Tom started this off with his Top Ten Sitcoms (and a bizarre 'No Animation' rule), followed by Dr Sordid [link no longer pubicly available] with a more-British perspective, and Logan. This was a while ago, admittedly, but, as you can tell if you read my blog regularly, being timely is…
Saxondale is the new 7-part series from Steve Coogan, the man behind Alan Partridge. Although he probably doesn’t want that as his epitaph, it will be, as Partridge is one of the great comedy creations, starting out on radio, in On The Hour and Knowing Me, Knowing You …, through…
Green Wing was a breath of fresh air on Channel 4 last year. Inventive, surreal, visually distinctive, populated with great comedy actors, backed by good writers, and experimenting by doing comedy in an hour-long show, rather than taking the easy route of 30 minutes of jokes. Most importantly, it was…
(I don't know – you get a pain on the coccyx and the next thing you know, you're in hospital. Life is strange, isn't it? Anyway, this might seem a little late, but this would have been my post had I not been unable to do anything for the last…
There has been much talk about the death of the studio-based sitcom in the UK of late (there have been two programmes on it in recent weeks), after the success of The Office and The Thick Of It, with their documentary styles. So The IT Crowd hits our television sets…
I felt the urge to talk about British television comedy for a bit after seeing a trio of shows: The Thick of It, Hyperdrive and Tittybangbang. The Thick of It is extremely sharp political satire, first shown on BBC 4 and now making it to BBC 2, masterminded by Armando…
Some people might think that it is strange that I am posting a review of a comedy programme the day after the second London attack. That is their right. For me, I was born, bred and live in London, and these cowardly attacks on this wonderful city anger me beyond…
Four episodes in, and I'm still liking Desperate Housewives. Smart writing, good acting and an intriguing mystery to keep you coming back, all adding up to a very pleasant way to spend an hour with mainstream television. It's good to see a series where the leads are women and, as…
It's not just me who doesn't like BBC1's Friday prime time comedy, According to Bex; this Chortle item reveals diminishing viewers. This is a shame for one notable reason: Jessica Stevenson. One half of Spaced, the greatest sitcom ever, Jess is presumably going for a mainstream audience (seeing as the…