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A British sitcom or a Britcom is a situational comedy programme produced for British television.
Dame June Rosemary Whitfield was an English radio, television, and film actress.
In Sickness and in Health is a BBC television sitcom that ran between 1 September 1985 and 3 April 1992. It is a sequel to the successful Till Death Us Do Part, which ran between 1966 and 1975, and Till Death..., which ran for one series of six episodes in 1981. The series includes 47 episodes, and, unlike its predecessor, all the episodes have survived and are available on DVD.
Ronald Chesney and Ronald Wolfe were British television comedy scriptwriters, best known for their 1960s and 1970s sitcoms The Rag Trade, Meet the Wife (1963–66), On the Buses (1969–73) and Romany Jones (1972–75). When their partnership began in the mid-1950s, Chesney was already known to the public as a harmonica player.
Comedy Playhouse is a long-running British anthology series of one-off unrelated sitcoms that aired for 120 episodes from 1961 to 1975. Many episodes later graduated to their own series, including Steptoe and Son, Meet the Wife, Till Death Us Do Part, All Gas and Gaiters, Up Pompeii!, Not in Front of the Children, Me Mammy, That's Your Funeral, The Liver Birds, Are You Being Served? and particularly Last of the Summer Wine, which is the world's longest running sitcom, having run from January 1973 to August 2010.
The Great St. Trinian's Train Robbery is a British comedy film, directed by Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat, written by Sidney and Leslie Gilliat, and released on 4 April 1966. It is the last of the original series of films based on the St Trinian's School set of images and comics, and the only one to be produced in colour. The film stars a selection of actors from previous films in the series, including George Cole, Richard Wattis, Eric Barker, Michael Ripper, and Raymond Huntley, alongside Frankie Howerd, Reg Varney, Dora Bryan, and the voice of Stratford Johns.
Dilys Laye was an English actress and screenwriter, best known for her comedy roles.
On the Buses is a British television sitcom that was broadcast on ITV from 1969 to 1973. It was created by Ronald Chesney and Ronald Wolfe, who wrote most of the episodes. It spawned three spin-off feature films and a stage version. Despite the writers' previous successes with The Rag Trade and Meet the Wife with the BBC, the corporation rejected On the Buses, not seeing much comedy potential in a bus depot as a setting. The comedy partnership turned to Frank Muir, Head of Entertainment at London Weekend Television (LWT), who loved the idea; the show was accepted, and despite a poor critical reception became a hit with viewers.
Reginald Alfred Varney was an English actor, entertainer and comedian. He is best remembered for having played the lead role of bus driver Stan Butler in the LWT sitcom On the Buses (1969–73) and its three spin-off feature films. Having performed as a music hall entertainer, Varney first came to national recognition as factory foreman Reg Turner in the BBC sitcom The Rag Trade (1961–63). He appeared in further sitcoms including Beggar My Neighbour (1966–1968) and On the Buses stardom facililated overseas cabaret tours.
James Perry, was an English script writer and actor. He devised and co-wrote the BBC sitcoms Dad's Army (1968–77), It Ain't Half Hot Mum (1974–81), Hi-De-Hi (1980–88) and You Rang, M'Lord? (1988–93), all with David Croft. Perry co-wrote the theme tune of Dad's Army, "Who Do You Think You Are Kidding, Mr. Hitler?" along with Derek Taverner, for which Perry received an Ivor Novello Award from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors in 1971.
Patricia Doreen Coombs was an English actress. She specialised in the portrayal of the eternal downtrodden female, comically under the thumb of stronger personalities. She was known for many roles on radio, film and television sitcoms and Children's ITV's Playbox and Ragdolly Anna. Her authorised biography, written by Andrew Ross, was published in 2021.
Reg Gorman was an Australian television and film actor, and comedian, he was known best for his role in TV serial The Sullivans, as Jack Fletcher. and children's series Fergus McPhail as Harry Patterson.
Here Come the Double Deckers! is a 17-part British children's television series originally broadcast from 1970 until 1971 on BBC1, revolving around the adventures of seven children whose den was an old red double-decker London bus in a scrap yard. The programme made its US debut on 12 September 1970 at 10:30 am ET on ABC. The entire series was released on 1 November 2010 on DVD in the United Kingdom.
I Can Jump Puddles is a 1981 Australian television mini-series based on the 1955 autobiographical series of the same name by author Alan Marshall. Adapted for television by screenwriters Cliff Green and Roger Simpson, the series starred Lewis Fitz-Gerald, Adam Garnett, Tony Barry, Julie Hamilton, Ann Henderson, Lesley Baker, Olivia Brown, Debra Lawrance and Darren MacDonald.
Christmas Night with the Stars is a television show broadcast each Christmas night by the BBC from 1958 to 1972. The show was hosted each year by a leading star of BBC TV and featured specially made short seasonal editions of the previous year's most successful BBC sitcoms and light entertainment programs. Most of the variety segments no longer exist in accordance with the BBC's practice of discarding programmes at the time.
On the Buses is a 1971 British comedy film directed by Harry Booth and starring Reg Varney and Doris Hare. The film is the first spin-off film from the TV sitcom On the Buses and was followed by two further films, Mutiny on the Buses (1972) and Holiday on the Buses (1973). The films are set within a slightly different canon from the TV series: Stan and Jack work for a different bus company, and the three films form a loose story arc where Arthur and Olive become parents.
Peter Geoffrey Francis Jones was an English actor, screenwriter and broadcaster.
Stella Tanner was an English radio and television actress.
Lollipop Loves Mr Mole is a British television sitcom written by Jimmy Perry and produced by ATV. Thirteen episodes were produced in two series of six and seven episodes respectively. The first episode was broadcast on 25 October 1971.
Desmond Walter-Ellis was an English actor. He was active in a range of genres, from classic drama to cabaret, revue and musicals. He played a major part in the development of BBC Television when it restarted after the Second World War.
References
- Mark Lewisohn, "Radio Times Guide to TV Comedy", BBC Worldwide Ltd, 2003
- British Sitcom Guide for Beggar My Neighbour