The Top 100 Best Ever British Sitcoms - Part Five

The Top 100 Best Ever British Sitcoms – Continued

19 – This Country

8.5 /10

2017 – | 3 Seasons | 19 Eps

STARRING: Daisy May Cooper | Charlie Cooper | Paul Chahidi

This Country is a sitcom series which takes the mockumentary format. It explores the lives of young people in modern rural Britain, focusing on cousins Kerry and Lee ‘Kurtan’ Mucklowe and their life experiences in a typical Cotswold village.

18 – Mind Your Language

8.5 /10

1977 – 1986 | 4 Seasons | 42 Eps

STARRING: Barry Evans | Françoise Pascal | Albert Moses

Set in a London College Of Further Education the series focused on the activities of the Evening Classes, in particular – English as a Foreign Language, as taught by Mr Jeremy Brown whose class was a motley crew of foreigners, most of who could barely speak English.

17 – Detectorists

8.5 /10

2014 – 2022 | 3 Seasons | 19 Eps

STARRING: Mackenzie Crook | Toby Jones | Rachael Stirling

Two friends Andy and Lance go searching for their hearts’ desire with a couple of metal detectors. Determined to dig up their very own Saxon ship-burial, a chance encounter with a young history student puts Lance and Andy on the road towards the discovery of a lifetime.

16 – Auf Wiedersehen, Pet

8.5 /10

1983 – 2004 | 4 Seasons | 40 Eps

STARRING: Tim Healy | Kevin Whately | Jimmy Nail

Auf Wiedersehen, Pet is a story of the rise and fall of seven very different people. There are three Geordies, one Scouser, one Brummie, one Cockney and one from Bristol. Auf Wiedersehen, Pet shows what life was really like for self – employed workers in the 1980’s.

15 – Black Books

8.5 /10

2000 – 2004 | 3 Seasons | 18 Eps

STARRING: Dylan Moran | Bill Bailey | Tamsin Greig

Black Books is a second-hand bookshop in London run by an Irishman named Bernard Black. He is probably the planet’s worst-suited person to run such an establishment: he makes no effort to sell, closes at strange hours on a whim, is in a perpetual alcoholic stupor, abhors his customers

14 – Hancock’s Half Hour

8.5 /10

1956 – 1961 | 7 Seasons | 63 Eps

STARRING: Tony Hancock | Warren Mitchell | Sid James

You want a misunderstood, self-proclaimed genius whose lofty ambitions in life are thwarted either by a boorish sidekick or, more often than not, his own painful shortcomings? A man trapped by circumstance? A, let’s face it, pompous prig? Tony Hancock is the archetype.

13 – The IT Crowd

8.5 /10

2006 – 2013 | 4 Seasons | 25 Eps

STARRING: Chris O’Dowd | Richard Ayoade | Katherine Parkinson

Two I.T. nerds and their clueless female manager, who work in the basement of a very successful company. When they are called on for help, they are never treated with any respect at all.

12 – The Office

8.5 /10

2001 – 2003 | 2 Seasons | 14 Eps

STARRING: Ricky Gervais | Martin Freeman | Lucy Davis

The story of an office that faces closure when the company decides to downsize its branches. A documentary film crew follow staff and the manager David Brent as they continue their daily lives.

11 – You Rang, M’Lord?

8.6 /10

1988 – 1993 | 4 Seasons | 26 Eps

STARRING: Bill Pertwee | Donald Hewlett | Su Pollard

You Rang, M’Lord? is a British comedy series written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, the creators of Dad’s Army, It Ain’t Half Hot Mum and Hi-de-Hi! It was broadcast between 1990 and 1993 on the BBC. The show was a comedy set in the house of an aristocratic family in the 1920s, contrasting the upper-class family and their servants in a house in London, along the same lines as the popular drama Upstairs, Downstairs.

10 – I’m Alan Partridge

8.6 /10

1997 – 2002 | 2 Seasons | 12 Eps

STARRING: Steve Coogan | Felicity Montagu | Sally Phillips

The fortunes of a former chat show host who is reduced to a lowly slot on Radio Norwich. Alan Partridge is divorced, living in a travel tavern, and desperate for a return to television.

