Looking for some good comedies. I looked at the top shows on Brit Box (streaming channel in the US), and most of them are police procedurals! I think the first comedy is Gavin & Stacy, which I haven’t seen but isn’t there something newer? My wife and I have enjoyed Coupling and Inbetweeners. Any suggestions?
League of Gentlemen is quite a fun dark comedy. Not everyone’s cup of tea though, which is fair. Same with inside no. 9, made by the same cast, but is a bit more modern and drama-like.
One that I haven’t seen mentioned is Meet the Richardsons. At least the first two or three seasons were pretty funny, haven’t seen the newer ones yet.
I would also strongly recommend Detectorists, although it’s not usually laugh-out-loud funny it’s just such a pleasant and enjoyable watch.
Although I absolutely love Inside No. 9, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it as a comedy aside from a handful of episodes, as it can be quite heavy and dark.
Also 15 Storeys High with a young Sean Lock and Benedict Wong is a good one that’s not as well known. It’s quite dry and sparse at times but also intermittently hilarious.
Also
- Extras
- The Office
- Keeping Up Appearances
- Peep Show
- Mitchell & Webb
Minus things already mentioned (and in no particular order):
- The Thick of It (political comedy, has some amazing swearing)
- The Cleaner (British version of a German comedy)
- Ghosts (not the US remake, of course)
- 8 out of Cats Does Countdown (comedy version of the long running quiz show)
- Alan Davis’s As Yet Untitled (talk show with comedians)
- Gone Fishing (not a comedy show per se, a gentle fishing show featuring Bob Mortimer and Paul Whitehouse)
- Drunk History (British version of the American show/YouTube sensation from back in the day)
- Mighty Boosh (surreal humour, still gets referenced frequently in my house)
- Jeeves and Wooster
- Phoenix Nights (Peter Kay show, definitely check this out)
- Vicar of Dibley
“Back” is Mitchell and Webb’s new show and pretty good, but anything with those two is great British comedy.
“Dick Turpin” on Apple has Noel Fielding, and he comes with a gang of Brits in everything. So not technically British, but a lot of Brits.
A lot of British comedy these days seems to be quiz/talk shows. Taskmaster has every season on YouTube, and the others like 8 out of 10 cats, or the Big Fat quizs get uploaded pretty quick to a couple different grey areas channels.
I really like British TV, but I never got Brit Box because, like you said it’s almost all police procedures. They don’t have everything even tho it’s advertised like they do.
