Historical comedy yet to be done Page 3

There's also Blandings Castle. ;)

And... https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/blandings_castle/see_also/

Was there ever an adaptation of Tom Sharpe's work? I know of Wilt, but were there any others?

Yep, Porterhouse Blue (with David Jason, John Sessions etc) and Blott On The Landscape (with David Suchet and George Cole) both have TV adaptations.

Both great but I don't think they're historical or period set.

Quote: Mutley @ August 29 2013, 12:34 AM BST

OK, because I'm a colossal geek, I have updated my list

Cavegirl - stone age
Plebs - ancient Rome 27 BC - 1453 AD
Up Pompeii! - ancient Pompeii pre 79 AD
Chelmsford 123 - 123 AD
Kröd Mändoon And The Flaming Sword Of Fire - mediaeval Arthurian 6th century
Sir Gadabout: The Worst Knight In The Land - mediaeval arthurian 6th century
Dark Ages - 999 AD
Whoops Baghdad - mediaeval Baghdad 5th and 15th centuries
The Black Adder - 1485
Blackadder II - reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603)
Blackadder: The Cavalier Years - English Civil War (1642-1651)
Let Them Eat Cake - 1770s to 1780s
Haggard - 1777-1778
A Touch Of The Casanovas - 18th century
Blackadder The Third - Regency 1811 and 1820
Hunderby - 1830s
The Bleak Old Shop Of Stuff - Victorian (1837-1901)
Blackadder's Christmas Carol - Victorian (1837-1901)
Up The Women - 1910
Blackadder Goes Forth - First World War (1914-1918)
Chickens - First World War (1914-1918)
You Rang, M'Lord? - 1920s
Blandings - 1929
Jeeves And Wooster - 1920s and 1930s
Clarence - 1937
First Of The Summer Wine - 1939
Backs To The Land - 1940
'Allo 'Allo! - Nazi-occupied France during World War II (1940 to 1944)
Dad's Army - Second World War (1939 to 1945)
Yanks Go Home - Second World War (1939 to 1945)
Over Here - Second World War (1939 to 1945)
Goodnight Sweetheart - Second World War (1939 to 1945 to post war)
Then Churchill Said To Me - 1940 - 1945
It Ain't Half Hot Mum - 1945
Get Well Soon - post-World War II
Demob - late 1940s and early 1950s
Hi-De-Hi! - 1959 and 1960
Get Some In! - late 1950s/early 1960s
Rock & Chips - 1960
The Last Salute - early 1960s
Oh Doctor Beeching! - 1963
Hippies - 1969
Days Like These - 1970s
The Grimleys - mid-1970s

Good work, Mutley, have a strawberry medal.

May I add The Alexei Sayle French Revolution one and Lucky Jim which I believe was set precisely in 1967.

Also, not a quibble but I believe Blackadder 1 was a loose anachronistic squash box of English and Scots mediaeval history from just pre Norman to indeed 1485 with this date as its favoured setting. Hope that's clear. :S

And Blackadder 3 has at least a 50 year history span, with Dr Johnson and French revolution characters popping in.

Oh! That reminds me. Paris. (Perhaps what Alfred was referring to?)

Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ August 30 2013, 10:00 AM BST

Also, not a quibble but I believe Blackadder 1 was a loose anachronistic squash box of English and Scots mediaeval history from just pre Norman to indeed 1485 with this date as its favoured setting. Hope that's clear. :S

No, it's more specific. The Black Adder starts in late August 1485, with Edmund beheading King Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field.

It does Aaron, it also includes much earlier historical incidents as you well know. It uses 1485 as its base year for its main story while conflating historical periods as far back as 1050ish for the MacBeth references, 1180 for the four crusader assassins scene, 1200 for the return of King Richard (obviously Lionheart from the Crusades), 1430 for the Joan of Arc style witch burning, and probably many others I can't remember. There is nothing specific or literal about its chronology, it's all a comical mishmash.

Quote: Aaron @ August 30 2013, 11:59 AM BST

Oh! That reminds me. Paris. (Perhaps what Alfred was referring to?)

Yes, Paris. Still never seen it despite being a Sayle fan.

Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ August 30 2013, 12:26 PM BST

It does Aaron, it also includes much earlier historical incidents as you well know. It uses 1485 as its base year for its main story while conflating historical periods as far back as 1050ish for the MacBeth references, 1180 for the four crusader assassins scene, 1200 for the return of King Richard (obviously Lionheart from the Crusades), 1430 for the Joan of Arc style witch burning, and probably many others I can't remember. There is nothing specific or literal about its chronology, it's all a comical mishmash.

