Streaming tips

The best Britcoms...

The Thick of It

Veep creator Armando Iannucci sent up British politics in this savagely funny portrait of dysfunctional government. Before he became the 12th Doctor Who, Peter Capaldi killed it as a razor-tongued prime minister’s aide who was dubbed “Iago with a BlackBerry.” If you enjoyed Fleabag and The Office, this lesser-known BAFTA winner should be your next stop. Amazon Prime

The Inbetweeners

Turns out the awkwardness of being 17—and thus a repository of raging hormones—manifests the same way across cultures. Sort of a British Freaks and Geeks, this comedy series follows four dweebs nearly ready for university but failing spectacularly in the social arts. Netflix

Coupling

If you watched the entirety of Friends during lockdown—as so many Americans did—it might be time to visit their British equivalents. The sexobsessed single friends of Coupling are franker, coarser, and often funnier than their American counterparts. Hulu

Fawlty Towers

Arguably the best British comedy of all time, even 45 years after its debut. Post Monty Python, John Cleese brilliantly inhabited Basil Fawlty, a misanthropic hotelier whose erratic obsequiousness produces timeless humor. Netflix

The IT Crowd

Sort of like The Big Bang Theory— only more absurdity, far better jokes, and Chris O’Dowd. Netflix

Absolutely Fabulous

Patsy and Edina, Ab Fab’s debauched protagonists, are to British sitcoms what Mick and Keith are to British rock. All of today’s shows about women behaving badly owe a serious debt to Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley. Hulu