Heidi, hi. Ho de ho.
Or should I say hello hello or?
Maybe may talk calling. Maybe I should say sorry.
Language, Taylor. Welcome Welcome to Goon Pods
countdown of listeners Top 20 British sitcoms of all time as
voted for by you. I asked listeners to vote for
their favourites and you didn't disappoint, which is unusual
because you often do disappoint. Had a really good response.
People sent in their top three British sitcoms of all time.
I put them all together in a big list and we have the top 20
which we are going to run through with my two special
guests, former guests as well of Goon Pod and Friends of the Pod,
Donnie Rees and Chris Diamond. Hello.
Hello, now, both of you Now I spoke to you most recently Chris
talking about heroes of comedy, which was which was fab and and
Donna, I think it was the Irene Handel episode wasn't.
It Yeah, it was. Yeah.
My, my obsession with Irene. Yeah, we we spoke about that.
Such a joy talking about Irene Handel.
Yeah, hang on, was Metal Mickey classed as a sitcom?
I think, yeah, I think so, yeah. It was a situation and
technically a comedy. Yeah.
Yes, so as I say, we we are, we're going to run through the
the top 20 favorite British sitcoms of all time.
And I'm also going to draw some comparisons and and look back at
the BBC Britain's best sitcom poll that they did about 21
years ago, believe it or not, and.
That long ago. Yeah, I've looked at the the top
20 and I've compared it to my top 20.
There's some crossovers, there's some strange omissions which we
will come to. But Chris, have you got any, any
early predictions because you obviously don't know this.
No, I don't know what, I don't know what the list is.
I mean, I'm guessing that a porridge will be in there.
I mean, if it was 21 years ago, then it would certainly be on
the folks and the horses would be way up at the top.
I think from memory that also had things like you, yes,
Minister slash Prime Minister, didn't that series come along
with like a a person, a personality making a case for
each of the. Yeah, I did.
So I mean, but Lena Henry did bottom, and I don't know where
that landed in it. But yeah, I mean, changing
tastes are going to be affected. And I think probably nostalgia's
got a heavier influence now than it did 21 years ago, because
sitcoms are kind of a done thing, though.
Well, also you have to factor in that it's goon potlessness that
so that it is going to have a certain a certain.
Bent. Tilt if I could just bump to it
yes Donna, have you got any any predictions for anything that
should pop up on this list Well, I.
I think one of the young ones, you know, talking about Rick
mail and bottom. I think the young ones might be
quite high up in the top, certainly in the top ten.
I imagine 40 towers, of course, is always crops up a, you know,
very high up or number one. I think Hancock's half hour
might be in the top 10 because the listeners are connoisseurs
of classic comedy and, as Chris says, porridge and those classic
sitcoms. What will be interesting is just
as before we appeared is, is to see if any of the, if any of the
sitcoms that were such huge parts of of the of the schedules
for a long time. I've I've managed to process
that. That would be interesting to see
because a lot of them are just completely forgotten now.
OK, well, let's crack on. Let's start with #20 And it
surprised me in the sense that to me it doesn't.
I mean, I was never a particularly a fan, but it
didn't really, to me, it doesn't really resonate anymore.
But #20 is spaced. Yeah.
I'm surprised that's not further up, actually.
Yeah. It's again, it's, it's, I think
it's, I think if you had done this poll 10 years ago, it would
have been much further up. Yeah, definitely it has dated,
but you can see why it was such a big hit at the time with all
the cultural references and and all of that.
Yeah. And that was all.
I mean, the the sort of cultural zeitgeist to carry on was very
much of its time. That was, that was what was
happening at the time, you know, making making a sort of
reference to that. In fact, I remember when it must
have been when that was in production.
Some of the shadowy Kebab with TV team got an e-mail from Simon
Pegg because they wanted the time.
You couldn't get theme tunes. You know, there wasn't the same
resource that. Yeah, obviously you know that
today was was only the swaddling Nate clothes at the time and
they are and I think it was I think it was the for a clean
version of the It's A Knockout theme from memories what they
were after. And I think somebody sent it to
the somebody said the version they have to them and we never
have them back. All right.
And I don't think they, I don't think they used that either.
Yeah. Spill forward a few years and I
had the shop in the West End of Glasgow just as some sort of
small dying T-shirt shop, and Simon Pegg came into the shop
because his wife's from Glasgow. And I put this to him.
You make at least a fucking accent.
And he was, he was black. Affronted, as we see.
But I tell you how different times are I then because they
paid cash for the T-shirts they bought, I could buy some lunch.
And I went down to the cafe, down further down the street and
Simon Pegg and his Mrs. were sitting there having their
coffee. And I had to explain to the
people behind the counter who they were, who he was.
Wow. Because the cost is nobody
really didn't be able because because at the time barely
anybody watched Spaced. So I had to say who he was.
And they were like, Oh, yeah. Wow, I reckon Simon Pegg and
Nick Frost were probably waiters when I went to Chiquitas in
Willesden on the edge of. Cricklewood when I was a
student, that's. Where they met and they were
waiters in that really. In a branch.
Yeah, yeah. So we used.
To that's, that is a sitcom. Yeah, Yeah.
I was never a huge fan of space. I don't know why.
It sort of would make sense. That would be my sort of thing,
but I was never particularly. No, I like space.
No, it was great and at the time I loved it, but like, like,
don't know, I've rewatched some of it, intended to rewatch all
of it, but I actually got a bit fed up after a while.
Yeah, I did. I did as well, exactly the same.
It was, it's clearly of its time.
And obviously, like Edgar Wright and all these amazing people
were involved that it sort of, you know, sprung forth all these
amazing careers. And so, yeah, I didn't see it at
the time because I thought it was a bit laddie for me.
And then I watched it further down the line and, yeah, it
didn't really connect with me, but I could see, you know, why
people love it so much, especially, you know, guys love
Star Wars, but how extraordinary that, you know, Simon Pegg's,
you know, complete Star Wars obsessive and actually ends up
in Star Wars. It's like, it's like a fever
dream really, isn't it? Yeah, well, it was #66 on the
BBC chart from 2004. So we can then.
Oh. Wasn't wasn't that high up, but
I suppose you know. Again, there's no actually very
many people watched it at the time.
No, yeah. OK, moving on, number 19.
It's the it's the one that Vivian hates.
It is the good life, right Where, where, which I think, and
I don't know how long this has been a thing, but it seems to me
in recent years that there's been there's been a sort of
revisionist look back at the good life and Tom Good is now
considered a monster. Why is Barbara with him such a
freak? Yeah, he seems very, very, very
selfish, doesn't he? And.
See what when I was watching it as a kid and I really enjoyed it
as a kid. I haven't really I haven't
really gone back and watched it as an adult to be to be honest.
But I Tom was the funny 1 Tom. I love Tom and I thought that
Jerry was dull. But as a, as a kid you would do
because Jerry and Margo are, are very parental, whereas whereas
for kids, Tom and Barbara seem quite fun and they're up to all
sorts of high jinks and all that sort of thing.
I think it's, it's interesting that it's, it was so it
persisted for so long, but it's probably fallen away a lot now
because it's, it's too detached from reality, though, because I
would think that not only Tom and Barbara would not be able to
do what they do. I mean, they couldn't do it
then, but I mean, there's no possibility they could do it
now. But the idea that even somebody
like Jerry and Margo would be able to own the house is also a
total fan to say successfully say maybe he still only works as
an advertising executive. You'd have to be a merchant
banker to own a house like that now.
It's, it's just occurred to me, it's, it's the, it's the goodies
effect. I think in the sense that when
we were kids, we all thought that Bill was the the best.
Yeah. And it's.
And it's not till you get older and you grow up and you realise
actually, no, it was Graham. Graham Graham is the best
goodie. By a country.
Yeah, Graham embodies the spirit of the Goodies so well, doesn't
he? Yeah, the irony probably is that
as you get older you realize what a pain in the arse Bill was
this like reflecting life? Oh gosh.
But going back to good life, the the Christmas special I think is
brilliant when all the underlying sexual tension
between the two couples kind of spills over when they're a bit
drunk. I think that's.
Good. I think it's one of those shows
as well that's that's massively heightened just because the
people involved in it are so good.
You know, the the the the quality of the of the acting is
is superb and it heightens was actually a pretty thin plot.
There's a really nice story of Richard Bryer's tales about or
it was a Polly. No, it was Paul Addington
actually, and that incredible face to face.
He did when he was when he was. Dying.
Oh yeah. Where he said, yeah, where he
says, you know that Paul Addington says, you know, he was
all the press was coming out for it, and it was all about how
Margo and Jerry were the were the real stars of it.
And he was Paul Addington being so lovely, was terribly worried
about this and thought, oh, you know what we do, you know,
because Richard Bryer's for us to get all the stars.
I came into the rehearsals, probably, probably made avail,
it's always a dusty room and made avail and said, you know,
have you seen all this paper? And Richard Bryer said, well,
that's, that's fine. You get the stardom, we get the
money, we get the billing and the money.
That's OK. So and they obviously enjoyed
making all this stuff. All this stuff counts.
But in terms of an actual sitcom, you know, like a
situation comedy where you're extracting the comedy from the
situation, it's pretty thin as a premise because how much can you
actually do with it? You know, how much can you do
with people trying to be, you know, live a subsistence life
and in this in suburbia? And that's why, of course, it
has to end up with Margo and Jerry being being the stars,
because they're actually in the real world.
