Fawlty Towers - You've heard all the compliments before, from a million sources, regarding the amount of work that John Cleese and Connie Booth put into each script, and it shows. There's not a wasted line anywhere to be found, in any of the twelve (count 'em, twelve!) episodes. Personally, I find The Germans a little bit too OTT, but other than that, there's not an episode I couldn't happily watch every week until I die. And, as anyone who's enjoyed British customer service can attest, there's a bit of Basil Fawlty in all of us...
Black Books - Another show which doesn't show British customer service at its best, Black Books starred Dylan Moran as the fabulously rude drunk, Bernard Black, as well as comedy god, Bill Bailey, and Tamsin Greig's neurotic girl next door. Channel 4's comedy efforts can be a bit hit-or-miss, so I actually missed this the first time round, but caught it in repeats. The latest in a very long line of British comedies in which the audience laugh at, but feel pity for, the protagonists, who are, like Steptoe and Son and many of the other great sit-com characters, too dependant on each other to ever escape from their ultimately unhealthy relationship.
Hancock's Half Hour - on the subject of unhealthy relationships, Tony Hancock and Sid James spent much of the 50s and 60s demonstrating just what that meant. Originally a radio series, Hancock made the transition to television (dumping half of the radio show's cast on the way), and, deservedly, is the best-remembered show of its era. More than just a sit-com, Hancock's Half Hour presented a normal sit-com environment inhabited by a cast who refused to remain bound by sit-com tropes, breaking the fourth wall before it became de rigueur.
Frasier - One of only two non-British shows on my list, which surprised me, this was never not going to be in my top ten. You can argue that the show went on too long, and should have ended on a high with Niles and Daphne eloping, but for the first seven or eight years of its run, this was the funniest show out there. Kelsey Grammer and David Hyde Pierce formed a perfect double act, as the pompous Doctors Crane, constantly brought low by their own egotism, perpetually seeking to outdo one another in their pursuit of the finer things in life. Add to that John Mahoney's turn as the Crane brothers' down-to-earth dad, an eccentric Mancunian physical therapist, and some fine recurring guest-stars, and you have a show which produced smart comedy, to be enjoyed with a glass of wine, rather than requiring several beers beforehand, like most shows (or is it just me?).
Blackadder - this show's pretty much review-proof, thanks to the countless millions who watched it religiously through its run. Mind you, the same could be said about Only Fools and Horses, and that's rubbish! In Edmund Blackadder, Rowan Atkinson created the finest comedy lead of the 80s. By turns sycophantic and sadistic, Blackadder gives us a modern perspective on historical events. Blackadder's declining fortunes down the generations, from heir to the throne down to military officer, act as a counterpoint to his increasing intelligence, from drooling idiot in the original run, to the smartest man in the First World War - not that his intelligence ever does him much good. Neither Atkinson, nor co-writers Richard Curtis and Ben Elton, have ever matched the work they put in on this series, and with a very few exceptions, nor has British comedy. Mind you, there are exceptions...
The Office - After a long day at work, I found myself slumped in front of the telly, staring at the screen in bemusement, as I tried to work out what this weird documentary was I was watching (thanks to shift work, two children, and the occasional bout of insomnia, most tv I watch has that effect on me). I know certain people (hi, Dad!) think that Ricky Gervais is just a little bit self-satisfied about the success of his little show, but I don't think that Gervais' smugness detracts from the power of the show, which showed the minutae of life in a Slough paper office, where nothing big or flashy ever really happened, with the show instead relying on the characters of the staff to hold the attention. At times almost too painful to watch, the show nevertheless was gripping viewing, at least to this office worker...
Yes Minister - A rarity in comedy - a truly civilised show. No sex and violence, no swearing, and no immoral behaviour - unless you consider the workings of the British political system to be intrinsically immoral, that is. The workings of the British Civil Service are placed under a harsh spotlight, as Whitehall mandarin, Sir Humphrey Appleby runs rings around fledgling government minister Jim Hacker. The later episodes, as Hacker, now Prime Minister, gets a bit more competent in his handling of Sir Humphrey, are less satisfying, but, like the better episodes of Frasier in the 90s, this is wordy comedy at its best.
The New Statesman - From the sublime to the ridiculous, this was the other great political sit-com of the 80s, although your mileage may vary, depending on how much affection you have for Rik Mayall mugging his way round the Houses of Parliament. Alan Beresford B'Stard, the most right-wing Thatcherite on the block, demonstrates week after week the immoral depravity that we all secretly believe politicians possess, ruining the lives of those around them, before inevitably failing in his latest exploit.
Dad's Army - Sentiment makes fools of us all. There are certainly funnier shows out there, but few which guarantee to bring a smile to my face whenever I think of them. A set of slightly larger-than-life characters blunder their way through a succession of disasters, as they set about keeping the Home Counties safe from the Nazi menace. The rapport between Arthur Lowe's blustering Captain Mainwaring and John Le Mesurier's prim and proper Sergeant Wilson, is one of the finest ever depicted, and like many of the other shows on this list, there's a tightness to the writing, with not a wasted line to be found. It's so good that even Clive Dunn's awful overacting can't bring the show down.
My Name Is Earl - My one current comedy vice, MHIE stars Jason Lee, playing someone vaguely sympathetic, which is more than he managed in six Kevin Smith films. The show's simple theme - ex-crook discovers the concept of karma, and sets out to make up for all the bad things he ever did - leads to all manner of comic misadventure, generally revolving around Earl and his brother, Randy, screwing up whichever crusade they've decided to take on. If you aren't watching this, you really, really, need to be.
That's my top ten. Among those who almost made the cut were:
The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin - Leonard Rossiter suffers midlife crisis, fakes own death, and turns up in a lousy disguise - repeatedly.
Coupling - new Who writer, Steven Moffat's somewhat uncomfortable tales of thirtysomething friends and their sexual misadventures.
Friends - The One With The Six Good Looking White Guys And Their Coffee House - funny for a while, but went off the boil pretty fast.
Married... With Children - Comedy god Ed O'Neill as Al Bundy and Katey Sagal as his improbably haired wife. All this and Christina Applegate, what more do you want?
The Young Ones - zanier than the zaniest zany thing in a zaniery, only twelve episodes, consisting of a distillation of just about every alternative comic doing the rounds in the early 80s.
And those who somehow I've not seen enough of for them to make the list, but which nevertheless show potential.
The Phil Silvers Show
Father Ted
Porridge
Steptoe and Son
So there you go. Whadaya think?
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