British Comedy Guide
British Comedy Guide
Jake Godfrey
Jake Godfrey

Jake Godfrey

  • Journalist

Jake Godfrey features - page 2

Angelo's. Karen (Sharon Horgan). Credit: Bwark Productions, Ealing Studios Features

Comedy Rewind: Welcome to Angelo's

Sunday 30th October 2022

We visit Sharon Horgan's little-known first sitcom creation, café ensemble Angelo's, which made it to screen in 2007 after four years in development hell.

David Renwick People

David Renwick looks back on his comedy writing career

Saturday 22nd October 2022

A long-read interview with prolific comedy writer David Renwick. He talks about his early days in comedy, writing for The Two Ronnies, being wined and dined by Spike Milligan, coming up with calamitous catastrophes to befall Victor Meldrew in One Foot In The Grave, how Jonathan Creek episodes were constructed, and much more.

ChuckleVision. Image shows from L to R: Barry Chuckle (Barry Elliott), Paul Chuckle (Paul Elliott). Copyright: BBC Features

Writing ChuckleVision

Monday 26th September 2022

Many of the writers involved in scripting ChuckleVision look back on the long-running comedy.

ChuckleVision. Image shows left to right: Barry Chuckle (Barry Elliott), Paul Chuckle (Paul Elliott) Features

Celebrating ChuckleVision

Monday 26th September 2022

Running from 1987 to 2009, the 292 episode ChuckleVision was a phenomenon.

Sooty, Sweep and Soo. Richard Cadell. Copyright: Steve Ullathorne Features

Sooty Land: Interview with Sooty's right hand man Richard Cadell

Monday 20th June 2022

Television icon Sooty is now headlining his very own theme park, Sooty Land. We talk about television's most famous yellow bear with his right hand man, Richard Cadell.

Mann's Best Friends. Image shows from L to R: Henry Mann (Barry Stanton), Hamish James Ordway (Fulton Mackay), Dolly Delights (Patricia Brake). Copyright: Thames Television Features

Comedy Rewind: Fulton Mackay reigns supreme in Mann's Best Friends

Sunday 10th April 2022

Fulton Mackay breaks free from Slade Prison in this mid-80s Channel 4 comedy about a boarding house and its residents.

Nightingales. Image shows from L to R: Bell (David Threlfall), Carter (Robert Lindsay), Sarge (James Ellis) Features

Comedy Rewind: On the watch with Nightingales

Sunday 27th February 2022

Just what made Channel 4 comedy Nightingales, about a trio of security guards working an office block's graveyard shift, a fondly-remembered cult hit? Dark surrealism by the bucket-load, more than twenty years before many other comedies followed suit.

Men Behaving Badly. Image shows from L to R: Gary Strang (Martin Clunes), Dorothy (Caroline Quentin), Tony Smart (Neil Morrissey), Deborah (Leslie Ash). Copyright: Hartswood Films Ltd Features

30 years of Men Behaving Badly

Friday 18th February 2022

As the iconic 1990s television sitcom Men Behaving Badly marks its 30th anniversary, we look at what made the series such a phenomenon, speaking to writer Simon Nye and stars Leslie Ash, Valerie Minifie and Martin Clunes.

Simon Nye Features

Simon Nye interview: Men Behaving Badly & 30 years of TV

Friday 18th February 2022

As Men Behaving Badly celebrates its thirtieth birthday, we chat to writer Simon Nye about the politics of profanity, what it feels like to be a British writer in America and whether his panto writing days are behind him.

An Actor's Life For Me. Robert Neilson (John Gordon Sinclair). Copyright: BBC Features

Comedy Rewind: Sublime farce in An Actor's Life For Me

Sunday 16th January 2022

From the co-writer of The Vicar Of Dibley, showbusiness comedy An Actor's Life For Me rings the bells as a funny, accessible comedy about the industry itself.

Watching. Image shows from L to R: Malcolm Stoneway (Paul Bown), Pamela Lynch nee Wilson (Liza Tarbuck), Brenda Wilson (Emma Wray). Copyright: Granada Television Features

Comedy Rewind: What do I see in him? Revisiting Watching

Sunday 10th October 2021

Spool back to the late 1980s with Comedy Rewind, when 13 million of us were watching Watching.

Slinger's Day. Cecil Slinger (Bruce Forsyth). Copyright: Thames Television Features

Comedy Rewind: Check It Out - Tripper's Day and Slinger's Day

Sunday 26th September 2021

Check in to Comedy Rewind and check out two often overlooked 1980s sitcoms starring comedy icons: Leonard Rossiter in Tripper's Day and Bruce Forsyth in its successor, Slinger's Day.

Ian Hislop People

Ian Hislop on 60 years of Private Eye

Thursday 2nd September 2021

As Private Eye celebrates its 60th birthday, we chat to editor Ian Hislop about satire, his favourite memories from over thirty years of Have I Got News For You, and the strange status of Hollywood hairpieces.

Chance In A Million. Tom Chance (Simon Callow). Copyright: Thames Television Features

Comedy Rewind: What a Chance In A Million!

Sunday 29th August 2021

Approaching its 37th anniversary, we revisit the fondly remembered Channel 4 sitcom Chance In A Million, starring Simon Callow and Brenda Blethyn, from the writers who would go on to create The Brittas Empire.

How Do You Want Me?. Image shows from L to R: Ian Lyons (Dylan Moran), Lisa Lyons (Charlotte Coleman). Copyright: Kensington Films And Television Features

Comedy Rewind: How Do You Want Me?

Sunday 1st August 2021

A look back at Simon Nye's 1990s sitcom about a newly-wed couple who move from London to the countryside, starring Dylan Moran and Charlotte Coleman.

Cowboys. Image shows from L to R: Eric (James Wardroper), Joe Jones (Roy Kinnear), Wobbly Ron (David Kelly), Richard Geyser (Colin Welland). Copyright: Thames Television Features

Comedy Rewind: Can't trust the Cowboys!

Sunday 18th July 2021

A look back at early eighties sitcom Cowboys, which starred Colin Welland, David Kelly, James Wardroper and Roy Kinnear as a rabble of builders.

Lee Evans - So What Now?. Image shows from L to R: Stuart (Steven O'Donnell), Lee (Lee Evans). Copyright: Little Mo Films Features

Comedy Rewind: Lee Evans - So What Now?

Sunday 20th June 2021

2001 comedy Lee Evans - So What Now? saw the stand-up star bringing his madcap energy to the world of sitcom.

Chuckle Time. Paul Elliott. Copyright: So Television People

Paul Chuckle interview

Monday 7th June 2021

Paul Chuckle talks about how he and Barry started out as The Chuckle Brothers, and ended up making nearly three hundred episodes of their sitcom. He also talks about his plan to bring back their characters in a new animated show.

Paul Mayhew-Archer People

Paul Mayhew-Archer on sitcoms, stand-up and tackling Parkinson's with jokes

Saturday 17th April 2021

Comedy writer, script editor and now stand-up performer: Paul Mayhew-Archer talks about working on sitcoms like The Vicar Of Dibley, and being determined to see the funny side of Parkinson's.

Steven Moffat. Copyright: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0 Pro

Steven Moffat talks about writing comedy

Friday 16th April 2021

Top writer Steven Moffat discusses creating characters, plotting, working with directors, dealing with failure, and why writing comedy is harder than drama.

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