Yeah. Adam Leslie, former guest he
this was one of his favourites and he said he said perhaps it's
it's biggest achievement is making the pair of wealthy Tory
snobs who live next door genuinely warm and likeable
people. Yeah, yeah, great actors bring
something extra to a script. And those four actors just
brought so much extra to to the script.
And Richard Breyer's skill as an actor is probably why for so
many years everybody thought his character was was what's so
wonderful, you know, instead of being quite selfish.
Yeah, it's hard to believe that it would work so well with a
different cast. I, I and, and you know, Jerry's
seems terribly vulnerable and under the thumb of, yeah, of
Margot, but Margot doesn't seem terribly happy either.
No. And, and and in that way is very
jealous of of Barbara who is enjoying her life.
All right #18 you have to keep moving things along and this is
one that I hold my hand up to say I haven't really watched and
I don't know why, but it is Black Books.
Right. I'm surprised I like black
books. I don't like black books.
Surprises say it made it, though, because again, it wasn't
another massive hit at the time. But it's one of those things
that sort of hangs around that's a bit pejorative.
But because this, as I said, called the setup is quite sort
of timeless, even though it involves book shops.
But then, But then Black Books, the bookshop was never supposed
to be a sort of real a realistic bookshop.
Goliath Books next door. What's the realistic bookshop?
It's like a a kind of surreal, dysfunctional family, isn't it?
You've got the mother, a father and the sort of idiot son in a
way. And it's a great vehicle for
Dylan Moran's comedy, I think. Yeah, it's, it's, it's, it
sounds very, it sounds very like his comedy, the sort of stuff
that he comes, that Bernard comes away with.
Yes. And and and was a proving ground
for I'm giving Simon pigs in it again and a lot of people crop
up in it and they're in there though.
I I watched one episode ages ago and it's the one where there's
something to do with an expensive bottle of wine.
Oh yes, yeah. So where was when they go in
house set for a Yeah, that's it, Yeah.
And, and the guy in the fancy house says you can drink any
wine except these 10 bottles, of course, of course money Frank
says you could drink nothing, just these 10 bottles, which is
about to prove which the guy is going to present a bottle of to
the pool. I think there's this complicated
set up so that the P offers the producing of dummy versus the
wine is like Frankenstein with there's only even a whole set up
with man eating toffee at the start so that his mouth's all
all broken, so he's gone. Yes, Ma.
It was #58 on the BBC chart. So.
Respectable former guest Roger Language he this was one of his
favourites, he said. It gets all the basics right,
perfect character dynamics, laugh out loud funny, and I
guess it just hit me at the right time.
Watched it again fairly recently and it still holds up.
Yeah. You know, there's another thing
about these kind of secondly, blind book space because they
were in that Friday night Channel Four slot for second.
It was a bit like people who would watch Seinfeld on a on the
BBC 2 after news night. And it became a sort of a secret
club. The the you know of you and you
could feel quite smug about the fact that you saw and hardly any
people saw it. That that probably is why also
it stays with people a lot. All right, moving on to #17 Now,
personally speaking, I am going to put my cards on the table and
say to me this is the best sitcom featuring David Jason.
So I'm. Just going to say, is it Open
All Hours? It's Open All Hours.
There you go. #8 on the BBC chart back in 2004.
Yeah, no, I think that's really interesting that because that
really surprised me. I remember being surprised by
that at the time because I had never considered that it was
that big. I thought it was at the time.
I just thought it was one of those sitcoms it was on and I
didn't realise I had such resonance at the time.
And it still has in that that, I mean, I don't know why I'm
surprised because it's it's, it's it's certainly Roy Clark's
best sitcoms by a country by Oh, oh God, I.
Yes, there's. So much pathos isn't there,
particularly with Granville's story, you know, of wanting
almost like Billy Lyer, you know, being this dreamer and
wanting to escape and running off with Barbara Flynn's milk
lady or whatever. And I'd never understood in the
reboot why they make Granville art.
Right? Mark 2.
That's why I just. Yeah, he.
Should have been still dreaming about escaping.
Totally. And, and it's like it, it just
kind of ruined it. I just thought, wouldn't it be
great to end the whole thing with Barbara Flynn on a milk
float coming to kind of rescue him and take him away?
But the original I think is great.
I I actually remember as a kid I had, I was at a performing arts
school and I had an audition at BBC, you know, North Acton
rehearsal rooms. And we broke for lunch and I
went in and there was Ronnie Barker and Linda Baron on one
table, Paul Daniels in his wig on another table.
And I was queuing to get lunch and I heard this really familiar
voice behind me going, oh, is it chips again on the menu?
Is it? I turn around.
It was David Jason. And I was completely starstruck.
And you mentioned, of course, which I contend is the the
sexiest woman who ever appeared on British television, which is
Linda Baron. No, Linda.
Baron. Oh, just unbelievably attractive
woman. Yeah, yeah, she was.
She was a stunning actor. Yeah, I, I, Oh.
Would she have turned you, Chris?
Oh, absolutely, the persons, you know, out of or just an
incredible just I know, I mean gushing a bit, but she's such A
to to be able to hold her own and amongst that cast, I think
is incredible. I know.
And although all the people that would come and go, you know,
Stephanie Cole is the Black Widow and yeah, she.
Was about 38, wasn't she? Or.
Something. Yeah, No, it's.
Really young, Yeah. Yeah, it says something.
She could be in the reboot as well.
Yes. But exactly as Donna says, the
problem with the reboot, which I've never bothered with, is it
seems to have forgotten who Granville is.
And OK, he might have been landed with the shop, but he
would. He should still be wanting to
get away from it, but being frustrated by it.
But having turned into Ark right kind of misses the whole point.
Exactly. Yeah, it's it's totally against
his character, isn't it? But you know, going back to the
original, it's like, yeah, Ronnie Barker's absolute genius.
It's such an amazing creation. Right.
Just brilliant. It does a thing that I think
will come. I'll I'll certainly mention if
we come to you with those and horses, which is it doesn't do a
thing where it doesn't overuse its guest tons Open All Hours.
So you get you get people that come in like I'd like Stephanie
Cole, but also like Howard Lee Lewis and Teddy Turner.
But their occasional appearances are a little bit they're such a
bonus when they arrive. You do, you see people like Liz
Dawn, don't you? Briefly and absolutely.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sarah Duckworth there's there's
the little guy with glasses who comes in off the street to
correct outright spelling on the window, and he says you spell it
with a. With a hole and then he go.
He's wearing a balaclava and the glasses right his neck and makes
the mistake of saying about a tin of beans behind that crate.
The next minute he's going out with boxes, which always made me
wonders like, how does the shop continue when he's ripped off?
Absolutely. But then you've.
Gotten onto his schemes exactly, but avoid that place, yeah?
But then you also forget, and this might be a shock for if you
do in fact have any younger listeners, but you know,
supermarkets were actually quite thin on the ground then, you
know, they weren't, they weren't as prevalent as they are now's
and people didn't drive to them. So you didn't really have any
option. Yeah, there's something quite
romantic about the whole idea, because they're both dreamers in
different ways, aren't they? They're, you know, he's dreaming
about Nurse Gladys and he's dreaming about getting away with
them with the milk lady, you know, it's, it's quite sweet,
you know? And let's finish this bit with
that image of Granville and his dangler going to get stuck in
the till. OK, OK, so next moving on #16
and this was #27 on the BBC chart and it is rising damp.
Oh really? That I thought that would be
much higher up because Rising Damp is, is one of the great
sitcoms. It's one of the very best
sitcoms. Best ITV sitcom ever?
Oh, I don't know about that. I would.
I don't think I've thought about it long enough, but it's
definitely right up at the top there.
It's an astonishingly good program.
Absolutely. Barnstorming performance from
Leonard Rossiter. Well, and you said obviously
Open All Hours was Roy Clark's greatest sitcom.
This is definitely Eric Chappell's.
Oh yeah. Oh, definitely, although I
wonder if, I wonder if you looked at the ratings.
I don't know. I get, I suspect that only when
I laugh was probably more successful because there was
always like right up in the top 10 programmes.
It was a huge show, which is free, of course, and duty free.
They were massive and they were, they were like, they would be
knocking like Coronation Street off #1 in some weeks.
And and they they, they haven't lasted in anything like the way
rising dampers. Yeah.
It's also so interesting that it's managed to last so long
when one of them, and maybe that's why it's lasted so long
when one of the major planks over is Rigsby's blatant racism.
Yeah. But it's it's somehow because
it's directed, I think we mentioned before and one of my
extended state first that we've done for you before, Taylor,
that I was never really sold on till death was depart.
I was never really sold on the idea that you were laughing.
People were laughing at Afghan for being racist, but you're
definitely wrapped laughing at Rigsby for being racist.
And I think that's why at last, I think that's why it's OK.
I've always I've tried to divine why that's OK.
And some of it's just, it's funny, but no, in a punching
down funny kind of way, because nobody's punching down on
Phillip. Yeah, but it it it's that
terrible trouble with people. So you could make it now.
Well, you obviously you couldn't make it now because I don't
think people would get, would, would, maybe they don't have,
maybe the new ones wouldn't be picked up.
Maybe the situation's too different.
But the the it's blatantly racist, but not problematic.
Is that because of the status? Is that because the Rigsby is
kind of lower status to Philip? I mean, possibly, and and maybe
it's just because he's clearly an idiot.
You know, he's not he's he's not, you know, the worst thing
he can do is, is, is take away the table or something.
