Certain sitcoms - Benidorm, Duty Free - make the great British holiday their central focus, but for other domestic-set comedies, the temptation to take characters away from their usual confines for a 'relaxing' break is often a poor idea.
Graham McCann's column charts a fascinating 'what if' moment in British television comedy history: a fork in the road that had consequences of epic proportions in either direction.
The many ups-and-downs of comedy icon Frankie Howerd's long career are well noted, but his endeavours with home-grown television sitcoms in Canada and Australia are stories less well-told.
You've heard of 'Pythonesque' and 'Goon-like' comedy - but have you heard of 'Grayesque'? The comedian who influenced dozens of well-remembered comics after him was Eddie Gray, a master of silliness at every level.
After the likes of Sydney Lotterby and Duncan Wood created the grammar of the British television sitcom, producer/directors like David Croft and the under-sung Harold Snoad were part of the next generation who perfected and excelled at it.
Intoxicated by the glamour and spectacle of mid-century Hollywood, the outrageously multi-talented Ernest Maxin became one of the BBC's most reliable comedy and light entertainment producers through the 1950s, 60s and 70s.
Galton and Simpson are often credited as the writers who created the modern television sitcom; but if they were its scripted progenitors, then the mighty and prolific producer/director Duncan Wood was the parent of its technical language and stylistic form.
Comedy Chronicles turns its spotlight on producer and director Dennis Main Wilson, who brought a range of pioneering, all-time-great comedy programmes to the airwaves across both television and radio during his career.