9 – Phoenix Nights

8.6 /10

2001 – 2002 | 2 Seasons | 12 Eps

STARRING: Peter Kay | Justin Moorhouse | Dave Spikey

The owner of The Phoenix Club is the wheelchair-bound Brian Potter, who has presided over two clubs in the past: the first (The Aquarius) flooded, the second (The Neptune) burned down. His ambition (with the help of Jerry St Clair) is to see The Phoenix Club become the most popular in Bolton and thus outdo his arch-nemesis, Den Perry, owner of rival club The Banana Grove.

8 – Spaced

8.6 /10

1999 – 2001 | 2 Seasons | 14 Eps

STARRING: Simon Pegg | Jessica Hynes | Nick Frost

Spaced: the anti-Friends, in that it examines the lives of common 20 somethings, but in a way that is more down to earth and realistic. Here we have Daisy and Tim; two ‘young’ adults with big dreams just trying to get by in this crazy world. They are thrown together in a common pursuit of tenancy, which they find by posing as a couple. The house has a landlady and an oddball artist living there.

7 – Peep Show

8.6 /10

2003 – 2015 | 9 Seasons | 54 Eps

STARRING: Robert Webb | David Mitchell

Mark and Jez are a couple of twenty-something roommates who have nothing in common – except for the fact that their lives are anything but normal. Mayhem ensues as the pair strive to cope with day-to-day life.

6 – Yes Minister (& Yes, Prime Minster)

8.6 /10

1980 – 1987 | 5 Seasons | 37 Eps

STARRING: Paul Eddington | Nigel Hawthorne | Derek Fowlds

The Right Honorable James Hacker has landed the plum job of Cabinet Minister to the Department of Administration. At last he is in a position of power and can carry out some long-needed reforms, or so he thinks.

5 – The Thick of It

8.7 /10

2005 – 2012 | 4 Seasons | 24 Eps

STARRING: Chris Addison | Peter Capaldi | James Smith

The Thick of It is a British comedy television series that satirises the inner workings of modern British government. It was first broadcast in 2005, initially with a small cast focussing on a government minister, his advisers and their spin-doctor. The cast was significantly expanded to coincide with Christmas and Gordon Brown’s appointment as prime minister in 2007, which saw a number of new characters forming the opposition party. These characters continued for its third series in 2009, and the fourth and final series about a coalition government was broadcast in Autumn 2012.

4 – Father Ted

8.7 /10

1995 – 1998 | 3 Seasons | 25 Eps

STARRING: Dermot Morgan | Ardal O’Hanlon | Frank Kelly

Father Ted is an Irish comedy about 3 parish priests living on Craggy Island – a remote island, off the Irish west coast. The main four characters are Father Ted Crilly (Dermot Morgan), Father Dougal Maguire (Ardal O’Hanlan) and Father Jack Hackett (Frank Kelly) and their housekeeper (who just can’t stop making tea) Mrs. Doyle (Pauline McLynn).

3 – Blackadder

8.7 /10

1995 – 1998 | 4 Seasons | 26 Eps

STARRING: Rowan Atkinson | Tony Robinson | Tim McInnerny

Through four series and a few specials, Edmund Blackadder and his greasy sidekick Baldrick conjure up cunning plans as Edmund tries to take advantage of desperate times. These situation tragedies had obvious parallels from the Dark Ages to Elizabethan times, the rule of mad George III, and The Great War.

2 – Fawlty Towers

8.8 /10

1975 – 1979 | 2 Seasons | 12 Eps

STARRING: John Cleese | Prunella Scales | Andrew Sachs

Owner Basil Fawlty, his wife Sybil, a chambermaid Polly, and Spanish waiter Manuel attempt to run their hotel amidst farcical situations and an array of demanding guests.

1 – Only Fools and Horses

9.0 /10

1981 – 2003 | 7 Seasons | 64 Eps

STARRING: David Jason | Nicholas Lyndhurst | Lennard Pearce

Comedy that follows two brothers from London’s rough Peckham estate as they wheel and deal through a number of dodgy deals and search for the big score that’ll make them millionaires.

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