And I don't, I don't he's always try to borrow money off him and
he's always coming offset and base to Philip and and I don't
know, it's a really interesting dynamic, but it's but the fact
that it's not laid it to being disappeared in a sort of style
in the sense is really, really interesting.
Yeah. Absolutely.
Also replete with some some fantastic guest stars as well.
Peter Balls, Britain's last real man, who's of course is Please
Please Hillary. The is Hillary the actor is that
if he calls me Ducky one more time.
Hello Ducky. And then of course, the I think
he's gay. That turns out, of course, he's
not. Is is how they managed to do all
these things and not be somehow problematic in that sort of 70s
way. It's a real testament to the act
and into Eric Chapel's incredible scripts.
OK, so #15 is bottom, which was #45 in the BBC chart.
Really. Was it that high up?
The 45 was low down, I should say.
I. Love the way down.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Listen to Colin Broccoli.
He he said it takes the young Ones ethos of setting anarchy
firmly within the bounds of a conventional sitcom, but with
added Samuel Beckett. I know all these what, 3?
There's three series I know every episode of by heart.
Yes, I used to. Watch I used to watch the the
1st 2 live videos on a loop and for me for me the Ferris wheel
episode is one of the greatest half hours I think.
So funny you should say that because my son he's autistic so
he doesn't take too many things but I showed him that exact
episode and he loves it and he. Watches it.
Over and over on the Ferris wheel.
The Ferris wheel one. And, you know, heresy this might
be. It's actually my least favorite
one, although I love it. I mean, I love them all, but it
is of all of them, it's the one that I watched the least.
Yeah, my favorite, my favorite ones are we have the one with
Ellen's letter, which is getting married when he's really Yeah,
when he go, when he go to the dating agency.
Oh, the dating agency. Oh, his dating video is
brilliant. Yeah.
He's. He's like, you know, sweating
videos. Brilliant.
When he he says, oh, oh, you want, you want a man like the
like, like Kim Basinger. No, I want Kim Basinger.
She's not on her books. She went well.
It's not much of A marriage, but all but also the the finale is
is astonishing. The the the you know, the one at
the carnival with the they get shot at the end.
Spoilers and but actually one of the my favorite lines ever in
any program ever is when they first the you know, the SES
first shoot through the walls and the funny phone back.
He says hello and points to the holes.
Hello of the colander but I've always thought it's just Rick
and Vivian have just grown up and living let's still living in
the in a house that's exact basically that's what it is
yeah. That's what they turn into Eddie
Hitler. Any other relation, yes.
I just love Rick as a performer. He just gives you absolutely
everything he's got. He's just, he was just force of
nature. He was just like the best I
think. And Rogers, Rogers, Rogers the
landlord is just amazing as well.
And there's gold. Finger on the telly.
Has Roger Sloman ever won any award?
Because he's like one of the sort of unsung heroes of British
comedy, in a way. Surely he must have won
something from Nuts and Me because.
Oh, he must have done, Yeah. Because then you're allowed.
You get awards if you work for Mike Lee or Ken Loach.
That's true. Nuts and me.
Nuts and me being, as I've said before, the textbook might Glee.
Comedy, comedy, comedy, comedy. Death.
Oh gosh, yes. #14 is ghosts. Oh wow.
Or is it used to be called the Ghosts of Motley Hall?
Well, I'm much more familiar with that, Chris.
I gave ghosts to go and I just didn't particularly take to it
personally. I don't know.
If you guys, of course. I thought it was great.
I, I thought it was a lovely. It's very rare to be able to sit
down like the whole family could watch it and enjoy it and laugh
at all the same things. There's such a rare experience
now, and I think a lot of these sitcoms, people are so warm and
nostalgic about them because it reminds you of being with your
mum and dad and laughing. Like, I'll probably mention it
later, but yeah, about, you know, that that whole emotional
side of watching these sort of oh.
Absolutely. I mean Open All Hours.
I had them all taped off the telly when I was a kid and, and,
and my teenage years were spent with my dad, my mum.
My mum had died. So it was, it was something that
me and my dad would watch Open All Hours or the videos.
And even though we'd seen them a dozen times each, we'd still
roar of laughter. Yeah.
Can you when you re watch these things, can you hear your dad
laughing in your head? Oh yes.
I can as well with these shows. There's one, there's one
particular show that we're going to mention shortly in particular
where that's the case. Yeah, yeah.
With Ghosts, James Page, former guest, he said it's one of those
wonderful sitcoms where it's possible to adore every
character, even a disembodied head, especially a disembodied
head. And he said this kind of charms
with what you you said before, Donna.
I love that when I I watch it with my daughter we laugh at the
same bits. Yeah.
And I live my life by the mantra Be more Mike.
Yeah, see, my my favorite character is Phil the caveman.
Oh, is it Robin? No, Rob is Robin.
Sorry, Robin the Robin the caveman.
Me. Too I.
He's. Great, isn't he?
He's like the most primitive but the most emotionally
intelligent. Yeah, it's just brilliant.
It's such a such a genius idea. Having this Stone Age man gives
you the same. But who can speak French?
Yeah. So maybe I should give it
another go. Oh.
It's a great show. And actually the, the that
Christmas episode a few years ago, there was sort of the, the
conclusion to it and weirdly it got a sort of a lot of stick.
I don't really understand why, because I thought it was a
fantastic way. Yeah, it got a lot of criticism
or it got some criticism, I should say, which any criticism
I thought of it was bizarre. I mean, I mean, amongst people
who actually like the show, I mean, you don't like it and
they're fair enough. But I, I thought it was a great
way to to finish off. Yeah, but, and, and of course
it's, we might mention this in in connection with some of the
other ones further up because it it, they tried to do that when
they translated it to America, which is a big feature of
British sitcoms and it's terrible.
The American one is terrible. Entirely misses the point.
Yeah, there's, there's so much and all the characters, you, you
know, you, there's so much affection for all the characters
as well. It's very rare to have that in
sitcom really, you know? Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, that. You really care about them all.
And it's, I think it's lovely and it's, it's a rare feat to,
as you know, we said, you know, to, to make a sitcom that
everyone can watch any generation.
All right, so we're up to #13 and this is certainly one of my
top three and it was #10 on the BBC chart, it is 1 foot in the
grave. Oh yeah, wow, what a show.
It's actually as we're recording, it's, it's December
2000. So exactly 25 years ago was when
Victor was killed off. Yeah.
Very brave thing to do to kill off your iconic character, yeah.
Another controversial ending, last episode of including
episode of it that comes 56. Because it it, it it Somehow I
think people were felt cheated by it.
Because you, you don't like to think of Victor being anything
other than eternal. Yeah.
But you can hardly. You can hardly do that with a
show that's called 1 Foot in the Green.
Well, Renwick had teased viewers before that Victor had died.
If there's the there's the episode Wisdom of the Witch, the
one with Phil Daniels and you the the the viewer has given the
impression that Victor has has has died.
And then there's the reveal at the end that no, he hasn't.
But so so Renwick liked to to do that sort of thing.
One of my proudest moments as well doing this show is being
able to pull up David Renwick on a a factual inaccuracy in one
foot in the grave because he has at one point Victor is playing,
I can't remember what game it is.
He's playing a board game with his mother-in-law who's on the
phone. Yep.
I don't know if you remember that.
Yep, Yep. And he describes her as
prattling, prattling away like mini Cron.
And I was able to tell David, David Renner, that her name was
actually Mini. Mini.
Banister I watched, I watched some of them again a year or so
ago. And actually you it's not
something that I watch very often.
And I think it's I think it's because it's almost like I was
seated by it at the time because it was so great.
So I watched that again and and really it's an astonishingly
brilliant and funny program. And what I think is really brave
of David Rainwick and the cast is a lot of the best jokes are
in the background and completely unremarked on.
And I think especially one of my my favorite example is that is
when Mrs. War Boys comes back from our holiday at late in LA
and she's playing them our slides.
And of course, the the trope being that everybody's you're
dead bored by having to watch people's holiday slides.
And as they're just discussing something else in the
background, all the slides are like Mrs. War Boys with
Sylvester and Michael Caine. They don't even give them a
second look. And also the episode where every
time they open the door in the living room, there's the this,
the the enormous photograph of them in the hall, the absolutely
giant passport photograph, which isn't commented on for until
about halfway through when he said, I asked for it to be 10 by
10, I didn't mean 10 feet by 10. It's having the confidence, not
in your audience not to have to flag all this stuff up
immediately. That's just so great.
My my favorite episode is The Man Who Blew Away.
I think that's what it's called with Brian Murphy.
Oh God. Which?
Which is Mr. Foskett? I think his name is Which ends
in tragedy, but the whole thing about the two boys being assumed
to be his sons and they just neighborhood brats that have
wandered them off the street. Oh my God.
What a show. Michael Clarke Listen to Michael
Clarke He he he said for for what may look like a cosy, safe
suburban sitcom. It does have moments of very
dark humour and surrealism and even occasionally push comedy
boundaries, something which was very rarely seen in the BBC
studio based sitcom pre League of Gentlemen.
Yeah, Renwick was not afraid of. I mean that episode with the old
people's home. Oh yes.
Something else, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, because it basically
finishes with the fact that he's he's tied them all up his, he's
dropped the ball and tied them all up his scarecrows and put
them in the fields. It's like a horror film.
