Hard to believe that one half of the brilliant British comedy duo almost hung it up before he got started. Ronnie Corbett says he thought long and hard about abandoning show business before he met his long-time professional partner, Ronnie Barker. As the story goes, Corbett thought about giving up a career in show business […]
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A British couple comes to the U.S. to oversee their successful British comedy being remade by an “American network” — and ruined. Sounds more like a documentary than a comedy to me. Can you blame me? I can name all the British comedies that have had American re-makes on one hand, and have two fingers […]
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British situation comedy. Whether it’s Fawlty Towers, Blackadder, The Office, or the classics of Keeping Up Appearances or Are You Being Served, these are programs that we’ve all watched for years but probably never gave a second thought as to why we laugh. Aside from the brilliant writing, no one really has simplified the mechanical structure […]
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Seems as though it has merely been days since we were getting exhausted just hearing of Judi Dench’s daily work schedule. She’s just back from India where she spent a month filming The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, which is based on a book by Deborah Moggach, These Foolish Things. It follows a group of British […]
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A Doctor Who 50th? Could it be or is it just in my head at this point? It’s never too early to begin planning as to how to commemorate a significant event in history. In the case of Doctor Who, 23 November, 2013 will mark the 50th anniversary of the original broadcast of the Traveling […]
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As we reported here several months back, BBC4 has commissioned a pilot for a sitcom based on the late Douglas Adams’ great post-Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy book, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency. To quickly refresh your minds about all-things Dirk, the series is based on the original BBC 4 Radio adaptation of Adams’ first book […]
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Keeping Up Appearances icons, Patricia Routledge and Clive Swift recently (ok, it was almost 20 years ago) sat down with BBC Radio broadcaster, Judi Spiers, for a really fun behind the scenes conversation about the iconic British comedy, Keeping Up Appearances, where they allude to their upcoming (at the time) journey aboard the QE2 as […]
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As much as I have always liked the American version of The Office, I have to take exception with the Telegraph’s Ceri Radford and her planting of the flag for the American version versus the British original. Admittedly, the American version of The Office comes as close to being as good as the original British […]
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As the UK moves closer to the Boxing Day premiere of a 21st century remake of Upstairs Downstairs and with American audiences not far behind with an April 2011 premiere as part of PBS’ Masterpiece series, it’s time to look back to a day almost 40 years ago when the original London Weekend Television series premiered […]
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We’ve written recently about Ronnie Corbett showcasing his culinary talents on Ronnie Corbett’s Supper Club, but now, to celebrate his 80th, Ronnie returns to his comedy roots for The One Ronnie, a sketch comedy special with James Corden, Rob Brydon and Miranda Hart set for a Christmas Day transmission on the BBC. English freelance writer […]
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