Recommend to me some Britcoms

[rowrrbazzle]

Another vote for Yes, Minister, and Yes, Prime Minister. It’s mostly about the difficulties an elected official has when dealing with bureaucrats who in theory work for him. I think these series are brilliant.

I’ll also recommend trying BBC radio series. Round the Horne is good. My favorite is I’m Sorry, I’ll Read That Again, which had John Cleese as a performer for most of its run (at about the same time as Python), and Graham Chapman and Eric Idle did some writing for the series.

You can listen to Round the Horne and ISIRTA on BBC7 online here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/listings/. Also note the previous six days are always available. You can listen to the current episode of ISIRTA through Thursady, and it’s a good one. In addition, they’re airing the audio of Yes, Minister on Wednesdays so you can see if you like it.

BBC7 also has a great variety of audio comedy. One well-liked series was The Goon Show. It’s been called groundbreaking, and many comedians (including Python) have stated it was their inspiration.

[GorillaMan]

Is there another BritCom with a dysfunctional family in the vein of Malcom, Simpsons, Married with Children or Rosanne?

Shameless. Faaaaaaar more dysfunctional - and also veering on the ‘realistic drama’ genre.
BTW, can I offer a belated recommendation for Brass Eye - one of the best things on TV in the past, errrr, many many years.

[Made_in_Macau]

The Day Today
Brass Eye
I’m Alan Partridge
Father Ted
The Mighty Boosh

[Peter_Morris]

@Zebra

Is there another BritCom with a dysfunctional family in the vein of Malcom, Simpsons, Married with Children or Rosanne?

2.4 Children.

[roger_thornhill]

@roger thornhill

And two with Leonard Rossiter from the 70s…The Life and Times of Reginald Perrin (quite dark in places - it’s about a blokie who fakes his own suicide)

Should be The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin.

[PastAllReason]

@Robot Arm

Murder Most Horrid Sort of an anthology, like The Twilight Zone, because lots of people die (but in amusing ways). Every episode has Dawn French (different characters, of course) and the episode with Amanda Donohoe as an assassin has the single funniest line I’ve ever heard in a TV show.

The Games Australian, not British, mockumentary about the organizing of the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. It’s sort of a cross between This is Spinal Tap, Sports Night and Cops. It takes a few minutes to get into, but I’ve never seen anyone else sustain such a perfect degree of deadpan absurdity. (Usram, if you like People Like Us, definitely try to find The Games.) There’s a scene where they’re asking the contractor who built the stadium how long the 100 meters track is; and then have to convince him that “about 100 meters” isn’t quite what they had in mind. All in all, maybe the best series I’ve ever seen.

I only saw a couple of episodes of Murder Most Horrid. The first time, I had no clue what it was. Let’s just say it made quite an impression.

I’d echo the recommendation for The Games. I thought it was terrific, and probably more reflective of the lead up to the games in Sydney (or any other Olympic games for that matter) than the organizers would care to admit.

[roger_thornhill]

If you’re a Michael Crawford fan, or enjoy slapstick, you might want to try Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em.

If you’ve seen the final (special) episode of The Office, the Brentmeister mimics the Crawford character in the closing scene when he poses with his former staff for group photos and the camera doesn’t work first time:

“I’m having a bit of trouble myself!” and
“The cat’s done a woopsie on de carpet!”

Or am I imagining the second line? Such memories…

Everyone who fancies themself as a bit of an impressionist in England have cut their teeth on Frank Spencer.

[silenus]

Dig up the tapes of Good Neighbors.

Otherwise, most of what has been stated above, especially anything with Dawn French in it!

[betenoir]

@Zebra

Malcom in the Middle is a fantastic show and IMO the Brits are just too nice to do a funny show that is as mean as MitM. My Family is sort of a nicer or British version.

Is there another BritCom with a dysfunctional family in the vein of Malcom, Simpsons, Married with Children or Rosanne?

Well there’s the Royle Family. Not that I’d recommend it. ( And no, that’s not the Royal family though I guess you could consider them an ungoing dysfunctional sitcom as well.)

And while the British are indeed Very Nice, if you don’t think they can do mean funny comedy you haven’t been paying attention.

[GSV_Consolation_of_Dreams]

My favourites:

TV
Spaced, Black books, Bottom, Fawlty Towers, Monty Python (natch), Green Wing, Spaced, Blackadder.

Radio
Round the Horne, The Goon Show, although neither are really sitcoms.

If you’re a film buff keep an eye out for My Life in Film.

Revolves around a couple of “independent low budget film-makers” who mix up real life events with famous film plots. The first series did:

Rear Window - watch out for the Hitchcock cameo.
The Shining
Top gun
Shallow Grave
8 1/2
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

No second series yet, but I’m hoping.
Series homepage here.

[MrDibble]

I quite like The Thin Blue Line myself.
David Haig’s Inspector Grim is brilliant, Constable Goody was great, Constable Habib was “Pwooah!!!”

You may also have heard of the star, one “Rowan Atkinson”?

I liked it a lot, of course nowhere near as good as Blackadder, but much better than Bean.

[vl_mungo]

Thanks everyone for the great suggestions! I think I’m going to start with Monkey Dust.
Mrs. Mungo might be getting p.o.'d about the some $$$ I’m going to drop on your suggestions… at least until she watches them.

[Burnt_Sugar]

Another vote for Black Books here. Very funny.

Bernard: It’s all rubbish! Nobody is prepared to admit that wine doesn’t have a taste.

Manny: Of course you can’t taste anything, you smoke eighty bajillion cigarettes a day. What’s that you’re eating?

Bernard: It’s some sort of delicious biscuit.

Manny: It’s a coaster!