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| Clockwise from Top: Rodney and Del Boy (OFAH), Gary Sparrow, (Goodnight Sweetheart), The Auf Wiedersehen, Pet cast, Godber and Fletch (Porridge) and Victor Meldrew (One Foot In The Grave). |
You may not know this, but some of those classic sitcoms you
grew up loving in the US? They were remakes of popular British shows. For
instance, ‘Sanford and Son’ was a direct remake of ‘Steptoe and Son’ and then
of course, more recently, ‘The Office’. Remakes of British shows sometimes
become popular and sometimes flop. Here are 5 original British sitcoms that
Americans need to watch right now. If you’re a budding Anglophile, then these
will steep you much more in British culture…
1.
Only Fools And Horses (BBC 1981 – 2003)
This is a classic British sitcom that
consistently tops polls in the UK as the best sitcom of all time. Yet, the US
can never seem to remake it. Set in Peckham in South London, the show focuses
on the life of the Trotter family, Derek ‘Del Boy’ (David Jason), Rodney (Nicholas
Lyndhurst) and their Grandad (Leonard Pearce), later their Uncle Albert (Buster
Merryfield) as they struggle to get by in Britain by wheeling and dealing in
contraband items. With Del’s mantra of ‘This time next year, we’ll be
millionaires!’, the trials and situations they face, along with the closeness
they have as a family, result in some of the best comedy that the BBC has ever
produced. Solely written by John Sullivan, the 1996 Christmas Special ‘Time On
Our Hands’ was seen by 24.3 million viewers in the UK, the highest ever
audience for a comedy in Britain. The show ran for seven series and sixteen
Christmas specials.
2.
Goodnight Sweetheart (BBC 1993 – 2016)
Another classic sitcom from the BBC
starring Nicholas Lyndhurst as London TV Repairman (later shop owner) Gary
Sparrow, who finds a time portal from 1990s London back to 1940s London.
Finding himself going back there often, Gary befriends Pub landlady Pheobe
(Dervla Kirwen, later Elizabeth Carling) and falling for her despite still
having a wife Yvonne (Michelle Holmes, later Emma Amos) back in the 1990s.
Goodnight Sweetheart ran for six series and one special one off episode in
2016.
3.
Auf Wiedersehen, Pet (ITV/BBC 1983 – 2004)
Despite the title, this comedy drama isn’t
all in German. About the adventures of British labourers who left the UK to
find work in Germany in the 1980s, this series became very popular among
viewers for it’s realistic portrayal of the state of the British labour
industry at the time. Starring Tim Healy (Dennis), Kevin Whately (Neville),
Jimmy Nail (Oz), Gary Holton (Wayne), Christopher Fairbank (Moxey), Timothy
Spall (Barry) and Pat Roach (Bomber) it ran for two series. Gary Holton died
during the filming of series two, so the decision was taken to end the series
then. It returned in 2002 on the BBC for a third series with all the surviving
cast members and later a fourth series in 2004. It was decided to end the show
for good after Pat Roach died.
4.
One Foot In The Grave (BBC 1990 – 2000)
Another classic BBC sitcom is One Foot in
the Grave. Richard Wilson stars as the cantankerous Victor Meldrew in this
popular sitcom from the 1990s. Victor is a man who has been retired from his
job as a security guard and, in retirement, cannot help but find trouble to get
into. Usually his complaining and moaning leads to all sorts of suffering for
his wife, Margaret (Annette Crosbie) and all sorts of glee for the audience as
they sat through Victor’s trials of misfortune and bizarre happenings. One Foot
in The Grave ran for 6 series. It got a US remake in the form of a show called ‘Cosby’
(1996 – 2000) which ran for 4 seasons and starred Bill Cosby as grumpy New
Yorker Hilton Lucas.
5.
Porridge (BBC 1974 – 1977)
Widely considered to be one of the greatest
sitcoms of all time, Porridge is set in the fictional Slade Prison and stars
Ronnie Barker as Norman Stanley ‘Fletch’ Fletcher, a career criminal who, in
the opening monologue by the judge that is heard over the opening titles, is sentenced
to five years in prison. His cellmate, Lennie Godber (Richard Beckinsale), was
a new offender and the relationship between the two evolved over the three
series. (British sitcoms are frustratingly short in episode runs) It became so
popular amongst actual prisoners in the UK that woe betide the prison officer that
forgot to tape that week’s episode for them. The title of the show relates to
prison life. ‘Doing Porridge’ is (or was, as times have changed since the
1970s) British slang for ‘doing time’ was followed by a sequel in the form of ‘Going
Straight’, which saw Fletch being released from prison and returning to his
normal life in Muswell Hill. This only ran for one series as Richard Beckinsale
(Yes, he was the father of Kate Beckinsale) died from a heart attack in 1979,
shortly after completing work on the Porridge feature film that was released
that same year.
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