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  1. Home
  2. Guide
  3. Years
  4. 1981

British Comedy in 1981

  • The Cambridge Footlights (featuring Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie) won the Edinburgh Comedy Award.
  • The first series of Only Fools And Horses went out on television in this year

Notable comedies debuting in 1981

Never The Twain. Image shows from L to R: Simon Peel (Donald Sinden), Oliver Smallbridge (Windsor Davies). Copyright: Thames Television.TV

Never The Twain

Only Fools And Horses. Image shows from L to R: Rodney (Nicholas Lyndhurst), Del (David Jason), Grandad (Lennard Pearce). Copyright: BBC.TV

Only Fools And Horses

Sorry!. Timothy Lumsden (Ronnie Corbett). Copyright: BBC.TV

Sorry!

Game For A Laugh. Copyright: London Weekend Television.TV

Game For A Laugh

Generic picture of an old TV set.TV

Punchlines

That's My Boy. Image shows from L to R: Ida Willis (Mollie Sugden), Robert Price (Christopher Blake), Angie Price (Jennifer Lonsdale). Copyright: Yorkshire Television.TV

That's My Boy

The Kenny Everett Television Show. Kenny Everett. Copyright: BBC.TV

The Kenny Everett Television Show

A Fine Romance. Image shows from L to R: Laura Dalton (Judi Dench), Mike Selway (Michael Williams). Copyright: London Weekend Television.TV

A Fine Romance

It Takes A Worried Man.... Philip Roath (Peter Tilbury).TV

It Takes A Worried Man...

The Gaffer. Image shows from L to R: Fred Moffat (Bill Maynard), Harry (Russell Hunter), Betty (Pat Ashton). Copyright: Yorkshire Television.TV

The Gaffer

Three Of A Kind. Image shows from L to R: Lenny Henry, Tracey Ullman, David Copperfield. Copyright: BBC.TV

Three Of A Kind

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All TV comedy broadcast in 1981

  • 81 Take 2
  • A Fine Romance
  • A Kick Up The Eighties
  • A Sharp Intake Of Breath
  • Agony
  • Are You Being Served?
  • Astronauts
  • Ballyskillen Opera House
  • Bavarian Night
  • Beat The Carrott
  • Big Jim And The Figaro Club
  • Bless Me, Father
  • Boom Boom... Out Go The Lights
  • Cannon And Ball
  • Carrott Del Sol
  • Carry On Laughing
  • Chintz
  • Coming Home
  • Cowboys
  • Dangerous Davies: The Last Detective
  • Dave Allen
  • Doctors' Daughters
  • Dodd On His Todd
  • Educating Marmalade
  • Frankie Howerd Strikes Again
  • Freddie Starr On The Road
  • Fundamental Frolics
  • Game For A Laugh
  • Get Lost!
  • Happy Endings
  • Have I Got You... Where You Want Me?
  • Hi-De-Hi!
  • Hinge And Bracket
  • Holding The Fort
  • Honky Tonk Heroes
  • If You Go Down In The Woods Today
  • It Ain't Half Hot Mum
  • It Takes A Worried Man...
  • Keep It In The Family
  • Kinvig
  • Last Of The Summer Wine
  • Mike Yarwood In Persons
  • Misfits
  • Never The Twain
  • Now For Nookie
  • Only Fools And Horses
  • Only When I Laugh
  • Open All Hours
  • Partners
  • Pig In The Middle
  • Present Laughter
  • Private Schulz
  • Rentaghost
  • Revolting Women
  • Robin's Nest
  • Roger Doesn't Live Here Anymore
  • Roots
  • Russ Abbot's Saturday Madhouse
  • Scoop
  • Seconds Out
  • Shillingbury Tales
  • Sink Or Swim
  • Solo
  • Sorry!
  • Sorry, I'm A Stranger Here Myself
  • Stainless Steel And The Star Spies
  • Take A Letter Mr. Jones...
  • Terry & June
  • That Beryl Marston...!
  • That's My Boy
  • The Bagthorpe Saga
  • The Benny Hill Show
  • The Dick Emery Show
  • The End Of The End Of The Pier Show
  • The Gaffer
  • The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy
  • The Incredible Mr Tanner
  • The Kenny Everett Television Show
  • The Kenny Everett Video Show
  • The Last Song
  • The Les Dawson Show
  • The Little And Large Show
  • The Morecambe & Wise Show
  • The Muppet Show
  • The Other 'Arf
  • The Stanley Baxter Series
  • The Two Ronnies
  • Three Of A Kind
  • Till Death....
  • To The Manor Born
  • West End Tales
  • Wood And Walters
  • Worzel Gummidge
  • Yes Minister
  • You're Only Young Twice
  • Young At Heart

All radio comedy broadcast in 1981

  • Cliché
  • Cold Comfort Farm
  • Funny You Should Ask
  • I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue
  • In A Nutshell
  • Patterson
  • Radio Active
  • The Jason Explanation
  • The Little And Large Party
  • The News Huddlines
  • Tony's
  • What Ho, Jeeves!

Film comedies released in 1981

  • Gregory's Girl
  • Honky Tonk Freeway
  • The Best Of The Adventures
  • The Box

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