WEDDED BLISS? Sitcom couples

In Not Going Out (8.30pm, BBC1), Lee and Lucy have gone from flatmates to bickering married couple. Here’s our rundown of different types of couples from British sitcom history…

Bitter and twisted: Some of the best-loved couples have been hell to live with. In Fawlty Towers (1975-79), Basil is the very definition of bitter, while wife Sybil copes with him in her own twisted ways. Victor Meldrew in One Foot In The Grave (1990-2000) dearly loves wife Margaret (Annette Crosbie, above, with Richard Wilson as Victor), but is bitter towards the rest of humanity.

Stronger together: Ben and Susan Harper in My Family (2000-11) and Pete and Sue Brockman in Outnumbered (2007-16) have been married for years, raising families and weathering life’s challenges together. And despite all his faults, can you imagine Frank Spencer without his Betty in Some Mothers Do ’Ave ’Em (1973-78)?

Better apart: Mark and Sophie shouldn’t have gone through with their wedding in Peep Show (2003-15); thankfully, it doesn’t last. In George And Mildred (1976-79), the eponymous pair (Brian Murphy and Yootha Joyce, below) manage to stay together, despite constant disagreements.

Upper hand: In The Good Life (1975-78), Tom and Barbara are equal partners, but neighbour Margo prefers to be the boss of her husband, Jerry. The overbearing wife is taken to the next level in Keeping Up Appearances

(1990-95), with Richard as the long-suffering husband of haughty Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced Bouquet).