Yes, it takes great artistic licence (as you accept yourself, re Blackadder The Third, below) with its references. But then that's a given as it's inventing a whole new strand of the Plantagenet House of York, inserting a new chunk of time before the rule of Henry VII!

You are not wrong in that it's a great mediaeval mish-mash of ideas, but the fact remains that it is set very specifically from August 1485 onwards - no matter where in time other elements may be inspired by.

Which potentially opens another avenue of discussion/questioning for the original poster: historical comedy settings vs historical comedy reality, influences and anachronisms.

Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ August 30 2013, 10:00 AM BST

And Blackadder 3 has at least a 50 year history span, with Dr Johnson and French revolution characters popping in.

Quote: Mutley @ August 29 2013, 12:34 AM BST

OK, because I'm a colossal geek, I have updated my list

Cavegirl - stone age
Plebs - ancient Rome 27 BC - 1453 AD
Up Pompeii! - ancient Pompeii pre 79 AD
Chelmsford 123 - 123 AD
Kröd Mändoon And The Flaming Sword Of Fire - mediaeval Arthurian 6th century
Sir Gadabout: The Worst Knight In The Land - mediaeval arthurian 6th century
Dark Ages - 999 AD
Whoops Baghdad - mediaeval Baghdad 5th and 15th centuries
The Black Adder - 1485
Blackadder II - reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603)
Blackadder: The Cavalier Years - English Civil War (1642-1651)
Let Them Eat Cake - 1770s to 1780s
Haggard - 1777-1778
A Touch Of The Casanovas - 18th century
Blackadder The Third - Regency 1811 and 1820
Hunderby - 1830s
The Bleak Old Shop Of Stuff - Victorian (1837-1901)
Blackadder's Christmas Carol - Victorian (1837-1901)
Up The Women - 1910
Blackadder Goes Forth - First World War (1914-1918)
Chickens - First World War (1914-1918)
You Rang, M'Lord? - 1920s
Blandings - 1929
Jeeves And Wooster - 1920s and 1930s
Clarence - 1937
First Of The Summer Wine - 1939
Backs To The Land - 1940
'Allo 'Allo! - Nazi-occupied France during World War II (1940 to 1944)
Dad's Army - Second World War (1939 to 1945)
Yanks Go Home - Second World War (1939 to 1945)
Over Here - Second World War (1939 to 1945)
Goodnight Sweetheart - Second World War (1939 to 1945 to post war)
Then Churchill Said To Me - 1940 - 1945
It Ain't Half Hot Mum - 1945
Get Well Soon - post-World War II
Demob - late 1940s and early 1950s
Hi-De-Hi! - 1959 and 1960
Get Some In! - late 1950s/early 1960s
Rock & Chips - 1960
The Last Salute - early 1960s
Oh Doctor Beeching! - 1963
Hippies - 1969
Days Like These - 1970s
The Grimleys - mid-1970s

I've just noticed that this list misses Maid Marian And Her Merry Men.

And I recall another, too: The Legend Of Dick And Dom. Although that's quite a mixed, fantasy one...

Thanks for the amazing list.

Does anyone fancy co-writing an English Civil War sitcom?

I thought it could be very Allo allo. I even have a title. "Goosey gander".

Quote: Chappers @ September 19 2013, 10:27 PM BST

Does anyone fancy co-writing an English Civil War sitcom?

I thought it could be very Allo allo. I even have a title. "Goosey gander".

Charles I was extremely short. That in itself should be hilarious. You would have to cast the tallest character actor in the world as his side kick. I'm thinking Pinky and The Brain type relationship.

Let's not lose our heads over this though (I know, I'm hilarious)

https://www.comedy.co.uk/forums/thread/12706#P403963

Quote: george roper @ June 8 2013, 11:34 PM BST

Blakey Meets Hitler And Go In Battle With The Buses.lol

Done in print anyway. 'On das Buses' in Viz.

I'm thinking it's about time someone did a 1980s nostalgia trip in the style of the Grimleys
(as opposed to the many perfectly good comedies set in the 1980s that were actually written in that decade)

In terms of Civil War comedy, there is a radio sitcom currently being repeated on BBC Radio 4 Extra at the moment called The Sit Crom. Other historical radio sitcoms include Newfangle which is "Set hundreds of thousands of years ago among proto-humans, who are half-human, half-ape", Revolting People set in Colonial America, Life in London set in the 19th century, and Elephants to Catch Eels set in the 1790s.

Also, on Monday there is the new crowdfunded sitcom A Brief History of Time Travel, set across all kinds of periods of histroy as well as the future.

Oh - just remembered Red Dwarf. In the last series there is an episode in which they travel back to Bibical times, plus there is the Backwards episode.

If we include time travel, H2G2 also goes back 2 million years into the past.