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Best British Sitcoms

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Peter Mugridge

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Richard Beckinsale's untimely death helped the decision not to make any further episodes of Porridge.

The one-off revival shown tonight got around that very neatly by jumping two generations down the line with a complete new set of characters and even a completely different prison - although very reminiscent of those in the original series - unlike the other current revivals which are using the old characters with a new cast. It worked very well; much better than I was expecting it to be.
 
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Bungle73

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BBC One is currently on a quest to ruin all it's Sitcoms by remaking them. They done it to Open All hours and are currently doing it to Porridge. (When the creators die is that it's cue to ruin the next? I hope John Cleese lives a few decades yet)
The second I heard canned laughter I turned over to the last of the truly great Sitcom that even when repeated endlessly is still funnier then the rehashed, canned laughter, Friends copycat nonsense ''Father Ted''

You realise that all the old classic sitcoms were usually filmed before an audience, and therefore had a laughter track? As for the new versions, I know for a fact that the new episode of Are You Being Served was. 20,000 people applied for 250 seats. I have no reason to doubt that the others were.
 
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yorksrob

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backontrack

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I love Fawlty Towers but I think Yes Minsiter is the best. Given that it's 30 years old much of it is still true today!

You're right, it's brilliant :D


Hacker: Who else is in this department?
Sir Humphrey: Well briefly, sir, I am the Permanent Under Secretary of State, known as the Permanent Secretary. Woolley here is your Principal Private Secretary. I too have a Principal Private Secretary and he is the Principal Private Secretary to the Permanent Secretary. Directly responsible to me are ten Deputy Secretaries, 87 Under Secretaries and 219 Assistant Secretaries. Directly responsible to the Principal Private Secretaries are plain Private Secretaries, and the Prime Minister will be appointing two Parliamentary Under-Secretaries and you will be appointing your own Parliamentary Private Secretary.
Hacker: Can they all type?
Sir Humphrey: None of us can type. Mrs Mackay types: she's the secretary.
Minister: Pity, we could have opened an agency.
Sir Humphrey: Very droll, Minister.
Hacker: I suppose they all say that, do they?
Sir Humphrey: Certainly not, Minister. Not quite all...

:lol:
 

miami

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Anyone remember The Detectives? (starring Jasper Carrott, Robert Powell, George Sewell )

Swing Low Sweet Chariot
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
You're right, it's brilliant :D

One of those times when something manages to Inform, Educate and Entertain. A shame we didn't have something similar with the EU while we were in, or indeed with modern parliament now. While I appreciated the recreation with the detective from the thin blue line it didn't really hit the same notes on the educate part.
 

cf111

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Drop the Dead Donkey is an absolute favourite of mine and one that I don't think gets the credit it deserves - all of it is on 4oD now as well!
 

STEVIEBOY1

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The one-off revival shown tonight got around that very neatly by jumping two generations down the line with a complete new set of characters and even a completely different prison - although very reminiscent of those in the original series - unlike the other current revivals which are using the old characters with a new cast. It worked very well; much better than I was expecting it to be.

Yes, the new episode of Porridge last night was quite good, the remakes/update of Oen All Hours seems to have worked fairly well too.

Seeing above comments, I to like On the Buses which is often shown on one of the diggi channels, please sir was good too. It will be interesting to see what the updated/prequel of the Hyacinth Bucket programme will be like.

I wonder if like Open all Hours, if they get positive feedback about the new Porridge, Are You Being Served etc, if they will make full series.?
 

GarethJohn

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You realise that all the old classic sitcoms were usually filmed before an audience, and therefore had a laughter track? As for the new versions, I know for a fact that the new episode of Are You Being Served was. 20,000 people applied for 250 seats. I have no reason to doubt that the others were.

