The Young Ones is a British sitcom written by Rik Mayall, Ben Elton, and Lise Mayer, starring Adrian Edmondson, Mayall, Nigel Planer, Christopher Ryan, and Alexei Sayle, and broadcast on BBC2 for two series, first shown in 1982 and 1984. The show focused on the lives of four dissimilar students and their landlord's family on different plots that often included anarchic, offbeat, surreal humour. The show often included slapstick gags, visual humour and surreal jokes sometimes acted out by puppets, with each episode also featuring a notable selection of guest stars and musical numbers from various performers.
Only Fools and Horses.... is a British television sitcom created and written by John Sullivan. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom from 1981 to 1991, with sixteen sporadic Christmas specials aired until the end of the show in 2003. Set in working-class Peckham in south-east London, it stars David Jason as ambitious market trader Derek "Del Boy" Trotter and Nicholas Lyndhurst as his younger half-brother Rodney Trotter, alongside a supporting cast. The series follows the Trotters' highs and lows in life, in particular their attempts to get rich. Critically and popularly acclaimed, the series received numerous awards, including recognition from BAFTA, the National Television Awards, and the Royal Television Society, as well as winning individual accolades for both Sullivan and Jason. It was voted Britain's Best Sitcom in a 2004 BBC poll.
Creature Comforts is a British stop-motion comedy franchise originating in a 1989 animated short film. The film matched animated zoo animals with a soundtrack of people talking about their homes, making it appear as if the animals were being interviewed about their living conditions. It was created by Nick Park and Aardman Animations. The film became the basis of a series of television advertisements for the electricity boards in the United Kingdom. In 2003, a television series in the same style was released. An American version of the series was also made. A sequel series, Things We Love, first aired on BBC One in 2024.
Timothy Malcolm Healy is an English actor. He played Dennis Patterson in the comedy-drama series Auf Wiedersehen, Pet (1983–2004), Lesley Conroy in the sitcom Benidorm (2009–2018), and Gastric in the comedy series Still Open All Hours (2014–2019).
The Comic Strip are a group of British comedians who came to prominence in the 1980s. They are known for their television series The Comic Strip Presents..., which was labelled as a pioneering example of the alternative comedy scene. The core members are Adrian Edmondson, Dawn French, Rik Mayall, Nigel Planer, Peter Richardson and Jennifer Saunders, with appearances by Keith Allen, Robbie Coltrane, Alexei Sayle and others.
My Family is a British sitcom created and initially co-written by Fred Barron, which was produced by DLT Entertainment and Rude Boy Productions, and broadcast by BBC One for eleven series between 2000 and 2011, with Christmas specials broadcast from 2002 onwards. My Family was voted 24th in the BBC's "Britain's Best Sitcom" in 2004 and was the most watched sitcom in the United Kingdom in 2008. As of 2011, it is one of only twelve British sitcoms to pass the 100-episode mark. In April 2020, BBC One began airing the series from the first episode in an 8 pm slot on Friday nights; along with this all 11 series were made available on BBC iPlayer.
Spooks is a British television spy drama series that originally aired on BBC One from 13 May 2002 to 23 October 2011, consisting of 10 seasons. The title is a colloquialism for spies, and the series follows the activities of the intelligence officers of Section D in MI5, based at the service's Thames House headquarters, in a highly secure suite of offices known as The Grid. In the United States, the show is broadcast under the title MI-5. In Canada, the programme originally aired as MI-5, but later aired on BBC Canada as Spooks.
Reeves and Mortimer, colloquially known as Vic and Bob, are a British double act consisting of Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer. They have written and starred in several comedy programmes on British television since 1990, with Reeves having made his first TV appearance in 1986. They have often been referred to as a modern-day Morecambe and Wise.
The Phil Silvers Show, originally titled You'll Never Get Rich, is a sitcom which ran on the CBS Television Network from 1955 to 1959. A pilot titled "Audition Show" was made in 1955, but it was never broadcast. 143 other episodes were broadcast – all half-an-hour long except for a 1959 one-hour live special. The series starred Phil Silvers as Master Sergeant Ernest G. Bilko of the United States Army.
