The Top 100 Best Ever British Sitcoms - Part Three

The Top 100 Best Ever British Sitcoms – Continued

59 – Dinnerladies

7.7 /10

1998 – 2000 | 2 Seasons | 16 Eps

STARRING: Victoria Wood | Thelma Barlow | Maxine Peake

Dinnerladies chronicles the antics of a group of workers in a canteen in the north of England. Bren tries to maintain a semblance of order in amongst the chaos, while dealing with the canteen supervisor, slightly sex-obsessed cancer sufferer Tony. Dolly and Jean are the bickering menopausal older women, always at odds but best friends beneath it all.

58 – Rising Damp

7.7 /10

1974 – 1978 | 4 Seasons | 28 Eps

STARRING: Leonard Rossiter | Richard Beckinsale | Frances de la Tour

A popular sitcom set in a seedy bedsit lorded over by the mean, vain, boastful, cowardly landlord Rigsby. In each episode, his conceits are debunked by his long suffering tenants.

57 – Waiting for God

7.8 /10

1990 – 1994 | 5 Seasons | 47 Eps

STARRING: Stephanie Cole | Graham Crowden | Daniel Hill

Waiting for God is a British sitcom that ran on BBC1 from 1990 to 1994 starring Graham Crowden as Tom and Stephanie Cole as Diana, two spirited residents of a retirement home who spend their time running rings around the home’s oppressive management and their own families.

56 – Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?

7.8 /10

1973 – 1974 | 2 Seasons | 27 Eps

STARRING: James Bolam | Rodney Bewes | Brigit Forsyth

“Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?” is the 1973 sequel to the original 1964 series “The Likely Lads.” Terry Collier (James Bolam) and Bob Ferris (Rodney Bewes) are reunited after going their separate ways at the close of the original.

55 – Hamish Macbeth

7.8 /10

1995 – 1997 | 3 Seasons | 20 Eps

STARRING: Robert Carlyle | Ralph Riach | Brian Pettifer

Robert Carlyle stars as Hamish Macbeth, the lone PC in a small Scottish village called Lochdubh. The village is full of colourful characters, and Macbeth has a pretty easy time of it, but when he does solve a crime, he must pass up glory, for fear that he might be promoted to a different station.

54 – Desmond’s

7.8 /10

1989 – 1994 | 6 Seasons | 71 Eps

STARRING: Norman Beaton | Carmen Munroe | Dominic Keating

Desmond’s is centered around Desmond Ambrose played by Norman Beaton. Desmond owns a barber shop in Peckham, London which is a local gathering place for a group of West Indian immigrants. Little hairdressing gets done, as this is more a meeting place than a barber shop.

53 – If You See God, Tell Him

7.8 /10

1993 | 1 Season | 4 Eps

STARRING: Richard Briers | Adrian Edmondson | Imelda Staunton

Richard Briers plays Godfrey Spry, who, having been hit on the head in a freak accident, ends up with an attention span of just 30 seconds. As a result he begins to obsess over TV commercials and begins to take advertising claims literally, causing erratic twists in his behaviour and complicating the lives of all those around him.

52 – Keeping Up Appearances

7.8 /10

1990 – 1995 | 5 Seasons | 44 Eps

STARRING: Patricia Routledge | Clive Swift | Geoffrey Hughes

Keeping Up Appearances is a British sitcom created and written by Roy Clarke for the BBC. Centred on the life of eccentric, social-climbing snob Hyacinth Bucket, the sitcom follows her obsessive and determined attempts to impress in middle class society and portray herself as more affluent than she truly is.

51 – Minder

7.8 /10

1979 – 1994 | 10 Seasons | 109 Eps

STARRING: George Cole | Dennis Waterman | Glynn Edwards

This comedy drama series featured Terry McCann, a former boxer with a conviction for G.B.H., and Arthur Daley, a second-hand car dealer with an eye for a nice little earner. Alongside his many business ventures, Arthur would regularly hire Terry out as a minder or bodyguard, later replaced by nephew, Ray Daley.

50 – Steptoe and Son

7.8 /10

1962 – 1974 | 8 Seasons | 57 Eps

STARRING: Harry H. Corbett | Wilfrid Brambell

British sitcom about a father-and-son rag-and-bone business in London. The intergenerational divide between the miserly Steptoe and his ambitious son results in comedy, drama, and tragedy.

