Top 50 British TV Sitcoms
This page lists in alphabetical order the top 50 British TV sitcoms, as determined by a combination of the results of previous polls, award wins, and BCG's visitor data. We'll soon begin ordering this list with data from our new 'Like' buttons, so get clicking the shows you love!
'Allo 'Allo!
René Artois, proprietor of Café René in Nazi-occupied France, struggles to keep the business running whilst keeping the resistance and the army happy.
2point4 Children
The Porters seem to be a perfectly average bunch - mum, dad, son and daughter. This family, however, are anything but ordinary.
Absolutely Fabulous
Public relations maven Edina and best friend Patsy drive sensible daughter Saffron up the wall with their self-absorbed, substance-abusing escapades.
Are You Being Served?
Sitcom set in London department store Grace Bros., where the Ladies' Intimate Apparel and Men's Ready To Wear departments are forced to share a floor.
As Time Goes By
Lionel and Jean were young lovers until accidentally losing touch. Years later they meet again by chance and unexpectedly rekindle their romance.
Birds Of A Feather
Sitcom about a pair of mis-matched sisters and their glamorous friend, who all live together in Essex.
Blackadder
The Blackadder dynasty has run through English history since time immemorial, seemingly always hampered by a Baldrick, and often a Percy and Melchett.
Butterflies
Sitcom following dissatisfied housewife Ria Parkinson as she considers embarking on an exciting romantic affair with successful businessman Leonard.
Dad's Army
Beloved sitcom about the struggles of a Home Guard platoon during World War II who are fighting incompetence, age and pomposity more than Nazis.
dinnerladies
The day-to-day work lives of the kitchen staff in a factory canteen. The staff are managed by Tony who is in love with dinnerlady Bren.
Drop The Dead Donkey
Sitcom set at GlobeLink News, a TV news station which is ordered to start taking a sensationalist stance to the news by its new owner.
Father Ted
Fathers Ted Crilly, Dougal McGuire and Jack Hackett are the inept priests of Craggy Island, banished from the mainland in various circumstances.
Fawlty Towers
One of Britain's best-loved sitcoms. Hotel owner Basil Fawlty (John Cleese) is a man of infinite rudeness with a rabid dislike of almost all guests.
Gimme Gimme Gimme
Repulsive, overweight, loudmouth cretin Linda La Hughes shares a flat with Tom Farrell, an extremely camp gay man: both are obsessed with men.
Goodnight Sweetheart
Whilst walking around the East End, TV repairman Gary Sparrow is transported back to 1940 where he begins to live a second life.
Hancock's Half Hour
Tony Hancock stars in Galton & Simpson's comic masterpiece, with his delusions of grandeur and acquaintances at the root of his every downfall.
I'm Alan Partridge
Deluded, insincere, tactless and largely talentless TV chat show host Alan Partridge is reduced to hosting a back-water local radio show.
It Ain't Half Hot Mum
India, 1944 - a Royal Artillery Concert Party try to avoid going in to action by performing for the troops with their brand of camp entertainment.
Just Good Friends
Vince and Penny were about to get married, but he got cold feet and left her waiting at the church. Five years later they bump into each other again.
Keeping Up Appearances
Suburban snob Hyacinth Bucket devotes her time to monitoring 'standards' and attempting to impress 'influential' people.
Last Of The Summer Wine
Gentle sitcom following a group of pensioners living in Yorkshire. This show was Britain's longest-running TV sitcom.
Men Behaving Badly
Gary and his lodger Tony like their alcohol, women and lazing about. Dorothy and Deborah are their long-suffering other halves.
One Foot In The Grave
The grumpy complainer and accident prone Victor Meldrew takes early retirement and finds he has far too much time on his hands. His long suffering wife and neighbours just have to grin and bear it.
Open All Hours
Mean-yet-loveable northern shopkeeper Arkwright is allergic to spending money - much to the trouble of his put-upon nephew and sole employee Granville.
Phoenix Nights
Bad-tempered, wheelchair-bound Brian Potter runs a struggling Bolton social club called The Phoenix.
Rab C. Nesbitt
Long-running Scottish sitcom starring Gregor Fisher as Rab C Nesbitt, a rude, dirty, lazy, foul-mouthed, sexist alcoholic.
Rising Damp
Rupert Rigsby is the grubby landlord of a seedy boarding house. His put-upon tenants include students Philip and Alan, and the glamorous Miss Jones.
Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em
Accident-prone Frank Spencer creates havoc wherever he goes; wife Betty can only stand by and watch as he ruins everything.
Steptoe And Son
Albert Steptoe and his son Harold run a rag and bone business. Harold wants to move on in the world and leave home but his plans are always thwarted.
The Brittas Empire
Despite his ambition and good intentions, everything seems to go wrong at Whitbury-Newtown Leisure Centre when manager Gordon Brittas is around.
The Fall And Rise Of Reginald Perrin
A midlife crisis sitcom about a bored executive who fakes his own suicide and seeks to reinvent himself in a desperate search for purpose and contentment.
The Good Life
After Tom Good becomes disillusioned with his life, he packs in his job and he and his wife attempt to live a completely self-sufficient life in suburbia.
The League Of Gentlemen
Royston Vasey is a grim frightening isolated Northern community where dark, perverted and horrifying things happen behind closed doors, strangers are certainly not welcome. The townsfolk are all odd, from the transsexual taxi driver to the wife kidnapping circus owner Papa Lazarou.
The Likely Lads
Bob and Terry are two lads from the North East with contrasting desires and ambitions - except when it comes to chatting up girls.
The Office
A BBC documentary team film the office of David Brent, manager from hell: he's tactless and talentless, yet somehow thinks everyone loves him.
The Royle Family
The Royles are a family of couch potatoes who watch television in their dirty living room whilst chatting, arguing, and drinking copious amounts of tea and alcohol.
The Thin Blue Line
Police sitcom about fastidious Inspector Raymond Fowler, his array of uniformed officers, and the oafish CID Inspector Grim.
The Vicar Of Dibley
Comedy about a small, backward rural village and its female vicar, Geraldine Grainger.
The Young Ones
Hippie Neil, nerdy Cliff Richard-obsessed Rick, psychopathic punk Vyvyan and smooth Mike share a squalid and collapsing student house together.
Till Death Us Do Part
Opinionated Alf Garnett regularly reels off a string of misinformed, bigoted, reactionary opinions each week - his long-suffering wife Else mostly turns a deaf ear.
To The Manor Born
Riches-to-rags-to-riches romantic tale of Audrey fforbes-Hamilton, forced to sell her beloved stately home to pay off her late husband's debts.
Waiting For God
Sitcom about two elderly delinquents determined to grow old disgracefully at the Bayview Retirement Home.
Yes Minister
Political satire in which well-meaning MP Jim Hacker has a fast introduction to the world of Whitehall and must then struggle against the Civil Service.
