Rowan Atkinson, English actor, comedian, and screenwriter turns 65 today. While best known to audiences worldwide for his work on the sitcoms Blackadder and Mr. Bean and, more recently, for his stellar performance in Maigret, I first stumbled upon Atkinson’s brilliant talent in the BBC2 sketch comedy series, Not the Nine O’Clock News.
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So, who’s up for a bit o’ science, Monty Python-style this Christmas? If you are, then Eric Idle’s Entire Universe will be the perfect PBS Christmas gift to unwrap this holiday season. International Man of Science, Professor Brian Cox, and the comedic greatness of Eric Idle will join forces in what appears to be, on the surface, a scientific […]
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Britain’s Royal Mail rolled out a long-overdue collection of stamps celebrating British comedy greats on Wednesday, April 1. Thankfully, this was no April Fools Day joke. The brilliant set features British comedy greats from the 1950s to the modern day, from Norman Wisdom and Morecambe and Wise to Spike Milligan and Victoria Wood. Stamps featuring […]
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This is a long one folks so bear with me…. After almost three years of tellyspotting, I continue to have a thought regarding a genre that I’m particularly fond of….British situation comedy. Having grown up on the likes of such classics as Monty Python, Fawlty Towers, Good Neighbors, To the Manor Born, Keeping Up Appearances, […]
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As comedy duos in the world of British comedy go, historically, most U.S. viewers are only familiar with the more recent juggernauts of Fry and Laurie or French and Saunders. As is particularly the case in the UK, comedy duos are not unfamiliar to U.S. audiences given the success of Martin & Lewis, Laurel & […]
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It may be Oscar time, but if you’re really interested in a few classic British comedy films, head over to the local video store (Premiere Video on Mockingbird Lane in Dallas immediately comes to mind as being the place to get these) and spend some quality screen time before Oscar Sunday. Bedazzled (1979) with Dudley […]
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Yesterday’s post re: the lost garage tapes of Morecambe and Wise got me thinking about another group that played a big role in the early days of British comedy more than setting the stage for today’s stars. The comedy duo of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, along with the likes of Alan Bennett and Jonathan […]
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A quick update to an October 2009 post from Tellyspotting as you make plans to travel to the UK this summer. This just in from the other side of the pond – think about Peckham if you’re a fan of Only Fools and Horses. As reported in The Guardian, the British are way ahead of […]
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Next time you travel to the UK, take a break from the pubs and think about a comedy tour of England, which boasts not only numerous birthplaces of your favorite Britcom stars, but you can quickly check out places like Yorkshire, home to the longest-running sitcom on television, Last of the Summer Wine. You can […]
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Welcome to Tellyspotting – Your Brit TV Pub! From Peter Cook to Ricky Gervais and from Upstairs/Downstairs to MI5 (Spooks), the Brits produce some of the best shows on television. As Vice President of Television Programming at KERA (Dallas/Ft. Worth), I have a job that affords me the opportunity to screen and evaluate much of the […]
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