Some British TV comedies of last 20 years

I watched a clip off youtube from Outnumbered, which was a painfully awkward and uncomfortable talk between father and son, which definitely resonated with me as a father, so I will look into it more. The Brits are great at doing the comedy of embarrassment (Extras being a very good example). I've come across the name, but on the surface of it it didn't seem like one that I would have been particularly into at the time.

Since I live in Canada, not many of these have I noticed on TV, and our Netflix has a limited Britcom selection. I used to have BBC iPlayer, which helped, and I've had to look to other means to see most of these shows. Commonly the way I discover music, TV, film, novels, podcasts, documentaries and other items of interest is I find one thing I like which leads me to discover other related media. Currently comedy is not so much my thing, although I am looking forward to the upcoming dramedy "Inside No. 9" episodes. So this bloggy topic sort of represents that.

I discovered Extras and The Office on TV, as well as Black Books, and watched some Little Britain there (wish I'd put Big Babies in its place which I watched on BBC Kids). After getting turned on to AD/BC: A Rock Opera, I looked for more Matt Berry stuff (so Darkplace followed by Man to Man with Dean Learner, followed by Snuff Box and Toast of London because of Matt Berry, followed by my big interest in Matt Berry's music -- listened to The Pheasant ten times yesterday). The Thick of It I watched because of Peter Capaldi joining Doctor Who largely. Brass Eye was thanks to discovering The Day Today, which I loved, on youtube, which I discovered because I was looking for an episode of the Onion series Today Now. I discovered Psychoville since googling found it when doing a search for dark shows such as the mind-blowing for me Utopia and Black Mirror, plus black dramedies such as Misfits. That led me to League of Gentlemen and Inside No. 9. The terrific Nathan Barley was mentioned in another comedy thread here and I could see that it would appeal to my dark tastes.

When it comes to comedy, like most series, I prefer to binge watch. If I love something I tend to want to watch as much as possible in a short time. One things I often like about Brit series is that the runs are more limited than successful American ones. Although too limited in various cases, where I really wanted another series/ season. I hate it when shows seem to finish prematurely -- more episodes are not ordered or when they are cancelled, and maybe cause my tastes are generally not that mainstream, it seems to happen quite a lot (Utopia and In the Flesh being prime examples). Rant, I hate Coronation Street and it seem like our public national broadcaster has been consistently showing it longer than I've been alive (hated that show as a child, and I hate it just as much now), and I wish they showed better British fare.

Already since I made the topic, my list would be rather different (and yes, again, Black Mirror is not a comedy, but is listed as a dramedy in a British comedy guide, so I thought it would be mildly humorous to add it to the list). I wish we had better services for British TV here. I used to get BBC Canada, but it's not as good as BBC in the UK and has Canadian content requirements. Plus many Channel 4 shows have been so good (ITV was superb), but we don't get lots of them (at least we got dramas such as Utopia on Space)....

Anyway, love to have the recommendations keeping on coming in -- be good to have little descriptions to come with them or links to youtube clips etc. I should have done that for all of these shows to make it easier for people to discover stuff that might be of interest to them, but know that as a pessimist my tastes tend to run to the darker side, and I often have an appreciation for the surreal and absurd.

Edited by Logan - February 20 2017 at 12:58

Logan wrote: I watched a clip off youtube from Outnumbered, which was a painfully awkward and uncomfortable talk between father and son, which definitely resonated with me as a father, so I will look into it more. The Brits are great at doing the comedy of embarrassment (Extras being a very good example). I've come across the name, but on the surface of it it didn't seem like one that I would have been particularly into at the time.

Edited by Dean - February 21 2017 at 03:00

Amazing! Ever since I saw that episode of Drop The Dead Donkey I have also used GEGS! as a personal swearword. Henry walking around saying GEGS! throughout that episode just stuck in my mind and since then whenever I'm annoyed I find myself saying GEGS!! I thought I was the only one

^ That will be something to listen to as I lay in bed that will make a nice change from my usual nocturnal podcast rituals.

^^ That is a coincidence with GEGS!

And, segue, speaking of cryptic crossword clues (used to love to do cryptics), the last Inside No. 9 episode had a cryptic crossword theme. And the episode the week before that was really brilliant (although the ending seemed rather implausible, but then Inside No. 9 often is, and it's part of the charm).



