Jeremy Lloyd (I)

Audio: Jermey Lloyd on his 'amazing' OBE

One of the people to make the New Year's honours list was the actor and comedy writer Jeremy Lloyd. He told Today presenter James Naughtie that his OBE was the "most amazing thing in my life, really".

David Croft, who died in September, will go down as one of the most influential behind-the-scenes figures in the history of British TV comedy, having co-written and produced a raft of our most popular sitcoms, including Dad's Army, 'Allo! 'Allo! and Are You Being Served? This hour-long documentary celebrates his work, alongside that of long-term collaborators Jimmy Perry and Jeremy Lloyd - and features more than a few riotously funny clips from the shows themselves.

Video: David Croft discusses complexity of 'Allo 'Allo

With the passing of David Croft on Sunday, 27 September, at age 89, more from our 1999 interview for the public television program, Salute to British Comedy on American Public Television. When host Penelope Keith introduces the 'Allo 'Allo! segment, we come to realize that the series was not only complex for the audience, but for both David Croft and co-creator/writer, Jeremy Lloyd. As you'll see, thank goodness David Croft's secretary was able to follow the plot line.

Blue collar comedy? How patronising and old-fashioned

Danny Cohen is missing the point. Comedy is not about the differences between us - rather it is the glue that holds us all together.

At its peak, an episode of Jeremy Lloyd's innuendo engorged department-store sitcom could glue a heady 22 million bums on sofas - but series one, which was up against Coronation Street, slipped by unnoticed, only acquiring a fanbase when it was re-shown. Are You Being Served? finally went off air in 1985, apart from the occasional repeat, so sauce-starved aficionados will gobble up this post-Christmas clip-and-comment treat. We discover how the show was promoted from a pilot (first aired as a Comedy Playhouse in 1972) to a long-running series, destined always to conjure up words like "best-loved" and "iconic". Cast, crew and writers gather to tell the AYBS? back story (Lloyd got the idea from working at Simpsons of Piccadilly) and reel off anecdotes from the 13-year run. We'll also find out just how the only surviving black-and-white recording of the pilot was recently remastered in full colour. We can't say for sure, as this preview comes to you without the benefit of an advance viewing, but the explanation as to how this was achieved is likely to be less amusing than the finished product.