The top 10 British sitcoms of the 80s

After the dourness of the 1970s, the following decade was much more colourful and self-confident, and this reflected in the increasingly audacious premises of the best situation comedies of the era. There were still perennial British interests of class and social status, with observations on suburban life providing plenty of opportunity for writers.

Yes Minister shows some things never change

The BBC sitcom is 36 years old and yet it remains, as recent events have shown, bang on the money. Here's some proof that, in politics and the media, some things never change.

James Cary's top 10 sitcoms, #1 - Yes, Prime Minister

The eighteen episodes of Yes, Prime Minister are, to me, perfect situation comedy. Because I've always been such a sitcom geek, whenever I watch any sitcom I sometimes get itchy and think that the writers have missed out a joke, or have let a weak scene get through, or there are plot holes that need fixing. I watch Yes, Prime Minister and my sitcom geek alarm never goes off. It powers down and goes into sleep mode. Because Yes, Prime Minister is perfect.

Radio Times review

Admitting that you love repeats of old comedy shows probably isn't very sound. After all, where is the new stuff and why does BBC Two keep congratulating itself for being so marvellous simply because it's got old? We've all been there and birthday parties don't usually last this long.

But... pah! When the shows are as good as this, who cares? Neither does it matter that we've probably all seen them a squillion times before, thanks to the miracle of box sets. So cuddle up in a warm bath of nostalgia as we enjoy once more Yes, Prime Minister from 1987, where Jim Hacker (Paul Eddington) hears of a big financial scandal.

'Yes, Prime Minister' clip on Russia suits state today

The Cold War may be over - but in annexing Crimea, it appears that Russia is simply adopting "salami tactics"...

Yes, Prime Minister's Jonathan Lynn remembers Thatcher

When writer-director Jonathan Lynn co-created Yes, Minister his intent was to parody and mock the politicians who ran the government. What he did not expect was that Margaret Thatcher, the prime minister herself, would come out as one of the latter show's biggest fans.

Tube Talk Gold: Yes, Prime Minister

Ahead of its controversial revamp and return later this month on UKTV's Gold, we've dusted off our DVD collections of the series to remind ourselves just how good it was. We've not been disappointed.

Yes, Prime Minister returns to the West End

Britain's appetite for satirising the government has not diminished, as the return of the hit political comedy Yes, Prime Minister proves.