50 Fun Facts About British Comedy

Which Are You Being Served? menswear assistant, played by John Inman, answered every call with 'I'm free!'?

Mr Humphries made 'I'm free!' his catchphrase, yet it was first spoken by Mrs Slocombe in the pilot; Inman used it backstage until Mollie Sugden told the writers to hand it to him.

Which fez-wearing magician-comedian collapsed and died on stage during ITV's Live from Her Majesty's in 1984?

Tommy Cooper suffered a heart attack in front of 15 million viewers midway through his act, and he had borrowed his first fez from a passing waiter after forgetting a pith helmet.

Which conductor did Eric Morecambe grab by the lapels after being told he was playing 'all the wrong notes'?

André Previn heard back that Eric was playing 'all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order', in a 1971 Christmas show sketch that billed him as 'Mr Andrew Preview'.

Which panel show credited 'The Rt. Hon Tub of Lard MP' in 1993 after Roy Hattersley pulled out at short notice?

Have I Got News for You sat the lard in Hattersley's chair because, the host claimed, the two 'possessed the same qualities and were liable to give similar performances'.

Which Dad's Army character, the pompous bank manager played by Arthur Lowe, commands Walmington-on-Sea's platoon?

Captain Mainwaring appointed himself leader of the town's Local Defence Volunteers, in a show that was originally titled The Fighting Tigers.

Which comedy team's 1975 episode 'Kung Fu Kapers' made a King's Lynn bricklayer laugh until his heart gave out?

The Goodies' Tim Brooke-Taylor, as a kilted Scotsman, fended off Bill Oddie's black pudding with bagpipes; viewer Alex Mitchell laughed for 25 minutes and died of heart failure.

Which slapstick film star, the cloth-capped 'Gump' of 1950s Rank comedies, became a hero in Enver Hoxha's Albania?

Norman Wisdom's films were among the few Western productions Hoxha allowed to be shown, and when he visited Albania in 1995 he was mobbed by fans.

Which sketch series' schoolgirl Lauren, of 'Am I bovvered?' fame, sparred with Tony Blair himself on work experience?

The Catherine Tate Show's 2007 charity special had the sitting prime minister ask Lauren whether he looked bovvered, a catchphrase that had been 2006's Word of the Year.

Alan Partridge named his spoof chat show Knowing Me, Knowing You, and his son Fernando, after songs by which group?

ABBA also supplied Partridge's talk-show catchphrase 'Aha!', on a character who first aired on Radio 4's news spoof On the Hour in 1991.

Which Matt Lucas and David Walliams sketch show created chav Vicky Pollard and Daffyd, 'the only gay in the village'?

Little Britain began on BBC Radio 4 in 2000 and, after three television series, spawned an HBO-produced spin-off, Little Britain USA, in 2008.

Which Father Ted housekeeper, chanting 'go on, go on, go on', never takes no for an answer to a cup of tea?

Mrs Doyle stays up all night 'just in case one of you needs a cup of tea', and sometimes withdraws the offer once the priest finally gives in.

Which Richard Curtis sitcom, born of the Church of England's 1993 move to ordain women, stars Geraldine Granger?

The Vicar of Dibley's creator consulted Joy Carroll, one of the first female Anglican priests, and its Christmas specials became some of the most-watched British programmes of the digital era.

Which E4 sitcom follows Will, moved from private school after his parents' divorce, and mates Simon, Jay and Neil?

The Inbetweeners, created by Damon Beesley and Iain Morris, put its four friends through sixth form at Rudge Park Comprehensive, after a 2006 pilot titled 'Baggy Trousers'.

Which Graham Linehan sitcom's Roy and Moss answer calls with a taped 'Have you tried turning it off and on again?'?

The IT Crowd's Roy keeps reel-to-reel recordings of stock advice, including 'Is it definitely plugged in?', in the dingy basement of Reynholm Industries.

Which sitcom's café owner René Artois hides two British airmen and 'The Fallen Madonna' painting in occupied Nouvion?

'Allo 'Allo! was devised by Croft and Lloyd as a parody of the BBC wartime drama Secret Army, with René running the local Resistance cell under the codename 'Nighthawk'.

Which Lisa McGee sitcom makes Michelle's English cousin James the first boy at Our Lady Immaculate College?

Derry Girls became Channel 4's most successful comedy since Father Ted, and James is sent to the girls' school out of fear for his safety at the local Christian Brothers school.

Which charity, founded in 1985 in response to the Ethiopian famine, stages the Red Nose Day telethon every March?

