The Likely Lads - any other 'regional' sitcoms?

I can only think (not having given it much study) of the Liver Birds.

I miss this series like crazy.

It's probably something to do with that warm feeling that comes from it being part of my growing up. I'm pretty sure also that it had its share of duff episodes.

Even so, I miss the homeliness of the Geordie setting and think that Terry and Bob were a good, sparking character combination.

I can't help feeling that a modern version of this or something like it would get a fair audience...

... but that's probably just me!

Bread was a very 'Liverpool' show.

Quote: Matthew Stott @ May 26 2008, 11:04 AM BST

Bread was a very 'Liverpool' show.

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"Watching" and "Help" were both set in Liverpool as well

Steptoe and Son, On the buses, Til death ,Last of summer wine, Open all hours,and hundreds more ...all set in different regions of the u.k .

Quote: Jolanta Zofia Nowak @ May 26 2008, 10:58 AM BST

I can only think (not having given it much study) of the Liver Birds.

I miss this series like crazy.

It's probably something to do with that warm feeling that comes from it being part of my growing up. I'm pretty sure also that it had its share of duff episodes.

Even so, I miss the homeliness of the Geordie setting and think that Terry and Bob were a good, sparking character combination.

I can't help feeling that a modern version of this or something like it would get a fair audience...

... but that's probably just me!

View original

The original setting for The Likely Lads was not actually Newcastle. It had no real identity but in the writers heads it was Teesside. When the series returned with Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads it was given a firm location in Newcastle.

Don't forget all the Scottish sitcoms which were unquestionably "regional" ie - Rab C Nesbitt, City Lights, Atletico Partick, The Vital Spark, Empty, etc and the Welsh one High Hopes.

We're going into settings here, when I think Jolanta's original point was really about very specific "here it is, and it's ONLY here, it wouldn't work anywhere else" shows.

So I suggest So You Think You've Got Troubles and The Fitz (both Northern Ireland), with All Along The Watchtower grabbing Scotland's place in the chart.

Up the Elephant and Round the Castle could be argued for London, but there's nothing really specific about it further than the title.

Don't think that Goodnight Sweetheart would have worked outside the East End though.

Oh, and of course not forgetting Yes Minister, Yes, Prime Minister, The New Statesman et. al for Westminster!

Quote: Aaron @ May 26 2008, 1:01 PM BST

We're going into settings here, when I think Jolanta's original point was really about very specific "here it is, and it's ONLY here, it wouldn't work anywhere else" shows.

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She never said that at all! She's talking about regional programmes per se not your interpretation of it unless the original post has gone?

Those middle-class cosy suburbia sitcoms - Terry and June, or The Good Life, for example - are firmly rooted in the Home Counties

'state side there is Friends, King of Queens, Seinfeld are all NYC, Curb Your Enthusiasm is L.A.

When writers set their show in a specific region they are assuming that an awful lot of the background to the characters will be known in advance - which is very useful to some degree.

Hi
Have to agree love the Likely Lads. Absolutely timeless! Actually think it is tailor made for a follow-up series now as two old guys look back on their very different lives. Would probably be a Last of the Summer Wine sort of thing except with humour and much superior. Please someone get in touch with 'Bob and Terry' and bang their heads together and bring some real quality back to british television.

What about Help? I know they only did six episodes, but I thought It was ok.

Isn't the problem now with "regional" comedy that regional voices aren't as distinctive as they used to be. There's a certain homogenised generic quality to British towns and cities nowadays. (I just thought of this so I may be talking out of my hat)