deckard

Evenin' all, Talking of sitcoms and daft(but funny) British comedy, what's your favourite Croft/Perry/Lloyd comedy and why? tata for now Decks.

"and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock"

GRAEME

Dad's Army. The original and best - most of the others followed a similar formula and even shared personel/charcter types.

Croft and Perry were remarkably consistent over the decades but never bettered the set up on Dad's Army. The eternally fascinating WWII background - very authentic. The wonderfully 3 dimensional characters brought to life by an outstanding veteren cast. The subtle joy of the class relationship between Mainwaring and Wilson.

There really was something for everybody here: nostalgia for the older adults, a window on a much talked about recent history for the baby-boomers; Clive Dunn and "Stupid Boy" Pike clowning for the kids.

The fact that these characters seemed so real and so basically fond of each other - a remarkable safe and comforting world.

dremble wedge

Allo Allo. It lasted longer than the war and kept a continuous running narrative for nearly ten years.

I reckon it was also one of the most subversive comedies of the 80s - much more so than anything that was produced from the 'alternative' comedy stable at the same time.

Add to that the so-simple-it's-genius idea of having the various nationalities communicating or not communicating with ridiculous national accents, the strong element of innuendo and the farcical tradition that runs throughout and you're on to a winner.

Oh, and this sort of thing helped too...

Freddy

Forgive me for repeating this ad lib of Jeremy Lloyd's, I put it on here 2 years ago but as we have new members I'll repeat it in honour of the great man.
He was on the Parkinson show with Glen Campbell who is being asked about the poverty and upbringing in the Southern States of America.

Campbell: Yes we were very poor, in fact we were so poor I didn't see a toilet till I was 9 years old.

Jeremy Lloyd: My God! you must have been bursting.

Campbell's balloon was well and truly punctured.

regards

Freddy

GRAEME

I can never really forgive that show for eclipsing and making a mockery of the magnificent Secret Army.

And it really does highlight the difference between the Croft/Perry and the Lloyd sitcoms - gone was all the subtlty and period verisimilitude - in came the farce.

Nothing wrong with farce though - horses for courses.

Marky B

Ta Ta
Marky B

I am special. The heavens always open for me.

Piccadilly

Dad's Army and Allo Allo were brilliant. You Rang M'Lord and early episodes of Hi-De-Hi were okay. Not overly keen on the rest.

faginsgirl

I really liked Dads army, the cast was just perfectly put together, but I really liked You rang ma lord too, a really funny classic comedy which didnt seem to last that long, but maybe I`m wrong, maybe it was on for a few years.

Fagins girl xx

burnttoast

It was a great show and lasted 4 years I think. Just the right length without overstaying its welcome. I liked that this, Allo Allo and Hi de Hi and Aint Half Hot Mum all had proper last episodes. I remember being quite choked by the Aint Half Hot Mum and Hi de Hi ones..

There is a real gap in the schedules for well observed mainstream comedy. Much as I love much of the alternative stuff (which is all but mainstream these days anyway), there really should be more writing of this type on TV.

Whats the closest to a mainstream sitcom today? My Family and My (Bloody) Hero

Ofcourse broadcasters would say there's no audience for it. But they said the same about early evening family drama before Doctor Who came back and those daytime repeats get viewing fgures plenty of channels would be happy with in the evenings...

That's another thing we're long overdue a re-run of You Rang and Aint Half Hot Mum.