50 Fun Facts About British Sitcoms

Which singer's No. 1 song gave The Young Ones its name before he sang 'Living Doll' with the cast?

Cliff Richard's film theme 'The Young Ones' was sung by the cast over the opening credits, and in 1986 the four rejoined him and Hank Marvin on 'Living Doll' for Comic Relief.

Which Monty Python member wrote and sang the theme song of One Foot in the Grave?

Eric Idle wrote, composed and sang the One Foot in the Grave theme, and later put a live version on his album Eric Idle Sings Monty Python.

Which Steptoe and Son actor played Albert, then Paul McCartney's grandfather in A Hard Day's Night?

Wilfrid Brambell, a Dublin-born actor, landed the Beatles role in 1964 on the strength of playing Albert, and the Steptoe idea itself began as 'The Offer', a 1962 Comedy Playhouse one-off.

Under what title did America see the Surbiton self-sufficiency sitcom starring Richard Briers and Felicity Kendal?

Good Neighbors was the American title, and the show's final one-off, 'When I'm Sixty-Five', was recorded as a Royal Command Performance before Queen Elizabeth II.

Which Star Wars actress played Rob's mother in Catastrophe, her last on-screen television role?

Carrie Fisher died on 27 December 2016, shortly after filming series 3, and that series' last episode ends with the words 'For Carrie' beside her photograph.

Which comedian was Martin Clunes's first flatmate in Men Behaving Badly, before Neil Morrissey's Tony?

Harry Enfield played Dermot Povey in series one only; series two opens with Dermot gone travelling, and the show went on to win the first National Television Award for Situation Comedy.

Which actor, Sherlock's Moriarty, joined Fleabag's second series as the priest the heroine falls for?

Andrew Scott's priest is never named on screen, like most of Fleabag's main characters, and fans christened him the 'Hot Priest'.

Which wartime entertainer sang the Dad's Army theme for 100 guineas, dying less than a year later?

Bud Flanagan was a childhood idol of co-writer Jimmy Perry, who persuaded him to record 'Who Do You Think You Are Kidding, Mr Hitler?' backed by the Coldstream Guards band.

Which BBC wartime drama about a Resistance escape line did 'Allo 'Allo! set out to parody?

Secret Army followed a Belgian network smuggling shot-down Allied airmen home, and David Croft and Jeremy Lloyd turned its deadly serious café into René's in 'Allo 'Allo!.

Which Twilight actor replaced Andy Samberg in BBC Three's Cuckoo, playing the missing hippie's lost son?

Taylor Lautner took over in 2014 as Dale, the son Cuckoo never knew he had, because Samberg's schedule had made a second series uncertain.

Which actor plays The IT Crowd's Maurice Moss, a technical genius defeated by fires and spiders?

Richard Ayoade's Moss can explain anything technical but cannot put out a fire or remove a spider, and the Reynholm bosses upstairs were played by Chris Morris and Matt Berry.

Which Friends actor won a Golden Globe for playing a satirical version of himself in Episodes?

Matt LeBlanc's self-parody was his first regular television role since NBC's Joey; Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Greig play the married writers whose BAFTA-winning British sitcom gets an American remake.

Which Fawlty Towers episode alone opens on a hospital exterior rather than the rearranged hotel sign?

'The Germans' is the episode in which a concussed Basil cannot stop mentioning the war, and Andrew Sachs was left with severe burns when chemicals used to make Manuel's clothes smoke ate through them.

Which Craggy Island priest, played by Frank Kelly, shares the parochial house with Ted and Dougal?

Father Jack Hackett was Frank Kelly's part for all three series, and Dermot Morgan, who played Ted, died of a heart attack aged 45 one day after shooting on the third series wrapped.

Which actor plays The Royle Family's armchair-bound patriarch Jim, forever muttering 'my arse'?

Ricky Tomlinson's Jim was ranked eleventh in Channel 4's 2001 poll of the 100 Greatest TV Characters, in a show whose producer fought to keep it free of a laugh track.

Which Keeping Up Appearances character, Daisy's 'bone idle' husband, is played by Geoffrey Hughes?

Onslow is the unkempt brother-in-law Hyacinth Bucket most dreads, though her husband Richard gets along with him very well, while Hyacinth's other sister Rose was recast after series one.

Which Hi-de-Hi! Yellowcoat, played by Ruth Madoc, is Maplins' radio announcer and sports organiser?

