Porridge, the early 70s British sitcom starring Ronnie Barker, Richard Beckinsale, Fulton Mackay and Brian Wilde, is being re-made as part of the BBC’s 60th anniversary of comedy celebration, the Landmark Sitcom Season, beginning this Fall. Barker starred as habitual criminal, Norman Stanley Fletcher. “Fletch” shares his cell with young Lennie Godber, a first time inmate upon whom he imparts his […]
Read more
As co-writer and co-director of BBC’s The Office, Stephen Merchant is best known for his collaborations with Ricky Gervais. The British writer, director, radio presenter, stand-up comedian and actor added a London West-End appearance last July to his CV with his first play, The Mentalists by Richard Bean, alongside Steffan Rhodri at the Wyndham Theatre. Known for his brilliant command of the English language, […]
Read more
Caroline Aherne, the co-creator/writer and star of the brilliant late 90s British situation comedy, The Royle Family, has died at the age of 52. Aherne, who played Denise Royle, co-created and wrote all three series of the critically-acclaimed comedy with co-star, Craig Cash. Centered around the lives of a blue collar, television-fixated Manchester family, the Royles, comprised of family patriarch Jim […]
Read more
Carla Lane, one of the first female television sitcom writers in an era dominated by her male counterparts, has died at the age of 87. Through her series, The Liver Birds, Butterflies and Bread, Lane gave women a voice while delving into serious subjects not normally dealt with in situation comedy. Her four decades of comedy established her as […]
Read more
As you probably gathered, we just can’t let National Towel Day and Douglas Adams go just yet. Why, you ask? Well, now comes word that BBC Radio 4 has commissioned a new series of The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, over a decade since the last series aired. According to the British Comedy Guide, it will become the sixth series […]
Read more
Best known for playing alongside Peter Sellers in the Pink Panther films, Burt Kwouk has passed away at the age of 85. While his international fame came from his recurring role as Inspector Clouseau’s sidekick, Cato, in the Pink Panther films from 1975-1993, Kwouk was a small-screen fixture from 2002-2010 starring as electrical and mechanical engineer Entwistle in Last Of The […]
Read more
The second-longest continually running UK film series, next to the James Bond films, will be getting a 21st Century makeover in the near future. The Carry On film series, which contains the largest number of films of any British series (31), began in 1958 with Carry On Sergeant, ending in 1992 with Carry On Columbus, produced to coincide with the […]
Read more
With the simple aim to tell ‘the full official story’, comedy historian Jem Roberts brings us the genius that is Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie’ in Soupy Twists. The ‘all-new narrative guide’ will be timed to mark the 30th anniversary of the debut of the duo’s ‘effortlessly superior sketch show’. The pilot episode of A Bit Of Fry & Laurie premiered in 1987, and then […]
Read more
Fawlty Towers has to be the greatest 12 episodes of comedy ever. The UK version of The Office is a close second (much better, I think, than the American version, but that’s a debate for another day). In 2000, the British Film Institute selected Fawlty Towers as the best British television show. After a year-long poll looking for Britain’s Best Sitcom, the BBC […]
Read more
Vicious, the British sitcom sporting the massive star power duo of Sirs Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi, Frances de la Tour, Iwan Rheon, Celia Imrie and Marcia Warren, returns for a series finale that will follow a year in the lives of Freddie (McKellen) and Stuart (Jacobi). It premieres on Sunday, June 19th at 8 p.m. […]
Read more