Anyone up for a 21st century ‘Are You Being Served’, ‘Keeping Up Appearances’, ‘Up Pompeii’ and ‘Good Neighbors’!

On the heels of yesterdays announcement that the BBC is looking into reviving several classic British sitcoms, including the Ronnie Barker classic, Porridge, and the Michael Crawford’s Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em, as part of their forthcoming Landmark Sitcom Season. Officials at the BBC announced that the series would mark 60 years since Hancock’s Half Hour transferred from radio […]

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‘Still Open All Hours’ – Arkwright’s lease renewed for a second series

From 1973 until the mid-80’s, Open All Hours, starring Ronnie Barker and David Jason as the penny-pinching South Yorkshire corner shop proprietor Albert Arkwright and his illegitimate nephew, Granville, sat atop the BBC comedy world for much of its’ existence. Ranking eighth in the 2004 Britain’s Best Sitcom poll, Open All Hours was created and […]

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Is ‘Brittas Empire’ set for reboot?

Ok, so I might be in the midst of a mild case of ‘good old days’ syndrome when it comes to British comedy but there are days that I look at the current comedy output from the UK and long for the days when a new season of As Time Goes By, Keeping Up Appearances, […]

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Happy Mother’s Day to Hyacinth Bucket – from your son, Sheridan

Hyacinth Bucket, played brilliantly by Patricia Routledge, has spent a lifetime in our collective homes over the years insisting her surname is pronounced Bouquet. She is pretty much a pompous social-climbing snob. Unbeknownst to most neighbor residents of Blossom Lane, Hyacinth originally came from a very poor working-class background. Her main mission in life is […]

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‘Open All Hours’ – a must see, a must read AND a comedy classic

I may be in the minority here, but one of my most favorite British situation comedies of all-time is Open All Hours. Written by Roy Clarke (Last of the Summer Wine, Keeping Up Appearances) and starring comedy legends Ronnie Barker and David Jason, Open All Hours ‘premiered’ in 1973 as a last-minute addition to Barker’s comedy anthology series, Seven […]

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Happy 86th, Patricia Routledge!

Armed with her early theatre training background from the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Patricia Routledge launched her career at the Liverpool Playhouse. She spent years, professionally, on stage and in theatre (which included a 1968 ‘Best Actress in a Musical’ Tony Award for her performance in Darling of the Day) in addition to several big screen appearances including To Sir, With […]

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Happy Mother's Day to Hyacinth Bucket – from your son, Sheridan

Hyacinth Bucket, played brilliantly by Patricia Routledge, has spent a lifetime in our collective homes over the years insisting her surname is pronounced Bouquet. She is pretty much a pompous social-climbing snob. Unbeknownst to most neighbor residents of Blossom Lane, Hyacinth originally came from a very poor working-class background. Her main mission in life is […]

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Tellyspotting heads to Liverpool for 2014 BBC Showcase

How appropriate given that 2014 is the 50th anniversary of the first Beatles appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show that, as you read this, Tellyspotting will be somewhere over New York City headed to Liverpool for the 2014 BBC Showcase. You might remember that this is annual gathering of television programming executives from around the […]

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