British Comedy Guide
British Comedy Guide

Comedy Playhouse

The first and most celebrated of all pilot and comedy trial seasons, Comedy Playhouse was originally devised to find new programmes for Ray Galton and Alan Simpson following the end of Hancock's Half Hour.

Famous comedies that started life in the Comedy Playhouse strand include Steptoe And Son, Till Death Us Do Part, All Gas And Gaiters, The Liver Birds, Are You Being Served?, Last Of The Summer Wine and Happy Ever After.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

Clicquot Et Fils

Premiere Comedy Playhouse episode, starring Eric Sykes as a French undertaker in 1926, who conjures up a dark plan to increase business.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

Lunch In The Park

After ten years lunching on the same park bench, office workers Geoffrey and Ethel are in for a shock.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

The Private Lives Of Edward Whiteley

Period sitcom playlet about serial bigamist Edward Whiteley.

Steptoe And Son. Image shows from L to R: Albert Steptoe (Wilfrid Brambell), Harold Steptoe (Harry H. Corbett). Copyright: BBC TV

Steptoe And Son

Albert Steptoe and his son Harold run a rag and bone business. Harold wants to move on in the world and leave home but his plans are always thwarted.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

The Reunion

A group of old friends find that their reunion has unfortunate consequences for all concerned.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

The Telephone Call

If you are worried about the world situation pick up your telephone and do something about it? Lionel Baxter does... and regrets it.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

The Status Symbol

Cyril Bradley tries to persuade his customer, Wilfred Swann, to park his Rolls Royce outside his garage in order to attract customers.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

Visiting Day

There's always one patient in hospital who looks forward to their operation more than a visit from relatives.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

Sealed With A Loving Kiss

When two people agree to meet after a long romance by letter, they find themselves caught in the web of lies they have spun for each other.

The Channel Swimmer. Clive, the swimmer (Michael Brennan). Copyright: BBC TV

The Channel Swimmer

Clive is about to swim the Channel but is unaware that his manager is planning to make money out of him.

Our Man In Moscow. Sir William Hunter (Robert Morley). Credit: BBC TV

Our Man In Moscow

Sitcom pilot by Galton & Simpson, starring Robert Morley and Frank Thornton as the British Ambassador to Russia and his secretary.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

And Here, All The Way From...

Comedy Playhouse pilot from Galton & Simpson, starring Eric Barker as a man brought from Borneo to his brother's This Is Your Life appearance.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

Impasse

Famous Galton & Simpson Comedy Playhouse episode starring Bernard Cribbins and Leslie Phillips as drivers refusing to give way on a single-track road.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

Have You Read This Notice?

Frankie Howerd-starring comedy by Galton & Simpson about a man plagued by his conscience as he passes through airport customs with an expensive watch.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

A Clerical Error

Comedy Playhouse one-off starring John Le Mesurier as a conman who impersonates a clergyman upon release from prison.

The Handyman. Image shows left to right: Lionel Hogg (Alfred Marks), Security Guard (Anthony Sagar) TV

The Handyman

Comedy pilot starring Alfred Marks as a highly-skilled worker stuck in a temporary job as handyman at an exclusive health clinic.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

On The Knocker

Harry Driver & Jack Rosenthal pilot in the Comedy Playhouse series, starring Ronald Fraser as a door-to-door salesman with a unique approach to sales.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

Underworld Knights

Comedy Playhouse pilot written by Trevor Peacock, starring Ron Moody as crime writer Vogler.

Fools Rush In. Image shows from L to R: Wilfred (Gordon Rollings), Major Humphrey Carlton D.S.O. Rtd. (Deryck Guyler), Barney (Patrick Newell). Copyright: BBC TV

Fools Rush In

Major Humphrey Carlton has retired from the Army and finds that arranging his own domestic affairs is more meddlesome than he ever expected.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

Shamrot

Sitcom pilot by Johnny Speight starring Dermot Kelly as angry Londoner Dermot. Despite having never visited Ireland, he adores it and loathes Britain.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

The Bachelor Girls

Sitcom pilot about two young ladies sharing a flat in a fashionable area.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

The Plan

Pilot starring Peter Cushing as Albert Fawkes, a man so sick of the significance of his surname he sets out to blow up Parliament with ex-IRA help.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

A Picture Of Innocence

Comedy about Prestonian Arthur Berry, a man whose love for fine art is shared only by the insurance man, but neither his friends nor family.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

Nicked At The Bottle

Comedy pilot written by Marty Feldman, starring George Cole as London's most crooked lawyer, Mossy Marcus, advising a client from a family of thieves.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

The Chars

Sitcom pilot about a couple of cleaning ladies working at the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, starring Doris and Elsie Waters.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

Comrades In Arms

Comedy pilot starring Graham Stark and Fenella Fielding. A window-cleaner gets more than he bargained for when he accidentally witnesses an affair.