If they aren't equal to the originals in quality they shouldn't be aired. But I bet BBC One trumped all in the ratings war last night due primarily to the name ''Porridge'' and giving a glimmer of hope to those of us who are starved of good comedy. The BBC seem obsessed with ratings over quality and are using a name to chase them.(I switched to Father Ted after 5 mins as even though I've seen it countless times it still makes me laugh, which is the only point of a Sitcom).
The BBC is not a Commercial Station and should not be chasing viewing figures like ITV have too.
Did those 20,000 believe that they were watching something as good as the original or are they like the rest of us yearning for a time when the BBC would produce good quality Sitcoms? Why were the original runs ended? Don't you think it's because the original producers had realised they'd run their course and were unable to keep the standards.
The originals had a natural ''laughter track'' as they were funny, the current sitcoms add canned laughter as they are not. The original runs of the best Sitcoms often had low budgets, very low viewing figures and were on the verge of ending, but built their popularity over time due to the fantastic writing and abilities of it's actors.
The current trend is to use a big name, employ well known actors, get the sets and then wright the scripts then after the money's been spent have no choice but to air it.
New Open all Hours was cringingly terrible it's a cheap rip-off of the original. The BBC seem desperate and are willing to rip-off all it's back catalogue due to it being unable to produce anything original anymore. Even when it does produce a new sitcom they tend to be either aimed at American sitcom fans or rely on being rude and vulgar for the sake of it.''Mrs Browns Boys'' is more like the forgotten sitcoms of the 70's and 80's that were written to fill a slot and got canned as soon as something decent came along.
''My Family'' was just an American style sitcom where quantity over quality prevailed. The sketch shows have followed a similar trend. Catherine Tate & Little Britain are remembered for the vulgar, rude characters, the more extreme the better remembered. While the much funnier ''Come Fly with me'' has been forgotten or sent to the ''dead time'' slots on UKGOLD.
Is David Jason skint? He has been in some awful series lately almost as if he'll do anything for a few quid regardless of the consequences to his legacy.
I shudder to think what will happen if John Cleese gets divorced again as he's already allowing rip-offs of Fawlty Towers to appear in Commercials to earn a few quid.
 

Peter Mugridge

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Yes, the new episode of Porridge last night was quite good, the remakes/update of Open All Hours seems to have worked fairly well too.

Those work precisely because they use different characters in the mould of the originals set years after the originals; ones that pretend to be the same characters do not normally work.
 

northwichcat

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Same with Father Ted, would have loved more episodes (even though after they filmed the last show that unfortunately became impossible) but they wanted to stop it before it became stale and in my view it worked

Graham Linehan had said series 3 would be the last for Father Ted before they started filming but at the time he said it he didn't know Dermot Morgan would collapse and die the day after they finished filming the third series. Linehan actually wrote the final episode of series 3 to initially make it feel like it would be the last one - Ted all set to go to America but then Ted pulled out when he heard about the gang problem in his new parish, leaving the door open for another series or one off special.

He suggested series 3 of The IT Crowd would be the last but they went on to make a series 4 and did a one-off special as the final episode.

keeping up appearances only got cancelled because Patricia Routledge wanted to do something different (although strangely both her and clive went into the same stage show after keeping up appearances playing husband and wife!)

Patricia took up the role of Hetty Wainthropp the year after Keeping Up Appearances finished. Hetty was a working class woman from Lancashire and someone who worked as a private investigator - so it was something very different to Keeping Up Appearances.

--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
You realise that all the old classic sitcoms were usually filmed before an audience, and therefore had a laughter track? As for the new versions, I know for a fact that the new episode of Are You Being Served was. 20,000 people applied for 250 seats. I have no reason to doubt that the others were.

Virtually every TV program filmed before an audience has every seat filled. They 'oversell' tickets to ensure that is the case and if you get refused entry when you have a ticket they offer you guaranteed entry to a future recording.
 
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backontrack

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Actually, the last episode of Father Ted was to end with Ted with Ted jumping off a ten-storey building. That was cut for obvious reasons, though Pauline McLynn (Mrs Doyle) suggested that it would have appealed to Dermot's dark sense of humour to keep it in. The montage they use, however, is brilliant.
 

Butts

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Have just watched the reboot of Are You Being Served and it was not that bad much to my amazement. I remember the original so am in a position to be able to compare them.

Mrs Slocombes "Pussy" is still the fulcrum of most of the gags :p

Just watched Porridge which I also watched back in the day - that didn't work for me.
 
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Cletus

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Porridge seemed so bright, probably hd television's don't help. The 70's were much grimmer.

The audience laughter was much too loud.

Nothing could compare to the original Porridge, so they were on to a loser with me anyway.
 

talltim

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I was a bit disappointed with the new Are you being served. It was pretty much the same as the original, I was hoping for a more modern take on it. By that I don't mean set in the present, but more up to date humour that references the original in a 'knowing' way.
 

northwichcat

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Actually, the last episode of Father Ted was to end with Ted with Ted jumping off a ten-storey building. That was cut for obvious reasons, though Pauline McLynn (Mrs Doyle) suggested that it would have appealed to Dermot's dark sense of humour to keep it in. The montage they use, however, is brilliant.

