After hearing about the plans for the forthcoming ‘BBC Sitcom Season’ for what seems like an eternity, we now finally get to see some video for not only the remakes of what set in motion what has become a 60-year history of comedy on the Beeb but some of the channel’s new offerings as well. […]
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Of all the one-off programs that the BBC has lined up to celebrate the 60th anniversary of comedy on the BBC, Goodnight Sweetheart has to the one I’m most excited about. I thought the original was brilliant. With the original writers and virtually all of the original cast involved, this has potential much like Still Open […]
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In addition to the previously announced re-makes of Are You Being Served, Keeping Up Appearances and Porridge, the BBC has announced plans to add 21st century versions of Up Pompeii, Hancock’s Half Hour, Steptoe and Son and Till Death Us Do Part. Marking 60 years since Hancock’s Half Hour started on July 6, 1956 on BBC Television, the Landmark Sitcom Season will […]
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As part of their Landmark Sitcom Season celebrating 60 years of British Comedy on the BBC in 2016, the Beeb announced recently that they would be commissioning 21st century remakes of several classic British comedies including Porridge, Up Pompeii, Are You Being Served?, Good Neighbors and Keeping Up Appearances. While, unfortunately, many of the actors associated with these decades old comedy […]
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Is there no end to the brilliant comedy news coming out the UK? Already this week, in conjunction with their Landmark Sitcom Season which will celebrate 60 years of British Comedy on the Beeb in 2016, came the announcement concerning 21st century remakes of several classic British comedies including Porridge, Up Pompeii, Are You Being Served?, Good […]
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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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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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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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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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In March 1973, a small grocer’s shop in Balby, a suburb of Doncaster in South Yorkshire, opened its doors. 40 years later, in Still Open All Hours, Arkwright’s is owned by Granville Arkwright (David Jason), the nephew of the now deceased Albert Arkwright (Ronnie Barker), the shops stammering, miserly original owner. To celebrate the 40th, […]
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