The Walrus And The Carpenter. Image shows from L to R: Luther Flannery (Hugh Griffith), Gascoigne Quilt (Felix Aylmer). Copyright: BBC TV

The Walrus And The Carpenter

Gascoigne Quilt & Luther Flannery meet in a graveyard. The two old men have little in common but Luther's sense of adventure leads them into scrapes.

Meet The Wife. Image shows from L to R: Thora Blacklock (Thora Hird), Freddie Blacklock (Freddie Frinton). Copyright: BBC TV

Meet The Wife

Domestic sitcom following working-class northern couple Freddie and Thora Blacklock, a plumber and proud housewife.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

The Mate Market

Sitcom pilot starring Lance Percival as a Mayfair socialite who runs a marriage bureau.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

The Hen House

Sitcom pilot starring Beryl Reid, Barbara Windsor and Dermot Kelly, about the amorous but strict elderly owner of Khartoum House Girls' Hostel.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

The Siege Of Sydney's Street

Roy Kinnear stars as Sydney Lord, a man with a highly attuned social conscience, determined to fight bureaucratic dictatorship wherever it may be.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

The Mascot

Comedy Playhouse pilot. The new chairman of Northtown FC intends to change the club's image. Club mascot Arnold Birtwistle does not intend to let him.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

Good Luck Sir, You've Got A Lucky Face

Marty Feldman-penned pilot, starring Graham Stark and Derek Francis as a sly match-seller who meets his match in an extortionate landlord.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

Barnaby Spoot And The Exploding Whoopee Cushion

Comedy Playhouse special from Feldman and Took, in which joke inventor Barnaby Spoot plots ultimate revenge upon a joke shop that always rejects him.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

Mother Came Too

Sitcom pilot starring Peggy Mount as the formidable and overbearing mother of Graham Stark.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

Here I Come Whoever I Am

Bittersweet comedy pilot starring Bernard Cribbins as a shy and lonely 32-year old looking for love.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

Happy Family

Sitcom pilot starring Ted Ray as the sole male in a family home full of women. Written by Sid Green and Dick Hills.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

Memoirs Of A Chaise Longue

Spoof of feature film The Yellow Rolls Royce. Barry Took and Marty Feldman tell three stories from the long life of a chaise longue.

Murray And Me. Image shows from L to R: Murray (Chic Murray), Tommy Penn (Alan Baulch). Copyright: BBC TV

Murray And Me

Murray believes he can train his mind for practical purposes and he endeavours to teach his skills to young Tommy, a young boy he is looking after.

Hudd TV

Hudd

Improbable stories from the chaotic world of a man called Hudd.

Till Death Us Do Part. Image shows from L to R: Mike Rawlins (Anthony Booth), Rita Rawlins (Una Stubbs), Alf Garnett (Warren Mitchell), Else Garnett (Dandy Nichols). Copyright: BBC TV

Till Death Us Do Part

Opinionated Alf Garnett reels off a string of misinformed, bigoted, reactionary opinions each week, to the chagrin of his family.

The Time And Motion Man. Image shows from L to R: Lilian French (Pauline Delany), Rainbow (Richard Moore), Kingsley Binns (Leslie Phillips). Copyright: BBC TV

The Time And Motion Man

Kingsley Binns is a man who can't switch off from his job and that involves him trying to make everybody he meets more efficient.

Sam The Samaritan. Copyright: BBC TV

Sam The Samaritan

1910 - when three long term friends and fellow stokers are let ashore, a bet over downing a pot of ale causes the friendship to be broken.

