British TV Shows

[stokeriño]

Undeniably.

Doesn't come out on DVD till June though.

[Benji]

Its Rowan AtkinSON

If you are gonna post useless topics about the poor guy at least spell his name right.

If you're going to post then at least be less of an asshole.

[KoA]

The Thin Blue Line.

Best police comedy. Besides Hot Fuzz, that is.

[K]

I really liked the Thin Blue Line.

It's much better than some of that other arty farty, napby pamby, roly poly, tie dye, hoity toity; fannying about you get on other shows.

[Benji]

While we're on the subject of forgotten British comedies, the Brittas Empire was the ultimate in badassery.

[Guest Ant]

Colin FTW.

Who was the name of the receptionist with the baby in the drawer?

[stokeriño]

I used to watch the Brittas Empire, but I can imagine it probably wouldn't hold up as well if I watched it again... It seemed to very much be a "there's Chris Barrie...and no one else is worth bothering with" kind of show.

[K]

I have the first three series of the Brittas Empire on DVD, it's not so good.

[Liam]

I liked Operation Good Guys, the thing needs more love.

[Diesel]

Only Fools & Horses/Porridge/Open All Hours - I love those. They are great British Comedies!

But as this topic started with Rowan, does anyone still think of him as Mr. Bean in anything he does? I remember watching Johnny English and were he's in the shower singer, it was a Mr. Bean Moment

[Stone Cold]

I see Rowan Atkinson more as Edmond Blackadder than Mr Bean. Blackadder is one of my favourite sit-coms, next to Only Fools and Horses, Red Dwarf and The Young Ones, mainly because of Atkinson's portrayal of Blackadder.

[Darloboy]

The Thin Blue Line is awesome, I was watching it on DVD today. The best character is blatantly Kray, Grimm's sidekick who's always ordering pizza and stuff.

Operation Good Guys also = great.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Glam Metal Detectives > *

Also, nothing can stand up alongside The Day Today and Brasseye.

In fact there was a load of good stuff floating around in the early 90s. Red Dwarf was phenominal but doesn't hold up QUITE so well when I watch it now (still very funny in parts though).

Recently I'd highly rate Peep Show, Father Ted, Spaced, Teachers, Garth Marenghi, Mighty Boosh, Coupling and Nathan Barley, though I know a LOT of people didn't like Nathan Barley....But they're wrong.

The problem is, a lot of people only see the middle of road stuff that BBC1 and ITV1 throw up at us. Basically the better stuff is always on BBC2 and Channel 4.

Screw it, I might place Day Today as best. Just so funny - bomb dogs, John Major fighting the Queen, the rail crisis with ararchy and paganism, Chris Morris provoking Hong Kong and Australia into a war against eachother so that he could be the first to report on it ("delivered from Eastmanstown on the Australio-Hong-Kong border"), the British pound being stolen, Crete being stolen by Libya, Japan manufacturing 16 identical Japans, Alan Partridge's sports reports....All amazing. Chris Morris' news anchor probably the best comedic character ever devised.

Also, Thin Blue Line was ok but it reminded me of the sketch on "Not The Nine O Clock News" with Rowan Atkinson where he berates a member of his staff for arresting a man for possession of "tight curly black hair and large lips" in an anti-racism joke.

[Skummy]

The Day Today, and to a lesser extent On The Hour and Brasseye, are indeed the finest examples of British comedy (since Peter Cook & Dudley Moore in their heyday, at least), as I've espoused wherever possible on this board in the past.

It's just the finest satire I've ever seen, from Chris Morris' spot-on portrayal of the aggressive middle class newsreader to the absurdity of most of the stories, to the subtle digs at news media codes and conventions ("Three policeman and a knotted tape barrier"), not forgetting the insane attention to detail, and the little touches like the bizarre end credits ("Horses: Will Self") and Chris Morris' behaviour during the credits, and at the start of shots (hiding an uzi being my favourite)....it's all absolute genius, and has so many of my favourite comedy moments...perhaps my two current favourites being the Currency Cat, and "I'm Ian Curtis!"

And not enough love goes out for Peter O'Hanrahanrahan, especially the German sketch, and the 9/11 audio sketch.

Oh, and how could I possibly forget:

JOHN FASHANU. JOHN FASHANU. JOHHHHHHHN FASHANU.

Edited April 30, 2007 by Atrocity Exhibition

[Liam]

The Day Today, and to a lesser extent On The Hour and Brasseye, are indeed the finest examples of British comedy (since Peter Cook & Dudley Moore in their heyday, at least), as I've espoused wherever possible on this board in the past.

It's just the finest satire I've ever seen, from Chris Morris' spot-on portrayal of the aggressive middle class newsreader to the absurdity of most of the stories, to the subtle digs at news media codes and conventions ("Three policeman and a knotted tape barrier"), not forgetting the insane attention to detail, and the little touches like the bizarre end credits ("Horses: Will Self") and Chris Morris' behaviour during the credits, and at the start of shots (hiding an uzi being my favourite)....it's all absolute genius, and has so many of my favourite comedy moments...perhaps my two current favourites being the Currency Cat, and "I'm Ian Curtis!"

And not enough love goes out for Peter O'Hanrahanrahan, especially the German sketch, and the 9/11 audio sketch.

Oh, and how could I possibly forget:

JOHN FASHANU. JOHN FASHANU. JOHHHHHHHN FASHANU.

Haha, I was watching the John Fashanu episode the other day, excellent.

As is the Alan Partridge football commentary bit when he is like 'Yes.....yes....yes....yes....YES YES YEEEEEESSSSSS', followed by a clip later where he goes 'It's a goal' and as the bloke kicks it back into the net 'OH...AND ANOTHER!'.

[Skummy]

"TWAT! That was LIQUID FOOTBALL!"

[YI]

"HE MUST HAVE A FOOT LIKE A TRACTION ENGINE!!"

That's my favourite Alan Partridge quote ever.

I agree that The Day Today is possibly THE greatest comedy program ever. Everything was just so perfect. Brass Eye just wasn't quite as good, it was still great, but it wasn't as overall awesome as The Day Today, though a couple of the episodes were spectacular (The "Sex" episode and of course the "Paedophile" episode, are first to mind).

Edited May 1, 2007 by YI

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

The proof is in the pudding...and in this case the pudding... is a football.... The goalie has got football pie all over his shirt!

For those who've never seen Day Today, check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6jZFZNeOF0