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.
Sorry, make that a West End musical.
Mrs Overall in a musical . . .
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!
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.
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.
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
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.
Brittas Empire (although it had a mean streak at times)
Doctor in the House
One Foot in the Grave
Mulberry
Red Dwarf
Probably because the thread dates from 2003; or before the show appeared.
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
The Goodies, in the episode Kung Fu Kapers
‘Ecky Thump’ was:said to be an ancient Lancastrian martial art that involved hitting someone on the head with a black pudding.
The Vicar of Dibley
“No…no…no…no… yes!”
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.
Listen very carefully, I shall say this only once.
Alas, I haven’t seen nearly enough quality British television. But we fell in love with Chef! (The first two series, anyway–the third was almost an entirely different, much inferior show.)