49 – The New Statesman

7.8 /10

1987 – 1994 | 4 Seasons | 29 Eps

STARRING: Rik Mayall | Michael Troughton | Marsha Fitzalan

A British comedy that might be described as a combination of Yes, Minister and Blackadder, this is the story of Alan B’Stard, a statesman in the tradition of Genghis Khan, who will stop at nothing to make himself richer and more comfortable. Arguably the most conservative member of the British Parliament, he is aided by a witless colleague, MP Piers Fletcher-Dervish.

48 – Game On

7.9 /10

1995 – 1998 | 3 Seasons | 18 Eps

STARRING: Ben Chaplin | Matthew Cottle | Samantha Womack

Following the lives of three 20-somethings sharing a flat in Battersea. They’re young, bright and sexy – so why aren’t they having a good time ? Join Matthew (the agoraphobic, self-obsessed, macho man); Martin (the wimpish, sex-starved underdog) and Mandy (the gorgeous blonde, who always ends up with the wrong men), in this outrageously funny flat-share comedy that is anything but politically correct.

47 – One Foot in the Grave

7.9 /10

1990 – 2001 | 6 Seasons | 44 Eps

STARRING: Richard Wilson | Annette Crosbie | Angus Deayton

Victor Meldrew, a man who, put simply, is annoyed by every one of life’s ‘challenges’!, has never been renowned for his patience and tolerance. When he’s forced to take early retirement, he suddenly has plenty of time on his hands to rage against the petty annoyances of life and the people in it.

46 – Two’s Company

7.9 /10

1975 – 1979 | 4 Seasons | 29 Eps

STARRING: Donald Sinden | Elaine Stritch

An American author Dorothy McNab (Elaine Stritch), resident in London, hires uppercrust English butler Robert Hiller (Donald Sinden), and soon finds herself at odds with him and his style.

45 – Are You Being Served?

8.0 /10

1972 – 1985 | 10 Seasons | 69 Eps

STARRING: Frank Thornton | John Inman | Mollie Sugden

Are You Being Served? is a British sitcom which follows the misadventures and mishaps of the staff of the retail ladies’ and gentlemen’s clothing departments in the flagship department store of a fictional chain called Grace Brothers.

44 – Drop The Dead Donkey

8.0 /10

1990 – 1998 | 6 Seasons | 66 Eps

STARRING: Neil Pearson | Stephen Tompkinson | Victoria Wicks

Political satire about television news company Globe Link and its team of workers such as anchors Henry and Sally, reporter Damien, editor Dave, execs George and Helen, assistant Joy and manager Gus Hedges.

43 – Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin

8.0 /10

1976 – 1979 | 3 Seasons | 21 Eps

STARRING: Leonard Rossiter | Pauline Yates | Geoffrey Palmer

Disillusioned after a long career at Sunshine Desserts, Perrin goes through a mid-life crisis and fakes his own death. Returning in disguise after various attempts at finding a ‘new life’, he gets his old job back and finds nothing has changed. He is eventually found out, and in the second series has success with a chain of shops selling useless junk.

42 – The Good Life

8.0 /10

1975 – 1978 | 4 Seasons | 30 Eps

STARRING: Richard Briers | Felicity Kendal | Penelope Keith

Tom Good quits the rat race, and with wife Barbara turns the garden of their Surbiton house into a smallholding. Their neighbours, snobbish Margo Leadbetter and her conventional husband Jerry, feel variously amused, offended and impressed.

41 – The Vicar of Dibley

8.0 /10

1994 – 2006 | 5 Seasons | 30 Eps

STARRING: Dawn French | Emma Chambers | Trevor Peacock

A boisterous female minister comes to serve in an eccentricly conservative small town’s church.

40 – Chef!

8.1 /10

1993 – 1996 | 3 Seasons | 20 Eps

STARRING: Lenny Henry | Roger Griffiths | Caroline Lee-Johnson

Famous chef Gareth Blackstock struggles with dividing time between wife Janice and the restaurant. It’s a good thing he can let off steam with his remarks.

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