Brucie starred in a sitcom, but he certainly left his mark. -
6 In Loving Memory (BBC rank: none)
Younger visitors here may only recall Dame Thora Hird from her uplifting time at the helm of Songs of Praise, but in fact she had a long and varied career, including starring in “In Loving Memory”. Set oop north in the early 1930s, Ivy Unsworth (Dame Thora) takes over the running of the family undertaking business after the death of her husband. She is helped by her hapless nephew Billy, and many great coffin-falling-out-of-herse type gags ensue. -
5 Mind Your Language (BBC rank: none)
Set in an English evening class for foreign students, the PC brigade would have you believe that “Mind Your Language” was outrageously insensitive, offensive show. However, in the dark days of the late 1970s, a comedy that used racial stereotypes to mock various nationalities and ethnic groups was just the thing to take everyone’s minds off the terrible National Front rallies, skinhead attacks and race-riots of the time.
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4 All Night Long (BBC rank: none)
Sitcom veteran Keith Barron (“Duty Free”, sadly only ranked 71) stars as Bill Chivers, an ex-con who is determined to go straight, and now owns a bakery in Soho. The comedy action takes place during the night as Bill and his staff (including an illegal immigrant named Vanda – I mention this purely for the amusement of one particular person reading this) attempt to bake bread for local businesses, despite frequent interruptions from assorted visitors. You can just imagine the producer’s pitch: “Sitcom, Keith Baron, all-night bakery”; the TV execs must have known they were onto a winner. -
3 Up The Elephant And Round The Castle (BBC rank: none)
A lot of people had Jim Davidson written off as little more than a racist, wife-beating drunk, but in “Up The Elephant” he showed the full range of his acting ability, playing Jim London, a cheeky “Jack The Lad” cockney. After inheriting a terraced house in the Elephant & Castle, he soon gets plenty of comic mileage from his dodgy neighbours and the squatter upstairs. The character of Jim London was further developed in the sequel, Home James!, in which he finds himself working as a chauffeur for a rich businessman and his attractive daughter… -
2 Never The Twain (BBC rank: 89)
Should have been number one in my book. Windsor Davies and Donald Sinden play feuding Antique Shop owners Oliver Smallbridge and Simon Peel. The quintessential British sitcom.
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1 The Gnomes Of Dulwich (BBC rank: none)
I admit I had never heard of this sitcom until yesterday, and without even having seen it, it’s already become my favourite ever. It was the title that first attracted me, but when I read the description I knew I had stumbled across something a bit special. Broadcast on BBC2 in 1969, it really was about a group of gnomes in the garden of 25 Telegraph Road, Dulwich. Led by Big (Terry “and June” Scott), Small (Hugh Lloyd) and Old (John Clive), the solid stone British gnomes clash with their plastic European counterparts recently imported into the area. Believe it or not, “The Gnomes Of Dulwich” was actually written by Jimmy Perry, but sadly only six episodes were ever made. Terry Scott, dressed as a gnome, in Dulwich, commenting on the EU… Classic!
Pah, no wonder TV’s so crap when only one of my picks makes it into the top 100.
Nice list. I never got on with Never the Twain though, I thought Sinden was better in Two’s Company as Elaine Stritch’s butler.
It’s a controversial choice I know, but I felt that Windsor Davies’ Welshness was the perfect foil for Sinden’s classic English comedic style. I like a bit of tension and contrast in my sitcoms. Perhaps I do need to reconsider Two’s Company though.
Hi!
My mum was Terry the stripper in “All Night Long” (nice intro right? lol) & I’ve been looking for footage EVERYWHERE… Even just photos…
>Wonder if you could help? Since you seem to have liked the show :D
There she is, looking lovely too.
[img]http://i062.radikal.ru/1011/c9/8536f65d19a5.jpg[/img]
[img]http://s56.radikal.ru/i153/1011/f0/d052fd49d524.jpg[/img]
All Night Long (1996) was an interesting, though short lived, sitcom full of amusing plot twists. Keith Barron lent charm and substance to all the crew and I dare say it inspired Victoria Wood in more than one way for her Dinnerladies, created many years later.
Correction, it was from 1994 (and the pictures won’t render here, so please just copy the URLs and paste them in your browser to see Terry in action).