Yeah, it is amazing. Like, like the guy who
contributed just there just said, you know, it how it sneaks
things sort of under the radar in this conventional sitcom
world, that it is very dark at times and very strange, you
know? Yeah, it's admirable that it
does that. It's it's a kind David Rennick
in that sense akin to, you know, everybody likes to think of Alan
Bennett as being about, you know, digested biscuits and anti
Macassos and things. Actually, it's one thing.
It's incredibly filthy and it's not cozy at all.
Yeah, one friend. The grave has sort of been fixed
in people's minds as Victor being, you know, I don't believe
it And and silly. No instance.
Naturally there's I mean, there's the episode where Jane
Davitsky loses a child. Yeah.
Yeah, because she was in a bus crash and things like that.
And and sometimes, I have to admit, sometimes at the jar a
bit for me, but they certainly didn't, as you see, shy away
from that stuff to be applauded. I applaud you to be instead of
David Brennan. I by the way, for the record,
David Remwick, his favorite sitcoms, British sitcoms.
Fawlty Towers Hancock's half hour until death is due part
Chris. There you go.
So those are his influences. OK, so number #12 and it is OK,
It's whatever happened to the likely lads.
OK, So many votes for that. None.
No votes for the likely lads. So it's it's very much the,
yeah, the sequel. That makes a lot of sense
though, you know that I'm sure we're sort of interested at the
time and all that, but the the the the moreys that are dealt
with and whatever happens to like far more raising and for
people, I think. Donna, were you a fan of what
had happened to? I, I did watch a few episodes of
so I was a bit young when they first went out, but I've seen
them subsequently and I, I do think it chimes the themes chime
with a lot of people. And it's when James Bolan's
character comes out of the army, isn't it?
Yes, he famously missed the permissive society, didn't he?
Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's brilliant.
It's so brilliantly written. And Bridget, is it Bridget
Forsythe? Yeah.
Yes, it's great. Who's?
In the past a week quite recently.
Yeah, she was fantastic. I think she was formidable
character, wasn't she? And that sort of upwardly mobile
theme and, you know, the contrast between the two friends
and where they are in their lives.
The set up of like, you know, Bob is, you know, trying to do
what you're supposed to do with the house and the car and the
job and the the wave and all that sort of thing.
And Terry's out there and he's lever, you know, he's getting
nothing, but he's he's free and he can do what he likes and he
can see who he likes. You know, that and the joint,
you know that tension it, you know, it hit really hard, must
have hit really hard at the time, but it still does.
It still absolutely does. It's like it's really, it's
really obvious, I think why people still love it, apart from
the fact that it's just very weirdly written and acted.
Matt Owen, who's a comic comedy writer.
Matt Owen, former guest as well. Is this his favorite sitcom?
And he says from the opening scene where Thelma Pet is
organising Christmas only for us to discover it September.
That I was actually just going to mention that.
That's a great line. To to Bob taking the piss out of
Terry taking his driving test. This is peak.
Whatever happened to Yeah Bob's? Bob's also showing up as a bit
of a shit house for cheating on Thelma at the fancy dress party.
Yeah. Oh yeah, I remember that one.
Yeah. At the fancy dress party Terry
delivers them to as a mini cab driver.
Yeah, it's a it's a now opening sequence that he mentions where
there's all the stuff about the presents and the lithic.
We're going to get shop, we're going to do this, we're going to
do that. Bob complaining that, you know,
don't interrupt me when I'm in the toilet with the paper.
And and it's a good 5 or 6 minutes before he finally says,
but Thelma, it's September also will also produce one of the
very, very best sitcom films. The films actually, however, is
a fantastic some awesome, awesome lines and that you know
where Teddy's out fishing and Bob goes out.
He's away early into the jetty and he says I could, he said.
I don't think I can, but I've only got the sex.
It's such a brilliant observation of male friendship
and both characters slightly envy the other, don't they?
Well, yeah, that's that's the tension, isn't it?
The each one they'd secretly each want to be the other one.
Yeah, but but that's that's that's friendship and it's a
proper friendship because they don't always like each other.
Claim it. So that's claiming Lfredi's
first appearance it. Is it?
Is there? You go and Tracy.
OK, but it's #11 now this, this one was #35 on the BBC chart and
I will give you a clue. The first person to get it wins.
The word is ravioli. Ravioli.
No. The fallen rise of Reginald
Perry. OK.
I like ravioli. Oh yeah?
Have you said mother's coming round on Sunday?
I would have got it. Oh yes, well, that I've said
this many times. That I didn't get what I am
today, but no exactly all over first, second.
Yeah. That's my dad prepared me for a
repeat run of original parent when I was a kid.
He said you'll love this because there's this man and whenever he
thinks of his mother-in-law, he sees a hippopotamus.
And I just thought that sounds brilliant.
Yep, and it was and and for me this is peak Rossiter.
He has the Reggie has the edge for me over Rigsby, I think.
Really. Right.
That's interesting. Sue Nichols as his secretary.
Could you imagine Ronnie Barker playing Reggie, Which was the.
Original. I don't think so.
I mean, Leonard Rosser, he's
sort of, he's so sort of tightly wound, isn't he?
He's so neurotic. I couldn't imagine.
Ronnie Barker seems sort of slightly more laid back
character in a way I couldn't imagine the energy would be
totally different I think. It's a bit like somebody out of
it, but I think it's Peter Yousnoff in his book saying
about he doesn't really ever believe in Lons Olivier played
Hamlet because Hamlet is a man who can't make up his mind and
he couldn't ever believe that Lons Olivier would be able to
make up his mind. And with with Ronnie Bart, I
don't know. You can't.
I can't imagine them being that sort of frustrated that top
tight trying to bring free yeah, you know, sort of quietly
rebellious Daydream of the the the Reggie is.
Yeah, you couldn't imagine anybody but then of roster
playing that sort of person. But also, I'm sure in the
process of development, these things have, you know, could you
imagine David Knobs working with when the roster it developed in
that way, you remember, have developed in an entirely
different way with Ronnie Barker, you know?
Yeah, absolutely. The the only downside to in my
eyes, to the former rise of original parents was the third
series We had these this what was it like this mindfulness
clinic or whatever you want to call it, the what would you?
Call it. Yeah, yeah.
Health Farm or. Whatever with freakishly
prescient well-being clinic or whatever the fuck you would call
it now. Mindfulness set up Yeah, with.
With, with, with, with Wrong. Tom.
Yeah. They got rid of Tim Priest
didn't come back. So they had Leslie Schofield.
Was it? Was it him?
You know, it's, it's, I think I saw it maybe at the time.
I don't think I've ever seen any of it since.
And and that that cook McLaren. Don't ask me why Chris, but he
was a drunken Scotsman. Maybe it was a play on Angus,
Laney and yeah, and Crossroads. Yeah, yeah.
And. Jimmy McPhee.
Just one one thing as well listen to listen to Annie Di
Pyombo. She says the Fulham Rise
original parent was unique. The plot lines and career paths
of Kilter, the odd catch phrases and running gags, the great
characters and casting. But of the of the Rossiterless
revival 17 years later, let a veil be drawn.
And yeah, that was terrible. The legacy of regional parent.
Do you remember that? It was 2 though, wasn't there?
There were two attempts at reboots.
There was, there was, there was the one with Martin Cluden.
Oh God, yes. As as Reggie.
And then there was the legacy of the one where there was as well
where it was roster to bless, but it still had John Byron and
people like that and and sort of Patricia Hodge being became the
kind of antagonist as as they said, but I remember very, very
little of it. Can I just mention John Baron as
CJ? What an absolutely bonkers
performance that is. He just shouts the entire time,
doesn't he? Just shouts his lines.
It's it's so weird. It's brilliant.
And the the the sly deviousness of having chairs that make
noises and there's lower down than everybody.
And I'm sure people find that very, very recognisable at the
time. One of the one of the one of my
favorite running jokes. So that that's never commented
on in the show or or very real easier people talk about it is
that depending on how well Sunshine Desserts does at the
time is the letters above the door.
Oh yes, yeah. Oh my God.
Which I think is a fantastic, fantastic little running joke.
His is it his brother-in-law? What's his brother-in-law?
Ohh. Jimmy.
Ohh Jesus, what a great
character. Jimmy.
Jeffrey, Jeffrey. Palmer, Jeffrey.
Palmer. That's it.
Ohh. It's just hysterically funny.
Absolute lunatic. Ohh brilliant.
I just think who's all mentioned, Jeffrey.
Palmer, who's basically a reformed candidate, Yeah.
Why do you think Windsor Council?
Now, yeah. Why do you think with Chinese
restaurant? Why do you think Windsor has
strained with Chinese restaurants?
So brilliant. It's just those peripheral
characters you must have. Oh, it's great writing.
Yeah, yeah, but but he, but he, he does fancy his niece, doesn't
he? Which is a problematic yes,
well. You know.
Moving on to We are now at the Top 10 #10 OK Now listener Brian
Godfrey. He described this as
groundbreaking comedy that blended sharp comedy with
profound pathos, social realism and character development.
Any ideas what that could be? My family.
Nearest and dearest. Yeah.
It is. It is Steptoe and sum.
Oh my God. Which which is number, which was
#15 on the BBC chart. And for me is is peak Goldman
Simpson. Yeah, yeah.
Leonard roster again pops up and that doesn't he that brilliant
one. That is my favorite.
I think actually I've got a few favourites but I almost can't
bear to watch it at the same time because it's such a toxic.
Well. See.
For me the my favorite episode is Star is Born I think with
with Trevor Bannister. Yep.
Right. What's his name?
Chris Rupert. Robert Rupert Fifine's.
Mirror or something? Mirror.