The Vital Spark. Image shows from L to R: Para Handy (Roddy McMillan), Dan McPhail (John Grieve), Dougie (Walter Carr), Sunny Jim (Alex McAvoy). Copyright: BBC TV

The Vital Spark

Captain Para Handy steers his famous puffer, the Vital Spark, up and down the Clyde, together with his motley crew.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

Betsy Mae

Sitcom pilot about a childrens' novelist who holds distinctly stern, non-PC views about the young.

All Gas And Gaiters. Image shows from L to R: Henry - The Archdeacon (Robertson Hare), The Rt. Rev. Dr. Cuthbert Hever - The Bishop (William Mervyn), The Rev. Mervyn Noote - The Chaplain (Derek Nimmo). Copyright: BBC TV

All Gas And Gaiters

The fictional St. Ogg's Cathedral is the setting for a good natured look at life among the clergy.

Beggar My Neighbour. Image shows from L to R: Gerald Garvey (Peter Jones), Rose Garvey (June Whitfield). Copyright: BBC TV

Beggar My Neighbour

Comedy of familial relations. Gerald is a poor snob, whilst his next door neighbours - his wife's sister and her husband - are well-off working class.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

A Little Learning

Comedy Playhouse pilot starring Jack Hulbert and Cicely Courtneidge.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

Judgement Day For Elijah Jones

Marty Feldman-penned sitcom pilot starring Clive Dunn and Bernard Cribbins as a pair of sandwich-board men convinced the apocalypse is nigh.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

Room At The Bottom

First sitcom from Bob Larbey and John Esmonde, set in the maintenance room basement of a large company's head office tower block.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

The End Of The Tunnel

Comedy Playhouse pilot by Richard Waring. George Cole stars as affluent City businessman Charles, who's left suddenly single when his wife walks out.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

Seven Year Hitch

Sitcom pilot from the writer of The Larkins, starring Harry H Secombe and Joan Sims as the pompous owner of a poor dance school and his wife.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

The Whitehall Worrier

The corridors of power have never been the safest of places, but for one minister there are an unusual amount of booby traps.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

The Reluctant Romeo

Sitcom starring Leslie Crowther as the engaged and unwillingly irresistible-to-women advertising executive Tom Jones.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

Hughie

Sitcom pilot starring Hugh Lloyd as a man who's grown so accustomed to prison life that, after a 10 year stretch, he's desperate to get back inside.

Not In Front Of The Children. Jennifer Corner (Wendy Craig). Copyright: BBC TV

Not In Front Of The Children

The domestic bliss of "oldly-weds" Jennifer and Henry Corner and their three young children.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

Spanner In The Works

Comedy Playhouse pilot starring Norman Rossington and Jimmy Jewel as the boss of a small engineering company and the workers' union shop-steward.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

Heirs On A Shoestring

Comedy pilot starring Jimmy Edwards and Clive Dunn as nephew and elderly uncle. James believes he stands to inherit a lot, but then a new heir arrives.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

Uncle Fred Flits By

PG Wodehouse adaptation starring Wilfred Hyde White as the eponymous Uncle Fred, the Earl of Ickenham.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

Loitering With Intent

Comedy Playhouse pilot starring David Tomlinson as socially conscious 'green' cause lover Charles Pinfold, whose values are put sorely to the test.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

To Lucifer - A Son

Sitcom pilot starring John Le Mesurier as Lucifer, long weary of the underworld, and Jimmy Tarbuck as Nick, his ambitious son.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

The Old Campaigner

Sitcom following womaniser James Franklin-Jones (Terry-Thomas), an international salesman who uses his business trips to search for beautiful women.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

Current Affairs

Unbroadcast Comedy Playhouse sitcom pilot about staff at an electrical power station.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

State Of The Union

Sitcom pilot and first acting role for comedian Les Dawson, playing trade union secretary Les.

Wink To Me Only. Copyright: BBC TV

Wink To Me Only

Sitcom about a married couple who are each others' polar opposite, but a perfect match together and solve a series of problems in bizarre ways.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

Thicker Than Water

Sitcom about a widowed fishmonger whose life is dominated by his three unmarried adult daughters, and husband-hunting next-door neighbour.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

Stiff Upper Lip

Cold War comedy pilot by Barry Took, based on novelist Lawrence Durrell's tales of diplomatic mishaps at British embassies across the globe.

