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Original poster

Worst British Sitcoms of all time!

507 replies

Babygirl66 · 10/04/2020 12:52

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)

OP posts:
Teddy1970 · 10/04/2020 21:39

Miranda
Mrs Browns Boys
Royle family
Last of the Summer Wine, the theme tune alone makes me feel depressed.

Teddy1970 · 10/04/2020 21:42

I forgot about:
League of Gentlemen
Bread
Peep Show
Two Pints of lager and a packet of crisps
Game on
The lot of them are utter crap.

Mysterian · 10/04/2020 21:43

something that was set in a care home and was very funny! - Waiting for God?

I'm a comedy geek. The ones I wrote must for competitions are probably the worst. Grin

On the Buses is dire. The way several of the cast tell jokes and then laugh so hard at them to get the audience to do the same. Just cringe, but hugely popular at the time. A bit like Mrs Brown's Boys?

I think MBB is popular due to the energy and exuberance of the live performance. And there are a lot of jokes in it. The quality of them might be debatable, but there are plenty of them.

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Mrskeats · 10/04/2020 21:45

Mrs Brown's Boys
Curry and chips
Bread

Mysterian · 10/04/2020 21:48

Oh, and Big Top. The Amanda Holden sitcom in a circus. Who would have guessed she couldn't act?!

Iamthewombat · 10/04/2020 21:50

The sitcom set in a care home that was very UN funny was You’re Only Young Twice.

EoinMcLovesCakeJumper · 10/04/2020 21:50

Tartyflette Avoiding the Cracks in the Paaavement is available to view on YouTube, I believe. I used to just watch the opening credits and then switch it off.

Teddy1970 · 10/04/2020 22:02

Don't you find some people just laugh at anything though? Take my MIL for example, she kills herself laughing at Mrs Brown Boys whilst DH and I sit there totally perplexed shaking our heads, It's just not funny, and as for Miranda, all she does is fall over flapping her arms, I think the writers thought Del falling through the bar worked in Only Fools and Horses, yay! Lets do it all the time!

WhereYouLeftIt · 10/04/2020 22:13

I love Ronnie Corbett, but I detested 'Sorry!' sooo much. It's one saving grace was the catchphrase "Language, Timothy!" which I still use.

theliverpoolone · 10/04/2020 22:23

I'm probably in a minority of one, but I never 'got' The Young Ones.
Also didn't like Dads Army (except for the one classic line 'Don't tell him, Pike!' Grin) or Last of the Summer Wine.

My childhood memories are all of The Good Life, Rising Damp, Allo Allo, The Liver Birds, Robins Nest, Man about the House, It Ain't Half Hot Mum, Some Mothers do 'ave 'em. Loved them all at the time, but don't imagine I'd feel the same about some of them now.

Anyone remember Butterflies, with Wendy Craig? I was never keen, but remember my mum liking it - think she identified with the WC character!

HennyPenny4 · 10/04/2020 22:44

I love peepshow

ArthurDentsSpaceTowel · 10/04/2020 22:50

I dimly remember something which Nigel Havers used to be in, about doctors - I think it was called Don't Wait Up. I only caught part of one episode (the parents of an ex used to watch it, ex's dad was a GP) and it was sufficiently dreary and unfunny for me never to watch it again.

Never keen on Sorry! (one with Ronnie Corbett as a 40-year-old Virgin type character, for those who were after that time). I always found it deeply uncomfortable for some reason. Ditto Some Mothers do 'Ave 'Em. Struggled to find Frank Spencer at all funny as opposed to pitiable or irritating.

Artesia · 10/04/2020 22:54

Anyone remember Duty Free? A truly awful early 1980s sitcom about a two couples on a package holiday in Marbella?

user127819 · 10/04/2020 22:54

Don't know if it counts as a sitcom, but Come Fly With Me was pretty bad I thought. Too much reliance on hackneyed stereotypes.

And Mrs Brown's Boys. It seems most of us agree on that one.

MigginsMs · 10/04/2020 22:58

All the 70s racist ones, love thy neighbour, Alf Garnett etc
Miranda
Mrs Brown’s Boys
Friends

Scarletoharaseyebrows · 10/04/2020 22:58

I loved Duty Free! And Hi De Hi !

Yawnfest · 10/04/2020 23:01

Friday night dinner
Derry girls
Mrs Browns boys

ArthurDentsSpaceTowel · 10/04/2020 23:07

Oh God I forgot about May to December! Older man gets together with much younger adult woman shocker! Can't see that premise holding up as a story line these days somehow.

RedRec · 10/04/2020 23:09

Last of the Summer Wine
Absolutely Fabulous
My Family
Miranda
But the absolute worst is the shite that is ... Friday Night Dinner.

GlummyMcGlummerson · 10/04/2020 23:09

I can't imagine what kind of person finds OFAH so funny. Pair of con men being pricks - the end

winewolfhowls · 10/04/2020 23:12

Birds of a feather or anything with brash loud women. Saw Pauline Quirke, if thats her name, in a drama about a murderers the sculptress and she was amazing.
2.4 children
Both of the office
Another vote for mbb

Loved allo allo, Red dwarf, fawlty towers, are you being served, and league of gentlemen though.

winewolfhowls · 10/04/2020 23:13

Nooo, shit on it, Friday night dinner is great

IDefinitelyHaveFriends · 10/04/2020 23:22

Warren Mitchell, who played Alf Garnett told stories of meeting “fans” who felt that Alf’s views perfectly aligned with his, and that it was nice to see someone on telly telling it like it was. He always told it as “ha ha! The joke was on them because actually I was making fun of Alf’s repugnant views!” But I always felt that if a significant number of racists came away from the show feeing vindicated then surely that’s a bad thing. Surely it’s a sign that you’re doing something wrong. I felt this even before Sanjeev Bhaskar made his devastating accusation that life for a non-white kid in the playground was always worse the day after Til Death Us Do Part was on. No sitcom can be funny enough to justify that.

MrsCastiel · 10/04/2020 23:24

I bloody loved Some Mothers Do Ave Em.

I was about 5 when it aired which may explain my delight at the falling over / always getting into a pickle gags.

I also quite like Miranda but that's because my young teen daughter watched it obsessively during a very tough stretch of her life and hearing her laugh like a drain was just beautiful, considering the shit storm that her life was at the time.

Iamthewombat · 10/04/2020 23:28

Anyone remember Duty Free? A truly awful early 1980s sitcom about a two couples on a package holiday in Marbella?

Only too well. They stretched it out quite effectively: tried it out for a series, it was a hit, made a second series claiming it was the second week of the holiday then did a third in which - quelle coincidence - the Yorkshire couple and the posh southern couple happen to be staying in the same hotel at the same time again. I think they did a Christmas special as well, actually filmed in Spain instead of the Yorkshire Television studios in Leeds.

I liked it when I was 11. I suspect that I wouldn’t like it now. I think we all had lower expectations of sitcoms in the 70s and 80s.

I never watched Fresh Fields (somebody upthread comically and accurately described that sort of sitcom as ‘whoops mind my middle class wife’) but that seemed to run for about 100 years. Who was watching it? Middle class wives?