British comedy
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British Comedy, also known in North America as Britcom, is both a synonym of British humor, and a term to describe content imbued with it. It is this second definition that is the focus of this article. British comedy is known for its consistently quirky characters, settings and plots and has produced some of the most famous and memorable comic actors and characters in the last fifty years.
A number of British radio comedies achieved considerable renown in the second half of the twentieth century. One notable and influential series was The Goon Show, which was broadcast through the 1950s. Another was Round the Horne.
Currently, most British comedy is broadcast via TV with sketch shows, stand-up comedy, impressionists and sitcoms being the four most popular formats.
One notable show is Monty Python's Flying Circus, a comedy from the seventies that introduced us to such luminaries as John Cleese, Eric Idle, and Terry Gilliam and went on to shape the future of comedy in the UK. Other sketch shows include French and Saunders, Little Britain and The Fast Show.
The situation comedy (sitcom) is another genre of peculiarly British humour. Popular British sitcoms have included Only Fools and Horses, Blackadder, The Vicar of Dibley, Fawlty Towers, and Dad's Army.
Listed below are just a few of the thousands of British comedies. For a more complete list please see the external links at the bottom of this page.
List of some British comedy programmes
- 2point4 Children
- Absolutely Fabulous
- Alistair McGowan's Big Impression
- 'Allo 'Allo!
- Are You Being Served?
- As Time Goes By
- At Last the 1948 Show
- Birds of a Feather
- Blackadder
- Black Books
- Bo Selecta
- Bottom
- Brass Eye
- Bremner, Bird and Fortune
- Brittas Empire
- Cambridge Circus
- Chef!
- Chelmsford 123
- Coupling
- Dad
- Dad's Army
- The Day Today
- Do Not Adjust Your Set
- Drop The Dead Donkey
- Ever-Decreasing Circles
- The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
- The Fast Show
- Father Ted
- Fawlty Towers
- The Frost Report
- George and Mildred
- Gimme Gimme Gimme
- Give My Head Peace
- The Goodies
- The Good Life
- The Goon Show
- Goodness Gracious Me
- Hancock's Half Hour (later known as Hancock)
- Harry Enfield and Chums
- Hi De Hi!
- Hippies
- I'm Alan Partridge
- It Ain't Half Hot Mum
- Jam
- Keeping Mum
- Keeping Up Appearances
- Knowing Me Knowing You With Alan Partridge
- Last of the Summer Wine
- The League of Gentlemen
- Let Them Eat Cake
- The Likely Lads
- Little Britain
- Maid Marian and her Merry Men
- Man about the House
- Men Behaving Badly
- Monty Python's Flying Circus
- Morecambe and Wise
- Mr. Bean
- My Family
- My Hero
- The New Statesman
- Not the Nine O'Clock News
- O Dr. Beeching
- The Office
- One Foot in the Grave
- Only Fools and Horses
- On The Buses
- Open All Hours
- Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights
- Porridge
- Q5
- Red Dwarf
- Rising Damp
- Round the Horne
- The Royle Family
- Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em
- Sorry!
- Spaced
- Steptoe and Son
- Sykes
- That Was The Week That Was (familiarly known as "TW3")
- The Thin Blue Line
- Three Up - Two Down
- Till Death Us Do Part
- TLC
- To the Manor Born
- The Two Ronnies
- Up Pompeii
- The Vicar of Dibley
- What Ever Happened to the Likely Lads? (continued The Likely Lads series)
- Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister, its continuation
- The Young Ones
See also
- List of British comedians
- List of Comedies
- British Comedy Awards
- British humour
- British sitcom
- UK topics
External links
- British TV Comedy (http://www.phill.co.uk/)
- British Comedy (http://www.britcoms.com/)
- The British Sitcom Guide (http://www.sitcom.co.uk)
- BBC Guide to Comedy (http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide)
- British Comedy Database (http://www.phill.co.uk)
- Kettering Magazine - the magazine of elderly British comedy (http://www.bodnotbod.org.uk/kettering/)
- Chortle - British comedy website (http://www.chortle.co.uk)