Worst UK Sitcom in history!

[murraymints4brighton]

Where is the "Life of Riley" in the poll?

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

Sorry is absolute TV Heaven. SUPERB.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

What is clear is that we are incapable of writing a decent sitcom. Why is that?

 

[Two Professors]

Does Eastenders count as a sitcom?Spose not, but the Fugly bints are a laugh,as are the SE25ish accents

 

[chez]

What is clear is that we are incapable of writing a decent sitcom. Why is that?

We have had loads. Fawlty Towers, Only Fools, Dads Army are the ones that cant be argued but I'd like to add Goodnight Sweetheart, On The Buses, Are You Being Served & It aint half hot mum as my evidence that we can write excellent comedy.

 

[Aldo]

family guy is magic

 

[clapham_gull]

We have had loads. Fawlty Towers, Only Fools, Dads Army are the ones that cant be argued but I'd like to add Goodnight Sweetheart, On The Buses, Are You Being Served & It aint half hot mum as my evidence that we can write excellent comedy.

If you watch Are You Being Served & It Aint' Half Hot Mum retrospectively, you'll see they they weren't that funny and/or the comedy hasn't really aged very well.

Quite a lot of dross in both.

Also bit of a myth to assume that It Ain't Half Hot Mum isn't on the telly because of "political correctness".

It just doesn't really stand up (as neither does Are You Being Served) to the really great sitcoms like Dad's Army which in my opinion is the greatest sitcom of all time.

Nothing touches it.

 

[Skaville]

90.7% of you are WRONG. The correct answer is Goodnight Sweetheart.

 

[Gwylan]

If you watch Are You Being Served & It Aint' Half Hot Mum retrospectively, you'll see they they weren't that funny and/or the comedy hasn't really aged very well.

Quite a lot of dross in both.

Also bit of a myth to assume that It Ain't Half Hot Mum isn't on the telly because of "political correctness".

It just doesn't really stand up (as neither does Are You Being Served) to the really great sitcoms like Dad's Army which in my opinion is the greatest sitcom of all time.

Nothing touches it.

I didn't find AYBS and IAHHM funny when they were on so I shudder to think what they'd look like now.

BBC2 has been showing re-runs of Dad's Army recently and I've been watching them all again. They're 40 years old and still seem funny, you get more laughs in one episode than you do in a couple of series of most other sitcoms.

My theory about this is partly the writing - Perry and Croft were writing from the heart about something they knew about and the episodes didn't seem contrived. It's also partly the acting: this was a cast of proper actors, not just a bunch of comedians, and that shows. The interplay between Lowe and LeMesurier has scarcely been bettered. Having good actors doesn't mean necessarily mean that a comedy is going to be funny (think Lindsay and Wanamaker in My Family) but having bad actors means that it's highly unlikely to be.

The reasons why so many of the sitcoms mentioned in this thread are so bad is that none feature real people and the episodes are so contrived. Good comedy features real people not ciphers caught in a particular set of events.

 

[bhaexpress]

family guy is magic

Not a sitcom and not British, apart from that you're 100% correct.

 

[dougdeep]

Chef. Truly awful.

 

[Gully]

They are all pretty awful if we are completely honest, I can't even remember the upper hand, I would like to believe it is something to do with S&M but as a family orientated sitcom that is unlikely. I voted for sorry because it is so cringeworthy, you just wanted the old dragon to stop interfering and for him to give her a slap and move out, but it never happened.

I agree with the comment about Dad's Army, that was comedic genius and still makes me laugh when I watch it.

 

[Jamon Jamon]

I really like 'Two Pints...' good job it's a (relatively) free country.

Biggest pile o shite i've ever seen was one about 20 years ago called 'Laura and Disorder'

.

 

[Insider]

Anyone remember Frank Skinner's Blue Heaven, which was panned by critics - but I thought was quite amusing.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

We have had loads. Fawlty Towers, Only Fools, Dads Army are the ones that cant be argued but I'd like to add Goodnight Sweetheart, On The Buses, Are You Being Served & It aint half hot mum as my evidence that we can write excellent comedy.

Sorry, I meant recent times. There has been a fair amount of dross served up within the last two decades and not a huge amount of upstanding quality.

I did enjoy Goodnight Sweetheart, but more the concept as opposed to the actual acting and script.

 

[surrey jim]

Two pints was shit as was 'Coupling' a british take on friends

of the poll my family gets my vote

 

[Statto]

Anyone remember A prince among men? had Chris Barrie in it and it was truly awfull. Only lasted about two series.

Freinds also gets my vote. Terrible!

 

[Carrot Cruncher]

The BBC3 rip off of the Inbetweeners, 'Coming of Age' was about as funny as discovering a lump.

Surgical Spirit.
That thing with Caroline Quentin.
Duty Free.

Does anyone else remember the f***-awful 'comedy' with Ray Winstone in it? Only redeeming feature was that it had Kate Winslett in it. Giggidy.

 

[Marc]

I actually like alot of those in the poll!

 

[Taybha]

The Bill