As a born-and-raised British man, I’ve spent my life watching British TV so I know firsthand just how good our comedy can be. And it goes beyond the cliches of John Cleese thrashing his car with a tree branch in Fawlty Towers or providing the jumping-off point for the US version of The Office: British comedy has captured the hearts of generations of TV viewers and filled the nation’s homes — especially my own — with laughter.
Sure, I’ve loved plenty of comedy from outside the UK. I have an encyclopedic knowledge of Friends, I adored Scrubs (except series 6, which sucked) and I still enjoy frequent rewatches of Gilmore Girls, Modern Family and Flight of the Conchords. That’s to say nothing of more recent shows like What We Do in the Shadows, Parks and Recreation and Schitt’s Creek, all of which I love.
But British TV comedy will always be where my heart truly lies and if any of my above choices are on your own list of TV faves, then I urge you to try any or all of my top picks of Brit TV comedy.
Father Ted
The show follows the dysfunctional lives of three Irish Catholic priests and their tea-obsessed housekeeper, living in a parish on the remote Craggy Island. From attempting to protest a blasphemous film, to cheering up a supposedly anxiety-riddled sheep or having to kick a troublesome bishop “up the arse,” the show’s plotlines across all of its 25 episodes fall somewhere between surreal and ludicrous.
It’s a show that doesn’t take itself seriously at all and nor should you. Its charm lies in its fun, in its wealth of expertly cast and sublimely written characters (both recurring and incidental) and in the knowledge that no matter what madcap schemes play out, Ted will end up humiliated and Father Dougal will have no idea what’s going on.
Watch on: Tubi, Plex, Pluto TV, The Roku Channel (all for free). Peacock (paid subscription).
The Good Life
On his 40th birthday, Tom Good quits his job in a plastics company and, with the help of his long-suffering wife Barbara, trades the office life for one of self-sufficiency. They grow their own vegetables and keep pigs, chickens and a goat all from their back garden in the affluent London suburb of Serbiton.
Across the garden fence are the Leadbetters, Margo and Jerry. In many ways the antithesis of Tom and Barbara, the Leadbetters live in relative luxury, their friendship frequently tested by the literal pig sty created next door.
It’s a work-from-home, sustainable living story that’s as relevant today as it was when the series aired in the 1970s. And despite its age, the majority of the plots and the jokes still stand the test of time. Well, perhaps not so much the huge laugh from the audience at a telephone engineer’s joke about “getting so many calls I have to carry the phone around with me” which feels more like museum footage these days.
But it’s a show that offers a magic combination of endless laughs, a cozy vibe and a huge helping of heart as Tom and Barbara deal with everything from bad backs and flea infestations to sickly piglets and rusted cast-iron ovens. It was broadcast on the BBC in the 1970s — and a notable favorite of the late Queen Elizabeth II — so it’s no surprise that you’ll find no bad language here or really anything that could be described as “bawdy.” I grew up watching the show as a tiny child (my mum was a fan), so it’s definitely one you can watch with the kids.
Watch on: Britbox.
Peep Show
Living in their small flat in a tower block in South London, it’s not always clear why office drone Mark and work-shy DJ wannabe Jez are friends. And most of the time it seems like they’re not, especially when all Mark wants is a quiet night in with his office love interest while Jez would rather bring his friends round for a night on the magic mushrooms.
Yet this unexpected pairing works perfectly across the series, as the duo navigate everything from unexpected pregnancies and horny jam-making mother-in-laws to what to do when your boss asks you to “give him a hand.”
Despite the often adult themes, the show somehow lacks any real nastiness and you always end up rooting for Mark and Jez despite them both being truly terrible people in their own unique ways. It’s constantly hilarious, endlessly quotable (“Is that normal pooing you’re doing?”) and with nine seasons being aired, there’s plenty of it to get your teeth into.
Watch on: Tubi, Pluto TV, The Roku Channel (all free); Hulu, Disney Plus (paid subscriptions).
Taskmaster
“Oh my god, you were so right!” is the phrase I’ve heard from several of my friends after I finally managed to get them to watch a season of Taskmaster after them claiming it didn’t “sound like their thing.” Of course I was right. Taskmaster is one of the best things on British TV. And it has a BAFTA to prove it.
For the uninitiated, It’s a celebrity game show at its heart. Each series sees five comedians competing in a variety of bizarre tasks to perform in the “Taskmaster house.” The footage is then watched back in the studio and judged by comedian and Taskmaster himself, Greg Davies, along with his assistant (and series creator), “little” Alex Horne.
Some series have one or two big names from UK comedy (like Noel Fielding, Bob Mortimer or Sarah Millican), while for others, appearing on Taskmaster may be the biggest thing so far in their career. The show is unique in that the same five contestants appear in all episodes of each series, allowing you to get to know them as the episodes progress. By the end, even the ones you’d never heard of before feel like old friends.
The tasks range from simple requests like “eat the most watermelon” to more nebulous things like “cheer up this traffic warden” or “find the shoe Alex is thinking of.” The brilliance of the show comes from watching hilarious people tackle bonkers tasks in a variety of baffling ways — or sometimes from seeing a genius way to subvert the rules. It’s also a great show for watching with someone so you can have the “how would you do this task?” conversation.
It remains one of my absolute favorite TV shows and while some of my friends initially passed it off as “just another celebrity panel show,” I’m happy to report that those same people are now firm fans and are just as keen to talk to me about which contestant is their favorite as I am. Though that’s easy. It’s Bob Mortimer, obviously.
Oh and please don’t confuse it with the attempted US adaptation of the show. It ran for one season and was broadly accepted as being utterly abysmal. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Watch on: Pluto TV, numerous full episodes on the official YouTube channel
Red Dwarf
Brought out of suspended animation 3 million years into the future, work-shy layabout Dave Lister finds himself still aboard the mining ship Red Dwarf, only now all the crew are dead and the ship is lost somewhere in deep space. His companions are the ship’s computer, Holly, Cat (a man who evolved from Lister’s pet cat), a droid named Kryten and Arnold Rimmer, the hologram of Lister’s former bunk-mate.
Rarely has sci-fi gone so well with comedy. The show tackles important topics such as what to do if you get turned into a chicken, why a bar brawl in a backwards world is a good thing and what happens if you make love to an alternative universe version of yourself.
The show manages to be hilariously ridiculous on the one hand while blending in deeper sci-fi themes on the other, such as in the episode Inquisitor, in which a time-travelling droid erases those whom he feels aren’t worthy of existence — with the Dwarf crew in his sights. Or in Legion, in which the crew encounter a being made up of their collective consciousness that effectively holds them prisoner so it can continue to exist.
Like Taskmaster, attempts at a US version of the show have been made (horribly) but they thankfully never got past the pilot stage. Actually, ditto Peep Show, but I’m sure Johnny Galecki would rather we forgot about that, which I’m more than happy to do.
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