Britain’s Greatest Obsessions
Season 1 History (*186) 20:15 Doccie
Harry Hill knows how to get people laughing. He’s a professional comedian. But being British is no laughing matter, says the 58-year-old proudly. “I love being British. I think that we are the best in the world.” Ironically, the first episode of his reality doccie series Britain’s Greatest Obsessions focuses on comedy. “The country has made mistakes in the past but I think our comedy and humour is by far the best. We’re better than that lot across the pond (US comedians).”
But the show is more serious and Harry investigates everything from soccer to war and science to find out why Britons are so obsessed with being the best . . . even when they’re not. “We won the soccer World Cup (see more on p55) in 1966. We’ve had some of the world’s best players play for our country and yet we’ve not even reached the Final again. You tell me how that makes us being the best? We’re not . . . but you can’t tell Dave down at your local pub that or he’ll punch you,” says Harry. “I think it’s actually more about national pride than accepting we’re not all that good.”
Some of the other topics being investigated include drinking at pubs (episode 2), being animal lovers (episode 3) and the weather (episode 6). “It’s a comedy of errors. We Brits brag about our weather and we’re obsessed with it. But when you look out the window, it’s either raining or it’s overcast. You tell me what’s great about that? Nothing, unless you’re Noah and you’re building an ark. But we love talking it up and making it seems like the UK is a tropical beach paradise,” says Harry with a laugh.