Yeah. Robertson, OR.
Something but it's got it's got Margaret Nolan in it, but there
is there's also a crack at Irene handle, which I've.
Been I've been most honoured to work with Miss Irene Handle.
This is after the whole, you know, debacle with Tony Hancock
and splitting from him and deciding to work with actors,
Courtney Simpson wanting to work with actors rather than
comedians. And I mean, it's such a great
move. I mean, they both are so
extraordinary. I think the divide when they
divide the house, I think that's the episode I've probably seen
the most and or the one with the vicar.
You know they have to, you know, with the, with the, you know.
Men of letters the. Filthy Scrabble board.
Oh God. The vicar turns up a couple of
times actually, I can't remember the name of the actor because
he's Oh yes, he's the Brigadier as well in the to the man of
porn and he's men of letters, which is the one with the the
the Scrabble board and porn yesterday where they find that
Albert's been enough what the Butler saw.
Yeah, yeah. Oh my goodness.
But also though that episode, especially some some of the
other my favorite is all What a beautiful morning.
Oh yes, Rita Webb. Yeah, you're gonna dig back me.
What Chuck after Big Toes on Molly Suckton is in it as well.
My spirit. Yeah, and I wondered sometimes
rather for these are like what beautiful modern wars, because
it's it's probably the for ironically for the about
funeral. It's probably the least dramatic
one because I'd love if it's not comedy, it's proper.
It's straightforward trauma. It's but I mean the starters
born has an incredibly just sad ending.
Yes. With the hard very unable.
To watch it. Yeah, that's what yeah, that's
what I mean. This is that when there's all
our beautiful 1 is just most the plates of it's just silly from
start to fetish. I just I just left there with
PIBPIPEYE later when he has to be in drag.
Oh yes, this is his dead 1 going up the stairs.
What a beautiful morning. Has one of my favorite line
deliveries. One of my favourite line
deliveries which is Harry H Corbett.
It's the bit where he's arranged to go to a party after the
funeral with one of the young women there.
Yeah. Because like a cousin, cousin or
something like that. Yeah.
And then and then Albert implies heavily that actually she she
could be more than just a distant.
Yeah, she's one of Alice's kids. Yeah, and it's the way that
Harry. The realization dawns on Harry H
Corbett's face and he says what a bleeding family.
Something I really don't like in other people is that for a long
time I didn't watch any of the black and white episodes because
I have I have a real love of colour studio tape.
I just love watching any of this made on studio tape.
So then watch any of the black and white ones for a long time.
And then I started to watch some things like cross swords, which
Frank Thornton's and and oh God, I've been missing out in this
for years watching Schmuck. Yeah, Pilgrims progress.
No, they're just so great at the the 1:00 where they're under the
siege of Oil Drum lead. Oh.
Yeah. Where they're trying to get the
money or the because Albert's been eating oysters and
Philippines. And also you had two spin off
films, well didn't you from. Yeah.
Tremendous films, yeah. OK, so #9 but this was #31 on
the BBC chart in 2004 and it is the Young ones.
OK. I thought it would be a bit
higher up than that to be honest.
See the young ones I I'm much more of a bottom fan Yeah Yep, I
love the young ones taking me wrong.
Although I didn't like it at first, it was one of those I
was, I was whatever at age 1112 when it was yeah on.
And it was one of those that you'd hear your peers in the
playground talking about or the cool kids talking about.
That was me. And, and I watched, I watched
the episode is it which is the one where Vivian's pregnant?
I think it's that one. Is it nasty?
Sick I'm. Not sure, one of them anyway.
And I didn't and I remember watching it and not really
liking it, but then persevering and watching the next week and
really enjoying it after that. So it was.
It was one that I had to persevere with.
I watched, I watched it from the start because of because of Rick
Mail, because of Kevin Turvy. Me and my dad a huge fan of the
of Kevin Turvy and say this guy is going to be in this sitcom.
And I think the power of the VHS recorder really helped the young
ones, I think with my generation of just videoing it and
nerdishly rewatching it and going into the playground the
next next day and just rattling off all bits of it.
But it was like, you know, it was my sort of Python, really
my, I absolutely adored it. And particularly Rick Mail.
When it went out, I mean, again, just like you'd done it.
I knew Rick Mail and Adrian Edwards because, you know, the
dangerous brothers just appear on like, you know, the Saudis
show and things like that. Thought that were great and
Kevin Calvin. But I was a bit too young for to
see it to be allowed to see it going out.
Right. And actually went out because it
was, you know, after bedtime and you would hear people get super
old talking about it. And then the the the only, I
think the only one actually. So going out the time was the
very last episode, which happens was sort of in the summer.
And I think because it was the summer, it was a late, it may
even have coincided with the late the last week at school or
something. So we would like to watch it and
and obviously it's I loved it. The last episode is phenomenally
good. I wonder if the reference point
still mean anything to you, like younger people, because you
know, the course of all. The point was, you know, about
Trotsky Trot Trotty students and dismal student digs and things.
And when I was a union early 90s, it was still like that.
I don't imagine it's like that. Yeah, yeah, no.
And and jokes about Cliff Richard and you know a lot of
it, but. He he filled the Albert Hall.
Last week, yeah, he did, Richard.
Yeah, I saw a clip of him. God love him.
Propelled by you. Do it.
Yeah. Is he still knocking out those
calendars? Oh.
God please, I tried to wipe them from my memory.
Place is hot. Just on on the young ones, David
Morgan listener, he said endlessly.
It's an endlessly quotable show and he he singles out, I think
the one that everyone considers to be the greatest episode,
Bambi, the University Challenge episode.
And he he quotes the bit, well, are you going to let us win?
No, of course not. The posh kids win.
They always. Do.
Oh dear, I actually met Rick Mayo once.
What did you wow? I met him, I saw him do a solo
stand up. He was in, I used to live in
Brighton and I was just started drama school and, and he was
doing a solo stand up tour and Andy de la tour was supporting
him. So he's thinking he's kind of a
rich character. So I, I went to see that and I
was, I thought I, he's my hero. I have to meet him.
So I hung around the stage door for ages it seemed, because
obviously he'd been pouring with sweat and was obviously having
to shower and getting changed and whoever his mates in the
area must have come by for a drink or something.
And then the doors open and there he was in his black
leather jacket. That's signing, you know, And he
was fantastic. He was, you know, he was just
everything you wanted to to be. He was very naughty and very
flirtatious. Angela and Andyville with yours
at bottom as well. Yeah, that's right.
Yeah. Of course he is.
Yes, of course he is. I noticed as well this
completely randomly, the new sort of the most recent three
Star Wars films, the sequel films.
Oh. Yeah.
And the first one is Andy de Latour.
Yeah. And the second one is Adrian
Edmondson. And yeah, I know where this is
going and. I was all set up to watch to
find out who was going to be the third one.
It's like, because I thought there's a secret bottom thread
running through these films. Yeah.
Yeah, he's. A big fan of bottom Ryan
Johnson. No, because Seal, Emery's and
the they're the prequel films. I'm talking about the sequel
films. Yeah.
So like Force Awakens as got Andy de Latour in?
It. Yeah, yeah.
Last Jedi has got Adrian Edmondson in it.
Yeah. And then I thought, oh,
brilliant. So Force Awakens, the the last
one, the fucking last one was called Rise of Skywalker.
Yeah, I thought brilliant. Who's gonna be?
This one man Roger Slime I. Was told there was gonna be like
a a a digital recreation, a Patsy roll something I mean, in
common with everything else for that film, there wasn't shit a.
Hologram of acts, he wrote. I'm just, I'm just trying to
process that idea. Patsy Rollins in Australia.
That's right. God.
I thought you went. Ryan Johnson is a huge fan of
bottom. Yeah, so I thought, my God, that
this is the whole secret thing. There's a whole secret now.
And then I noticed as well in Solo.
And in another Rogue One are actors from Gimme Gimme Gimme.
Lovely. There's a whole thing happened
here. You just, I think you remember
they're just being Britain, so that's just hanging around.
Will we be mentioning Gimme Gimme Gimme later on?
No, I hope so. I hope so.
I. Wonder #8 we're up to #8 OK.
And it is Father Ted. Crossover with A1 foot degree
of. Course, of course.
Yeah. I don't believe it.
Oh, it's brilliant. I just love them watching them
fight in the distance, you know? So.
Funny, whenever it's on, I always have to watch Father Ted
to the end, even though I've seen it like a million times.
It's always. It's just timeless, isn't it?
I I vividly remember watching the first episode because, you
know, back then you knew nothing about anything.
It's just the fact that it was on a couple of lines in the
paper and Thor comedy some priests.
I thought, I thought it'd be like blessed me father or, you
know, gas and Gators. And the thing that got the thing
that got me, actually hooked me, was the drawing of Dougal, the
inside of Dougal, said rabbits. It was, it was very much a Nimmo
free zone. Yeah, yeah.
Wasn't it? Yeah, I love Chris the sheep.
And you know what the I watch pretty good.
Now. Yeah.
I go down rabbit holes sometimes of of watching on YouTube
reaction videos. I don't know why I just do.
Well, I do as well. Yeah, me watching people.
What, because I want I kind of want to know if people enjoy the
same things that I do with maybe I don't know.
And one of the clips that crops up on a lot of them of special
Americans watching stuff is is, you know, the goal where we'll
get a clip here now called I can't do the accent called I
hear you're a racist now far and loads of people watch that.
There's loads of people in America, especially black people
seem to watch it and absolutely love it.