Wild, Wild Women. Copyright: BBC TV

Wild, Wild Women

Period variation on The Rag Trade, starring Barbara Windsor as the leader of female workers at a milliner's in 1902.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

Thank You Sir, Thank You Madam

Comedy about a leading Cockney busker who sets up a rival group after an argument with the other three members of his existing quartet.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

B-And-B

The arrival of a pretty au pair has an explosive effect on a successful TV family's life.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

Me Mammy

Sitcom starring Milo O'Shea as Bunjy Kennefick, living the bachelor life as a top London business executive, and his very traditional Irish mother.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

The Gold Watch Club

A Comedy Playhouse presentation about Edward Wilkins, whose vision of retirement turns out to be rather different than the reality.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

As Good Cooks Go

A travelling cook turns a run down transport cafe into a fashionable restaurant.

The Liver Birds. Image shows from L to R: Beryl Hennessey (Polly James), Sandra Hutchinson (Nerys Hughes). Copyright: BBC TV

The Liver Birds

Sitcom exploring the lives and loves of two young, single females sharing a flat together in Liverpool.

The Valley Express. Image shows from L to R: Stan (David Baxter), Jenny (Nerys Hughes). Copyright: BBC TV

The Valley Express

Reg and Stan are local reporters in Wales who make up stories and sell them to Fleet Street. They are in for a shock when they are taken seriously.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

Tooth And Claw

Comedy from Marty Feldman and Barry Took, starring Feldman and Warren Mitchell as a pair of rival Jewish multi-millionaires.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

The Loves Of Larch Hill

Sitcom about an eccentric family who live in a quiet, conservative community - much to the annoyance of their neighbours.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

The Making Of Peregrine

Dick Emery sitcom pilot written by Marty Feldman and Barry Took. Stanley Mold attempts to make a man out of drippy son Peregrin.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

Joint Account

A Comedy Playhouse presentation starring Keith Barron in a tale of domestic disharmony with a radical solution.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

The Jugg Brothers

A Comedy Playhouse written by and starring Bob Grant and Stephen Lewis as brothers who work in a block of flats as caretakers.

An Officer And A Gentleman. Image shows from L to R: Major Gissing (James Grout), Sid Coil (Ken Wynne). Copyright: BBC TV

An Officer And A Gentleman

A Comedy Playhouse starring James Grout as a military man finding it hard to embrace civilian life without the help of his faithful Army batman.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

Who's Your Friend?

Sitcom pilot starring Bernard Cribbins as a professional male escort, also with Frank Thornton and Maggie Fitzgibbon.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

Keep 'Em Rolling

Period comedy starring Derek Nimmo in the early days of photography.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

Better Than A Man

Sitcom pilot starring Sheila Hancock as a self-made woman who overcomes sexism to become the managing director of the company her father works for.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

That's Your Funeral

Basil Bulstrode is pompous, grouchy and stubborn - he's also an undertaker who loves his work.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

Haven Of Rest

Sitcom pilot in the Comedy Playhouse strand, set in a retirement home.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

Mind Your Own Business

Pilot about a family of Cockney struggling window cleaners with one white and one black son.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

The Old Contemptible

Keith Waterhouse sitcom pilot about a First World War survivor attempting to instil a sense of old-fashioned values to modern world.

Don't Ring Us... We'll Ring You. Image shows from L to R: Jimmy Duffy (Norman Rossington), Joe Ridsdale (Sandy Powell), Ernie Babcock (John Junkin). Copyright: BBC TV

Don't Ring Us... We'll Ring You

A Comedy Playhouse revolving around the Northern working men's clubs and two agents who find a rich, new boy has hit town.

Meter Maids. Polly (Barbara Windsor). Copyright: BBC TV

Meter Maids

Sitcom pilot starring Barbara Windsor, Joan Sanderson and Pat Coombs as female traffic wardens.

Under And Over. Copyright: BBC TV

Under And Over

Three Irish labourers spend their lives digging away on the Waterloo tunnel.

Now, Take My Wife.... Image shows from L to R: Jenny Love (Liz Edmiston), Harry Love (Donald Houston), Claire Love (Sheila Hancock). Copyright: BBC TV

Now, Take My Wife...

