British TV Sitcom Quiz

British TV Situation Comedy

• British sitcoms are situational comedy programmes produced for British television.

• Most British sitcoms are recorded on studio sets, while some have an element of location filming, and a handful are made almost exclusively on location.

• A subset of British comedy avoids traditional situation comedy themes, storylines, and home settings to focus on more unusual topics or narrative methods.

• Pinwright's Progress (1946–1947) was the world's first regular half-hour televised sitcom.

• Hancock's Half Hour (1956–1961) was the first modern TV sitcom, and its radio series had been influential in the development of TV situation comedy.

• The Army Game (1957–1961) was probably British television's most successful sitcom of this period and ran for 154 episodes.

• The Rag Trade (1961–1963, 1977–1978) was a then-rare workplace comedy with a strong female ensemble.

• Women were usually only cast in secondary roles in this period, though several series with Wendy Craig in the lead were an exception.

• Till Death Us Do Part (1965–1968, 1972–1975) featured Warren Mitchell as Alf Garnett and centred on the bigoted character of Alf Garnett, addressing racial and political issues that had been becoming increasingly prevalent in British society.

• Dad's Army (1968–1977) by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, was a gentle mockery of Britain's 'finest hour' and the Home Guard.

• The 1970s is often regarded as the golden era of British sitcom, with Fawlty Towers (1975, 1979), The Good Life (1975–78), To the Manor Born, Porridge (1974–77), Open All Hours (1973, 1976–85), and Last of the Summer Wine (1973–2010) becoming highly successful.

• The commercial station ITV had successes with Rising Damp (1974–78), Man About the House (1973–76), and George and Mildred (1976–79).British Sitcoms of the 1970s

• The 1970s saw a shift towards controversial topics in sitcoms, including race, sex, and divorce.

• Are You Being Served? and Up Pompeii! were successful farce and camp humour sitcoms of the 1970s.

• Other sitcoms of the era explored themes of single motherhood, divorce, and unmarried couples, including ...And Mother Makes Three, My Wife Next Door, Rings on Their Fingers, and Bless This House.

• On the Buses, despite poor critical reception, gained a viewership of up to 20 million, but has been criticised in modern times for being cliche-ridden, stereotypical, racist, and sexist.

• Man About the House was a daring sitcom for the time, featuring a man sharing a flat with two single women.

• Porridge, based on life in a UK prison, was critically acclaimed and appreciated by British prisoners for its depiction of the relationship between inmates and prison officers.

• Rising Damp, sometimes called the best of all ITV sitcoms, explored issues of race and prejudice through its miserly, seedy, and ludicrously self-regarding landlord character, Rigsby.

• Happy Ever After, The Good Life, and Open All Hours were popular domestic sitcoms of the era.

• Fawlty Towers, starring John Cleese as Basil Fawlty, is considered by many to be the greatest British sitcom of all time, and its repetition of "don't mention the war" has become a catchphrase.

• George and Mildred, a spin-off of Man About the House, explored the clash of social class.

• Miss Jones and Son depicted the life of a young woman coming to terms with the responsibility of looking after her baby alone.British Sitcoms: A Brief History

• British sitcoms emerged in the 1950s and became popular in the 1960s with shows such as Steptoe and Son (1962–1974) and Till Death Us Do Part (1965–1975).

• The 1970s saw the rise of family-friendly sitcoms such as The Good Life (1975–1978), Rings on Their Fingers (1978–1980), and To the Manor Born (1979–1981, 2007).

• The 1980s introduced alternative comedy sitcoms such as The Young Ones (1982–1984) and Blackadder (1983–1989), as well as family-friendly shows such as Only Fools and Horses (1981–2003) and Last of the Summer Wine (1973–2010).

• Yes Minister (1980–1984) and its sequel Yes, Prime Minister (1986–1988) were political satires that received several BAFTA awards and were voted sixth in the Britain's Best Sitcom poll.

• Hi-de-Hi! (1980–1988) was a family-friendly sitcom set in a fictional holiday camp and won a BAFTA for Best Comedy Series in 1984.

• Ever Decreasing Circles (1984–1989) was a sitcom with a quiet, unacknowledged despair that won a BAFTA and was voted number 52 in the BBC's Britain's Best Sitcom poll.

• 'Allo 'Allo! (1982–1992) was a farcical parody set in Nazi-occupied France that gained respectable ratings and was adapted to stage.

• The Mistress (1985–1987) was a short-lived sitcom about a young florist having an affair with a married man.

• Chelmsford 123 (1988–1990) was a short-lived sitcom set in Roman Britain about a young Roman general punished by the Emperor by being sent to govern Britannia.

• Successful sitcoms of the 1990s included Desmond's (1989–1994), Drop the Dead Donkey (1990–1998), Men Behaving Badly, Game On, I'm Alan Partridge, Goodnight Sweetheart, Bottom, The Brittas Empire, The Thin Blue Line, Mr. Bean, and One Foot in the Grave.

• Jeeves and Wooster (1990–1993) adapted P. G. Wodehouse's "Jeeves" stories into a comedy-drama sitcom.

• The sitcom genre continues to evolve and thrive in contemporary British television.A Brief History of British Sitcoms

• Exton for ITV was a well-received series starring Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, and won multiple British Academy Television Awards.

• Waiting for God was a major success, running for 47 episodes over 5 series on BBC1, and starred Stephanie Cole and Graham Crowden.

• Keeping Up Appearances, written by Roy Clarke, was a highly successful sitcom with five series and 44 episodes, and is the most-bought BBC programme internationally.

• Absolutely Fabulous, written by Jennifer Saunders, ran for 39 episodes and starred Joanna Lumley, and was ranked 9th in Radio Times' top 20 British sitcoms.

• If You See God, Tell Him was a four-episode BBC1 mini-series written by Andrew Marshall and David Renwick, and starred Richard Briers, Adrian Edmondson, Imelda Staunton and Martin Clunes.

• The Vicar of Dibley was a highly successful sitcom starring Dawn French, and was among the most successful British programmes of the digital era.

• Hamish Macbeth was a comedy-drama series created by Scottish screenwriter Daniel Boyle, filmed mainly on location in the Scottish Highlands.

• Father Ted was a successful sitcom created by Irish writers Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews, and was named the second-greatest British sitcom by a panel of comedy experts for the Radio Times.

• Dinnerladies, created, written and co-produced by Victoria Wood, was based on the lives of the employees of a works canteen and won many awards.

• The Royle Family, written by Caroline Aherne and Craig Cash, was centred on the lives of a television-fixated working-class family, and won several BAFTA awards.

• Doc Martin, a dramedy series, stars Martin Clunes and Caroline Catz, and was created by Dominic Minghella and produced by Philippa Braithwaite.

• The Green Green Grass was a spin-off from Only Fools and Horses, produced for the BBC and created by John Sullivan.

• Gavin & Stacey, written by James Corden and Ruth Jones, was a hit and breakthrough show for the BBC, and won multiple awards, including the BAFTA Audience Award and the British Comedy Awards Best TV Comedy Award.

• Benidorm, created by Derren Litten and produced by Tiger Aspect for ITV, aired for 74 episodes.

Think you know British TV situation comedies? Test your knowledge with this quiz! From classic shows like Dad's Army and Fawlty Towers to more recent hits like Gavin & Stacey and Benidorm, this quiz covers the history of British sitcoms. See how many you can identify and learn some interesting facts along the way. Keywords: British TV, sitcoms, history, Fawlty Towers, Gavin & Stacey, Benidorm.