Worst British Sitcoms of all time!

[Babygirl66]

In your opinion what is the worst British sitcom of all time.

My definition of Sitcom, is a comedy that prime purpose is to be “funny”. For Example shows such as Being Human, Fleabag, my mad fat dairy, Brasic and Jonathan Creek don’t count as whilst they contain humour they are not what most would consider a sitcom as they contain to much of a serious undertone. (Not saying these are bad shows, I just see them refer to as sitcoms a lot when they technically are not)

CheerfulBunny I am delighted to meet a fellow Still Game fan! I have seen every single episode plus all the specials and it’s my favourite tv show of all time. It’s up there with Black Books and Father Ted!

I was unlucky enough to stumble upon this the other week, on one of those channels like
Uktv Drama or something

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slinger%27s_Day

Christ this was dire. Don't remember it first time around or maybe I blocked it out?! Bruce Forsyth is a supermarket manager, hilarity ensues etc.

I never liked AbFab! It was just too ott and grotesquely in your face for me. But, where I was working at the time, everyone seemed to worship it and if you said you didn't watch it you were practically shouted down.

Someone gave me a book a while ago called , I think, An Encyclopaedia of Sitcoms and it's amazing ready because it lists plenty so bad and with a terrible premise that you wouldn't believe how awful they sound. Plenty that got shelved pretty quickly!

Oh yes Slinger's Day is in that book!

Does anyone remember a female ensemble cast BBC sitcom in the early 80's that was about a group of women who were in a church choir or chapter of WI or something? I can't find a trace of it online. Of course it would help if I knew the title or remembered anyone from the cast...

I do remember Girls on Top from the early 80's, that was pretty diabolical. Considering the cast (French & Saunders, Tracey Ullman, Ruby Wax) it should have been much funnier.

I used to like In Loving Memory with Thora Hird, about a woman who ran an undertakers in around the 1920s, I think. Fond memories of watching that with my dad.

There were so many sitcoms around then, though! There always seemed to be one on at around 8:30.

It went Coronation St, game show, sitcom.

Does anyone remember Brighton Belles - supposedly the UK equivalent of The Golden Girls?

Appalling.

@LookTheOtherWayPlease Jam & Jerusalem is about the WI, it’s 2006 though but thought I’d mention it in case.

Used to find Mrs Brown’s Boys very funny, can’t lie, but not watched it in years now and not feeling inspired to after these comments! I find it fascinating reading about the earlier versions of it though! Can’t remember how to do clicky links:

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnes_Browne

I remember Brighton Belles, and of course it was going to be terrible. It was like watching a car crash about to happen: it was heavily trailed in newspapers and mags and there was only ever going to be one outcome, wasn’t there?

Why anybody producing it would ever say ‘this is the British Golden Girls’ knowing how sharp the actual Golden Girls scripts were, I can’t imagine. Especially because they had made each Brighton Belles character a version of one of the GG characters only much worse with terrible writing. Did they think we wouldn’t notice the contrast? Deluded.

The Royle family

@LookTheOtherWayPlease, I remember that! They were a Young Wives group although I’m not sure that was the title.

Does anyone remember a female ensemble cast BBC sitcom in the early 80's that was about a group of women who were in a church choir or chapter of WI or something? I can't find a trace of it online. Of course it would help if I knew the title or remembered anyone from the cast...

Quoting my own comment, but I found it!

It was called Troubles and Strife and aired for 13 episodes 85-86. "A young vicar takes over a village parish and becomes a lust target for the ‘young wives group’. Opening titles showed the women singing Bread Of Heaven with altered lyrics, while looking simperingly at the vicar."

I was starting to think I imagined it! (And may have been better off staying that way because from the one sad clip I found on YT it was bloody awful...)

pinkarsed I've been singing that since you posted! Weirdly I can remember all the words...

@LookTheOtherWayPlease that sounds awful and I’m going to look it up immediately

Had never heard of Big Top until it was mentioned here, looked it up on YouTube and managed two minutes! I can’t believe it was made as recently as 2009, I know that’s 11 years ago now but it still looked very dated

Ghosts detectorists Alan partridge
Phoenix nights

Oops thought you said best

Anyone remember a sitcom in the early 90s? It was based in a garment factory. I think Keith Allen was the manager and Margi Clarke was also in it. Unlike the others mentioned it was pretty good.

Do you mean 'Making Out'? I remember that, it was very good. I'd probably class it as more of a comedy-drama than a sitcom - it had proper story arcs.

I love Making Out.

Dads Army is the worst.

I remember one called The Other ‘Arf with Lorraine Chase.

I think it was some love across the class divide thing - girl from the wrong side of the tracks falls in love with posh older bloke.

Weirdly I remember that theme tune as well. I seem to have some kind of sitcom-theme-tune-retention device in my brain

All of them.

Someone recommended Detectorists to me as 'cosy easy watching' in these troubled times.

I really didn't like it. Not in a 'not finding it funny' way, but in a 'I can practically tell you what the next line is going to be' way. Gave it half an episode then turned it off.

Oh I love Detectorists, it's one of my all time favourite shows! But not everything is for everyone.

There was one very short lived sitcom that starred David Essex, living on a canalboat. I only remember it because of one scene. His love interest is talking to a cupboard. He asks her why. "Well Margaret Thatcher talks to a cabinet!" My DM thought this was comedy genius...

DM also loved just Good Friends with Vince (very tight blonde perm) and Penny, and will they get back together or not. Anything with a will they won't they storyline had DM hooked.