TV comedy is one of the things Britain does best along with queuing, complaining, and drinking like we dont want to live. Britain is home to countless classic comedies like Blackadder, The Two Ronnies, and Only Fools And Horses but there are some excellent comedies that either never hit the big time or have fallen out of the nations collective consciousness since their time in the spotlight. And today, weve brought five of them together in one place. These are some of the British TV comedies you shouldnt have ignored...
5. The Worst Week Of My Life (BBC1, 2004 2006)
The presence of The Worst Week Of My Life on this list may be questionable since it aired on BBC1 with an al- star cast, but its age and low episode count have contributed to it being something of a forgotten gem. I personally consider it to be a much darker version of 70s sitcom Some Mothers Do Ave Em crossed with Meet The Parents as it follows well-intentioned disaster area Howard Steel in the week leading up to his wedding as various factors lead to him accidentally causing a series of minor catastrophes including giving his future father-in-law (a strait-laced high court judge) thirty flavoured condoms and the programmes most famous moment where he accidentally throws the family dog into a cement mixer.
The second series followed broadly the same format as the first with the wedding being replaced by the impending birth of Howards first child followed by a three part Christmas Special that ended the programme, both of which featured more emotional moments than Series One and had Howards disasters taken up a gear. Unlike most comedies, it followed a serial format with some jokes being set up early on in the series and not fully paying off until three or four episodes later. It was one of those comedies that rewarded persistent viewing. And the anticipation for the payoff really grows over the course of a few episodes. Either that or youll vaguely remember something tiny and think its inconsequential only for it raise some big laughs later on. Special mention also has to go the excellent cast including Ben Miller as Howard, Geoffrey Whitehead and Alison Steadman as his rich in-laws, and Ronald Pickup as barking mad ex-soldier Uncle Fraser whose bizarre advice to Howard is always good for a few laughs. Its not exactly groundbreaking but it was a solid if short lived revival of the cringe comedy genre and is packed with brilliant moments. Meet The Parents has got nothing on this.