A British sitcom (sometimes called a Britcom) is a situational comedy programme produced for British television.

British sitcoms have predominantly been recorded on studio sets, while some include an element of location filming. Live audiences and multi-cameras were first used in the US by Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball for their American show I Love Lucy in 1951 and the system was adopted in the UK. Several are made almost entirely on location (for example, Last of the Summer Wine) and shown to a studio audience prior to final post-production to record genuine laughter. In contrast to the American team writing system, Ray Galton and Alan Simpson's huge successes were of such quality that they became the paradigm for British sitcom writing.

By the time the television set had become a common part of home furnishing, sitcoms were significant expressions of everyday life and were often a window on the times of enormous social changes in the British class system and its conflicts and prejudices. The period from 1970 to 1979 in particular is often considered the 'Golden Age' of British sitcom, with Fawlty Towers (1975 and 1979) being "the British sitcom by which all other British sitcoms must be judged".

A subset of British comedy consciously avoids traditional situation comedy themes, storylines, and home settings to focus on more unusual topics or narrative methods. Blackadder (1983–1989) and Yes Minister (1980–1988, 2013) moved what is often a domestic or workplace genre into the corridors of power. A later development was the mockumentary genre exemplified by series such as The Office (2001–2003).

The Office heralded the modern trend of the single-camera sitcom dispensing with live audiences. Since the turn of the century, many sitcoms had been filmed on a single-camera set-up or entirely on location, with no studio screening or laugh track, such as The Royle Family (1998–2000, 2006–2012), and PhoneShop (2009–2013). Later sitcoms such as 2009's Miranda used a traditional sitcom format featuring a live audience and multiple cameras.

A 2004 poll by the BBC, ITV, and Channel 4 in the 12-episode documentary series Britain's Best Sitcom, produced a list topped by traditional sitcoms with Only Fools and Horses holding the first place, and included favourites such as David Croft's Dad's Army, Are You Being Served?, and Hi-de-Hi!. It was not until The Royle Family (1998–2000) in place 19 that a show without a live studio audience was featured.

British Christmas TV programming has a long-standing tradition of heavily featuring comedy and sitcoms in the schedules, often with episodes that capture holiday spirit, and sometimes emotional moments. Christmas specials have allowed sitcoms such as The Royle Family and Only Fools and Horses which finished regular series programming to continue for over a decade.

From the late 1950s to the late 1980s situation comedy proved to be one of the richest sources of public discourse on class in British life. During the 30 years from the end of the 1950s to the late 1980s sitcom provided one of the best windows on the British class system.

Writing for the British Film Institute in 2003, Phil Wickham, film and TV critic and author of several books about British TV, concludes:

Early years

Beginnings

The origins of British TV sitcoms trace back to radio comedies of the 1940s and 1950s like Hancock's Half Hour, which aired on BBC Radio in 1954, British TV sitcoms were initially inspired by American comedy formats, but they quickly developed their own style that highlighted dry wit, social satire, and the nuances of British life. Early shows of the 1950s often featured archetypal British characters such as the staff and pupils in Whack-O! and the various facets portrayed in Hancock's Half Hour, and set the stage for what would become the British TV sitcom genre. They were set in post World War II working-class or domestic environments, highlighting issues of class, family dynamics, and British culture, while The Army Game, ITV's first sitcom, parodied the life of army conscripts during the last years of the National Service which ended in 1963.

Pinwright's Progress

Written by Rodney Hobson, Pinwright's Progress (1946–1947) was the world's first regular half-hour televised sitcom.IMDB: Rodney Hobson. Retrieved 9 January 2022 Broadcast live in black and white by the BBC from Alexandra Palace, it was about J. Pinwright, the proprietor of a small shop. Storylines involved his hated rival and his staff, who only added to his problems by attempting to be helpful. The series featured an ensemble cast including James Hayter as J. Pinwright, Clarence Wright as Aubrey, Daphne Maddox as Miss Peasbody, Doris Palmer as Mrs Sigsbee, and Leonard Sharp as Ralph. Further roles included Benita Lydal as Mrs Rackstraw,IMDB : Benita Lydal. Retrieved 9 January 2022 Charles Irwin as a salesman, and Jill Christie as Pinwright's daughter.IMDB : Jill Christie. Retrieved 9 January 2022 and produced and directed by John Glyn-Jones. The script editor was Ted Kavanagh, who during the World War II years also wrote the BBC Radio comedy series It's That Man Again (ITMA ), which according to Foster and Furst was "entirely new, breaking away from the conventions of both radio and music hall comedy".

