The 50 Greatest British TV Comedies of All Time
List activity
1.2K views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
50 titles
- CreatorGraham ChapmanEric IdleTerry JonesStarsGraham ChapmanJohn CleeseTerry GilliamThe original surreal sketch comedy showcase for the Monty Python troupe.
- StarsJohn CleesePrunella ScalesAndrew SachsHotel owner Basil Fawlty's incompetence, short fuse, and arrogance form a combination that ensures accidents and trouble are never far away.
- CreatorRicky GervaisStephen MerchantStarsRicky GervaisMartin FreemanMackenzie CrookThe story of an office that faces closure when the company decides to downsize its branches. A documentary film crew follow staff and the manager David Brent as they continue their daily lives.
- CreatorJeremy LloydDavid CroftStarsMollie SugdenJohn InmanFrank ThorntonThe misadventures of the staff of a retail floor of a major department store.
- StarsPatricia RoutledgeClive SwiftGeoffrey HughesA snobbish housewife is determined to climb the social ladder, in spite of her family's working class connections and the constant chagrin of her long suffering husband.
- StarsJudi DenchGeoffrey PalmerMoira BrookerThe Korean War, and a long lost letter, separate the lives of young lovers Jean Pargetter and Lionel Hardcastle, whose paths cross again by happenstance.
- CreatorRowan AtkinsonRichard CurtisStarsRowan AtkinsonMatilda ZieglerRobin DriscollBumbling, childlike Mr. Bean has trouble completing the simplest of day-to-day tasks, but his perseverance and resourcefulness frequently allow him to find ingenious ways around problems.
- CreatorJohnny SpeightStarsWarren MitchellAnthony BoothUna StubbsA working-class Cockney bigot with a biased and experienced opinion of everything shares them bluntly and carelessly.
- CreatorJimmy PerryStarsArthur LoweJohn Le MesurierClive DunnA ragtag group of Home Guard volunteers prepare for an imminent German invasion during World War II.
- StarsRonnie BarkerBrian WildeFulton MackayThe prison life of Fletcher, a criminal serving a five-year sentence, as he strives to bide his time, keep his record clean, and refuses to be ground down by the prison system.
- CreatorRoy ClarkeStarsPeter SallisJane FreemanKathy StaffThree old men from Yorkshire who have never grown up face the trials of their fellow town citizens and everyday life and stay young by reminiscing about the days of their youth and attempting feats not common to the elderly.
- StarsDermot MorganArdal O'HanlonFrank KellyThree misfit priests and their housekeeper live on Craggy Island, not the peaceful and quiet part of Ireland that it seems to be.
- StarsChris O'DowdRichard AyoadeKatherine ParkinsonThe comedic misadventures of Roy, Moss and their grifting supervisor Jen, a rag-tag team of IT support workers at a large corporation headed by a hotheaded yuppie.
- CreatorRichard CurtisStarsRowan AtkinsonBrian BlessedElspet GrayIn the Middle Ages, Prince Edmund the Black Adder constantly schemes and endeavors to seize the crown from his father and brother.
- StarsSimon BirdJames BuckleyBlake HarrisonFollows four friends and their antics during their final years of school.
- StarsJack DavenportGina BellmanSarah AlexanderSix best friends talk about all aspects of sex and relationships on their never-ending quest to find true love.
- CreatorJames CordenRuth JonesStarsJoanna PageMathew HorneAlison SteadmanGavin and Stacey have been continuing their romance on-line and by telephone for the last six months. Now they want to be together but will their friends and family let them?
- CreatorArmando IannucciStarsChris AddisonJames SmithPeter CapaldiThe Minister for Social Affairs is continually harassed by Number 10's policy enforcer and dependent on his not-so-reliable team of civil servants.
- CreatorFred BarronStarsRobert LindsayZoë WanamakerGabriel ThomsonBen Harper, a misanthropic dentist, has little time for most people, including his wife Susan, and their children Nick, Janey, and Michael.
- CreatorJohn SullivanStarsDavid JasonNicholas LyndhurstRoger Lloyd PackComedy that follows two brothers from London's rough Peckham estate as they wheel and deal through a number of dodgy deals and search for the big score that'll make them millionaires.
- StarsWilfrid BrambellHarry H. CorbettFrank ThorntonBritish sitcom about a father-and-son rag-and-bone business in London. The intergenerational divide between the miserly Steptoe and his ambitious son results in comedy, drama, and tragedy.
- StarsLeonard RossiterPauline YatesJohn BarronHe story concerns a middle-aged middle manager, Reginald "Reggie" Perrin, and is driven to bizarre behaviour by the pointlessness of his job at Sunshine Desserts.
- CreatorJesse ArmstrongSam BainAndrew O'ConnorStarsDavid MitchellRobert WebbMatt KingMark and Jez are a couple of twenty-something roommates who have nothing in common - except for the fact that their lives are anything but normal. Mayhem ensues as the pair strive to cope with day-to-day life.
- CreatorMatt LucasDavid WalliamsStarsMatt LucasDavid WalliamsTom BakerMatt Lucas and David Walliams, the creators of this character-comedy sketch show, delight in all that is mad, bad, quirky and generally bonkers about the people and places of Britain.
- StarsJennifer SaundersJoanna LumleyJulia SawalhaThe wild misadventures of Edina "Eddy" Monsoon and her best friend Patsy Stone, who live in a nearly constant haze of drugged, drunken selfishness.