The crossword puzzle created by Pemberton for the episode was used by the Guardian (though changed somewhat from the episode): https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/27132

Logan wrote: Been drinking a bit too much perhaps, which is never a good excuse for piss poor posting.

See, if life were more like a comedy, somebody would have responded by now with, "So what's your excuse the rest of the time?"

Edited by Logan - July 31 2017 at 19:46

I'm lukewarm on Alan Partridge, Little Britain (sometimes very funny, I thought) or the Office either. A number of people here have mentioned that they don't like those ones (and The Thick of It, though I really like that). In particular I found the Alan partridge film pretty dismal, but then I wasn't a fan of the League of Gentlemen film. My list would be quite different now, and I wish I'd noted some of other good ones that I discovered.

If you or anyone else hears about any good, new ones, please let me know.

They wrote three new episodes of The League of Gentlemen. Filming begins this month. And for those who care, Alan Partridge seems to be in the works.
And Shearsmith and Pemberton (who are part of the League, and made Psychoville in my list) will also be coming back for series 4 of Inside No. 9 this year (love that anthology show -- it's not always funny to be sure; it does dramedy and some serious drama). I haven't read, but I'm thinking they will start with a Christmas special again. The following is from 2016's Christmas special:

Nathan Barley, written by Charlie Brooker and Chris Morris (two favourites of mine) is a very unique on the list.

It can be very uncomfortable viewing, and it's brilliant.

Potentially interesting factoid for those that may not know: Nathan Barley was based on a character created by Charlie Brooker (Nathan Barley, Dead Set, A Touch of Cloth, Weekly Wipe, Black Mirror) for the website TV Go Home http://www.tvgohome.com/ which parodied the Radio Times publication, and was produced fortnightly from 1999 to 2001. in 201, a TVGoHome comedy sketch show was made with six half-hour episodes.

Here is a taste of the tasteless sketch show. NOTE, those offended by hat defecation look away.

wikipedia wrote: c**t, a fly-on-the wall series featuring Nathan Barley, a "new media" type kept housed and up to date with the latest pointless technological gadgets through constant parental financial support. Barley is depicted as being of absolutely no value to society, with no morals and even less intelligence, and having many friends (all of whom are exactly like him). On one occasion he attempts to let his girlfriend down over a 6-month period, ultimately ending in his confident, happy girlfriend being sectioned.[3] He is subject to almost pathological levels of hatred from the writer of the billing of the show.

I also enjoyed Brooker's A Touch of Cloth, although the humour can be groan worthy, and the absurdity can be a bit much (watched both seasons, I think, on youtube).



There is quite a bit of none-too-subtle innuendo/ double entendres. Note: those offended by court testimonies look away.

Sorry bumping a poll of mine, but these topics act as list makers, and I always hope to learn about new ones from them.

The one I've most recently enjoyed, though it's very low brow (unlike, say, Inspector Bumhat) and perhaps I should be ashamed to mention liking it, is The Windsors. Royalists and people with taste, discerning or otherwise, might wish to steer clear. I saw it on Netflix Canada.



The League of Gentlemen just came back with a three episode special (bit late to mention this here though I saw the news ages ago as the three parts showed on December 18, 19, and 20th. I haven't had the chance to see them yet.



And I look forward to the return of another Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton show, Inside No. 9. I mentioned that quite a lot in another thread too, and while more of a dark comedy anthology series, I would recommend it to people who enjoy Black Mirror (as well as shows such as The League of Gentlemen and Psychoville). It's a show that I love enough that I wish to promote it even if this site is not the best place for talking about such stuff. Anyway, Inside No. 9 is coming back to BBC on January 2nd with a six part series. This will be the fourth series.