Hancock's Half Hour Transferred to television in 1956 after 48 episodes on BBC radio which began in 1954, Hancock's Half Hour (1956–1961) by Galton and Simpson was the first modern TV sitcom. Whilst moving away from audio variety towards character development, the radio series had been influential in the development of TV situation comedy. The radio series continued to be produced alongside the TV version. Tony Hancock played a fictionalised version of himself, a loser whose plans and aspirations are continually ruined by bad luck. Its only other regular cast member was the more worldly sidekick played by Sid James, later of Carry On fame and Bless This House . Other occasional participants included John Le Mesurier (Dad's Army), Kenneth Williams, and Patricia Hayes.Dennis Barker, "Hayes, Patricia Lawlor (1909–1998)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004 available online. Retrieved 18 June 2020. Hancock's biographer John Fisher dates the first use of the term 'situation comedy' in British broadcasting to a BBC memo dated 31 March 1953 from radio comedy producer Peter Eton, suggesting the format as the ideal vehicle for Hancock's comedic style.John Fisher Tony Hancock. The Definitive Biography, London: HarperCollins, 2008, p. 138 According to Phil Wickham, writing for the Britiah Film Institute, "Hancock's persona of the pompous loser out of his depth in an uncomprehending society still informs many programmes today". The final BBC series of this show was broadcast under the shorter title Hancock. In 1963, Hancock changed his writers and moved to ITV for a further 13-episode series also named Hancock. The series, though relatively well received, has been described as "clearly not up to the standard of [Hancock's] BBC work".

Whack-O! Stars Jimmy Edwards in the lead role as Professor James Edwards, Whack-O! and was written by Frank Muir and Denis Norden. The series is about the drunken, gambling, devious, cane-swishing headmaster who tyrannised staff and children at the fictitious Chiselbury public school "for the sons of Gentlefolk". From 1956 to 1960 and 1971–1972, it ran for 60 episodes over 8 series. The first six episodes were subtitled "Six of the Best", alluding to the frequent and traditional punishment of disobedient pupils in the UK by caning which was the butt of many jokes. The BBC sums up this aspect of Whack-O! with: "Watching the series now is a little painful in one respect – we're too sensitive to find canings amusing – but it's right on the money in other ways, mainly because finding over-privileged kids vile hasn't gone out of fashion."

Only six of the original black-and-white episodes are known to exist. The series was revived in colour with updated scripts in 1971–72, slightly retitled Whacko! and with less emphasis on the caning. Other members of the cast included Arthur Howard (series 1–7),

Julian Orchard (series 8), Kenneth Cope, Norman Bird, John Stirling, Peter Glaze, Edwin Apps (series 1–7), Peter Greene (series 8), David Langford, Keith Smith, Brian Rawlinson, Gordon Phillot, Harold Bennett (Are You Being Served?), (series 8), Frank Raymond, Gary Warren (series 8), and Greg Smith (series 8). A feature film, Bottoms Up, was made in 1960.

The Army Game Peter Eton's series of The Army Game (1957–1961) was probably British television's most successful sitcom of this period and ran for 154 episodes. Many of its stars went on to become household names. The original cast consisted of William Hartnell, Michael Medwin, Geoffrey Sumner, Alfie Bass, Charles Hawtrey, Bernard Bresslaw and Norman Rossington. The cast of The Army Game would change over the years with actors such as Geoffrey Palmer, Bill Fraser, Ted Lune, Frank Williams, Harry Fowler and Dick Emery appearing in subsequent series. The Army Game follows the exploits of Hut 29, a fictional dysfunctional group of conscripted National Service soldiers during the post-war years."The Army Game" , Television Heaven website Writers included creator Sid Colin, Larry Stephens, Maurice Wiltshire, Lew Schwarz, John Jowett, John Antrobus, John Foley, Marty Feldman, Barry Took, David Climie, David Cumming, Derek Collyer, Brad Ashton, John Junkin, Talbot Rothwell, Sidney Nelson, Stan Mars, Bob Perkins and Alan MacKinnon. At least three episodes are uncredited. In June 1959, a short The Army Game scene was performed by Michael Medwin, Alfie Bass, Norman Rossington, Bill Fraser and Ted Lune at the Royal Variety Performance in front of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. This was the last Royal Variety Performance that was not televised. This successful series inspired a film spin-off, I Only Arsked! (1958), and in 1958, just a year after the series debuted, the first Carry On film, the very similar Carry On Sergeant, was released, also featuring Hawtrey, Rossington and Hartnell.

The 1960s

Two channel TV

ITV sitcoms began with the channel's launch in 1957 and throughout the 1960s helped shape British comedy with varied and often experimental styles. In the 1960s, the BBC produced a then-rare workplace comedy with The Rag Trade (1961–1963; later revived by ITV, 1977–1978) written by Ronald Wolfe and Ronald Chesney. The success of the series was due partly to the strength of the female ensemble playing the workforce, who included Sheila Hancock, Barbara Windsor and Esma Cannon.John Oliver "Chesney, Ronald (1920-) and Wolfe, Ronald (1924-)", BFI screenonline It also made the earliest of Richard Waring's domestic comedies, Marriage Lines (1961–1966), starring Richard Briers (later to star in The Good Life) and Prunella Scales (who went on to star in Fawlty Towers), and Not in Front of the Children (1967–70), starring Wendy Craig. Women were usually only cast in secondary roles in this period, though several series with Craig in the lead were an exception. Sitcoms developed by Carla Lane, the first successful female writer in the form,Julia Hallam "Lane, Carla (1937-)", BFI screenonline began with The Liver Birds (1969–1979, 1996), initially in collaboration with others.

Another change, with Steptoe and Son (1962–65, 1970–74) and The Likely Lads (1964–1966), producers began to cast actors, rather than the comedians around whom earlier series like Whack-O!, with Jimmy Edwards, or Hancock's Half Hour, had been built.John Oliver "Galton, Ray (1930-) and Simpson, Alan (1929-)", BFI screenonline

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