British
situation comedy series, or "Britcoms", differ from other countries' sitcoms by being much,
much more British.
Britcoms are often quite bawdy, playing against the stereotype of
British Stuffiness. The typical Britcom takes a negative worldview, with the lead characters usually lonely, miserable, doomed to failure or just plain weird.
The standard length for a UK TV "season" (called a "series" in the UK) is
6 to 8 episodes. British shows tend to be written by just one or two people, often long term collaborators such as Galton and Simpson.
UK production companies will usually let a show end when it's over, rather than
running successful franchises well into the ground. Thus,
Fawlty Towers was a major hit and still ended in two series. There are exceptions such as
Last Of The Summer Wine, which lasted for 37 years,
ending in 2010
.
Some British sitcoms have also become popular in Ireland,
Canada,
Australia,
New Zealand or
mainland Europe. There have been several
American remakes of Britcoms,
including a few successful ones: Sanford and Son,
All in the Family and
The Office. Americans can sometimes see UK sitcoms on
[adult swim],
PBS stations,
BBC America or IFC.
Expect to see a lot of
Black Comedy,
Double Entendre, surrealism,
Deadpan Snarkers and
Refuge in Audacity.
Examples are, naturally, numerous:
Examples:
