# Best Britcoms of all time? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 22, 2003, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-britcoms-of-all-time/214709 "2003-11-22T18:01:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![London\_Calling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2003, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-britcoms-of-all-time/214709/61 "2003-11-27T16:45:01Z")
I read over the weekend Victoria Wood is extending Acorn Antiques into a sitcom . . . at least I’m pretty sure I did . . Anyway, anything at all by and/or with Victoria Wood. ---
**Author:** ![London\_Calling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2003, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-britcoms-of-all-time/214709/62 "2003-11-27T16:47:32Z")
Sorry, [make that a West End musical.](http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/news/20030903.shtml) Mrs Overall in a musical . . . ---
**Author:** ![little\_lighthouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ea666f/32.png) [@little\_lighthouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/little_lighthouse)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-britcoms-of-all-time/214709/63 "2003-11-28T23:53:52Z")
Nobody mentioned The Fast Show aka Brilliant!. Excellent sketch comedy! Fawlty Towers is the prefect sitcom! Also love As Time Goes By, Father Ted, Vicar Of Dibley, Coupling, French And Saunders, People Like Us… I could go on all day! ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-britcoms-of-all-time/214709/64 "2003-11-29T00:21:17Z")
Ah yes, _The Fast Show_. It surely holds the British all-comers record for the most catchphrases introduced into everyday speech: “Oh, suits you, sir” “… which was nice” “I’ll get me coat” “… of course, I was vair vair drunk” “Jumpers for goalposts” “Ni-ice” “Scorchio!” “this season I’ll be mainly wearing…” and on and on and on. In fact, you could criticise the show for being little more than a succession of catchphrases. Nevertheless, funny stuff, especially the Ted & Ralph bits. ---
**Author:** ![WILLASS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/54ee81/32.png) [@WILLASS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WILLASS)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-britcoms-of-all-time/214709/65 "2003-11-29T01:19:35Z")
Not much more to be added here except to add that fans of Chris Morris should check out ' **Jam** (TV version) and ' **Blue Jam** (radio version) for some truly bizarre and innovotive ‘comedy’ - I have given the word comedy inverted commas due to the extremley strange nature of this show, it is kind of a hullucinatory journey into the sick twisted side of comedy coupled with a brilliant ambient soundtrack but is not for the feint hearted. ---
**Author:** ![gary\_d](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7c8e57/32.png) [@gary\_d](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gary_d)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-britcoms-of-all-time/214709/66 "2011-03-04T03:35:35Z")
> [@vl\_mungo](#): > > The Ecky Thump episode was so funny it apparently actually killed somebody. Seriously, they laughed until they died of a heart attack What britcom or show did this ecky thump episode appear in ? Would like to find and buy----when I looked up ecky thump on my computer all I can find is a band called icky thump\*\*\*\*\* love brittish humor ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-britcoms-of-all-time/214709/67 "2011-03-04T03:43:17Z")
No votes for **The IT Crowd**? I love that show. Other votes: **Blackadder** (Favorites in order: II; The Third; Goes Forth; The Black Adder) **Fawlty Towers Black Books Monty Python’s Flying Circus The Young Ones Father Ted** Conversely, I could never get into **Are You Being Served?** , **Last of the Summer Wine** , **Yes Minister** and probably others besides. ---
**Author:** ![Heyoka13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Heyoka13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heyoka13)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-britcoms-of-all-time/214709/68 "2011-03-04T03:54:26Z")
Brittas Empire (although it had a mean streak at times) Doctor in the House One Foot in the Grave Mulberry Red Dwarf ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-britcoms-of-all-time/214709/69 "2011-03-04T04:58:03Z")
> [@Nonsuch](#): > > No votes for **The IT Crowd**? I love that show. Probably because the thread dates from 2003; or before the show appeared. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-britcoms-of-all-time/214709/70 "2011-03-04T05:12:20Z")
Allow me to third “As Time Goes By”. It’s deceptively gentle and sweet, with very real characters (well, maybe not Alistair), but unfailingly laugh-out-loud funny. Maybe it only appeals to people who are close to Lionel and Jean’s age, to understand their relationship, but the writing was always very good. Geoffrey Palmer was also in another oddball show called, I believe, “Butterflies”. He played a middle-aged dentist, married to Wendy Craig who was the main character as a rather unsatisfied housewife who couldn’t cook, and who had a rich admirer. They had two layabout sons in their early 20’s. It was a bit formulaic, and also a bit odd in the way she kept fluttering back and forth between the reality of her marriage and the lure of the admirer. A bit existential for a comedy, but somehow satisfying. Roddy ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-britcoms-of-all-time/214709/71 "2011-03-04T05:45:11Z")
> [@gary\_d](#): > > What britcom or show did this ecky thump episode appear in ? Would like to find and buy----when I looked up ecky thump on my computer all I can find is a band called icky thump\*\*\*\*\* love brittish humor **The Goodies** , in the episode [Kung Fu Kapers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecky_thump) ‘Ecky Thump’ was:said to be an ancient Lancastrian martial art that involved hitting someone on the head with a black pudding. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2011, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-britcoms-of-all-time/214709/72 "2011-03-05T00:51:37Z")
The Vicar of Dibley “No…no…no…no… yes!” ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2011, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-britcoms-of-all-time/214709/73 "2011-03-05T01:10:29Z")
Doctor In The House was a hit for me. Came on right after Benny Hill for a while on my local PBS. I have to say that the 1981 BBC Television version of HHGttG was far better than the recent theatrical release and the animated bits enhanced some of the things that the books made me wonder about. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2011, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-britcoms-of-all-time/214709/74 "2011-03-05T01:19:23Z")
Listen very carefully, I shall say this only once. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2011, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-britcoms-of-all-time/214709/75 "2011-03-05T02:31:13Z")
Alas, I haven’t seen nearly enough quality British television. But we fell in love with [**Chef!**](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chef!) (The first two series, anyway–the third was almost an entirely different, much inferior show.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-britcoms-of-all-time/214709.md?page=3)