It’s fitting that the series which originally laid the groundwork for the current 60th celebration of the BBC sitcom, turned out to be a gem of a find in a lost Hancock’s Half Hour script. It was 1956 when one of the most popular shows in the UK made the unheard of scary leap from radio to television, […]
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As most of us ‘smegheads’ are painfully aware, it’s been a long, long four years since we last visited with the boys aboard Red Dwarf, the mining vessel owned by the Jupiter Mining Corporation. It’s hard to believe but it was way back in October 2012 when Red Dwarf X graced the small screen with some brilliant […]
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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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It appears that the ‘perfect storm’ we all thought it would take to get another comedy vehicle for John Cleese might be on the horizon. First, earlier this week, it was revealed that John Cleese’s fellow Monty Python member Eric Idle is to return to the Beeb this Winter. He will star in a new Christmas comedy […]
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Every so often, I feel the need to get a weekend dose of the greatest British comedy of all time, Fawlty Towers. Perhaps this is because FT is as close to comedy perfection as there is, even after some 40 years since it was produced. In between, there’s nothing better than a bit of Monty Python and […]
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You can either thank Dave or blame Dave for the fact that we are now in possession of the ‘2016 Funniest Joke at the Fringe’! The UKTV channel enlisted the help of the country’s foremost comedy critics. Each of the judges watched an average of 60 different comedy performances in Edinburgh this year and sifted through more than […]
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In today’s overloaded commercial environment, no one gives it a second thought when they encounter celebrity spokespeople appearing in adverts for their favorite whatever. What doesn’t immediately come to mind are commercials that feature the character that an actor portrays. The only recent example that seems to follow this concept features the perfect pitchman, Modern Family‘s Phil Dunphy, […]
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There has been quite a bit of chatter the last several weeks about the one-off reboots of Are You Being Served, Keeping Up Appearances, Porridge and Goodnight Sweetheart as part of the forthcoming Landmark Sitcom Season on the BBC. While both the AYBS one-off, which takes the staff of Grace Brothers Department Store and places them in the late 80s, […]
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While it’s been more than three decades since we last were able to walk into the retail ladies’ and gentlemen’s clothing department of London’s Grace Brothers department store, the doors appear ready to re-open in the not-too-distant future. The classic BBC comedy series, which ran from 1971 to 1985, is set for a re-boot as part […]
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Perhaps either taking a page from former husband Lenny Henry’s brilliant portrayal of culinary genius, Gareth Blackstock, in the comedy series, Chef, or remembering her portrayal of Geraldine Granger and her love of all things food-related in Vicar of Dibley, Dawn French has signed on for a new Sky1 comedy series, Delicious, which will begin filming soon. […]
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