Comedy.co.uk Awards 2007 results
In 2007, Gavin & Stacey was the hottest new comedy on TV. However most of the awards went to established comedy series like QI and Peep Show. The second series of The IT Crowd was voted comedy of the year.
Best New TV Sitcom: Gavin & Stacey
It wasn't the strongest of years for new British sitcoms - many debut entries crashed and burned in the ratings. Outnumbered came close to being voted the favourite new sitcom of the year, but in the end it was just beaten in the poll by Ruth Jones and James Corden's Gavin & Stacey. The comedy made a massive impact on those that saw its debut on BBC Three, and this was reflected in the voting.
Best Returning TV Sitcom: Peep Show
2007 is notable for some very strong established sitcoms delivering a good series. According to our poll, the second series of The IT Crowd and Not Going Out were very popular, but Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain's cult comedy was the biggest favourite. There's no sign of Peep Show losing its appeal any time soon, our visitors just love Jeremy and Mark's socially awkward adventures.
Best TV Sketch Show: The Armstrong & Miller Show
Over 50 hours of new sketch comedy was broadcast on TV in 2007 and three quarters of it was, in our opinion, dire. The return of Armstrong & Miller was a real highlight though. Their new BBC One sketch show kept a large percentage of the audience very entertained. The immature RAF pilots instantly became classic comedy characters, like totally man.
Best TV Panel Show: QI
2007 saw all the big panel shows notch up more series. The new entries in the genre were no match for the long-running Have I Got News For You, 8 Out Of 10 Cats, Mock the Week, QI and Never Mind The Buzzcocks. Of those shows, it was Series 'E' of QI that picked up the most votes. It just goes to show that there is a large audience out there for high-brow, clever, intelligent comedy.
Comedy Of The Year: The IT Crowd
It seems your favourite comedy of the year was the second series of The IT Crowd. Curiously this didn't win the returning sitcom category above - we can only put this down to the fact that everyone only had one vote here, across all the genres. We guess there were more die-hard IT Crowd fans voting than there were Peep Show fans (i.e. many of those that voted for Peep Show in the category above had a different overall favourite?). Whatever the case, it seems Channel 4 have created a much-loved sitcom.
Editors' Award: Outnumbered
This is the award the Editors of British Comedy Guide handed to the show, person, channel, or indeed anything else comedy related they thought deserved some extra recognition.
We think the 2007 show that deserved the biggest nod was a semi-improvised sitcom about family life. It was rudely shunted about the BBC schedules making it hard for people to find - but those that did manage to catch it couldn't praise it enough... our inbox filled up with positive emails.
It was the first sitcom in ages to represent what true British middle-class family life with kids is like - it didn't peddle the tired old stereotypical sitcom view, and thus a lot of parents found themselves identifying with the situations and laughing a lot. There was great acting from the cast too, particularly the kids, and this is what made the show so watchable. The children's un-scripted questions gave the comedy real warmth, reality and humour!
Editors Note: The next year, 2008, saw Outnumbered finally get the recognition it deserved. It was given a much better time slot and thus picked up huge ratings. It went on to be voted Best Sitcom Of The Year in our awards!