British comedy
British Comedy, known in many countries as Britcom, is a very particular type of humour that is performed in Britain and exported around the world. 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.Most British comedy is broadcast via TV with sketch shows, stand-up comedy, impressionists and sitcoms being the four most popular formats.
One of the most notable sketch shows is the seventies show Monty Python's Flying Circus, a comedy 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 is 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
- 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
- Porridge
- Q5
- Red Dwarf
- Rising Damp
- 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