Why are so many sitcoms set in London/Home Counties?

[caravanette]

Terry and June
Ever Decreasing Circles
A Fine Romance
My Family
Home to Roost
No Place Like Home
Fresh Fields

Citizen Smith

Why tho???

Probably because , in the past, the media was very london-centric.

Nothing to do with the past - it still is London Centric.

Last of the Summer Wine
The Royle Family
Open All Hours
'Allo 'Allo
Dinnerladies
The Likely Lads
Doc Martin
Cold Feet
Alan Partridge
Hi de Hi
Father Ted
Citizen Khan
Mrs Browns Boys
The Liver Birds
Red Dwarf
Fawlty Towers
Bread

I've never heard of any of those shows tbh OP.

The answer is the same one as to why most media is London centric. The actors are already there or happy to move there, the sets are there, the production companies and advertising companies are there to partner with. There are always people looking for work there and it pulls great talent in.

Seeline
You forgot

In Loving Memory!!

McT - the vast majority of those are Wayyyyy after my time!!!!

Also

Bottle Boys
Holding the Fort
Shelley
Me and My Girl
Don't Wait Up

The Likely Lads

Everything Seeline said

In Loving Memory

I hadn't heard of most of yours.
My list of memorable sitcoms:
Porridge
Gavin & Stacey
Only Fools and Horses
Bread
The Royal Family
Ab Fab (if that counts as sit-com)
Last of the Summer Wine

Because it’s grim up north?

There's a world outside London, the M25 and The Home Counties? Wow, who knew!

Besides the workforce thing mentioned earlier on, there's also obviously the fact that from an accent point of view the rest of us are utterly incomprehensible. And sometimes when the BBC try to do regional accents (especially in drama) and they don't either employ actors from those areas or have a very good voice coach, they get it hilariously wrong.

Any number of attempts at Geordie and Northern Irish, just as a couple of examples. Not to mention the "generic West Country" that gets trotted out. No, BBC, everyone west of Southampton does not have the same accent, actually, though you'd sometimes think so from some of your dramas! Jamaica Inn, anyone?? (We'll leave Poldark out of this if you don't mind as so many of those characters, being of a certain class and all, had "RP" lite accents.)

West Country often doubles up for Suffolk and Norfolk

The writers live there or have moved there after becoming successful

You also forgot Butterflies... there are a lot now on BBC Scotland but you don’t really see them much further afield...

OP You need to get watching:
The Liver Birds
Man About the House
The Likely Lads
Whatever happened to the Likely Lads
Aufwiedersehen Pet
Last of the Summer Wine
Brass

And:
The Royal Family
Bread

Waiting for God was set in Bournemouth.

OP and you can discount Fresh Fields from your original list because there were also three series after they'd moved abroad called French Fields, so that cancels it out.

Butterflies was filmed in Cheltenham.

God I had forgotten about some of these!
There are loads of writers, actors, production companies and the like north of Pinewood. The problem is that the commissioners and the people with the money live down south. There keep being nods to production up north (BBC Salford, Channel 4 Leeds) but things still get primarily made in the HC as that's where the commissioners consider civilisation to be.
It's much worse than ever actually,as in the 70s,80s and 90s there seemed to be a lot of regional writing and theatre and general creativity in the North, but also there was a lot more social mobility. An actor or writer or production worker could move to London (or go back and forth) without needing a ton of money. I lived in W2 as a production runner in the 90s and could just about afford the rent. So, people from outside London could come down, make connections, get to know the industry and take that outside of London too. Hard to explain but there was more flexibility and it was more normal for creative types to be from all over.
Now, new writers, actors, designers (and very importantly script readers) are generally all from a solidly well off, HC demographic, because no one else can afford to live in London. So that narrow world view is what ends up being represented on screen. When we do get "regional" sit coms we end up with the likes of Scarborough..

Obviously we need more decent stuff made all over the UK not just North, but North is where I am!

I think much of the media is London Centric

And you've only just noticed this?

Dinnerladies.
The high road (more of a soap)
Aufwiedersein Pet (spelling? )
Bread
Liver Birds

The High Life love a bit of Alan Cumming!

Citizen smith was set in London because he was the leader of the ' Tooting popular front'!
Most 70 style sit coms were dire though.

Two pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps

Fawlty Towers