EDIT: Well, I have now watched the three episodes of the 2017 holiday special (series four) of The League of Gentlemen, and I loved it. I do think it was a bit rushed in just the three half hour episodes, but it's not a bad thing that it left me wanting more. And I wonder how many others here got the Inside No. 9 reference? Or if anyone other than me who regularly posts here even watched it. To sound unChristmasy, sh*tty "BBC Canada" (sh*tty any channel with Canada in the title and sh*tty Canadian TV shows too -- if I want BBC I want BBC shows/ British shows but they have bloody Canadian content. It's not even really owned by BBC, it's the Canadian Corus Entertainment mostly so the can shill their own productions) doesn't even show The League and most of my fave BBC shows, nor is it on Netflix Canada, so I streamed it elsewhere (on Christmas Day I will be watching Doctor Who on Space since BBC made a deal with them and don't show DW on the Canadian BBC channel). I stopped subscribing to the various BBC channels in Canada since they do a bad job (even BBC Earth had commercials here even though I paid for the channel -- Netflix is much better value). I used to subscribe to BBC iPlayer here in Canada, but they stopped offering it. Anyway, I'll buy the LoG box set one of these days.

Edited by Logan - December 23 2017 at 16:17

Squonk19 wrote: Too many great programmes to choose! The Detectorists, Outnumbered and Red Dwarf not even on the list!!!! Big Train is an underrated classic - look at the actors who went onto even greater things - like Pegg, Eldon, Heap etc. No sign of The Fast Show or Vic Reeves' Big Night Out? Kept me in catchphrases at work for years! The Office over Extras any day (I think someone's being putting the multiple votes on!) The Thick of It, Alan Partridge etc. are classics too. However, for me here in UK, The League of Gentlemen (Series 1 and 2 at least) was the game changer! Dark and surreal, but wonderfully inventive (Hello Dave?) - Psychoville and Inside No. 9 kept the flag flying, but great to see the return of it this Christmas (hopefully more to come next year) - the exploding hedgehog must go down as the comedy moment of 2017! By the way, I know 'Black Mirror' had dark comedy moments - but it doesn't quite fit on the list for me. 'San Junipero' was one of the most uplifting dramas I've seen for years, with 'Shut Up and Dance', 'Hated in the Nation', 'White Bear' and 'Be Right Back' incredibly disturbing and thought-provoking. Looking forward to Series 4.

Nice! Thanks for the post.   I was mighty impressed with the LoG specials, and the exploding hedgehog really did up the ante from, say, the tortoise which blasted out of its shell when he gave it oxygen.

As for Black Mirror, while it may in part be considered dramady I added it in an attempt at some humour because I had seen it listed in a British comedy guide (maybe they added it because Charlie Brooker has done comedy and because it has some dark humour). https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/black_mirror/ It's generally about as funny as Inside No. 9's The 12 Days of Christine. It does fit with a few in the poll methinks even if it's not comedy. Some might find the hokey pokey, PM poke a pig in the hokey National Anthem thing amusing (to poorly link Black Mirror with the League of Gentleman). They say there will be one humorous BM episode in this series. And while I don't think this episode will be comedy, even if humorous moments, the trailer does make it look like quite a funny Star Trekish parody:



Incidentally, there were various shows that I didn't consider for the poll as I mean shows that started within about the past 20 years. So, I didn't include Red Dwarf which started in 1988 (to think Blackadder was still going then) and The Fast Show and Vic Reeves' Big Night Out, which both started on TV I think earlier than any of my choices. A favourite of mine from when Big Night Out started is Rik Mayall's New Statesman To be honest, I haven't seen much of The Fast Show or Big Night Out, but will try to rectify this (Vic and Bob are legends). I hadn't even heard of the Detectorists and Outnumbered when I made the poll, let alone seen any of them. Living in Canada, watching these shows can take a little more effort and ingenuity.

Would love more suggestions still. While I've discovered many more since I came up with the poll, and mentioned various one I liked in posts in the topic, and my choices would now be rather different, there are always more gems to discover. I also suspect that at least one over-exuberant person has used the multi-vote option in the improper manner, but the better way to express your passion is through an impassioned post, I think. That said, I do like Extras a lot. Its interesting for me to note the ones that have no votes and sole votes. Thought Misfits (which is more of a dramady and not a typical comedy) would be more popular, especially as there are various people here into the superpowers type thing. And People Like Us should interest those into The Office, but then the Office only has one vote. Green Room is one I sometimes like, but never managed to watch many episodes from as it kind of irritates me.


Edited by Logan - December 23 2017 at 19:24

I hate Little Britain, the humour does not appeal to me.   Not sure, it's because it's a bunch of gay dudes but I'm not a huge fan of David Williams(a) .  Just me, I suppose!!