It’s almost Thanksgiving so it must be time to talk Christmas telly

Judging by the excessive number of emails I’m getting from the overly greedy retailers letting me know that, supposedly, ‘Black Friday’ has already begun even though it was only Monday, it’s never to early to think about Christmas…for the right reasons. This rings true, especially for the true believers (you know who you are) who […]

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Step aside Parkers and Griswolds, it’s a Brockman family Christmas this year on BBC 1

The Parkers were able to survive the holiday season despite Ralphie getting his ‘perfect Christmas wish’ of a Red Ryder BB gun. The Griswolds’ hopes of having a ‘good old-fashioned family Christmas’ would not be dashed despite having to deal with cousin Eddie and family. Ever wondered if and/or how the Brockman family would survive Christmas? Well, […]

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“Motherland” shows promise amidst BBC’s ‘year of the reboot’

Buried smack dab in the middle of the current sitcom reboot/remake/prequel overload comes a really promising new comedy pilot offering airing tonight at 10p on BBC2. Motherland, starring Anna Maxwell-Martin (Bletchley Circle, Death Comes to Pemberley, And Then There Were None), Lucy Punch (Doc Martin, Hot Fuzz), Diane Morgan (Mock the Week, Mount Pleasant) and Paul Ready […]

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Did Andy Murray take Ben’s tennis advice after all?

In 2011, British tennis ace Andy Murray was given advice for defeating Roger Federer in a commercial for Comic Relief Red Nose Day. Murray was unfortunate enough to bump into the Brockmans, the dysfunctional family at the center of the semi-improvisational BBC comedy, Outnumbered. Things seem to start out well when Jake enthusiastically greets Andy but, as you can […]

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Ever wonder what David Tennant does on holiday?

Unfortunately, this might be as close as you get to an answer. In What We Did On Our Holiday, Doug (David Tennant) and Abi (Rosamund Pike) and their three children travel to the Scottish Highlands for Doug’s father Gordie’s (Billy Connolly) birthday party. It’s soon clear that when it comes to keeping a secret under […]

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BBC revives Comedy Playhouse with 'Over to Bill'

This Spring will see two brilliant returns to the telly. Not so coincidentally, brilliance will collide when Doug Naylor’s Over to Bill launches as one of three pilots scheduled for the revival of the BBC’s Comedy Playhouse strand. Comedy Playhouse began in 1961 and ran until 1975 as an anthology series which served as the […]

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Outnumbered to return for a fifth series

British situation comedy series come in all shapes and sizes. There are those that litter the airwave alleys which should have been commissioned for another season but weren’t for some unexplained reason (insert Whites, Dirk Gently and Grass here), there are those that have hung around too long (insert Two Pints of Lager and a […]

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A look back at a bit of BBC Sport Relief 2012 comedy greatness

Aside from the fact that the BBC Sport Relief efforts happen to be one of the biggest fundraising events in the UK, it’s a country-wide effort to ‘get active, raise cash and change lives according to event organizers. If you are either outside of the UK or the one person within the UK that aren’t […]

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Happy Belated 77th, Judi Dench. Fancy a stay at the Marigold Hotel?

With apologies to the great Judi Dench, we’d like to take a moment and wish her a very happy belated birthday. Turning 77 on Friday, 9 December, the brilliant actress has done nothing but give theatre goers, film lovers and situation comedy fans, worldwide, birthday presents every year since her first professional stage appearance in […]

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How to be a sitcom parent 101

Admit it. You’ve probably thought, many times, watching a sitcom, “….I could write that.” I’m guessing, however, that there are a fair amount of folks out there that would forego the opportunity to write a sitcom and go straight to the thought of being in a sitcom. You look at the Royles (Royle Family), Brockmans […]

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