The best (British) sitcom writers ever? (IYO) Page 2

Quote: Matthew Stott @ November 13 2010, 12:50 AM GMT

Much like most of the father Ted characters.

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I disagree to some extent. Though the characters in Ted are indeed cartoonish to some degree, the world of Craggy Island which has been created around them makes them far more three-dimensional. This is probably because the world of Father Ted is so completely self-contained and detached from the real world, that they actually come over as much more believable characters. Although GL wisely tried in Black Books and The IT Crowd to create equally insular worlds, those worlds are never quite enough detached from the the real world outside so as to give the characters the same level of credibility.

GL is up there as one of the best British comedy writers ever, for sure, just I wouldn't put him that near the top as a sitcom writer. But that may be just because his style of sitcom is not generally my favourite style of sitcom.

Quote: Tim Walker @ November 13 2010, 12:45 AM GMT

Ted is the only show where the characters will still be universally enjoyed in another 20 or 30 years time. And enduring characters are what elevate sitcoms to the level of greatness. The other shows have fun characters to play with, but I can't find much love for them, to be honest. (No, not even Moss.)

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As I've said on the HHH thread, as I'm working my way through the HHH radio series, there are references there to things that my daughters (19/20) would have no idea about e.g Gilbert Harding, Sunday afternoons.

So, although the humour is fresh, the references are not.

So, if I try to introduce them to HHH it would mean explaining things which would be completely outside of their experience.

Won't stop me trying though !

The radio shows are a bit more inaccessible, true, but it's worth the effort, as many of them are some of the funniest episodes ever written.

Absolutely.

Snide would never have worked on television IMO.

It was picturing the person, knowing that it was KW, that made/makes it magical.

John Sullivan deserves a mention, surely? Citizen Smith, Only Fools and Horses, Dear John, Just Good Friends, etc...

I get the case for some of those old couples but look at the stats. Galton and Simpson? Steptoe and Hancock. Clement and Le Frenais? Likely Lads and Porridge. They only average one decent show each, but Sullivan had several on his own.

Then again, Roger Roger...

John Sullivan certainly does deserve a mention, of course. Though OFAH (of course) should have stopped before it went on the slide. (Surely one of the signs of a really great sitcom writer is knowing when to stop?) Much of both Just Good Friends and Citizen Smith wasn't really any good. Dear John, despite some faults, has actually become my favourite of his. I think that programme showcased some of JS's strongest writing. In terms of "pure" sitcom, it has many things which make it a better show than OFAH. (I appreciate this is probably blasphemy.)

Quote: Tim Walker @ November 13 2010, 1:21 AM GMT

Then again, Roger Roger...

John Sullivan certainly does deserve a mention, of course. Though OFAH (of course) should have stopped before it went on the slide. (Surely one of the signs of a really great sitcom writer is knowing when to stop?) Much of both Just Good Friends and Citizen Smith wasn't really any good. Dear John, despite some faults, has actually become my favourite of his. I think that programme showcased some of JS's strongest writing. In terms of "pure" sitcom, it has many things which make it a better show than OFAH. (I appreciate this is probably blasphemy.)

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Of course he's done some crap - actually, a lot of crap - but then, so have the so-called greats of the golden era. Some of the later Steptoes (and the films) are piss-poor. Let's celebrate the good, though!

Indeed! So who were the writers on All About Me?

*steps away from Tim's little battles*

Frank Skinner for Shane. Anyone with me on this one?

Did you know they had a second series of Shane shot that was never broadcast.

Probably.

It's true.

Also, the BBC (in association with the CIA) secretly shot four other series of Big Top, to use as an alternative to waterboarding in the War Against Terror.

And the Albanian version of Lab Rats has just recently screened its 100th episode.

John Sullivan for me. Just basing this on his OFAH work, he created characters that people loved, created wonderfully creative and funny situations/stories and had many a fine joke too.

Not many sictom writers could also get a laugh from a scene where one of the main characters has just suffered a miscarriage.

He has gone off the boil with his last few efforts (Last 3 OFAHs, Green Green Grass) but were still decent.

I'm not a great fan of narrowing things down to one - as there's room for more than one. Croft and Perry, is it Loyd and Croft?, David Renwick, Cleese and Booth, John Esmonde and Bob Larbey come to mind for me. There are others.

While not at the top, I'd definitely put Esmonde and Larbey high up for the twin pronged genius of The Good Life and Ever Decreasing Circles.