Gladys Pugh's great rival is chalet maid Peggy Ollerenshaw, whose dream of becoming a Yellowcoat Gladys squashes, in a camp set in fictional Crimpton-on-Sea, Essex.

Which Carry On regular co-starred with Tony Hancock on radio and television in Hancock's Half Hour?

Sid James appeared in both the radio and television versions of Hancock's Half Hour, a series credited with moving comedy away from radio variety towards character.

Which 1973 colour sequel reunited James Bolam and Rodney Bewes as Bob and Terry from a 1960s hit?

Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? ran on BBC1 from 1973 to 1974, and around its release Bewes and Bolam fell out over a press misunderstanding and never spoke again.

Which 1985 BBC sequel brought back Warren Mitchell as bigoted Alf Garnett from Till Death Us Do Part?

In Sickness and in Health ran until 1992 and was much less political than its predecessor, which had also inspired America's All in the Family.

Which ITV sitcom about Luxton's Stan Butler and Jack Harper, crew of the Number 11, spawned three feature films?

On the Buses' Stan and Jack crew the Number 11 for the Luxton and District Motor Traction Company, tormenting Inspector 'Blakey' Blake, and the show also became a stage production.

Which 1978 sequel to Porridge followed Ronnie Barker's Fletcher after his release from Slade?

Going Straight saw Barker's Norman Stanley Fletcher trying to stay out of prison, a year before the Porridge feature film was released following Richard Beckinsale's death.

Which 1973 Eric Chappell stage play, with Rigsby still named Rooksby, became the sitcom Rising Damp?

The Banana Box gave Leonard Rossiter the miserly landlord of a run-down Victorian townhouse, with Frances de la Tour's Miss Jones as the tenant he pines for.

Which sitcom's Audrey fforbes-Hamilton loses her estate to supermarket millionaire Richard DeVere?

To the Manor Born cast Penelope Keith, fresh from The Good Life's Margo, opposite Peter Bowles as the nouveau riche buyer of Grantleigh Manor, originally from Czechoslovakia.

Which writing duo created Yes Minister and followed Jim Hacker into Number 10 for Yes, Prime Minister?

Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn's sequel ran for 16 episodes between 1986 and 1988, and nearly every episode of both series ends with the title spoken as an answer to Hacker.

Which West Yorkshire town was the setting and filming base of Last of the Summer Wine for 37 years?

Holmfirth hosted all 295 episodes across 31 series of Roy Clarke's show, whose original trio of Compo, Clegg and Blamire changed many times over 37 years.

Which 1973 ITV flatshare sitcom spawned the spin-offs George and Mildred and Robin's Nest?

Man About the House had Richard O'Sullivan's Robin Tripp sharing a flat with two women below landlords George and Mildred Roper, and placed 69th in the 2004 Britain's Best Sitcom poll.

Which group does Robert Lindsay's Wolfie Smith lead in Citizen Smith, demanding 'Power to the People'?

The Tooting Popular Front is really just Wolfie's small bunch of friends, with 'Freedom for Tooting' as its other goal, and John Sullivan reportedly modelled it on a real Brixton far-left group.

Which Ronnie Corbett sitcom's 41-year-old librarian Timothy Lumsden is forever told 'Language, Timothy!'?

Sorry! kept Timothy living at home with his domineering mother Phyllis, his father Sidney delivering the rebuke whenever something innocent sounded rude, and Timothy answering 'Sorry, Father'.

Which sitcom unites sisters Sharon and Tracey in Chigwell after their husbands are jailed for robbery?

Birds of a Feather moved Sharon from an Edmonton council flat into Tracey's upmarket home, next door to Dorien, the married neighbour forever chasing younger men.

Which Channel 4 sitcom set in a Peckham barbershop, starring Norman Beaton, ran for 71 episodes?

Desmond's became Channel 4's longest-running sitcom by episode count and was the first predominantly black British sitcom set mainly in the workplace.

In which sitcom does Nicholas Lyndhurst's Gary Sparrow reach wartime London through Duckett's Passage?

Goodnight Sweetheart, by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran, has Gary leading a double life with wartime barmaid Phoebe, and it won Lyndhurst National Television Awards in 1998 and 1999.

Which Channel 4 newsroom sitcom was recorded close to transmission so it could joke about real news?

Drop the Dead Donkey's GlobeLink News is bought by media mogul Sir Roysten Merchant, a nod to Robert Maxwell or Rupert Murdoch, whose shared initials reassured the libel lawyers.

Which Victoria Wood sitcom is set almost entirely inside HWD Components, a fictional Manchester factory?