I've got the book of original scripts and the originally proposed ending was Father Kevin (who was the priest on the ledge threatening to jump at the beginning of the program) returned to the ledge but instead of Ted talking him down he says 'Move up Kevin' and joins him on the ledge. No suggestion that Ted would actually have been seen jumping like Denholm Reynholm in the IT Crowd.
 
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talltim

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My fave out of current shows, and hasn't been mentioned here yet is Friday Night Dinner. I've also been watching Green Wing, which surprisingly hasn't aged much, excepting the mobile phone technology and is still great. Having also watched Episodes recently (is that British?) I realise that Tamsin Greig seems to hit my comedy spot, not necessarily for her acting (although it is good), but for the shows she chooses.

As a side thread, which British sit-coms have aged best?
 

DaleCooper

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My fave out of current shows, and hasn't been mentioned here yet is Friday Night Dinner. I've also been watching Green Wing, which surprisingly hasn't aged much, excepting the mobile phone technology and is still great. Having also watched Episodes recently (is that British?) I realise that Tamsin Greig seems to hit my comedy spot, not necessarily for her acting (although it is good), but for the shows she chooses.

I've got all the DVDs of Green Wing and have watched them many times, my favourite character was Sue White the personnel officer and I really enjoyed the interaction between Dr. Alan Statham and Boyce. Having said that there wasn't a weak character in the whole lot. Very funny with some surreal moments.

Does anyone remember a comedy (probably late 70s early 80s) which was a spoof of the "Grim up north" type of drama such When the Boat Comes In? As I recall It revolved around the owners and workers of a factory which made the silent explosive SBD (Silent But Deadly). Does anyone know its name?
 

yorksrob

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My fave out of current shows, and hasn't been mentioned here yet is Friday Night Dinner. I've also been watching Green Wing, which surprisingly hasn't aged much, excepting the mobile phone technology and is still great.

Yes, I've enjoyed both of those. I've also enjoyed Cuckoo on the now defunct BBC3.
 

Darren R

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Does anyone remember a comedy (probably late 70s early 80s) which was a spoof of the "Grim up north" type of drama such When the Boat Comes In? As I recall It revolved around the owners and workers of a factory which made the silent explosive SBD (Silent But Deadly). Does anyone know its name?

That would be the incomparable "Brass," which starred Timothy West as the evil mill-owner Bradley Hardacre. The programme only ran for three series, screened by Granada in 1983 and 1984.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xku4HTKFi94

By eck, that clip teks me back a bit! :lol:
 

DaleCooper

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Bevan Price

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I watched the both the "new" versions of "Porridge" & "Are You Being Served". Both were OK, but nothing special. The problem with Porridge it that it wasn't Ronnie Barker, and no insult to the present actors, but nobody can replace Ronnie Barker - he was one of the all time great comedy actors.

With the orginals still available, I did wonder "why bother" with these clones ? Why not just repeat the originals?

I also see that an Alf Garbage clone is also planned. Why bother - it was never funny - just the rantings of an ignorant, highly bigoted old git.


.
 

richw

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My fave out of current shows, and hasn't been mentioned here yet is Friday Night Dinner. I've also been watching Green Wing, which surprisingly hasn't aged much, excepting the mobile phone technology and is still great. Having also watched Episodes recently (is that British?) I realise that Tamsin Greig seems to hit my comedy spot, not necessarily for her acting (although it is good), but for the shows she chooses.

As a side thread, which British sit-coms have aged best?

I do enjoy Friday Night Dinner, watched most episodes a couple of times on 4od.
 

Harbornite

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I do enjoy Friday Night Dinner, watched most episodes a couple of times on 4od.

Yeah I like his as well.


I've been watching the inbetweeners again lately, I recommend it. I also like the office (the UK version, obviously), Extras, Life's too short and Fawlty towers.
 

richw

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Yeah I like his as well.


I've been watching the inbetweeners again lately, I recommend it.

I've the box set and could watch over and over again. First Movie also great. second movie has some great bits but overall was average.
 

Busaholic

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I was a bit disappointed with the new Are you being served. It was pretty much the same as the original, I was hoping for a more modern take on it. By that I don't mean set in the present, but more up to date humour that references the original in a 'knowing' way.

I thought it was fairly appalling - the writer was apparently also responsible for 'Benidorm' so subtlety was hardly going to be the order of the day, but even so. The 'jokes' were flagged up half an hour in advance, and there was no double entendre in any of the THREE mentions of Mrs Slocombe's pussy. A sad waste of Roy Barraclough and Arthur Smith - I hope the money was good, because their reputations won't survive this: maybe they're past caring.
 
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