There’s something about British comedy over the course of time that makes you wonder how two people could ever hook-up much less cross paths. You know, those like Basil and Sybil Fawlty who are constantly at each others throats but you get the sense that neither of them would survive without the other. The same […]
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Last Spring, I had the great good fortune to speak to Robin Ellis prior to the return of Poldark to both the BBC and PBS line-up. Without question, one of the most enjoyable individuals and an absolutely delightful interview. Most likely, you know that it was Ellis who starred in the original 1975 series as Captain Ross […]
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The British Film Institute unearthed a valuable piece of television history this week. Two more missing episodes of the cult comedy, At Last the 1948 Show, which was a precursor to Monty Python’s Flying Circus, have been found 48 years after they aired. Named for a joke about how long it took TV commissioners to make a […]
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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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40 years ago this coming Saturday, the first episode of, arguably, the best comedy series ever to be shown on telly premiered on BBC2. Fawlty Towers has long been said to have been based on the experiences of the Monty Python comedy team staying at the Gleneagles Hotel in the seaside town of Torquay. The idea came from […]
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In the United States, Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement, dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of their country. While the holiday weekend also tends to […]
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Unfortunately, we’ve all heard the endless rumors countless times before. One early idea was to have the next iteration of Blackadder set in the swingin’ 60’s featuring a Dave Clark Five-type band with a drummer by the name of Bald Rick. The most recent addition to the rumor mill that made its way around the Internets a year or so ago […]
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Don’t Panic! Regardless of whether or not Dad’s Army has ever been on your radar, the forthcoming big screen treatment that is set to hit cinemas in February 2016 is well worth a look. The original Jimmy Perry and David Croft’s British comedy followed the escapades of a group of amateur soldiers as they tried […]
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David Nobbs, the creator/writer of The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, one of the classic British situation comedies of all-time, has died at the age of 80. Based on a series of novels penned by Nobbs and first broadcast in the late 1970s, the series brilliantly told the story of middle aged, middle manager, Reginald […]
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Brilliance personified in the form of the British comedy hit, Vicious, returns to PBS on Sunday, 23 August. It has been awhile but, at long last, Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Derek Jacobi are back and are as turbulent (and bitchy) as ever. The two ‘Sirs”, who star as Freddie and Stuart, an elderly couple who […]
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