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British sitcom

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A British sitcom is a situation comedy (sitcom) produced in Great Britain. In the United States, they are often called Britcoms, but that term also applies broadly to any British comedy.

British sitcom forms a distinct subgenre of the sitcom, and can be distinguished from its American cousin in that British situation comedies generally have shorter runs and a distinct style of humour. Also, actors in British comedies tend to appear in more different sitcoms than Americans.

Many British sitcoms are distributed worldwide by Lionheart Productions[?] and can been seen in the United States on stations that are part of the Public Broadcasting Service. Through these, a number of "Britcoms" have become achieved cult status[?] in the United States - particularly Fawlty Towers, Mr. Bean, Blackadder and Red Dwarf. Britcoms that have become popular with mainstream US audiences include Yes, Minister, Keeping Up Appearances, As Time Goes By, Father Ted and Coupling.

Since the 1970s, the Cambridge Footlights club, the London based The Comic Strip club and the Edinburgh Festival have been spring boards or breeding grounds for many of the big names in Britcom.

Recurring writers/directors of that era include David Croft, Richard Curtis, Ben Elton and John Lloyd.

A more comprehensive list of British sitcoms follows, in order of first airing on British television:

Related Topics


(merge maybe to/from British comedy)



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