- StarsRichard BriersFelicity KendalPenelope KeithTom Good quits the rat race, and with wife Barbara turns the garden of their Surbiton house into a smallholding. Their neighbours, snobbish Margo Leadbetter and her conventional husband Jerry, feel variously amused, offended and impressed.
- StarsPaul EddingtonNigel HawthorneDerek FowldsThe Right Honorable James Hacker has landed the plum job of Cabinet Minister to the Department of Administration. At last he is in a position of power and can carry out some long-needed reforms, or so he thinks.
- CreatorDavid CroftJeremy LloydStarsGorden KayeCarmen SilveraVicki MichelleIn France during World War II, René Artois runs a small café where Resistance fighters, Gestapo men, German Army officers and escaped Allied POWs interact daily, ignorant of one another's true identity or presence, exasperating René.
- StarsMiranda HartPatricia HodgeTom EllisSocially inept Miranda always gets into awkward situations; working in her joke shop with best friend Stevie, being hounded by her pushy mother, and around her crush Gary.
- StarsGraham CrowdenStephanie ColeDaniel HillAn unusual alliance develops between Diana Trent, a cynical retired photojournalist and Tom Ballard, a former accountant, while staying at the Bayview Retirement Home.
- StarsRichard WilsonAnnette CrosbieDoreen MantleVictor Meldrew is a retiree who attracts bad luck. If he's not driving his long suffering wife Margaret crazy with his constant moaning, he's fighting with neighbours.
- CreatorBrian CookeJohnnie MortimerStarsRichard O'SullivanPaula WilcoxSally ThomsettSitcom exploring the trials and tribulations created by one man and two women flat-sharing in the 70s.
- CreatorMark LevesonDan PattersonStarsClive AndersonRyan StilesColin MochrieHost Clive Anderson arbitrarily awards points as four players act their way through a series of improvisational games based on suggestions from either Clive or the studio audience.
- StarsMark GatissSteve PembertonReece ShearsmithAn interweaving narrative chronicling the antics of such diverse characters as: a transgender taxi driver, a family obsessed with hygiene and toads, a fiery reverend, a carnival owner who kidnaps women into marriage, and a xenophobic couple who run a local shop for local people.
- CreatorRob GrantDoug NaylorStarsChris BarrieCraig CharlesDanny John-JulesThe adventures of the last human alive and his friends, stranded three million years into deep space on the mining ship Red Dwarf.
- StarsCaroline AherneCraig CashSue JohnstonA British sitcom about the everyday life of a working-class family in Northwest England: watching telly, smoking, drinking, and bickering.
- StarsDawn FrenchJames FleetTrevor PeacockA boisterous female minister comes to serve in an eccentricly conservative small town's church.
- CreatorDylan MoranStarsDylan MoranBill BaileyTamsin GreigBernard Black runs a book shop, though his customer service skills leave something to be desired. He hires Manny as an employee. Fran runs the shop next door. Between the three of them many adventures ensue.
- StarsSimon PeggJessica HynesJulia DeakinFriends Tim and Daisy, 20-something North Londoners with uncertain futures, must pretend to be a couple to live in the only apartment they can afford.
- StarsHugh DennisClaire SkinnerTyger Drew-HoneyA part-improvised comedy about a couple bringing up their three young children.
- StarsRonnie BarkerDavid JasonLynda BaronArkwright is a miserly and eccentric shopkeeper with a stammer, who longs to marry his lifelong love Nurse Gladys. He runs a small town grocery store along with his errand boy and nephew, Granville and a particularly dangerous till.
- StarsSteve CooganSimon GreenallFelicity MontaguA failed television presenter, now presenting a programme on local desperately tries to revive his broadcasting career.
- StarsStephen FryHugh LaurieDeborah NortonComedians Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie perform a variety of comedy skits and the occasional musical number.
- StarsBenny HillHenry McGeeJackie WrightA skit based show with Benny Hill, often containing smutty humour.
- StarsRik MayallAdrian EdmondsonNigel PlanerThe crazy and sometimes surreal comedic adventures of four very different students in Thatcher's Britain.
- StarsBrendan O'CarrollJennifer GibneyEilish O'CarrollA comedy centered on a loud-mouthed Irish matriarch whose favorite pastime is meddling in the lives of her six children.
- StarsAdrian EdmondsonRik MayallSteven O'DonnellTwo perpetually bored and broke flatmates waste their days in a futile struggle to get laid, earn cash, and not kill one another.
- CreatorRichard FegenAndrew NorrissStarsChris BarrieHarriet ThorpeMichael BurnsGordon Brittas is the manager of the Whitbury-Newtown Leisure Centre. Despite his good intentions, everything seems to go wrong when he's around, despite the best efforts of the center staff and his long-suffering wife, Helen.
- StarsMichael CrawfordMichele DotriceJessica ForteAccident-prone Frank Spencer fails to navigate the simplest tasks of daily life, while also trying to look after his wife and baby.
- CreatorGary JanettiMark RavenhillStarsDerek JacobiIan McKellenFrances de la TourFreddie Thornhill (Sir Ian McKellen) and Stuart Bixby (Sir Derek Jacobi) are an old gay couple who have been together for nearly fifty years. Their lives now revolve around entertaining their frequent guests and hurling insults at each other at every opportunity.