I’ve lived in around 30 odd years and I can I’ve never heard English sandwiches called awesome in any way. Or be awesome.
Canada has Subway restaurants pretty much everywhere. Since England probably does too, no one is forced to go to Pret-a-Porter, M&S, etc. And plenty do. Many more if you include Gregg’s.
I’m sure some of my liking for this is the novelty of flavours and the inclusion of tasty things like trifle in combos. Things like that, even malted bread, are not easy to find everywhere. If they were, perhaps I too would be filled with Weltschmerz (kidding, of course).
Although Subway restaurants make sandwiches to order, and the Guardian article was about ready-made sandwiches in Marks & Spencer and other shops. I could see buying that kind to bring to work the next day or buying them in a quick lunch errand. (And I’m American but I’d love it if quality ready-made sandwiches were easily available.)
Well, if it’s difference, then perhaps UK is different for sandwiches, but frankly the US is much better at them. M&S ones though are better than most, and a typical UK sandwich is neither fully loaded or tasty. Single slice of not particularly strong cheddar on a not particularly tasty bit of ham on thin white bread is the typical UK sandwich. What is of note is M&S (and indeed, Pret which is not ubiquitous) are a lot more expensive than most typical sandwiches.
What you’ve done is found some of the high end ones, not even always available about the country, and called it English. It isn’t.
Case and point, a sandwich, drink and bag of crisp combo can be twice the price from M&S (and even more at Pret) than Tesco, Boots, Sainsburys and the rest.
Prices for a lot of European things are eye-watering to Canadians. It is true the sandwiches I enjoyed perhaps are not typical.
By British takeaway sandwiches, do you mean the ones sold at Pret A Manger? (Note: not Pret A Porter) It’s a chain that’s based in the U.K., although most of the British ones are in London. Interestingly, there are two of them on one short block in Oxford. There are some in ten other countries.
That type, yes. But also the ones sold at Boots or M&S. Like in the Guardian article above.
Most large grocery chains have fresh, high quality sandwiches made for you in the deli departments. Sides as well.
It was Detectives on the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown
While it’s not in with some of the classics mentioned, I do enjoy As Time Goes By as a somewhat guilty pleasure. The story involves an Army lieutenant (Lionel) and a nurse (Jean) who fell in love in 1953 just before he was posted to Korea. His letter giving her his new address went astray, she assumed he’d lost interest, he assumed she’d lost interest, end of story. Until many years later when Lionel unwittingly engages a secretary from Jean’s agency to assist him with a book he’s writing about his experiences as a coffee farmer in Kenya, which leads them to reconnect. Romance and hilarity ensue.
Apart from the fact that I can identify with Lionel — going from being “serenely independent and content” to being the lone male in a female household — one thing I appreciate about the show is that unlike many British sitcoms of the time (at least those which made the ocean crossing), the main characters are not stereotypical “English eccentrics.” As a result, the humo(u)r arises more from the day-to-day predicaments ordinary people find themselves in than from some daft plot device on the part of someone who would be better off in custodial care. There are eccentric secondary characters, mainly Lionel’s father and his household, but they tend to stay in the background.
Also the writing, while not up to Oscar Wilde standards, is several cuts above average; Lionel, in particular, talks the way I wish I could.
Wow! So I’m not the only person left who remembers it! 
I agree, it’s a good romantic sitcom, a genre I don’t normally care for.
I suspect a lot of it is the two stars. They fit together so well.
Did you know that Ó Briain was the best man at Byrne’s wedding and Byrne was the best man at Ó Briain’s wedding?
I just finished watching this on YouTube. It’s hilarious, but I’m wondering about some of the shows that were parodied.
Aside from Jason King, I’m guessing two were Starsky and Hutch and Cop Rock. Was there one in particular that overused the word “Guv”?
I know “Guv” was used all the time on Life on Mars, which also parodied '70s detectives but more seriously. It must go back a ways.
This is a Comic Strip Presents, one of the greats of British comedy which never made it to the US. Predates the Young Ones with most of it’s cast, and French and Saunders, with other guest roles.
It’s a series of individual film parodies of anything from Spaghetti westerns, to Cop Shows, to Famous Five films.
One was even like Spinal Tap: Bad News and More Bad News but predated Spinal Tap
Mr Jolly Lives Next Door is a version of the Dangerous Brothers, a Rik and Adrian act like those later appearing in Bottom, but those predated the Young Ones too.
There’s a few duds in there, probably more me not knowing the target of the parody, but Detectives on the edge of a nervous breakdown was actually I think a followup to the first one: The bullshitters : Roll out the gunbarrel a parody of The Professionals, a popular UK cop show of the time.
Here’s the List of episodes, if you’ve never seen them, but are a fan of anything which Rik and Ade, Fry and Laurie, French and Saunders, Alexi Sayle and a bunch of others of the similar style from the 80s-90s, then these are for you.
The Sweeney was a police show made by Euston Films for London Weekend Television in the 1970s. Set in London’s Metropolitan Police Flying Squad (in the sense that they were mobile, not that they flew), it starred John Thaw and Denis Waterman, who invariably addressed their superiors as ‘guv’. Its mixture of fast car chases, violence and occasional flashes of female nudity (rare on British television in the 1970s) made it required viewing for anyone growing up at the time. Life On Mars was a parody of The Sweeney, amongst other shows of the '70s.
The name, explicit in the commercial break titles, is rhyming slang: ‘Sweeney Todd - Flying Squad’.
Thanks, that helps a lot!
I can see the resemblance between the big guy and John Thaw. I knew he reminded me of somebody!
I’ve seen several British police shows where the superior officers are routinely called “Guv.” It seems to be pretty common. On TV, at least. I don’t know about actual British police practice.
“Guv” or “Guv’nor” is (or at least was) common slang for “Sir” or “Boss.” It’s a shortened form of “Governor.”
Bert the Chimney Sweep might call Mr Banks “Guv.”
One for memory road, for us over here at least. Grange Calveley, who created Roobarb and Custard is sadly no more.