Favourite BBC Comedy of each decade?

Basq

Just got "The Complete Blackadder" and realised BBC really have been the leading (and only real) producer of British comedy.. what's your favourite BBC produced comedy in each of the last few decades? Mine are as follows:

1960's: "Monty Python's Flying Circus" (1969 - 1974)
1970's: "Fawlty Towers" (1975-1979)
1980's: "Blackadder" (1986 - 1999)
1990's: "I'm Alan Partidge" (1997-2002)
2000's: "The Office" (2001-2003)

Made some questionable choices there since the majority of Monty Python was the 70's and also Blackadder.. i couldn't just choose one series!

And a bit iffy about "I'm Alan Partidge" as i'm a firm believer in the term "it's better to burn out than to fade away".. whereas Alan Partidge has made a couple of horrible unfunny appearances in Comic Relief and such recently.

Pigman II

Well comic relief is never going to live up to the show itself and probably shouldn't really be counted as canon anyway.

If you judge it just on the 6 I'm Alan Partridge eps from 1997 then yes it is the funniest BBC comedy of the 90's imho.

Victor McDade

no "only fools..." to be seen :eek: :eek: :eek:

Pigman II

I'd say Only Fools would have won 'the 80's' (not for me but in general) if it hadn't tainted itself with so much crap during the 90's-00's.

mike65

Sixties - Monty Python
Seventies - Fawlty Towers (ignoring the repeats factor!)
Eighties - Blackadder
Ninties - Royale Family
Naughties - Can't think of anything outstanding yet.

Honourable mentions for Not Only But Also (60s),
Fall And Rise Of Reginald Perrin (70s), Whatever Happened to The Likely Lads (70s), The Day Today (90s).

Mike.

Basq

Pigman II wrote:

I'd say Only Fools would have won 'the 80's' (not for me but in general) if it hadn't tainted itself with so much crap during the 90's-00's.

Same goes for me... "better to burn out than to fade away"!

dbnavan

Only fools was best comedy of all time IMO

arbeitsscheuer

1960s: Monty Python's Flying Circus
1970s: Fawlty Towers
1980s: Blackadder
1990s: The Day Today
2000s: BrassEye

Basq

SebtheBum wrote:

2000s: BrassEye

Produced and aired by Channel 4 but let you away with it!

arbeitsscheuer

basquille wrote:

Produced and aired by Channel 4 but let you away with it!

Sh*te. Would you believe that I only put BrassEye in because my favourite of the 2000's, Spaced, is also produced and aired by Channel4...

Maybe Ch4 is better at airing alternative comedy, while BBC tries the more tried-and-tested material every time? Just a thought.

Ok... 2000's... My Family?

Sir Oxman

Brass Eye was 1990s surely? Anyhow, how about Nighty Night for the 00's

mike65

My Family?????? Okay I laugh (in a guilty way) but if it was'nt for the presence of Wanamaker and Lindsay I would'nt give it the time of day).

Mike.

arbeitsscheuer

delah wrote:

Brass Eye was 1990s surely? Anyhow, how about Nighty Night for the 00's

Brass Eye was 1997-2001. IMO that means you can argue it either way.
Irrelevent anyway, as Basquille pointed out; it was produced by Ch4, not the BBC. My mistake.

Yeah My Family would be my choice for the Noughties, cept I'm unsure if the BBC produced it... Started in 2000, and it's still going. I think it's quality, partly because the characters involved remind me so much of my own clan as well. Kris Marshall is brilliant and Robert Lindsay is just my dad, it's uncanny.

cerbeus

Early Doors for the 00's

byte

Sixties - Monty Python
Seventies - Fawlty Towers
Eighties - Blackadder
Ninties - Men Behaving Badly or Game On
Noughties - Nothing has blown me away that I can think of.

corblimey

60s Steptoe and Son (hon mention: Hancock)
70s Fawlty Towers (Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em)
80s Yes Minister (Blackadder)
90s One Foot In The Grave (Alan Partridge)
00s Office (Coupling)

aidan_walsh

corblimey wrote:

60s Steptoe and Son (hon mention: Hancock)
70s Fawlty Towers (Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em)
80s Yes Minister (Blackadder)
90s Father Ted (One Foot In The Grave)
00s Phoenix Nights (Coupling)

Surprised nobody mentioned Father Ted, you hairy japanese b*st*rds

That would be because the thread was asking for BBC comedies, not C4 ones.

PixelTrawler

i normally hate Johnny Vegas ( really hate ) but I've grown to love Ideal....
its a brilliant comedy, that for me is one of the best things the BBC has done this decade

And just to get into the spirit of things....

70's - Fawlty Tours
80's - Only Fools and Horses
90's - The Fast Show
00's - Ideal ( prefer it to the office although its a close fight )

Basq

And 'Phoenix Nights' is brillant but also C4.

corblimey

Oopsie, came up with a great response, and then read the thread title. Still, now you all look stupid, and I still got a Father Ted quote onto this thread

Basq

corblimey wrote:

Still, now you all look stupid..

