Landmark sitcom season to air across BBC channels
To mark 60 years since Galton and Simpson’s Hancock’s Half Hour started on BBC Television the beeb are to air a ‘landmark sitcom season’ which includes the previously announced return to Grace Brothers Department Store comedy, Are You Being Served?
The season of programming across BBC One, BBC Two and BBC Four will celebrate the heritage and legacy of BBC comedy by revisiting some of Britain’s iconic sitcoms alongside launching brand new comedy shows.
“The British sitcom is a huge part of our national identity and cultural heritage. This season is about celebrating the BBC’s rich legacy at a time when British comedy is as popular as ever. Classic comedy is evergreen, as we know from the eight million people who watch Still Open All Hours; our audiences have deep affection and nostalgia for iconic shows. Alongside the celebration of key comedies through homage, rediscovery and revivals involving established and new talent, we’ll also be making a raft of new sitcoms to complement them, and boost the BBC’s commitment to nurturing the hits of tomorrow.” -Shane Allen, Controller of BBC Comedy Commissioning
The sitcom season will kick off this summer on BBC One with a special live episode of Brendan O’ Carroll’s ‘Norman Evans/Hylda Baker/Les Dawson/My Family/Father Ted‘ mash-up Mrs Brown’s Boys. Mammy’s back and anything could happen! The show will be filmed in front of a live studio audience in Pacific Quay, Glasgow.
BBC One will also mark our enduring affection for all the great comedy characters we have met over the 60 years by enlisting the biggest names in British comedy writing and performing to revisit much-loved classics, while trying not to ruin them, with Porridge, Up Pompeii! and a special prequel to Keeping Up Appearances.
“Brave choices from the BBC. A show which should be revisited, because it can naturally move on, is Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads? With the next generation centre stage; this would easily remove the issue of James Bolam not wanting to take part – his character of Terry’s funeral would be a great place to pick up the plot. With Terry’s son more in style of Rodney Bewes’ Bob and Bob’s son in the style of Terry. Bob and Thelma (Brigit Forsyth) and Sheila Fearn as Terry’s sister Audrey are all still with us, so enough of the originals to make it work” – TV Critic Vivian Summers.
The legendary Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais who wrote Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads are to inject new life into prison sitcom Porridge. Nearly 40 years after Norman Stanley Fletcher first served his time. Returning to Slade Jail viewers will join Fletch’s grandson, also known as Fletch, imprisoned for a series of cyber-crimes. Fletch finds himself beholden to prison bad boy Richie Weeks and forced to use his hacking skills to get Weeks off the hook. The problem being that wily prison officer Meekie has got his beady eye on Fletch – he knows a wrong ’un when he sees one.
Titter ye Not, and there possibly will be very little to titter about as the beeb return to Roman times with the Frankie Howerd comedy showcase Up Pompeii!, which ran from 1969 to 1970 on the BBC. Frankie passed away in 1992, so a new brave person will put on the toga. A new script is to be written by Paul Minett and Brian Leveson, who also wrote the ITV, and LWT produced, revival Further Up Pompeii in 1991.
Keeping Up Appearances, the popular 1990s classic sitcom featuring Britain’s favourite social climber Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced Bouquet) has since become BBC’s most popular TV export around the world. For the forthcoming sitcom season, the original creator Roy Clarke will write a special one-off prequel called Young Hyacinth. In the programme, set in the late 1950s, Hyacinth has an instinctive urge to take charge once she, her sisters and her father are left by their mother, Daddy’s wife (don’t ask for the marriage certificate). As the elder of the sisters, her style is bossy and fussy, but Daisy, Violet and Rose all know how much worse things would be without her. Hyacinth is an alpha female. Get used to it.
Also for BBC One, there will be a new comedy panel show called We Love Sitcom hosted by comedian and actor Ben Miller will look at the different generations of sitcoms and feature familiar faces from the comedy world. Over on BBC Two, there will be the launch of five brand new sitcom pilots from the very best of comedy talent both on- and off-screen. The New On Two sitcoms will include Home From Home and Motherland.
Home From Home is about a family man, played by comedian Johnny Vegas, who has long cherished the dream of buying a lodge in the Lake District. When he finally achieves his ambition, the years of scrimping and saving all feel worth it, but that’s until he meets the neighbours. Just be careful what you wish for! Home From Home is written by Chris Fewtrell and Simon Crowther and will also star Joanna Page, Emilia Fox and Adam James.
Motherland is a show all about navigating the trials and traumas of middle-class motherhood, and is written by Graham Linehan, Sharon Horgan, Helen Linehan and Holly Walsh.
On BBC Four, there will be recreations of three classic Lost Sitcoms. The scripts for these shows still exist but the original recordings have vanished from the archives. The Lost Sitcoms are Hancock’s Half Hour ‘The New Neighbour’, written by Galton and Simpson featuring Kevin McNally as Tony Hancock and Robin Sebastian as Kenneth Williams; Steptoe and Son ‘A Winter’s Tale’, also written by Galton and Simpson’; and Till Death Us Do Part ‘A Woman’s Place is in the Home’, written by Johnny Speight. Each sitcom will be recreated with a brand new cast and filmed in a theatrical-style presentation in front of a studio audience.
Also on BBC Four, British Sitcom: 60 Years Of Laughing At Ourselves will celebrate British sitcom and take a look at the social and political context from which our favourite sitcoms grew. The film will also show clips from the nation’s most loved sitcoms and provide insight from those who made them, including Steve Coogan, James Corden and Richard Curtis. It will be produced and directed by Breid McLoone and executive produced by Steven Canny.
“Comedy has such a wonderful, rich tradition on the BBC, and I’m committed to continuing that across all the channels. The landmark sitcom season will celebrate our very British sense of humour by reimagining hits of the past and giving a platform for new talent.” – Charlotte Moore, Controller of BBC Channels and iPlayer
The landmark comedy sitcom season will air across BBC One, BBC Two and BBC Four in the summer. Many of the original productions can be seen on UKTV’s Gold channel, including Porridge, Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads and Keeping Up Appearances.