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 or Gervais and Merchant.
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, Understatement, Cringe Comedy, Surrealism, Deadpan Snarkers, Refuge in Audacity and British Humour.
Examples are, naturally, numerous:
Examples:
- 2point4 Children
- 15 Storeys High
- Absolutely Fabulous
- Absolute Power (BBC)
- After Life (2019)
- After Youve Gone
- All About Me
- All Gas and Gaiters
- 'Allo 'Allo!
- Alma's Not Normal
- Ambassadors
- Annually Retentive
- Are You Being Served?
- The Army Game
- As Time Goes By
- Babes in the Wood
- Babylon
- BACK
- Back to Life
- Bad Education
- The Bear's Tail
- The Benny Hill Show
- Birds of a Feather
- Blackadder
- Black Books
- Bless Me Father
- Bless This House
- Bluestone 42
- The Book Group
- Borderline
- Bottom
- Boy Meets Girl
- Brass
- Bread
- Breeders
- Brian Pern
- The Brittas Empire
- Bull
- Butterflies
- Cabin Pressure
- Carry on Laughing!
- Car Share
- Catastrophe
- Chef!
- Chelmsford123
- Chewing Gum
- Chickens
- Citizen Smith
- Clarence
- The Cleaner (UK)
- Clone
- Cockroaches
- Come Back Mrs. Noah
- Coogan's Run
- Coupling
- C'Mon Midffîld!
- The Creatives
- Cuckoo
- Dad's Army
- Dear John
- Deep Trouble
- Defending The Guilty
- Derry Girls
- Desmond's
- Detectorists
- Doctor in the House
- Drifters
- Drop the Dead Donkey
- Early Doors
- Ever Decreasing Circles
- Extraordinary (2023)
- Extras
- The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
- Father Ted (set in Ireland and created by Irish people, but produced by Channel 4)
- Fawlty Towers
- Filthy Rich & Catflap
- Fresh Meat
- A Fine Romance
- Fleabag
- Fortysomething
- Friday Night Dinner
- Game On
- Gavin & Stacey
- George & Mildred
- Get Some In!
- Getting On
- Ghosts
- Gimme, Gimme, Gimme
- Girls on Top
- The Good Life
- Half of The Goodies
- Goodnight Sweetheart
- Goodness Gracious Me
- Grandma's House
- The Goon Show
- The Great Outdoors
- Green Wing
- The Happy Apple
- Hi-de-Hi!
- Hancock's Half Hour
- Hardware (2003)
- Help! I'm a Teenage Outlaw
- Him & Her
- Hold The Sunset
- Hounded
- How Do You Want Me?
- How Not to Live Your Life
- Hyperdrive
- I'm Alan Partridge
- In and Out of the Kitchen
- The Inbetweeners
- Inside No. 9
- The Irish R.M.
- Is It Legal?
- The IT Crowd
- It Ain't Half Hot, Mum
- Jam and Jerusalem
- Just a Gigolo
- Just Good Friends
- Keeping Up Appearances
- KYTV
- Ladhood
- Last of the Summer Wine
- Lead Balloon
- The League of Gentlemen
- Let Them Eat Cake
- Love Thy Neighbour
- Mad About Alice
- Man About the House
- Mandy
- Marleys Ghosts
- Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere
- May to December
- Men Behaving Badly
- The Men from the Ministry
- Mind Your Language
- Miranda (2009)
- Mongrels
- Monty Python's Flying Circus
- Motherland
- Mr. Bean
- My First Planet
- My Spy Family
- Newfangle
- The New Statesman
- Next of Kin
- Nightingales
- No Heroics
- Not Going Out
- The Office
- Oh, Doctor Beeching!
- The Old Guys
- On the Buses
- One Foot in the Grave
- Only Fools and Horses
- Open All Hours
- Outnumbered
- Party
- Peep Show
- Pets
- PhoneShop
- Plebs
- Please Sir!
- Porridge
- Pramface
- A Prince Among Men
- Private Schulz
- Rab C. Nesbitt
- Raised by Wolves (2013)
- Red Dwarf
- Reggie Perrin
- Rev.
- The Robinsons
- Roger & Val have Just Got In
- Root into Europe
- The Royle Family
- Sally4Ever
- Sam's Game
- The Scotts
- Sex Education
- Sirens (UK)
- So Haunt Me
- Some Girls
- Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em
- Sorry!
- Spaced
- State of the Union
- Steptoe and Son
- Suburban Shootout
- Surgical Spirit
- Sykes
- Terry and June
- The Thick of It
- The Thin Blue Line
- This Country
- This Way Up
- Till Death Us Do Part
- Time Gentlemen Please
- Time Spanner
- Timewasters
- Toast of London / Toast of Tinseltown
- To the Manor Born
- The Trip
- Trollied
- Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps
- Uncle (BBC)
- Up Pompeii
- Upstart Crow
- Up the Women
- The Vicar of Dibley
- Vicious
- Waiting for God
- Watching
- We Are Lady Parts
- Whites
- The Windsors
- The Wrong Mans
- Yes, Minister
- You Me And Them
- You Rang, M'Lord?
- Youngers
- The Young Ones