Comic Relief's first charity single, in April 1986, had Cliff Richard and the cast of a BBC student sitcom rework his 1959 hit 'Living Doll' all the way to number one.

Which comedian's sped-up chases, set to Boots Randolph's 'Yakety Sax', were exported to over 100 countries?

Benny Hill's audience topped 21 million in 1971, and the BFI credited his global appeal to visual humour 'transcending language barriers'.

Which panel show, hosted by Stephen Fry then Sandi Toksvig, names each series after the next letter of the alphabet?

QI's permanent panellist Alan Davies has appeared in every episode, and the series began with 'A' in 2003, so each episode's topics start with that series' letter.

Which Greg Davies-fronted show began with its creator emailing 20 comedians a monthly challenge for a year?

Taskmaster was first staged at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2010, reached television on Dave in 2015 and moved to Channel 4 after its ninth series.

In which 2007 Simon Pegg film is Nicholas Angel reassigned from London to the sleepy village of Sandford?

Hot Fuzz's Nicholas Angel is moved for being 'too exceptional', and the film was shot in Wells, Somerset, director Edgar Wright's hometown, with the cathedral digitally painted out.

Which 2001 film's casting of American Renée Zellweger as a quintessentially British heroine stirred controversy?

Bridget Jones's Diary won Zellweger an Oscar nomination, south-eastern English accent and all, in a story loosely adapted from Pride and Prejudice.

Which Roy Clarke sitcom's Hyacinth answers the phone 'The Bouquet residence, the lady of the house speaking'?

Keeping Up Appearances ended in 1995 when Patricia Routledge chose to move on, and Clarke was partly inspired by people surnamed Bottom who insisted on 'Bo-tome'.

Which anarchic 1982 sitcom follows Scumbag College students Rick, Vyvyan, Neil and Mike in a squalid shared house?

The Young Ones' cast took 'Living Doll' to number one with Cliff Richard and Hank Marvin for charity in 1986, and Rick proclaimed himself the singer's most avid fan.

Which Glasgow comedian played banjo beside Gerry Rafferty in the Humblebums before turning to stand-up?

Billy Connolly bought his first banjo at the Barrowland market after watching The Beverly Hillbillies, having given up welding in the shipyards to sing folk.

Which 1988 John Cleese heist comedy won Kevin Kline a supporting-actor Oscar as the Anglophobe weapons expert Otto?

A Fish Called Wanda earned Kline the Best Supporting Actor award for Otto, a weapons expert posing as Wanda's brother, and was 1988's seventh-highest-grossing film worldwide.

Which foul-mouthed Number 10 enforcer, played by Peter Capaldi in The Thick of It, terrorises the ministers of DoSAC?

Malcolm Tucker is modelled chiefly on Tony Blair's communications director Alastair Campbell, and Capaldi reckoned about 80% of each finished episode was the script, the rest improvised.

Which Absolutely Fabulous fashion director, Edina's best friend, claims not to have eaten anything since 1973?

Patsy Stone got her job at Ella magazine by sleeping with the publisher, and Joanna Lumley's portrayal won the 1995 BAFTA for Best Comedy Performance.

Which Netflix comedy-drama stars Ricky Gervais as Tony Johnson, a suicidal widowed reporter on the Tambury Gazette?

After Life ran for three series from 2019 to 2022, with Penelope Wilton as Anne, the widow Tony meets at the graveyard who dispenses the show's sage advice.

Which Bain and Armstrong sitcom cast David Mitchell and Robert Webb as dysfunctional flatmates Mark and Jeremy?

Peep Show became Channel 4's longest-running comedy by years on air, running from 2003 to 2015, its point-of-view shots sometimes filmed with cameras strapped to the actors' heads.

In which Simon Pegg sitcom do near-strangers Tim and Daisy pose as a 'professional couple' to land a cheap flat?

Spaced was directed by Edgar Wright, and Tim and Daisy meet by chance in a café while both flat-hunting, then pose as a couple to win 23 Meteor Street.

Which 1970s sitcom stars Michael Crawford as accident-prone Frank Spencer, with Crawford doing his own stunts?

Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em regularly drew 25 million viewers, and its title phrase was a common British euphemism for a foolish or inept person.

Which 1960s Johnny Speight sitcom introduced Warren Mitchell as bigoted West Ham fan Alf Garnett?

Till Death Us Do Part inspired America's All in the Family, and Alf's 'silly moo' was an unscripted substitute after the BBC's head of comedy vetoed 'cow'.

Which 1990s sketch series' 'Suit you, sir!' tailors served Johnny Depp in its 2000 farewell special?

