Lost gems

My DVD collection of sitcoms has got pretty large and I find there are precious few British sitcoms, that I would or might want to buy, left. I was just wondering if anyone knew of any less well known sitcoms that they could really recommend. I was mostly thinking of sitcoms from the 1990s and 2000s and British sitcoms, but I certainly would consider sitcoms or even comedy-dramas which did not fit those specifications.

Thanks to the brilliant comedy guide on this site I have already drawn up a list of those British sitcoms that looked at all promising from 1990 to around 2006 (which I didn't have before of course). This is the list, though no doubt not all are available on DVD yet (I'm an old-fashioned sort of a guy, if I can get hold of the VHS cheap then I'll certainly consider buying that):

Chalk.
Heartburn Hotel.
The Last Salute.
Dad.
The Peter Principle.
All Quiet On The Preston Front.
Outside Edge.
Bonjour La Classe.
So Haunt Me.
Joking Apart.
Second Thoughts.
Up the Garden Path.
Chambers.
Time Gentlemen Please.
Wild West.
Believe Nothing.
Early Doors.
Hardware.
The Smoking Room.
Carrie & Barry.

So anyone have any opinion on these or any additions that could be made to the list? Remember I'm scrapping the barrel, of sorts, here; so I'm not looking for perfect or even great sitcoms, just those that are reasonably good.

Hello Westcountryman

I'm a rookie on the forum so I'm by no means an expert (I haven't seen any of the sitcoms you listed there), but I might suggest 'The Piglet Files' (1990) with Nicholas Lyndhurst. I've only seen the first series (only series that as yet has been released as far as I know) but I very much enjoyed it.

Hey Westcountryman.

I'd recommend a Channel 4 sitcom of the nineties called Nightingales which starred Robert Lindsay, very funny sitcom about a group of security guards.

The Smoking Room is certainly available on DVD in the UK, and I would definitely recommend it.

Ones I'd quite like to see are Father's Day with John Alderton, and L for Lester with Brian Murphy as a driving instructor. There's also Happy Families discussed elsewhere. Straying outside sitcoms, but sticking to the lost gem part of it, the various Alan Ayckbourne plays are all worth seeing (Seasons Greetings, Way Upstream, Norman Conquests).

All of those you mention, Westcountryman, which are available on DVD (most of them), are worth giving a go. And in fact, most of the ones that aren't available legally, are also worth trying.

Going a bit further back in time, if you like oddball series check out The Strange World Of Gurney Slade, which was released last week. Also worth a go is Keith Waterhouse's The Upchat Line and Upchat Connection, which are out next week IIRC.

Some others for the mix:

Barbara
Is It Legal?
Dear John....
All Along The Watchtower
Jeeves & Wooster

And frankly, if you've got some money to spare, you could do far worse than just making sure you own a copy of everything on this page: https://www.comedy.co.uk/shop/recommended/

I enjoyed Preston Front, none of the others ring a bell but my memory's shot

Would you class the Biederbecke series as sitcoms?

Thanks for the advice everyone. The Piglet Files and Nightingales are of particular interest to me, as Lyndhurst is usually good and this series seems to have a few similarities to Goodnight Sweetheart (which is one of my all time favourite sitcoms), and Lindsay (he is one of the main reasons the later series' of My Family are sometimes watchable, IMHO) often is.

Aaron: I ordered Barbara just before I started this thread, along with all of The Detectives, and I already have Is it Legal? and Jeeves and Wooster, but I'll make sure I check out the other two series out.

Time for some serious 'YouTube-ing' to see what to order next I think. It was gonna be Chalk but I'm very much considering The Piglet Files now.

Incidentally does anyone know if Get Some In! was any good?

It isn't the 90s and 2000s, but it has Lindsay, the premise seems alright and it had five series. (I hate the way British sitcoms have so few episodes, I guess that is the price we pay for the quality though, so it always annoys me when even the only reasonably good only run for a few series - and even three series/18-20 episodes is not enough for a good series!)

I'd definitely recommend Early Doors and The Smoking Room.

Quote: Westcountryman @ August 19 2011, 5:32 AM BST

Incidentally does anyone know if Get Some In! was any good?

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It is, yes. I think the complete series set is reasonably cheap at the moment too.

https://www.comedy.co.uk/shop/?search=Get+Some+In

Quote: Westcountryman @ August 19 2011, 5:32 AM BST

Incidentally does anyone know if Get Some In! was any good?

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I've seen the first series and a bit of the second. I thought it was quite good. Not my favourite Edmonde and Larby sitcom, but quite good all the same. I might appreciate it more when I see more series.

If you say what other sitcoms you like, it might give people an idea of your taste.

I too liked The Smoking Room. Although don't expect a lot to happen in it.

Second Thoughts is good. Although one series towards the end starts to get silly, But over all it was good.

Steve Charlie, my tastes are pretty hard to pin down really; I have certain things I tend to like but then I find I like some sitcoms that directly flout my usual preferences. For instance I usually feel a sitcom is really beginning to decline when its major characters become completely mean and lacking in any sympathy or good will, like Teachers, where by the last series everyone was a bastard and they didn't seem to care about anybody else at all. But Blackadder is one of my favourite sitcoms and it disobeys this rule(well technically many of the characters are not bastards per se, but they're so stupid or daft that they hardly balance out Edmund.).

But I guess I like sitcoms with a bit of pathos and goodwill, if I can use such terms, and nothing too oddball or surreal (though again I found The Mighty Boosh reasonably good and purchased all the series). Those set in suburban or small town or rural England, or in a school or office or some similar setting, in recent decades I also particularly like, at least if they fulfill the first preference. One thing I do prefer is lots of episodes. Some of my favourites sitoms, like The Thin Blue Line, had few episodes made. This means that there is a greater risk of saturation; the watching of every episode far too many times until you don't really want to watch the series again for the next decade. This happened to me with Blackadder and Father Ted.

Quote: Steve Charlie @ August 20 2011, 7:38 AM BST

Not my favourite Edmonde and Larby sitcom

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Esmonde*
Larbey*

Quote: Westcountryman @ August 20 2011, 10:30 AM BST

This means that there is a greater risk of saturation; the watching of every episode far too many times until you don't really want to watch the series again for the next decade. This happened to me with Blackadder and Father Ted.

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I've done that with a few shows in the past. It's a bit annoying and disappointing at the time, but coming back to them a few years down the line is a sheer delight. I really do forget how good some of them are.

A good tactic I have found is a large and increasing collection of sitcoms and DVDs. By the time you get around to your favourities again the hope is that there'll have been enough time and enough viewing in between that you won't get tired of them. It works quite well, although not for Blackadder and Father Ted so far, which I bought when I had only a few DVDs and have watched so many times. I hope you're right and in a decade I'll come back to them and they'll be like new.

Quote: Westcountryman @ August 19 2011, 5:32 AM BST

Thanks for the advice everyone. The Piglet Files and Nightingales are of particular interest to me, as Lyndhurst is usually good and this series seems to have a few similarities to Goodnight Sweetheart (which is one of my all time favourite sitcoms), and Lindsay (he is one of the main reasons the later series' of My Family are sometimes watchable, IMHO) often is.

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Lyndhurst is great in The Piglet Files (similar in style to Yes Minister / The Thin Blue Line), also After You've Gone as well as OFAH & GS. I also have The Two Of Us starring NL but I have not yet watched it.

If you name some more of your favourites it may give us more idea about others you may like.