Family-centric comedy built around the excitable Sheila Love, her husband Harry and daughter Jenny.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

Uncle Tulip

The first ethnic minority sitcom on British television. This pilot follows Uncle Tulip, a middle-aged Kenyan Sikh looking after his niece and nephew.

It's Awfully Bad For Your Eyes, Darling.... Image shows left to right: Pudding (Jane Carr), Clover Mason (Elizabeth Knight), Bobby Dutton (Jeremy Lloyd), Samantha (Joanna Lumley), Dominic (Jonathan Cecil). Credit: BBC TV

It's Awfully Bad For Your Eyes, Darling...

Flatshare sitcom about a group of girls from well-off backgrounds.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

The Rough With The Smooth

The misadventures of two bachelor flat mates working on a terrible radio serial. One's an east Londoner, the other an old Etonian.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

Equal Partners

Comedy Playhouse sitcom pilot starring Nicky Henson.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

The Importance Of Being Hairy

Satirical comedy pilot set at the new, left-wing University of Wessex.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

Idle At Work

Sitcom pilot written by Graham Chapman and Bernard McKenna, starring Ronnie Barker as George Idle.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

And Whose Side Are You On?

Comedy Playhouse pilot set in Nazi-occupied France.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

Born Every Minute

Sitcom pilot starring James Beck and Ronald Fraser as a pair of con men working together but rivals for a girl.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

The Dirtiest Soldier In The World

Pilot based on George Macdonald Fraser's book The General Dances At Dawn, about a Highlands battalion and Private McAuslan.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

Weren't You Marcia Honeywell?

Comedy Playhouse pilot starring Betty Marsden and Hugh Paddick as a once-famous romantic singing duo, Marcia Honeywell and Bernard Hooper.

Are You Being Served?. Image shows from L to R: Mrs. Betty Slocombe (Mollie Sugden), Miss Shirley Brahms (Wendy Richard), Mr. Dick Lucas (Trevor Bannister), Mr. Cuthbert Rumbold (Nicholas Smith), Mr. Mash (Larry Martyn), Mr. Ernest Grainger (Arthur Brough), Mr. Wilberforce Humphries (John Inman), Captain Stephen Peacock (Frank Thornton). Copyright: BBC TV

Are You Being Served?

Sitcom set in London department store Grace Bros., where the Ladies' Intimate Apparel and Men's Ready To Wear departments are forced to share a floor.

Last Of The Summer Wine. Image shows from L to R: Walter C. 'Foggy' Dewhurst (Brian Wilde), William 'Compo' Simmonite (Bill Owen), Norman Clegg (Peter Sallis). Copyright: BBC TV

Last Of The Summer Wine

Gentle sitcom following a group of pensioners living in Yorkshire. This show was Britain's longest-running TV sitcom.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

The Rescue

Comedy Playhouse pilot about a man who tries to commit suicide and the problems he causes his rescuer.

Elementary, My Dear Watson. Dr Watson (William Rushton). Copyright: BBC TV

Elementary, My Dear Watson

Sherlock Holmes finds Edwardian solutions to problems in 1973.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

The Gordon Peters Show

Sitcom starring stand-up comic Gordon Peters as a bewildered loner who's at constant odds with the world around him.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

Marry The Girls

Luke Elms must marry off his five daughters before they bankrupt him.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

Home From Home

When Bill's wife leaves him to become a traffic warden - she makes him her most frequent victim.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

Bird Alone

Sitcom pilot starring Liz Smith and Yootha Joyce, recorded for the 15th series of Comedy Playhouse on 2nd April 1974 but never broadcast.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

No Strings

Carla Lane-penned sitcom about Derek and his new, quirky flatmate Leonora, and their burgeoning relationship.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

Franklyn And Johnnie

Pilot starring Ronnie Barker and Geoffrey Bayldon as life-long rivals given the opportunity to bury the hatchet at the one mutual friend's funeral.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

Howerd's History Of England

Period sketch show starring Frankie Howerd and Patrick Newell. A Comedy Playhouse pilot.

Happy Ever After. Image shows from L to R: June Fletcher (June Whitfield), Terry Fletcher (Terry Scott). Copyright: BBC TV

Happy Ever After

Now that all the children have left, Terry and June Fletcher can look forward to doing all the things they have planned - until Aunt Lucy arrives.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

The Dobson Doughnut

Comedy Playhouse pilot starring Milo O'Shea as Henry Medway, newly retired and an aspiring round-the-world yachtsman.

