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A British sitcom or a Britcom is a situational comedy programme produced for British television.
Last of the Summer Wine is a British sitcom set in Yorkshire created and written by Roy Clarke and originally broadcast by the BBC from 1973 to 2010. It premiered as an episode of Comedy Playhouse on 4 January 1973, and the first series of episodes followed on 12 November 1973. Alan J. W. Bell produced and directed all episodes of the show from late 1981 to 2010. The BBC confirmed on 2 June 2010 that Last of the Summer Wine would no longer be produced and the 31st series would be its last. Subsequently, the final episode was broadcast on 29 August 2010. Since its original release, all 295 episodes, comprising thirty-one series—including the pilot and all films and specials—have been released on DVD. Repeats of the show are broadcast in the UK on BBC One, Gold, Yesterday, and Drama. It is also seen in more than 25 countries, including various PBS stations in the United States and on VisionTV in Canada. With the exception of programmes relaunched after long hiatuses, Last of the Summer Wine is the longest-running TV comedy programme in Britain and the longest-running TV sitcom in the world.
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.
Roger Anthony Lloyd-Pack was an English actor. He is best known for playing Trigger in Only Fools and Horses from 1981 to 2003, and Owen Newitt in The Vicar of Dibley from 1994 to 2007. He later starred as Tom in The Old Guys with Clive Swift. He is also well known for the role of Barty Crouch Sr. in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and for his appearances in Doctor Who as John Lumic in the episodes "Rise of the Cybermen" and "The Age of Steel". He was sometimes credited without the hyphen in his surname. He died in 2014 from pancreatic cancer.
John Richard Thomas Sullivan OBE was an English television scriptwriter responsible for several British sitcoms, including Only Fools and Horses, Citizen Smith and Just Good Friends.
Comedy Playhouse is a long-running British anthology series of one-off unrelated sitcoms that aired for 128 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. In all, 27 sitcoms started from a pilot in the Comedy Playhouse strand.
Royston Clarke is an English comedy writer best known for creating the sitcoms Last of the Summer Wine, Keeping Up Appearances, Open All Hours and its sequel series, Still Open All Hours.
Just Good Friends is a British sitcom written by John Sullivan. It stars Paul Nicholas and Jan Francis as former lovers Vincent Pinner and Penny Warrender, who meet in a pub five years after he jilted her at the altar.
The Green Green Grass is a BBC television sitcom, created and initially written by John Sullivan, and produced by BBC Studios Comedy Productions and Shazam Productions for the BBC. It is a sequel/spin-off of the long-running sitcom Only Fools and Horses and stars John Challis, Sue Holderness, and Jack Doolan. Four series and three Christmas specials were originally broadcast on BBC One between 2005 and 2009.
John Spurley Challis was an English actor. He had an extensive theatre and television career but is best known for portraying Herman Aubrey "Boycie" Boyce in the long-running BBC Television sitcom Only Fools and Horses (1981–2003) and its sequel/spin-off The Green Green Grass (2005–2009), as well as Monty Staines from the seventh series onwards in the ITV sitcom Benidorm (2015–2018). Challis was an established stage actor, making appearances for companies including the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre.
Kenneth MacDonald was an English actor who was best known for the parts of Gunner Nobby Clark in It Ain't Half Hot Mum and Mike Fisher in Only Fools and Horses.
Ronald Hazlehurst was an English composer and conductor who, having joined the BBC in 1961, became its Light Entertainment Musical Director.
"A Touch of Glass" is an episode of the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses, first screened on 2 December 1982 as the final episode of series 2. It was the first episode of the show to attract over 10 million viewers.
"A Royal Flush" is the fifth Christmas special episode of the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses, first screened on 25 December 1986. It was re-edited into a shorter version with an added laughter track and released on DVD in 2004. In the episode, Rodney becomes friends with the daughter of a Duke, and Del decides to help him make the right impression.
"The Frog's Legacy" is the sixth Christmas special episode of the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses. It was first broadcast on 25 December 1987. In the episode, the Trotters search for the hidden gold legacy of Freddie "The Frog" Robdal, an old friend of their mother's.
"Christmas Crackers" is the first Christmas special episode of the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses. It was originally screened on 28 December 1981 and is the first episode of the series to run at over 30 minutes.
"Who's a Pretty Boy?" is an episode of the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses. It was the penultimate episode of Series 3 and was first broadcast on 22 December 1983. In the episode, Del persuades Denzil to let them redecorate his flat, despite the objections of Denzil's wife Corrine. Things go awry when they think they have killed Corrine's pet canary.
Bernard Thompson was a British television producer and director most famous for his work on Last of the Summer Wine and Are You Being Served?. Thompson served as producer and director during Last of the Summer Wine's second series. Thompson also served as a director on Are You Being Served?.
Last of the Summer Wine'sthird series originally aired on BBC1 between 27 October 1976 and 24 December 1976. All episodes from this series were written by Roy Clarke and produced by Sydney Lotterby Five episodes were directed by Sydney Lotterby but two: the two-parter, "The Great Boarding House Bathroom Caper" and "Cheering Up Gordon", were directed by Ray Butt.
"One Flew Over the Cuckoo Clock" is an episode of the BBC sitcom, The Green Green Grass. It was first screened on 25 December 2005, as the 2005 Christmas Special of the first series. It was written by The Green Green Grass and Only Fools and Horses series creator John Sullivan and directed by Tony Dow.
References
- 1 2 "Ray Butt: Television producer best known as the guiding force of 'Only Fools and Horses'". The Independent. 18 July 2013. Retrieved 18 September 2013.
- ↑ "Ray Butt". The Times . 17 July 2013. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
- ↑ Roy Clarke (writer) & Ray Butt (director) (10 November 1976). "The Great Boarding-House Bathroom Caper". Last of the Summer Wine. Season 3. Episode 3. BBC One.
- ↑ Roy Clarke (writer) & Ray Butt (director) (17 November 1976). "Cheering Up Gordon". Last of the Summer Wine. Season 3. Episode 4. BBC One.
- ↑ "Are You Being Served?". BBC Guide to Comedy. BBC. Retrieved 30 May 2008.
- ↑ Obituary: Ray Butt, telegraph.co.uk, 16 July 2013
- ↑ "Only Fools and Horses tribute at Ray Butt's funeral". BBC News. 29 July 2013. Retrieved 18 September 2013.
- ↑ "The Liver Birds". Carla Lane Official Website. Retrieved 30 May 2008.
