CATCH-UP CLASSICS COMEDY
dramatic actress and Richard Ayoade a panel game perennial. Their chemistry was perfect as Roy, Jen and Moss — two bone-idle computer technicians and their clueless boss, stuck in the basement of a vast office block. Four series and a special
Derry Girls ALL4/ NETFLIX
No one can predict which shows will become smash hits. Channel 4 bosses had no idea that their quirky, low-budget sitcom about schoolgirls growing up in Northern Ireland during the Troubles with their English cousin James would become so wildly popular. The dialogue is sharp, the stories will make you curl up with embarrassed recognition, and Sister Michael (Siobhan McSweeney) is a comic monster. Two series
Absolutely Fabulous BRITBOX/NETFLIX/NOWTV
It’s hard to grasp the sensation this show caused when it first aired in 1992. We expected raucous antics from Jennifer Saunders, the queen of alternative comedy — but could that really be the posh Joanna Lumley with a smouldering cigarette in one hand and a bottle of Bolly in the other? You betcha, darlings. The duo had impeccable comic chemistry as Edina and Patsy, the fashion victims with money to burn and an indestructible appetite for ‘partying’. Just as astonishing was the appearance of June Whitfield, a foil to every major comedian since the 1950s. Here she was Edina’s unshockable mum. Never was a show better named . . . this really was ab fab. Five series
Blackadder BRITBOX/NOWTV
It features perhaps the most famous ending in sitcom history, but before Edmund Blackadder and Baldrick found themselves in the World War I trenches, they’d already been in trouble for centuries. The first series was set in the Middle Ages, then they fought to keep their heads in the court of Good Queen Bess (Miranda Richardson) before serving the immensely dim Prince Regent (Hugh Laurie). Four series and a special The Vicar Of Dibley BRITBOX/NOWTV
Dawn French played the breezy, irreverent Reverend Geraldine Granger, who shocks her new parish by cracking jokes and, well, being female. When the show launched in 1994 the Church of England had only just accepted the idea that women could be vicars. Geraldine’s brisk, optimistic character was modelled on the Reverend Joy Carroll, who was the reallife vicar of Streatham in south London. Two series and ten specials Dinnerladies BRITBOX/NOWTV
Like Fawlty Towers, Dinnerladies ran to just two series but made more of an impact than some sitcoms that last a decade. Multi-talented Victoria Wood played Bren, the kindly woman who provides a sympathetic shoulder for her colleagues at a works canteen. Victoria’s long-time comedy partner Julie Walters was her manipulative mother, living in a caravan and forever cadging favours. Coronation Street’s Thelma Barlow and Last Tango In Halifax’s Anne Reid co-starred. Two series
Only Fools And Horses BRITBOX/NOWTV
For comfort viewing, this can’t be beaten. John Sullivan’s sitcom about chirpy London market trader Del Boy (David Jason), taking care of his slow-witted brother Rodney (Nicholas Lyndhurst) and their grandad (Lennard Pearce), has wheedled its way to a permanent place in the nation’s hearts. Grandad gave way to Uncle Albert, played by former bank manager Buster Merryfield, and Rodney grew up and got married, but Del never stopped trying to look after them. If he wasn’t scolding his brother for his stupidity — ‘Rodney, you plonker!’ — he was reassuring him, ‘This time next year, we’ll be millionaires.’ Everyone has their favourite moments...the chandelier crashing to the floor, Del Boy casually leaning on a pub bar and falling right through, but the moment that sums the show up is when the brothers are heading to a fancy dress party, jogging out of the mist dressed as Batman and Robin. They really were the superheroes of comedy. Seven series and more than a dozen specials
Not Going Out UKTV PLAY
Lee Mack’s long-running BBC1 sitcom began as a tale of a workshy layabout, and co-starred Tim Vine and Miranda Hart. Over the years he got married and had children . . . and even got a job. The scripts cram in more gags per minute than any other British sitcom. Five series available
Friends/The Big Bang Theory NETFLIX
There’s an ever-changing roster of British sitcoms on Netflix, but these are its two U.S. giants. Both have the hallmark American style of whiplash dialogue, the jokes cracking so fast you’ll have to watch every episode three times to catch them all. And since there are 236 episodes of Friends, and 279 of Big Bang, that ought to keep you busy for a while. Ten series of Friends, 12 of Big Bang