The Fast Show's Ken and Kenneth had fan Johnny Depp as a customer in the first 'Last Ever' episode, and Depp later quoted the show's Rowley Birkin as Jack Sparrow.

Which 1964 film has Kenneth Williams cry 'Infamy, infamy, they've all got it in for me', cinema's funniest one-liner?

Carry On Cleo's line was voted film history's funniest one-liner in 2007, yet it was borrowed, with permission, from a Take It From Here radio script by Frank Muir and Denis Norden.

In the 1949 Ealing comedy Passport to Pimlico, a London district finds a charter making it legally part of which duchy?

Passport to Pimlico turns on a royal charter of Edward IV ceding the land to Charles, the last Duke of Burgundy, and the district is swiftly flooded with black marketeers.

Which Radio 4 panel game, billed as 'the antidote to panel games', includes the impenetrable game Mornington Crescent?

I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue launched in April 1972 and was chaired by jazz trumpeter Humphrey Lyttelton until he died in 2008, when fans left flowers at Mornington Crescent station.

Which Radio 4 game, chaired by Nicholas Parsons for over 50 years, outlaws hesitation, repetition and deviation?

Just a Minute's rules came from creator Ian Messiter's schoolmaster, who caught him daydreaming and made him repeat everything said in the previous minute without hesitation or repetition.

Which Liverpool comedian, armed with a tickling stick and the Diddy Men, was acquitted of tax evasion in 1989?

Ken Dodd's three-week trial, prosecuted by Brian Leveson, laid bare his eccentric finances, and he immediately cashed in on the notoriety with a season running from Easter to Christmas.

Which comedian's 'The Ballad of Barry and Freda' climaxes with 'beat me on the bottom with a Woman's Weekly'?

Victoria Wood won the ITV talent show New Faces in 1974 while still an undergraduate, and the song first appeared on her BAFTA-winning sketch series As Seen on TV.

Which Goon Show creator's gravestone in Winchelsea carries, in Irish Gaelic, the epitaph 'I told you I was ill'?

Spike Milligan's epitaph had to go into Gaelic because the Chichester diocese refused the English version, and his coffin was draped in the flag of Ireland.

Which BBC sketch show with Sanjeev Bhaskar and Meera Syal sent tipsy diners 'going out for an English'?

Goodness Gracious Me began on BBC Radio 4 in 1996 before moving to BBC Two in 1998, and its diners mispronounce the waiter's name while demanding the blandest thing on the menu.

Which university's Footlights revue of Fry, Laurie and Emma Thompson won the first Perrier Award in 1981?

Cambridge's show, The Cellar Tapes, took the inaugural £1,000 prize at the Fringe, and spawned Fry and Laurie, the first in a long line of double acts formed at the club.

In which fictional northern town, home to Tubbs and Edward's sinister 'Local Shop', is The League of Gentlemen set?

Royston Vasey was based on Alston in Cumbria, and Roy Chubby Brown himself turned up to play the town's mayor in the second series.

Which Goon Show character, voiced by Peter Sellers, regularly cried 'You dirty, rotten swine, you! You have deaded me!'?

Bluebottle's catchphrase passed into the vernacular from a show that ran on the BBC Home Service from 1951 to 1960 and was adored by Prince Charles, who would mimic its voices.

Which Sunshine Desserts executive, played by Leonard Rossiter, vanishes by leaving his clothes on a Dorset beach?

Reginald Perrin's vanishing act was echoed by MP John Stonehouse, who staged his own disappearance the same way shortly before David Nobbs's novel was published.

Which 1950s radio hit, improbably built on ventriloquist Peter Brough's dummy act, gave Tony Hancock an early break?

Educating Archie averaged 15 million listeners and a 250,000-member fan club despite its unlikely premise of a ventriloquist act on radio.

Which 1960s BBC radio comedy's camp pair Julian and Sandy introduced the gay slang Polari to a mass audience?

Round the Horne built a regular audience of 15 million, the last radio show to reach so many, and lines like 'I met him in a cottage' sailed straight past the BBC.

Which 1949 Ealing comedy, based on the real SS Politician wreck, has Hebridean islanders plunder a stricken cargo ship?

Whisky Galore! was Alexander Mackendrick's directing debut, shot on Barra in weather so foul it ran five weeks over schedule, and the real ship carried 22,000 cases, not the film's 50,000.

Which comedian, born Arthur Stanley Jefferson, sailed to America in 1910 as Chaplin's understudy in Fred Karno's troupe?

Stan Laurel was born Arthur Stanley Jefferson in Ulverston, Lancashire, where a bronze statue of the duo was unveiled in 2009.