Black Books is a British sitcom created by Dylan Moran and Graham Linehan, and written by Moran, Kevin Cecil, Andy Riley, Linehan and Arthur Mathews. It was broadcast on Channel 4, running for three series from 2000 to 2004. Starring Dylan Moran as Bernard Black, Bill Bailey as Manny Bianco, and Tamsin Greig as Fran Katzenjammer, the series is set in the eponymous London bookshop and follows the lives of its owner, his assistant, and their friend. The series was produced by Big Talk Productions, in association with Channel 4.
David Walsh Naughton is an American actor and singer. He is known for his starring roles in the horror film An American Werewolf in London (1981) and the Disney comedy Midnight Madness (1980), as well as for a long-running "Be a Pepper" ad campaign for beverage maker Dr Pepper. He also starred in the short-lived sitcom Makin' It and sang its hit theme song "Makin' It", giving him a Top 5 hit on the Billboard charts.
Robert Lindsay Stevenson, known professionally as Robert Lindsay, is an English actor and narrator. He has appeared with the Royal Shakespeare Company and in musical theatre, and is the recipient of a British Academy Television Award, a Tony Award, and two Laurence Olivier Awards.
Sally Jane Lindsay is an English actress and television presenter. She rose to fame playing Shelley Unwin in the long-running ITV soap opera Coronation Street (2001–2006). Her other roles include Lisa Johnson in the Sky One comedy-drama Mount Pleasant (2011–2017), Alison Bailey in the ITV police procedural Scott & Bailey (2011–2016), and Kath Agnew in the BBC sitcom Still Open All Hours (2013–2019). Since 2021, she has starred as Jean White in Channel 5's The Madame Blanc Mysteries (2021–present), which she co-created and produces.
Ronald Henry Pember was an English actor, stage director and dramatist. In a career stretching over thirty years, he was a character actor in British television productions in the 1970s and 1980s, usually in smaller parts or as a support playing a worldly-wise everyman.
Kayvan Novak is an English actor and comedian. He co-created and starred in the comedy series Fonejacker (2006–2008) and Facejacker (2010–2012), winning the BAFTA Television Award for Best Comedy in 2008.
Jon Sen is a British television and film director, writer and producer. After working as the executive producer of the BBC soap opera EastEnders from 2019 to 2022, Sen began working as the executive producer of the BBC medical drama series Casualty in 2022.
Adam Henry Carter is a fictional character from the BBC espionage television series Spooks, which follows the exploits of Section D, a counter-terrorism division of MI5. He is portrayed by British actor Rupert Penry-Jones. The character is a former MI6 officer who takes charge as the chief of Section D, and hence the head protagonist following the departure of Tom Quinn in series three.
Dad's Army is a British television sitcom about the United Kingdom's Home Guard during the Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, and originally broadcast on BBC1 from 31 July 1968 to 13 November 1977. It ran for nine series and 80 episodes in total; a feature film released in 1971, a stage show and a radio version based on the television scripts were also produced. The series regularly gained audiences of 18 million viewers and is still shown internationally.
James Nightingale is a fictional character from the British soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Gregory Finnegan. The character made his first on-screen appearance on 12 January 2016. Finnegan's casting was announced in December 2015, and James was billed as a mysterious character and lawyer. His introduction to the show featured him attempting to convince Cindy Cunningham to take legal action against Mac Nightingale, in a bid to secure his assets. Having kept the character's identity concealed, writers implemented a story twist in which James is revealed to be Mac's son. Lysette Anthony was cast to play his mother Marnie Nightingale, a character which James features alongside most. Their on-screen partnership developed them into a trouble making and villainous duo. Writers played on their manipulative manner to the extent that James manages to con the entire Hutchinson family, out of their restaurant "The Hutch".
Scott Drinkwell is a fictional character from the British soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Ross Adams. The character made his first appearance on 27 April 2015. Producers asked Adams to audition for the role while he was working as a script editor on rival soap opera Emmerdale. The actor forgot his lines during his screen test but was still offered the role. The character was billed as a "troublesome new relative" joining the show's established O'Connor family. He is the cousin of Sinead O'Connor and nephew to Diane Hutchinson. Executive producer Bryan Kirkwood introduced the character to cause conflict with other characters.
