Posted on 02/25/2016 5:15:42 PM PST by chasio649
I have watched many older British comedies..."Are You Being Served", "Good Neighbors", "Red Dwarf" and "Vicar of Dibley"...But is there something great i am missing? Let's talk about it....
The funny thing is that the stars of The Good Life were very much Richard Briers and Felicity Kendall (who had one of the cutest backsides in jeans ever on TV) with Eddington and Keith very much the straight men, side kicks.
After the show it was expected that Kendall and Briers would be the superstars but their careers very much peaked with The Good Life. Keith however went on to stardom in To The Manor Born, which had audiences of 20 million per episode (at the time the population of the UK would have been about 55 million) and of course Eddington went on to beat everyone with his masterful performances in Yes Minister and Prime Minister.
No, no, no, no, no, no, yes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRlqmTKyQx0
I haven't seen 'Allo, 'Allo mentioned yet. I loved it.
The BBC used to do fantastic gentle comedies like Butterflies, Ever Decreasing Circles and as mentioned earlier A Fine Romance as well as As Time Goes By.
If you like good, well-written, intelligent comedy, aimed at a mature, middle class audience, devoid of profanity and political sneering and with quite simply some of the finest actors you could wish to watch you couldn’t do better than them.
To which I would also add my personal favourite Just Good Friends, especially series one and two.
My God, how did we forget that one? Ronnie Barker could make you laugh reading the telephone directory, a superb character actor. And of course G-G-G-Granville who went on to comedic greatness in Only Fools and Horses.
We should also include Porridge in our homage to Ronnie Barker. And of course the Two Ronnies.
Look up “The Two Ronnies Fork handles” in Youtube and be prepared to weep with laughter.
Keeping Up Appearances
The best episode is where that actor of genius Geoffrey Palmer, the only man who can make you laugh by acting as a complete deadpan bore, tries to enlist Reggie into his secret conspiracy to take power in a coup (not so fanciful in 1970s Britain) and Reggie’s response about about the rear admirals and the queer admirals, look it up on YouTube.
Lou Rossiter also did a hilarious episode slopping out the piggery ( and the premise of the entire series was extremely entertaining - as well as an Insightful social commentary - one many folks could identify with, ha! ) it’s gotta be watched in correct order of the episodes because it develops the theme
Foyle’s War — HIGHLY recommended!
Doc Martin — episode one didn’t hook me at all.
Ah yes, Rumpole. One of my favorites! A big up-vote for Rumpole.
I haven’t seen “Dad’s Army,” but a good Brit friend highly recommends it. So did a German friend.
Lots of great stuff listed that I have seen, and some I am now searching for.. however ... no love for
Only Fools and Horses? :O
As time goes by
Wow...I just read all the way to 212 and came away with enough great shows to last me through all of my upcoming retirement. Thanks to everybody! Plus, what a nice respite from the election.
I also just realized that not one soul has nominated Shaun the Sheep (a British stop-motion animated television series) which is a spin-off of the Wallace and Gromit franchise. I find both of them to be absolutely hilarious. If you like animation, especially clay animation and good Brit humour, you’ll love these.
We as a family watch it and love it.
I never guess who the murderer is though LOL.
Unfunniest Brit comedy ever.
From what I read, “’Till Death” was a lot more vicious than its American counterpart.
*ping of interest*
The second bananas are often the more interesting characters, particularly if the actors really make the role their own. IIRC, "Are You Being Served?" was something of a Trevor Bannister vehicle, but it ended up being very much an ensemble show that was more centered around John Inman. (I can't recall where I heard that, so I may be wrong.)
Now that you've mentioned it, it is possible that Felicity's backside made my dad such a fan of "The Good Neighbors" back when it ran on our local public television station.
Mr. niteowl77
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