Mr Big. Eddie (Peter Jones). Credit: BBC TV

Mr Big

Comedy series following a low-level petty crook, his family, and his varied attempts to enter the big leagues.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

It's Only Me - Whoever I Am

Roy Clarke sitcom pilot starring David Jason as Quentin, a young man from Rochdale struggling to becoming his own person under his mother's gaze.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

The Last Man On Earth

Post-apocalyptic Galton & Simpson sitcom pilot about a man and his mother who find everyone else in the world has vanished.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

Sitting Pretty

Sitcom pilot from the writers of All Gas And Gaiters. As an existing tenant, Jo Ransley (Una Stubbs) enjoys quite a protected status.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

Pygmalion Smith

A Comedy Playhouse pilot, written by Roy Clarke and starring Leonard Rossiter.

A Girl's Best Friend. Image shows from L to R: Lynn Dalton (Carolyn Courage), Audrey Dalton (Zena Walker). Copyright: BBC TV

A Girl's Best Friend

A 1974 sitcom pilot about a mother who shares her daughter's boyfriends. Broadcast as part of the Comedy Playhouse series.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

The Reverent Wooing Of Archibald

Sitcom pilot based on the stories of PG Wodehouse. Archibald Mulliner is a feckless young chap but determined to woo Aurelia Cammerleigh.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC TV

French Relish

Simon Pollock is about to invade France with Major Pollock's Relish.

Over To Bill. Image shows from L to R: Jez (Neil Morrissey), Bill Onion (Hugh Dennis). Copyright: Baby Cow Productions / Three Feet Productions TV

Over To Bill

Sitcom pilot starring Hugh Dennis as a weatherman who gets fired and then finds getting back on TV is much harder than he expected.

Comedy Playhouse: Where It All Began. Copyright: BBC TV

Comedy Playhouse: Where It All Began

A documentary looking back at the original BBC Comedy Playhouse pilot strand, featuring contributions from some of those involved.

Mountain Goats. Jimmy Miller (Jimmy Chisholm). Copyright: BBC TV

Mountain Goats

Studio audience sitcom about a ragtag family of Mountain Rescue volunteers.

Monks. Image shows from L to R: Brother Bernard (Justin Edwards), Brother Francis (Mark Heap), Brother Gary Woodcroft (Seann Walsh), Father Abbot (James Fleet), Brother Dominic (Fergus Craig). Copyright: BBC TV

Monks

Studio audience sitcom pilot about a group of monks who definitely do not live together in peace and harmony.

Hospital People. Ivan Brackenbury (Tom Binns). Copyright: Roughcut Television TV

Hospital People

Mockumentary in which Tom Binns plays various characters who are working in a hospital.

Broken Biscuits. Image shows from L to R: Brenda (Alison Steadman), Roger (Alun Armstrong). Copyright: Jellylegs TV

Broken Biscuits

Comedy following five disparate groups of people, friends, partners and parents, observing their everyday lives as their little stories unfold.

Stop/Start. Image shows from L to R: Evan (John Thomson), Rob (Jack Docherty). Copyright: BBC TV

Stop/Start

Sitcom about three marriages in various states of disrepair, written by and starring Jack Docherty.

Tim Vine Travels Through Time. Tim (Tim Vine). Copyright: Baby Cow Productions TV

Tim Vine Travels Through Time

Comedy in which antique dealer Tim Vine travels through time on various errands, meeting historical figures in the process.

Mister Winner. Lesley Winner (Spencer Jones) TV

Mister Winner

Sitcom starring Spencer Jones as an eternally-optimistic klutz.

Static. Rob (Rob Beckett). Copyright: Zeppotron TV

Static

Studio audience sitcom about a man who jacks in a job in London to move back in with his parents.

Bumps. Anita (Amanda Redman). Copyright: Kudos Productions TV

Bumps

A cross-generational comedy starring Amanda Redman in a whole new spin on family dynamics.

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Comedy Playhouse: Series 17

Comedy Playhouse: Series 17 Download

Long-running anthology series of one-off sitcoms. This 17th series was broadcast in 2016.

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