12 British Comedy Shows You Absolutely Had To Watch In The '90s

Back in the '90s, many people suffered the debilitating First World trauma of only having four terrestrial TV channels to watch (Channel 5 was just experimental viewing, an exercise in superiority or used for sordid reasons after 11pm). But as a direct result of this limited choice, when a show was popular, it was really popular. Comedies seemed to enter the national stream of consciousness more readily than any other genre and if you weren't watching what everyone else was watching then conversations and jibes would fly right over your head. TV comedy was the currency of the playground, the pub and the water cooler at work. You were seriously lacking in credentials if you couldn't repeat, verbatim, the best lines from the previous night's episode. Attempts at mimicking the various accents were thankfully optional. The British programmes included in this list were an absolute must for kids with liberal or distracted parents, teenagers, students and the under 25s. They're not ranked on the basis of greatness or influence (that's a separate issue entirely): they're ordered on the likelihood of becoming a social outcast if you weren't in on the joke. Which is just as important.