I hear you're a racist though, Father.
What's the church's position on that?
And the mad old women with the bags look for Good for you, good
for you. Fucking coming over here.
The Greeks. Just just on that Steven
Hatcher, he said it's it's so difficult to to separate the
artist from the art. But the.
But the later problematic behaviour of one of the writers
of father Detract cannot detract from the brilliance of this
wonderfully funny show in which fabulously crafted scripts
combined with extraordinary performances and brilliant sight
gags to create the bizarre world of Craggy Island.
And yeah, it's a shame how things panned out, I guess.
But it's also the fact that Dermot, Dermot Morgan died the
day. Yeah, died the day after
completing the third series. Yeah.
Awful. Yeah.
So sad. He seemed to be have been a good
egg. Yeah, yeah.
Great, the the whole series having grown out of a stand up
character of his. That's right.
Yeah, yeah. Where where he played like a
sort of priest. Yeah, Try to be a groovy priest.
Groovy acting with kids. Yeah, but they don't sort of
obviously got abandoned as it goes.
But you. What I love is that you still
hear people every now and again saying no, no, no.
That money was just resting in my account.
Don't call me Lane, you little shit.
I'm a Bishop. Yeah, yeah.
Little bollocks, yeah. Incredible.
OK, so #7 is Hancock's half hour.
Hurray. I know you're not that keen,
Tyler, are you? No.
I'm not. I'm not particularly.
I love it. I love it as well, Chris.
I think it's brilliant. Even though the wobbly sets and
the fluffed lines, I think it some of it still stands up so
well because the writing is fantastic.
Oh yeah, I've just. I've watched a clutch of my
favorite episodes recently and some of them like Lord Byron
Lives here just. That is my favorite one.
It's a fantastic. That is my favorite one.
That's the first one I ever saw. So like they're in the house
that starts with them trying to redecorate the house's faulty
bets. And they had on the plan.
Having said that, if it's if it's somebody famous has lived
there, the National Trust will do it up.
Yeah, they want the. Money.
They want the money to redeem. They find that Lord Byron had
visited the area and said surreptitiously writes poems on
the walls and tales of the East find them under the thing.
I can't remember them all, but what?
Hancock starts to read them. Like I know the.
Most increasingly reverentially. And one of the pits, yeah.
Yeah, I wish. I wish I were a chestnut tree, a
standing in the sun with with leaves and twigs and branches
and conquers by the tongue. I like, I like, I like the Ode
to the Moon 00 to see your beam across the pine trees of these
two, I'm very pleased to see your light coming out tomorrow
night. It's a great it's a great show
and the episode like the night when he goes to get the
knighthood and even even after it changes from Hancock suffered
to Hancock when he gets just got rid of Sid and and everybody
else. The episodes like the Borman's
and whatever are spectacular. I think it's probably the
progenitor of a type of character that just just keeps
getting repeated. You know, Alan Partridge is a
Hancock as a faulty as a Hancock because they're the people who
the main, they're always main. They're men who think they're
cleverer than they are and who are Dicks.
Yeah. But that was that's what makes
them endearing, because they're because most people are Dicks,
the pompous and arrogant and but actually, you know, they're
quite sincere what they do and they wouldn't do your harm done
unless it's to them. And it's the Hancock character
just reappears every decade in some other form.
Chris, Chris Stratton made the point that obviously it was
Galton and Simpson, the writing team, and it was, in a way, the
first sitcom of its kind, technically, not the first
sitcom, obviously, of course. And you mentioned about that
sort of archetype, Chris, the Hancock archetype.
Another example of that would be Captain Mannering.
Yeah, absolutely. Who pops up in our sixth placed?
Which is Dead's? Which is Dead's army.
Segway. Yeah, so this was number six on
our chart, was actually #4 on the BBC chart.
And yeah, a great show, obviously very, very popular,
still shown to this day, I believe on BBC Two.
No Dad's Army is a perennial mystery to me.
I like it fine. I find it enjoyable to watch.
Everybody in it is very good. Occasionally I'll laugh out
loud. I've never quite understood its
grip on the public's consciousness.
Yeah, I agree. What about you, Donna?
I'm. Quite fond of it.
I I I'm always surprised how few episodes there are.
You always think there are more. It seems to always be on, but I
suppose a sort of English archetypes or something.
But I love the dynamic between John the Messerie and Arcolo.
You know the status like he is, you know he's superior, but in
life you know his status is lower and social.
Inferior. Yeah, exactly.
And all that, that. That's an interesting sort of
play. And also Pike being his son,
it's so obvious it's his son. So it was all the little, little
details like that. And I love Godfrey.
Godfrey's my favorite. I think he's a sweetheart.
But yeah, I and that episode where Arthur Lowe plays his
drunken brother, yeah, is absolute genius.
What a great actor he was. It's so good.
The terrible deflation that Mannering suffers with
incredible tip top telephone acting where he tells Elizabeth
that he's got a piece of cheese. Oh yeah.
And she obviously tells him to shove it up his arms.
It's like a really unhappy home life.
You get so much, don't you, from that?
And is it Carmen Silvera plays this woman that comes in that he
falls in love with, and it's like Brief Encounter and it gets
very, very serious and it's beautifully played.
It's wonderful. It's certainly another example.
It's probably the best example of material elevated by by the
actors. Exactly, Yeah.
And, and they, they made that film of it.
Not that long. Well, I see that long.
It was probably 20 years ago with a, a great cast.
You know, it's a spectacular cast.
And actually it was, you know, like if you'd never seen the
series, you'd think it was great.
You know, Tom Courtney and and Michael Gambon.
Toby Jones.
Yeah, Toby Jones, his manager. So I mean, they were all, they
were all brilliant. You.
Know great actors. But it it, it didn't work in the
same way. And maybe that's because it was
a film rather than the sitcom. I don't know, you know, and
there was obviously some light in a bottle going on with it.
And I'm not decrying it by saying I don't understand the
grip of because it's yeah. I mean it's.
A beautifully made program and Bill Patwis great and you know,
Frank thingy the the man with a current Frank Williams is great.
You know, it's all, it's all superb.
We up to #5 Oh wow. Getting there now, yeah.
Getting, getting. The tension again to the dub get
to the. #5. Is my nails.
There's only 5, there's only 5 spaces left for nearest and
dearest. Oh God, he's.
Going to be so disappointed this.
Bad, but there. That's the reason I'm doing
this. This was the number six on the
BBC chart. And, and and this was, I'm sad
to say, a big favorite of Mrs. Thatchers.
It is. Yes, Minister Stroke.
Yes, Prime Minister. Yeah.
Well, yeah, fair do. Tim Worthington, he this is one
of his favourites, He said. It had an ingenious set up which
I'm not sure if ever quite seen in any other sitcom.
It took the pompous men from the headlines that seemed to want an
ever greater slice of your earnings and rightly held them
up for ridicule, but also, crucially, took them and their
responsibilities entirely seriously and showed that they
weren't always right and they knew it.
So discuss. Well, I'm going to, I'm going to
make a controversial assertion here.
Controversial. I don't think yes, Prime
Minister, is that really that compatible with Yes, Minister?
I think yes, Minister is fantastic.
And I think yes, Prime Minister is all right because the dynamic
is all wrong. And yes, Minister Humphrey is
the upper hand. And then, yes, Prime Minister
Jim has the upper hand. And Humphrey all it's kind of is
always on the back foot because if any time Jim hacker can
overrule Humphrey, which he does on occasion as BS and yes, Prime
Minister, then the it's a bit like having, you know, Superman
in the film. Well, he's always going to win.
There's nothing you can do to him.
So if the Prime Minister is because in the 1st and yes
minister, you're constantly told the unseen Prime Minister, you
know, the Prime Minister giveth from the Prime Minister taketh
away here. Then when Jim becomes Prime
Minister, then the the the jeopardy is lost.
But yes, Minister is a is a different animal and it and it
deserves its place. Yeah, to be fair, most people,
when they voted, they who voted yes minister.
That makes sense. So there was a, there was a
small handful for Prime Minister as well.
But yeah, were you, were you fond of this donor?
I was a bit young, it sort of passed me by, but I've seen it
subsequently and I and it, it did make a star out of Nigel
Hawthorne, didn't it? And it was very late on in his
career and and then he had this incredible, sadly fairly brief
film career afterwards. So it was just lovely to see an
older actor who'd paid his dues in the theatre, you know,
becoming successful. And yeah, it's, it is that
interesting dynamic of, of, you know, who's really, you know,
wagging, you know, the tail wagging the dog and all of that.
But I have to admit it's slightly passed me by.
And also the knowing that Margaret Thatcher loved it kind
of put me off as well, which is terribly wrong because a lot of
awful people like The Beatles and I love The Beatles.
So I'll give it another go. But.
You know, you know, The thing is, I think Margaret Thatcher
liking it is entirely self-serving.
Yes, because she had no sense of humour anyway, so she's.
Told. By by an advisor to like it
maybe? Well, if she did, if she did
watch it and she did like it and maybe she did, it just
demonstrates to me that she's missed that.
She missed the point because you could tell that she would like
it because she would think, oh, that's where the civil service
are like they're just topping us from doing what we're made to be
doing. We would, you know, the
politicians should be in charge and all that sort of shit, which
is not, which is kind of not the point.
It's not that. It's not that Humphrey is always
trying to stop Jim from doing things because it's just out of
Vadnais. It's because he knows that the
things that they're trying to do are disastrous.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's the most detected.