Dinnerladies centres on Wood's own Bren Furlong and her slow romance with exhausted canteen manager Tony, played by Andrew Dunn, with Celia Imrie as the southern HR manager who never fits in.

Who co-created Spaced with Simon Pegg, playing Daisy Steiner opposite his Tim Bisley?

Jessica Hynes, credited then as Jessica Stevenson, co-wrote the series and won the British Comedy Award for best TV comedy actress in 1999 and 2001.

Which comedian plays Manny, the accountant who walks into Black Books seeking The Little Book of Calm?

Bill Bailey's Manny Bianco ends up assistant to Dylan Moran's Bernard Black in a show that won BAFTAs for Best Situation Comedy in 2001 and 2005.

Which Peter Kay sitcom about a Bolton working men's club spun off Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere?

Phoenix Nights' wheelchair-using owner Brian Potter had already lost two clubs, the Aquarius to flood and the Neptune to fire, and the show itself grew out of That Peter Kay Thing.

Which Steven Moffat sitcom grew out of his relationship with producer Sue Vertue?

Coupling gave Moffat's and Vertue's names to two characters, drew comparisons with Friends and Seinfeld, and followed Joking Apart, which he had based on his first marriage's collapse.

Which Steve Coogan sitcom leaves its fallen TV host living in a roadside hotel outside Norwich?

I'm Alan Partridge, written by Coogan, Armando Iannucci and Peter Baynham, has Alan presenting a graveyard slot on local radio, and its obsessive-fan scene topped a 2017 poll of over 100 comedians.

Which Peep Show character, Jeremy's drug-taking bandmate, is played by Matt King?

Super Hans is a recurring rather than main character, yet by 2010 the show he haunts had become the longest-running comedy in Channel 4's history by years on air.

Which catchphrase-laden sitcom does Andy Millman create and star in during the second series of Extras?

When the Whistle Blows is rewritten by BBC producers into a lowest-common-denominator hit of silly wigs and stereotypes, and Andy quits it in front of the studio audience after taping a Christmas special.

Which comedian plays Outnumbered's dad Pete Brockman, opposite children given prompts rather than scripts?

Hugh Dennis and Claire Skinner learn the scripts while the writers feed the Brockman children last-minute instructions, a semi-improvised method praised for its realistic picture of family life in Chiswick.

Which actor plays Miranda's chef Gary Preston, the university friend who buys the restaurant next door?

Tom Ellis's Gary takes over the restaurant from Clive in series three, in a sitcom developed from Miranda Hart's semi-autobiographical Radio 2 show.

Which spin-off of Motherland follows Lucy Punch's pushy Amanda, with Joanna Lumley back as her mother?

Amandaland was announced by the BBC in May 2024 with Philippa Dunne's Anne also returning, after an American remake of Motherland with Ellie Kemper had been passed over by ABC.

Which BBC Three mockumentary follows cousins Kerry and Kurtan Mucklowe around a Cotswolds village?

This Country was written by and stars siblings Daisy May Cooper and Charlie Cooper, whose father plays Kerry's dad, and Daisy May also voices the never-seen mother under the name Ivy Woodcock.

Which Ben Elton sitcom casts David Mitchell as Shakespeare, its title taken from a rival's insult?

Upstart Crow quotes Robert Greene's sneer at 'an upstart Crow, beautified with our feathers', and premiered in May 2016 during the 400th-anniversary commemorations of Shakespeare's death.

Which Scottish sitcom's pensioners Jack Jarvis and Victor McDade began in the sketch show Chewin' the Fat?

Still Game is set in the fictional Craiglang area of Glasgow and started as a stage play, with a 2020 Scotsman readers' poll naming it the best Scottish TV programme ever.

Which actor plays Jim, the Goodmans' odd neighbour in Friday Night Dinner, who fears his own dog Wilson?

Mark Heap's Jim is drawn to Jackie and visits out of loneliness; after Wilson dies in series five he names the replacement dog Milson.

Which Derry Girls nun, played by Siobhán McSweeney, rules Our Lady Immaculate College with an iron fist?

Sister Michael treats being a nun as a job rather than a calling and regards priests with indifference or contempt, in a show whose finale is set during the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

Which Toast of London hipster, on work experience at the recording studio, is told 'Yes, I can hear you'?

Clem Fandango works alongside sound engineer Danny Bear, who keeps hiring Toast for voice-over jobs, in a sitcom Matt Berry created with Father Ted's Arthur Mathews.