The best decade for British Sitcoms?
21stCenturyBoy
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What do you think is the best decade for the great British sitcom?
I think that a strong case can be made for the 90's. Programmes that began in the late 80's (One Foot In The Grave, Red Dwarf etc) really reached their peak during this decade, and a host of some of them most iconic and funniest sitcoms began in this decade. Shows like the Royle Family, Dinnerladies, Father Ted (a joint British/ Irish production), Vicar of Dibley, Men Behaving Badly, Bottom, Absolutely Fabulous and Spaced all started life in the 90s, and remain some of the funniest sitcoms Britain has ever produced.
What's your best decade?
I think that a strong case can be made for the 90's. Programmes that began in the late 80's (One Foot In The Grave, Red Dwarf etc) really reached their peak during this decade, and a host of some of them most iconic and funniest sitcoms began in this decade. Shows like the Royle Family, Dinnerladies, Father Ted (a joint British/ Irish production), Vicar of Dibley, Men Behaving Badly, Bottom, Absolutely Fabulous and Spaced all started life in the 90s, and remain some of the funniest sitcoms Britain has ever produced.
What's your best decade?
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Steptoe and Son
Till Death
Dad's Army
Hancock
One Foot started in 1990
I love the 80's, mainly because that's when I grew up and loved loads of sitcoms then. But I also liked quite a few of the 70's and 90's ones. The worst is this decade (so far!) and the 00's (although I love Green Wing and Black Books).
Anyway I think I'm torn between '70s and '90s. Can I go for both?
Most of them are awful IMO. Watching them now shows just how dated they are. Unlike say Only Fools or Blackadder which were from the 80's and timeless.
However, because Partridge started in the 90's and that and OFAH are my two favourite sitcoms of all time I will have to agree with you, reluctantly.
Father Ted (Ok not quite British, but still. . . )
Men Behaving Badly
One foot in the grave
Blackadder Goes Forth
I'm Alan Partridge S1 (and KMKY)
Some of the best years of Only Fools and Horses
Game On
The Detectives
Red Dwarf
Bottom
Suppose it depends when you were born as to which era you prefer though
Blackadder Goes Forth was the 80's (1989)
Hmm
Of your list, only Til Death is genuinely a 60' sitcom
Dad's Army was mainly the 70's
Steptoe & Son was half 60's half 70's
And Hancock's last Galton & Simpson series was 1960 0r 61
My own choice is the 70's
I think it's reasonable to assign a sitcom to when the idea was created. That's when the "creative" work was done and the core "sit" part of the "com" came about. Hence they reflect the age in which they were conceived.
Though maybe the true answer is that the best "decade" doesn't correspond to a moniker like "60's", but spans 10 years from say 19x8 - 19y7
I can't think of many I've enjoyed to be honest .
The Office , Black Adder and Alan Partridge stand put like a beacons , though .
The yanks must have produced 97 out of the top 100 sitcoms ever .
Care to name them? Give me something to buy on DVD i havent seen.
I just typed out a long long post, then lost it on preview
:(:mad::mad::mad:
Anyway have a browse around sites like Comedy.co.uk and TV Cream I'm sure you'll find inspiration. The really bad ones won't actually have reviews though. Mind you I doubt you'll be able to get DVDs of stuff like That's My boy or Come back Mrs Noah.
That's My Boy is available on Amazon!
Dad's Army ran from 1968 to 1977.
Hancock split with Galton and Simpson in October 1961. His BBC series ran from 1956 to 1961, the year both The Blood Donor and The Radio Ham were shown., both regarded as classics.He then went to ATV and his career went downhill until he committed suicide in Australia.Hancock's legendary producer Dennis Main Wilson told me that shortly before recording The Blood Donor Hancock was in a car crash and seriously shaken. He had difficulty remembering his lines so was allowed to read them from the American invention of the ''idiot board'', large cards with the script on held beside the camera.In some of the scenes where he is addressing the camera you can see him looking slightly to the side (before the days of Autocue). After that Hancock relied heavily on the cards and was less conscientious about learning his lines.
* 15 Storeys High
* Black Books
* Extras
* Gavin & Stacey
* Green Wing
* Ideal
* Nathan Barley
* Nighty Night
* Outnumbered
* Peep Show
* Pete Versus Life
* PhoneShop
* Pulling
* Saxondale
* Spaced
* Still Game
* The Inbetweeners
* The IT Crowd
* The Mighty Boosh
* The Office
* The Smoking Room
* The Thick of It
(Not sitcoms, but I personally loved The League of Gentlemen, Monkey Dust, Garth Marenghi's Darkplace and Brass Eye. Comedy was one of the few things I felt the 2000s did right.)
spot on...
how can one chose between 'till death us do part', steptoe, dads army, hi de hi, blackadder, father ted, etc etc etc...
those from the last centuary were all funny but in different ways.
Don't forget the two longest running ones:
My Family
Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps
and don't forget the best one...
Phoenix Nights
...they didnt, green wing was mentioned