One and, but and but. Consequently, however, he has no
imagination and never wants to do anything, because anything
you do in government is a disaster.
Yeah, yeah, I suppose a bit like David Cameron liking saying he
liked The Smiths, isn't it? It's like you, you listen to the
lyrics. Have you entirely missed the
point here? Didn't Johnny Marr forbid him
from liking it? Oh.
Of course I hope so. I think he did, so number #4 #18
on the BBC chart is Red Dwarf. Oh, wow.
Right. Oh, wow.
That's incredible. I didn't that that that.
I mean, in a way that doesn't surprise me because I, you know,
I've always been surprised when I used to go to like comic cons
and things when I could still go, I was always surprised by
how Big Red Dwarf still was. So I'm not kind of not that
surprised, but in a way, but in a personal taste, we are very
surprised because it's I never thought it was that great.
Yeah, I was never a fan particularly of Red Dwarf.
I'm not a sci-fi kind of guy, Molly Mcdade, former guest.
She says while it's in some ways a parody of science fiction
tropes, they take those elements and twist them into being
uniquely silly, while also finding occasional moments of
poignancy in the characters. And I don't it's, again, is it
like one of those sitcom families where you've got the
mom and the dad and the kids? Yeah.
But I think basically, yeah. And although.
Yeah, yeah. The first couple of series I was
a big fan of when it was first on because it was so unusual and
so different and I thought it was really great.
And I loved Norman Lovett as the as Holly and all that sort of
thing. Yeah, I thought it was great.
But as it continued, and I think and this terrible thing to see
to suddenly get critical programs, the problem we got up
the list. But I think it's sort of for me,
it just kind of disappeared up its own ass into its own
mythology. And occasionally there would be
episodes that broke out, you know, the I think probably the
famously the Dwayne Deadly one, but I don't know, it kind of
lost me after a couple of series.
But obviously it's very popular. That's great.
All right, so. We're up to we're up to the top
three. Right where's police are going
to land the window. #3 #3 is porridge.
Oh, only #3 nice. Oh, I thought that might have
made it. No, OK, there's two higher on it
on this list. This was #7 on the BBC chart,
which that seems rather low. Yeah, it does.
Yeah, you'd think it'd be top five, at least on the BBC chart.
Both fans of porridge. Oh, take it, Yes.
Love it. Love it.
It's a great, it's a great show. The film two way stretch was
clearly partly an inspiration on on Clement and Lafreni surely In
fact, Richard Evans he said that taking inspiration from one of
Peter Sellers finest films paid off handsomely for Clement and
Lafreni who produced 3 perfect series and one pretty good film.
It will always be my favorite of their impressive body of work
and the film is is pretty pretty good films.
You can really see that actually two way stretch influence
because Peter Sellers is so everything kind of spins around
him. He's so in the middle, isn't he?
He's so sort of calm and you know, Fletch is like you know,
he's he's quite centred and quite you know, and everything
sort of spins off around him as well.
So you. Can the Randolph Scott of and a
bit of Bilko as well I think. Yes.
Yeah, and. Of course, the great the great
fact about it being that grouty. Oh yeah.
Genial Harry grout appears in what, like 3 episode?
Two, I was going to mention that he lives so large in it, doesn't
he? And he's really in three.
A total screen time of about 12 minutes.
Yeah. I wonder.
How? I wonder how Peter Vaughn felt
about that, having such a huge career, and yet that's the role
that he probably is best remembered for.
I think probably now he's best remember for Game of Thrones and
for the modern age. But time bandits or type of
course Time bandits at last. I can really cough.
But yeah, he, he, like you said, that he looms so large over the
over everything. And but again, it's that, it's
that. He's genuinely sinister, isn't
he? He's.
Yeah, yeah, he's he's. And especially in the film he's
you know where, where Philip Locke says I need my boil lunch,
I need my boil lunch. He says, well, if you don't, if
you don't clear off, I love one of my lads.
Do it. He's.
Really, genuinely scary. Yeah.
But then there are other people that are in it that it becomes
an it sort of becomes an ensemble and doesn't because it
uses them, unlike it, as I say, with only four horses, uses them
sparingly. So you Bunny Warren and
Blackjalk and Lukewarm and people that they are, but you
never feel that there's they're ever supposed to be anything but
supporting characters. Yeah, yeah, Sam Kelly.
Sam Kelly was just wonderful. And Ronald Lazy and.
Yeah, Oh yeah, yeah. And Ken Jones is horrible lives.
Oh, I love Ken Jones. I I wish I'd written him a fan
letter when he was alive. I love him.
This is Ives horrible lives, aren't you?
If you say so, Mr. He apparently wanted to be in war but was too
busy. They wanted him and more of
them, but he was he was too busy doing making the Wackers or.
Something like the squirrels. Yeah, OK.
So. Mr. Barakov.
We're up to the final two now. Listeners who have been taking
notes will have will have worked out that there's at least three
that haven't cropped up so far. OK.
And we're down to the final 2. So which one?
Price. Has been omitted, so #2 is
Fawlty Towers. Well, there you go.
I'm surprised it's two OK. Well, it was only #5 on the BBC
chart as. Well, well, I have a.
Feeling. I've got a feeling it's, it's in
recent years it's it's had a bit of a resurgence in popularity
for some reason. I remember reading after
everything I saw documented and it was about sitcoms and it was
an American commentator made out.
I think a really good point, which was in this particular
list that because it was in the early 2000s when everything was
lists and the film Silver Show was further up than Fawlty
Towers and, and they'd say, well, why is that?
And they said, well, the 12 episodes of Fawlty Towers are
brilliant, but there was 126 brilliant episodes of the film
Silver. And it's the, and it's funny how
there's a, there's a perception, I think a difference in
perception between Britain and America, where here it's
perfectly fine to have only 12 episodes or, you know, 14
episodes of sort of a brilliant show and it can be considered
brilliant. Whereas in America, you know,
OK, but there was that's that's a failure, only having a dozen
great episodes, which I don't think is what people here think.
Enemy back-to-back to Faulty Towers.
Back to faulty towers. Yeah, well, this.
Actually re watched the the Lord Melbury one the other day and
absolutely love to go which I think sets up the characters so
beautifully. You know, the, the, the the
sexless marriage between. I have to say my favorite
episode is communication problems because I love John
Sanderson so much, who also isn't one of the best episodes
of Rising damp, the pink Carnations.
And what I love in pink Carnations and rising Damp is
when you, because you know, when they mentioned the mother-in-law
and when she walks in the audience, actually go oh.
Yeah. But she's so great and and of
course, it's one of the most clipped bets, you know, between,
you know, there's no Seaview. That is the Seaview.
Well, it's not good enough, you know, what were you expecting?
The The Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
Sydney upper House. Send the operas herbs of
wildebeest sweeping majestically.
It's. Like, irredeemingly horrible.
And you know, it's just. An awful woman.
And one of the things I'm always surprised myself, I like for
just because I don't particularly like the comedy of
embarrassment, because it makes me cringe.
It makes me cringe. As they say though, it it, it
makes me embarrassed, which why, why I kind of went off the
office eventually because people just being embarrassed in
Cringewell at the time just winds me up.
But I I I don't mind it somehow in faulty towers because it's
just so good. Yeah, mentioning obviously
Prinella Scales passed away sadly recently and just her I I
normally, I get really cross in like obituaries where, you know,
people just focus on one character when somebody's like
spent there almost like a whole lifetime in the theatre and that
sort of gets forgotten. But I think it's entirely
justified. Her creation of Civil is
extraordinary. It's such an amazing character,
you know, her, her, just her size difference and how she
dominates him. And he flinches, you know, and
it's like when he kisses her. What was that?
I was just kissing your dear. He goes, oh, don't you know?
It's like one of my favourite bits is when Sybil's on the foe
and they're in bed and she's talking to Audrey, her friend
Audrey or whatever. She goes, oh, I know, I know.
And her buzzer just goes. Why is she telling you then?
That's why. My favorite line in the entire
series. But that's what I was going to
say is what I think is really brave in the rating is that as
conventional thing would be that Basil is awful and you know,
she's terribly several terribly put upon whether, but she's
awful as well. She's terrible.
And although she's nicer to the guests and that scene, it's that
horrible thing where she's, she's putting her fingernail
into chocolates to taste them and then taking them when she
doesn't like. Yeah.
And put them. It's just horrible.
Yeah. And she's she's and she
constantly embarrasses Basil, you know, in the in the Waldorf
salad episode where she's having her dinner, which is eating and
smoking and Clear Nelson and Bruce Bola are great.
You know. And she's and she's just making
fun of Basil and oh, it's just. Everybody's on a joke gourmet
night. Yes.
Oh, absolutely. But she's like, you like a
little hamster, aren't you? It's like, oh, the two of them
are dreadful. Yeah, yeah, awful.
Yeah, but it's, and all the peripheral characters like the
Major and the old ladies and and the moments of surreal comedy
like at the end of the Lord Melbury episode, where I think
he just wants to kick him in the nuts.
Just give me one kick and. And the police officer says no,
Mr. Faulty and he just like shakes his fist at like a potty
plant. Or, and also one of the that's
always surprised me as there's one of the one of the best
performances in it that's never crops up in clips or, or or or
programs about it is Bernard Cribbins.
Oh yeah, what an annoying asshole he's.
Brilliant. Oh, he's so great.
And what this this is? This tells you the sheer genius
of the writing in the production.
