A British sitcom or a Britcom is a situation comedy programme produced for British television. Although styles of sitcom have changed over the years they tend to be based on a family, workplace or other institution, where the same group of contrasting characters is brought together in each episode. British sitcoms are typically produced in one or more series of six episodes. Most such series are conceived and developed by one or two writers.
Not the Nine O'Clock News is a British television sketch comedy show which was broadcast on BBC2 from 1979 to 1982. Originally shown as a comedy alternative to the Nine O'Clock News on BBC1, it features satirical sketches on then-current news stories and popular culture, as well as parody songs, comedy sketches, re-edited videos, and spoof television formats. The programme features Rowan Atkinson, Pamela Stephenson, Mel Smith, and Griff Rhys Jones, as well as Chris Langham in the first series.
General Hospital was a British daytime soap opera produced by ATV that ran on ITV from 1972 to 1979. It was not modelled after the American drama of the same name. Rather, it was an attempt to replicate the success of its predecessor, Emergency – Ward 10. The original theme music was "Girl in the White Dress" by the Derek Scott Orchestra which was used until 1975, when it was replaced by Johnny Pearson's "Red Alert" for the 60-minute episodes.
Anne Gwendolyn "Wendy" Craig is an English actress who is best known for her appearances in the sitcoms Not in Front of the Children, ...And Mother Makes Three /...And Mother Makes Five and Butterflies. She played the role of Matron in the TV series The Royal (2003–2011).
Angela May Rippon is an English television journalist, newsreader, writer and presenter. Rippon presented radio and television news programmes in South West England before moving to BBC One's Nine O'Clock News, becoming a regular presenter in 1975. She was the first female journalist permanently to present the BBC national television news, and the second female news presenter on British television after Barbara Mandell on Independent Television News (ITN) in 1955.
Jack Morris Rosenthal was an English playwright who wrote 129 early episodes of the ITV soap opera Coronation Street and over 150 screenplays, including original TV plays, feature films, and adaptations. A street in Manchester is named after him, appropriately next to a centre of contemporary art, theatre and film that opened in 2015, HOME.
Crossroads is a British television soap opera that ran on ITV over two periods – the original 1964 to 1988 run, followed by a short revival from 2001 to 2003. Set in a fictional motel in the Midlands, Crossroads became a byword for cheap production values, particularly in the 1970s and early 1980s. Despite this, the series regularly attracted huge audiences during this time, with ratings as high as 15 million viewers.
Yvonne Mitchell was an English stage, television and film actress. After beginning her acting career in theatre, Mitchell progressed to films in the late 1940s. Her roles include Julia in the 1954 BBC adaptation of George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. She retired from acting in 1977.
The Grove Family was a British television series soap opera, generally regarded as the first of its kind broadcast in the UK, made and broadcast by the BBC Television Service from 1954 to 1957. The series concerned the life of the family of the title, who were named after the BBC's Lime Grove Studios where the programme was made.
Larry Grayson, born William Sulley White, was an English comedian and television presenter who was best known in the 1970s and early '80s. He is best remembered for hosting the BBC's popular series The Generation Game and for his high camp and English music hall humour.
Julia Smith was an English television director and producer. She is best known for being the co-creator of the BBC soap opera EastEnders, also working as a director and the first producer of the series.
Emergency Ward 10 is a British medical soap opera series shown on ITV between 1957 and 1967. Like The Grove Family, a series shown by the BBC between 1954 and 1957, Emergency Ward 10 is considered to be one of British television's first major soap operas.
Thriller is a British television series, originally broadcast in the UK from 1973 to 1976. It is an anthology series: each episode has a self-contained story and its own cast. As the title suggests, each story is a thriller of some variety, from tales of the supernatural to down-to-earth whodunits.
Debbie "Debs" Wilkins is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Shirley Cheriton, from 21 March 1985 to 14 May 1987.
Oil Strike North is a BBC television drama series produced in 1975.
Shirley Cheriton is an English actress and performer, best known for her roles as Debbie Wilkins in the BBC soap opera EastEnders and her portrayal of Miss Prescott in the Are You Being Served? follow up, Grace & Favour.
Richard Gordon, was an English ship's surgeon and anaesthetist. As Richard Gordon, Ostlere wrote numerous novels, screenplays for film and television and accounts of popular history, mostly dealing with the practice of medicine. He was best known for a long series of comic novels on a medical theme beginning with Doctor in the House, and the subsequent film, television, radio and stage adaptations. His The Alarming History of Medicine was published in 1993, and he followed this with The Alarming History of Sex.
Julia Foster is an English stage, screen, and television actress.
Ray Smith was a Welsh actor who played the tough-talking police chief, Detective Superintendent Gordon Spikings, in the television series Dempsey and Makepeace. He was the first actor to play Brother Cadfael for BBC radio.
Paula Milne is a British screenwriter. Her works include The Politician's Wife, The Virgin Queen, Chandler & Co, Die Kinder, Second Sight, Driving Ambition, Small Island and Endgame.
