March 28, 2004

Britain's Favourite Sitcom

It's official then, Britain's Best Sitcom is Only Fools and Horses. Must admit, as good as Only Fools is I didn't think it would win...

For me it was always a race between Blackadder and Fawlty Towers.

The top 10 were, in order...

  1. Only Fools and Horses (22.2%)
  2. Blackadder (18.3%)
  3. Vicar of Dibley (13.8%)
  4. Dad's Army (11.3%)
  5. Fawlty Towers (11.2%)
  6. Yes Minister (8%)
  7. Porridge (6.1%)
  8. Open All Hours (4.4%)
  9. The Good Life (2.6%)
  10. One Foot in the Grave (2%)

I am thoroughly amazed that Fawlty Towers didn't come at least second. I thought it was pretty much universally praised as one of the best comedies ever to come from the UK. Anyway, using the same top 10 as the beeb did here are my top 10...

  1. Blackadder -- "I have a cunning plan m'lud."
  2. Fawlty Towers -- "Don't mention the war!"
  3. Only Fools and Horses -- "you Plonker!"
  4. Dad's Army -- "We're Doooooomed!"
  5. One Foot in the Grave -- "I don't believe it"
  6. Open all hours -- A lovely gentle comedy
  7. Yes Minister / Yes, Prime Minister -- Shows how the country was really run. There's a reaon that civil servents get called "Sir Humphrey's"
  8. Porridge -- Another gentle comedy, set in a prison.
  9. Vicar of Dibley -- Again, a gentle comedy. Some real laughs though.
  10. The Good Life -- The original eco-warriors.

So, why do I think Blackadder is the greatest british sitcom? It's simple really, it just works SO well. Blackadder is so incompetent that you can't help but feel sorry for him, no matter how nasty he actually is. Blackadder has some of the greatest comic character inventions ever. Baldrick and Queenie as just two examples. How can you fail to love this series?

Still, Only Fools and Horses won and, I admit, it's been bloody funny over the years. In fact, as the advocate said it has given us a couple of the single funniest sight gags EVER on TV. Namely Del falling through the bar and the Chandelier falling from the ceiling. Absolute class!

So, which of these would be YOUR choice as #1 and why?

Posted by Garry at March 28, 2004 1:01 PM
Comments

I would have put fawlty towers number 1, blackadder a very close 2.

Vicar of Dibely was very funny but no way did it deserve to be above fawlty towers!

Yes minister is also a personal favourite :) and of course, yes prime minister.

Posted by: Keith at March 28, 2004 5:37 PM

Dasani=Peckham Springs.
Nuff said.

Posted by: Carla at March 28, 2004 9:50 PM

1: Fawlty Towers
2: Blackadder
3: Only Fools

I sometimes found Dibly quite funny but like Keith I can't believe it came above Fawlty Towers, the standard of writing in FT was way above that of Dibly.
I do have a soft spot for Only Fools and I use "lovely jubbly" in my daily conversation. I can see why it won even if it is not my personal favourite.

Posted by: Mark at April 1, 2004 9:19 AM