Yeah, yeah. When I can't remember his
character, when his name, whatever his name is, when he
beats up Basil, the audience are in hysterics.
Yeah. Because he has behaved
dreadfully to him even though he's a Pope is twat.
Yeah. But then at the end when he
finds out it's the hotel inspectors, when he just makes
spoons, and then he snubs custard pies and cut and pours
cream into his back and kicks him out the door, the audience
cheer that as well. Yeah.
Yeah, you don't mind. You don't mind who gets it as
long as somebody gets it. But harking back Tyler to like
how dads and stuff, I whenever I because my dad is no longer with
me, whenever I watch it now, I can hear my dad laughing at all
the spots where he found, you know, hysterically funny.
And I find I find that really comforting in a weird way.
It's there's such an emotional pool with a lot of these sitcoms
because it is about, you know, people that are no longer here,
you know, enjoying them with those people.
Oh, I can, I can remember vividly watching Basil the Rat
for the first time. And we're this big house that we
bought and it was a disaster. And we were at a little sitting
room in the back and we were trying to do it up and we were
late having tea for us, you know, like 9:00 at night because
we were doing all this work. And we watched Basil the Rat.
And I remember my mum laughing like a drain at it.
I know. But my mum doesn't laugh out
loud very much. You know, I'm not saying she
doesn't laugh, but, you know, like helplessly laughing.
And just when the the rap pops up and the biscuit and then tons
and looks at them, yeah, it's just for a magical moment.
That was just great. You never forget that.
No. Good.
OK. So we are at the number one
point. Oh God, it's not, is it?
I think. I know it more it might be.
It's it's all boys, isn't it? It's only.
Holden, James. It's it's only black adder.
It's exter, really. All of them.
All of. That is a series.
In terms of where people specified favorite series, it
goes 2341. Is that is that best to worst or
what's the? Best best to worst Yeah 2. 3410,
right. OK, that's interesting.
I like it because for me it's 3214.
In fact, I would rather not think about four at all.
Yeah, I kind of, I'm kind of with you there as well,
although, yeah, but blackout of the the, the second series is
for me outstanding. Yeah, I really enjoy series 1 as
well. See see Series 3 is my absolute
favorite by a long way. See, I don't like Prince George,
though. No, I see.
I don't mind. That's just like, it's
fantastic. I think all the stuff in the
kitchen, again, will unremark jokes like Baldrick's always got
a massive pile of vegetables to cut or a huge pile of the war
that he's needing, completely unremarked.
It's all that stuff that absolutely kills me.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I do like the tea sequence
as well with the Duke of Wellington, you know, just out,
out slapstick with him, kiss, kicking him up the arse, you
know? Yeah, of.
India. Yeah, Salon.
I for me though, I think the greatest episode of Blackadder
from any series is beer from series 2 with really Lady White
Adder Miriam Margulies is. Just.
Sublime. And she's also the Spanish
infanter in the first series. Yeah, with Jim Broadbent is
remarkable. So let's know.
Again, please. Again, please.
Yeah. I mean, I do love the first.
I remember I vividly remember watching the first season when
they went out and because it was so different from everything
else and they and absolutely loving it and I loved series 2
when it came out. And but three, my favorite
episode ever is the is the dictionary episode from
Blackadder the Third Wizard. Brilliant.
That's the probably the most quotable for me as well.
Yeah. Yeah, Ian from Lord of Adidas
Black podcast, which of which on which I have been a guest.
He's obviously biased, but he says as far as I'm concerned,
Blackadder is right at the top of the very tall tree that is
British TV comedy. It's it's the fabulous scripts
by Curtis and Elton which were then refined or plump and, as
they called it, and performed by a hugely talented ensemble at
the top of their game. And then you have a brilliant
yet unfailingly generous lead actor in Rowan Atkinson who
allows everyone to shine. And always John Lloyd's firm
hand on the tiller. Oh, and a healthy dose of knob
gags. I think the, the joke rate is so
high in each episode, you know, when it hits it's stride after
the first series. I mean, I, I'm also quite fond
of the first series because it's got Peter Cook in it, you know,
and Brian Blessed being so over the top.
It's brilliant. But the gag rate is so high in
each episode from series 2 onwards.
It's. Incredible, I think.
I think also I've got a soft spot for it because it uses such
great actors and support with actors that you wouldn't
associate with alternative, you know, comedy at the time.
You know they can the actors when they black out of the thug
with Hugh Paddock and and kind of corners.
Oh, no. Yeah, yeah.
Who? Who are potatoes?
Orthestools squeezed. To be when they're doing the
little scene, just them with Baldrick, it just appears the
background where they're they're they're rehearsing the play.
Yes. And they're so great.
And it's the it's the, it's the use of people that are so great
that I love and it as well. It's a it's a thing that I
always love French and Saunders for as well, because of for all
the talk about of other people's talk about always.
I'll tell them Commodore once and all.
I don't like them because they'll tend to comedy.
Actually, it's a straightforward old fashioned almost variety of
usual with with with just the best people that are the
funniest people. How can you not love people who
do a Phantom Maintenance parody with John Inman and Dusty Ben?
I, I think my favorite Blackadder is probably the, you
know, when Blackadder falls in love with Bob because it's also
got a flash heart, the first appearance of flash heart as
well. And and and Tim McInerney, you
know, Percy seducing Baldrick. Yeah, when he comes in and he's
smiling and like, yeah. What an unusual perfume.
Yeah. It's so fun.
And I also every, every night, there's every, every election
night, every general election night, I always first watch the
election episode of Black Eyed the Thumb with Vincent Hannah.
And Jeff, Jeff Mcgiven as well. And what does the S stand for?
Sort of. Well, none of my business.
Now what's the big elephant in the room?
Only Fools and Horses wasn't. Yeah, I'm not surprised.
I'm not surprised. You're not?
No. It did go on far too long.
They should have finished it, you know.
Well, the problem I had with Only Fools and Horses was
eventually it's when it it it became in the 90s, it changed to
or the late 80s, early 90s it it turned into a soap opera and
it's, it became a drama. It became a comedy drama and
that sort of a late period John Sullivan, you know, but what's
the other one you did about the taxi from Oh, can't remember.
Roger, Roger, Roger, Roger. And it, it also had prior to
that, you know, if Boise turned up or Mickey or whatever, it was
a little bonus. You're like, oh, it's an episode
of Boise or Marlene or whatever. And then it became the word in
every episode. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah. And you're like, well, this.
Well, really. And the word, I mean, there was
don't get me wrong, they were still stand out because it
became this arc of, you know, Cassandra and Rodney and all
this sort of thing. And there were still standard
episodes at the time. Obviously the one with with the
inflatable dolls was a completely was on.
And they were funny because they were on for me because they were
unrelated to this ongoing drama. And then, you know, when they
actually become millionaires, you know, fine, fine, OK.
But it was, I mean, I'm not saying it was the word, still
funny moments that was brilliantly acted and all that.
But it became popular way out of proportion, I think than it
ought to have been. Ironically, when it then after
they said it was never going to come back after they got rich,
you know, when it did come back, it was much better for the two
or three episodes because it was back to what it should have
been, which was them struggling because they don't want to see
them being rich and having problems being rich.
But early on when it's when it's about, you know, struggling
people trying to get by doing what they can't, you know, and
that's all great. Everybody can associate with
that and it's funny and the comedy comes from that.
But then it became a completely different thing.
And The thing is, it changed with people obviously, because
it became so inordinately massive.
But I don't, as we've seen, I just don't think it it had the
the legs that the earlier CDs would have done if it stopped
there. I think if I hadn't changed, it
would have become maybe like Citizen Smith and being
something really popular that people loved and looked back on
and know this cultural phenomena that it became.
Sort of went on a bit too long. It, yeah.
So when I started doing this, compiling this list, it was very
noticeable by its absence in terms of people not nominating
it. Yeah, as it is, it was number.
It was the 25th most popular. Well, almost.
OK. Ahead of it, Allo Allo still
game ever decreasing circles and dinner ladies.
Dinner ladies is great, yeah. So from the BBC list, the top 20
BBC list, Absolutely Fabulous and the Royal family were were
both in that top 20. I only got 1 vote each for those
and #3 in the BBC chart was the Vicar of Dibley got no votes at
all. That seems to have been
forgotten largely, hasn't it? Well, it's another one of those
shows, I think, that was completely of its time.
In the same way that don't we or on the buses or something.
I'm not a queen, the style, but they were all of the time.
Yeah. Well, and interestingly there
was there was 73 sitcoms were nominated in total for this.
OK. And George and Mildred are you
being served the Office? They they had a respectable
showing if you like. There was also unusual ones like
Nightingales. Is it legal?
Come back Mrs. Noah, not your Nelly.
Not sure who nominated that one. And and yes my dear, even tell
you what didn't get any nominations as well, which seems
to have been forgotten. Phoenix Knights, early duos,
Extras and my family which were huge, hugely popular.
No one voted for any of those. Well, I'm not surprised.
With my family, it was shit. Well, that's true, yeah.
That's dreadful, but that's true.
Phoenix Nights. Yeah, that is surprising.
That didn't get any votes. Yeah.
OK, well I have tested your bladders far too long.
Thank you both for joining me. Too.
Nearest and Dearest is the best sitcom that was ever made.
I don't fucking care what any you say.
It would be fine, except it's got Hilda Baker in it.
Oh. Fuck off.
And on that bombshell, Donna and and and Chris, thank you both
for your input and it's been marvelous.
Happy New Year. Happy New Year.