British Comedy Guide

Danny Cohen wants working-class sitcoms for BBC1 Page 2

I'm working class and I find most TV unwatchable. Most middle class people are thick as shit.

I wouldn't set too much store by this - most of the Mail online's articles are written by bot these days. Lara Gould doesn't exist - she's the 'human' name of MediaJournobot 4.

Quote: Godot Taxis @ January 24 2011, 6:08 PM GMT

I'm working class

Yes, old Samuel Beckett's big amongst the working classes. They do love to round off a night of binge drinking with some absurdist theatre.

Quote: Godot Taxis @ January 24 2011, 6:08 PM GMT

I'm working class.

You may be working but I'm not sure about the class bit.

Shameless/Benidorm/Royle Family/Corro Street what better TV could you get?

Is that what Oxbridge porn looks like?

Quote: Griff @ January 24 2011, 10:20 PM GMT

It's Justin Lee Collins without his false beard about to put a witch hat on.

What's The Hairy Cornflake 2 up to nowadays? I've not seen him for ages.

They gave him Adam and Joe's slot?

That's it I'm joining Al Quaeda

Quote: chipolata @ January 24 2011, 6:30 PM GMT

Yes, old Samuel Beckett's big amongst the working classes. They do love to round off a night of binge drinking with some absurdist theatre.

Samuel Beckett isn't widely read by middle class people either. Middle class people drink far more than working class people, hence the Oscar Wilde bon mot.

Quote: Chappers @ January 24 2011, 8:26 PM GMT

You may be working but I'm not sure about the class bit.

:D

Quote: Godot Taxis @ January 25 2011, 12:37 AM GMT

Samuel Beckett isn't widely read by middle class people either.

But they at least know who he is.

Quote: Godot Taxis @ January 25 2011, 12:37 AM GMT

Middle class people drink far more than working class people

Are you posting from the sixties, Godot? ;)

Quote: Godot Taxis @ January 25 2011, 12:37 AM GMT

Samuel Beckett isn't widely read by middle class people either.

The question of who exactly does read Beckett is one that has long puzzled me.

But I would be very interested in Godot's definition of middle class if it excludes those with the education and leisure time to enjoy Absurdist drama. In his simplistic sloganising agitprop way Godot seems to consider 'middle class' to be a synonym for 'Daily Mail reader'. Left-leaning liberal intellectuals tend in my experience to be extremely middle class.

It's interesting that whenever I tell people I'm working class middle class people refuse to accept it. They seem to be obsessed with denying the possibility that working class people could be as intelligent, educated and self aware as them.

Quote: Timbo @ January 25 2011, 11:04 AM GMT

The question of who exactly does read Beckett is one that has long puzzled me.

But I would be very interested in Godot's definition of middle class if it excludes those with the education and leisure time to enjoy Absurdist drama.

It doesn't, so you wouldn't.

Quote: Timbo @ January 25 2011, 11:04 AM GMT

In his simplistic sloganising agitprop way Godot seems to consider 'middle class' to be a synonym for 'Daily Mail reader'. Left-leaning liberal intellectuals tend in my experience to be extremely middle class.

I'm sorry Timbo, I'm too working class to understand this sentence, it contains too much baking powder and not enough pork sausage.

Quote: Griff @ January 25 2011, 11:27 AM GMT

What's your occupation, Godot? Roadmender? Lorry driver? Hod carrier?

He works in a smoked kipper factory.

Close, I work in a doorbell factory. It's not well paid, but I like the buzz.

Quote: Godot Taxis @ January 25 2011, 11:21 AM GMT

They seem to be obsessed with denying the possibility that working class people could be as intelligent, educated and self aware as them.

That may be the chip on your shoulder interpreting their reaction for you.

Working class is a term fraught with difficulty; partly because education is less and less a route to social mobility; partly because self-employment has become the option of the marginalised rather then the entrepreneurial; partly because of a greater appreciation of skilled manual labour and a proliferation of poorly paid white-collar jobs without prospects; and partly because the physical and intellectual demands of how jobs are actually done has changed. Who constitutes the working class in today's Britain is a moot point.

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