AS BRITAIN VOTES ON THE BEST SITCOM, YOU’RE HAVING FAWLTLESS TV
WE’RE obsessed with sitcoms – they’ve been a firm fixture on primetime TV for decades, some with more than 10million viewers.
And with new shows proving to be just as loved as old favourites, the sitcom is here to stay.
A poll for the Daily Star Sunday shows Fawlty Towers is the nation’s favourite, beating Only Fools And
Horses and Friends.
Harriet Thorpe, 62, made her name in two sitcoms – The Brittas Empire and Ab Fab.
She said: “The things that make a great sitcom are the identification of the pain, the laughs, the longing, the love and the hope. That’s what we identify with and that’s what’s funny.
“Comedy is often about people coping with situations. We love to laugh at IT has to be Fawlty Towers. It’s so ridiculous that every time I see a repeat, I laugh. I try to forget what I’ve seen before. I’ve worked with John Cleese and he’s very serious in real life. Most comedians are. JUST so smart and funny. I loved the class war that was going on the whole time. It made you feel good and cosy and safe. There was a lot of love in it and it had some very funny lines. ourselves.” TV comedy has been in crisis in recent months. Earlier this year ITV ditched sitcoms from its schedules. Harriet added: “In the past, things were allowed to evolve. The Brittas Empire ran for seven years and was allowed to grow. “You were allowed to be creative and learn from it and we ended up getting 13million viewers. “But nowadays if you don’t get the figures then it’s gone, and that’s hard.” Peep Show star Matt King, who played Super Hans, was told that his sitcom even had a loyal royal follower.
He tweeted: “I was (genuinely) told by a former Sandhurst squaddie that Peep Show was Prince William’s favourite show when he was there.” HOTEL sitcom Fawlty Towers may have topped our poll but in the Midlands, London and Scotland Friends is on top.
Father Ted is most popular in Northern Ireland with three times the votes elsewhere… I KNOW it’s not really a sitcom but I’ve never really got over Morecambe and Wise not being on the TV anymore. I still think they’re one of the best. Since then I try to keep myself up to date with new sitcoms too. IT’S funny, it’s clever, it’s irreverent, it’s unexpected. Larry David is a genius. Ted Danson is in it. Why not? IT has irony and sa everything that ma humour brilliant. I shows that remin me of different phases in my life.