Seeing as aiden_walsh quoted your original response, who's the one that looks stupid now?!

Pigman II

Joebloggs4817 wrote:

i normally hate Johnny Vegas ( really hate )

Yeah I hate him too. He single-handedly ruined ShootingStars.

corblimey

basquille wrote:

Seeing as aiden_walsh quoted your original response, who's the one that looks stupid now?!

hmm, yes, good point. Mods, please delete aiden_walsh's reply, it makes me look stupid.

byte

corblimey wrote:

hmm, yes, good point. Mods, please delete aiden_walsh's reply, it makes me look stupid.

OK then.

Actually, no, I'll leave it!

YeatsCounty

1960's: Monty Python's Flying Circus
1970's: Fawlty Towers
1980's: Blackadder (Hon. Mention: 'Only Fools')
1990's: Red Dwarf - I only discovered it in 1996, hence my inclusion of it in the 1990's section. (Hon. Mention: 'One Foot in the Grave')
2000's: The Office

Boo-yah

60&70's: Month Python's Flying Circus
80's: Blackadder
90's: I'm Alan Partridge
2000: The Office

weemcd

90's kid so the early stuff wouldnt appeal to me much.

Have seen a decent bit of blackadder tho and it is very good.
90's - men behaving badly
00's - shooting stars (because thats when i started watching)

notable mentions go to the office and little britan.

I think channel 4 has pwnt the bbc in recent years (imo)
phoenix nights, spaced, black books, brass eye ftw

jor el

Well, I don't remember the 60s or 70s, and not much of the 80s (thank Christ) and I only got BBC in 1992 (we were very poor) so anything I've seen are well old repeats.
But anyway, my list would be from the 60s Dad's Army, cause I remember watching that in my Nan's house when I was very young and it kind of sticks with me.
From the 70s it'd have to be Fawlty Towers, one of the best comedies of all time there really.
From the 80s, I can't believe nobody has mentioned Not the Nine O'Clock News (aired from '79 to '82 I believe).
From the 90s, Red Dwarf or One Foot in the Grave, both of them crack me up.
And then the 00s, nothing really comes to mind. Maybe My Family (it is funny when you're bored on a Sunday afternoon), certainly not The Office or Little Britain anyway as they're really not very good. The Office was only good for the cringe factor, but it wears thin very quickly. I'm glad Gervais gave it the chop after two series as it was getting stale.

See a few votes for The Royale Family there. Can anyone explain what was funny about that show? I never got it, just seemed to be complete crap to me, same category as Little Britain for me. A bunch of fools sitting around scratching their arses, like watching six Homer's but none of them doing anything. They didn't seem to say much either. And I liked Caroline Ahern as Mrs Merton, but this?

If we were including other channels then surely Spitting Image would have to be right up there in the 80s section

flutegirl

'Colin's Sandwich' with Mel Smith was a good BBC comedy.

mike65

Ah Colins Sandwitch was great, real pity it only got two short series.

Mike.

Marshy

I'd definitely agree with Fawlty Towers and I'm Alan Partridge from the 70's and 90's. Steve Coogan is absolutely brilliant!!!! There's an Alan Partridge movie coming out in the not too distant future also!

cashback

Don't know how anyone could say the office was getting stale after two seasons. It definitely left me wanting more, but both series and the specials worked so good as a multi-layered story and had such a perfect conclusion that it made sense to call it a day.

Was never really into into Python for some reason so have nothing from the 60's.
70's- Fawlty Towers
80's- Fools and Horses
90's- Partridge - Knowing me knowing you and I'm AP.
00's- The office.

Dont be at yourself

Channel 4 has been the better source of comedy recently, I feel. Peep Show is probably the funniest programme of this century.

Earthhorse

Can't believe nobody's mentioned Have I Got News For You? as their 90's choice. The first four or five seasons are pure gold with Merton's surreal take on things tempered by Angus Deayton's classical wit and Ian Hislop's sharp, sardonic comments. Not to mention unforgettable guest apperances from the likes of Eddie Izzard. This show regularly left me in tears of laughter with its brilliant, unpredictable approach.

I think a lot of people are forgetting it as it doesn't lend itself well to repeats, based, as it is, on the week's events, and it has been past its peak for a long time, with only occasional moments reaching the same heights as those scaled so early in its run. Still, I think its the best the BBC did in the 90s.

Whose Line is it Anyway? would be my second choice if we remove the BBC restriction. There was a also a political quiz show, which featured one of the Goons as a guest, and only ran for a few seasons which was quite good. Can't remember the name.

Special mention must go to The Mary Whitehouse Experience which was probably the best sketch show of the decade but didn't run for long enough to really imprint itself on general populace.

county

cerbeus wrote:

Early Doors for the 00's

oh yes early doors,top show,the coppers have me in stitches:D