British Sitcom History Podcast

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  To Hull and Back (Only Fools and Horses) 15.10.2026 1sa 16dk

  You can't talk about Only Fools and Horses without getting stuck in to one of the many christmas specials. We've chosen a fan favourite in To Hull and Back, which involves our boys getting involved with diamond smuggling. We also take a closer look at the career of John Challis.
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  Only Fools and Horses (Series 4+5) Part 2 08.10.2026 57dk

  This week we delve further into series 4 and 5 of Only Fools and Horses as well as everybody's least favourite special, A Royal Flush. We also take a closer look at some of the major supporting characters like Trigger and Mickey Pearce.
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  Only Fools and Horses (Series 4+5) Part 1 01.10.2026 54dk

  We are back in Peckham! Having previously looked at the "Grandad Years", now we take on Uncle Albert and some of the other players who are starting to populate the world of Del and Rodney. Are these the peak years of Only Fools and Horses?
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  The Savages 17.09.2026 1sa

  This week we are following on from our Simon Nye connection to take a look at a much more obscure sitcom. 2001's The Savages is a pretty basic domestic sitcom but has some interesting elements, including Marcus Brigstocke as the lead and Geoffrey Palmer as his dad.
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  Is It Legal? (Part 2) 10.09.2026 53dk

  Here is Part 2 of our look at Simon Nye's Is It Legal? starring the great Imelda Staunton. This week, we take a close look at Patrick Barlow and have good things to say about the physical comedy in the show.
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  Is It Legal? (Part 1) 03.09.2026 58dk

  This month we are looking at the somewhat forgotten mid nineties sitcom Is it Legal? Coming from Simon Nye while still riding high on the success of Men Behaving Badly, the show features theatre star Imelda Staunton in a relatively rare lead role.
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  James Gilbert Deep Dive 24.08.2026 36dk

  As part of our look at early Last of the Summer Wine, we came across the name of James "Jimmy" Gilbert, who was a big cheese at the BBC for many years. He played a big part in the satire boom of the sixties, brought The Two Ronnies together, and commissioned some of your favourite sitcoms. I found an in depth interview with him and listened to it all so you don't have to! But if you want to anyway, you can find it here: https://historyproject.org.uk/interview/james-jimmy-gilbert
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  Spanner's Eleven (Seven of One) 20.08.2026 46dk

  This week we're having a look at one of the episodes from Seven of One, an anthology series designed to find sitcoms built around Ronnie Barker. The series spawned two huge successes, Porridge and Open All Hours. But this one didn't. Written by Roy Clarke at the same time he was birthing Last of the Summer Wine, Spanner's Eleven sees Ronnie Barker as the incompetent manager of an incompetent lower league football team. Expect weak football puns and a surprising amount of seventies smut!
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  Last of the Summer Wine (The Blamire Years) Part 2 13.08.2026 53dk

  Part 2 of our look at just the tip of the long-running Last of the Summer Wine. We finish our analysis of the episode, marvel at the technical set dressing of a church, and take a closer look at the work of Michael Bates.
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  Last of the Summer Wine (The Blamire Years) Part 1 06.08.2026 1sa 1dk

  This week we begin an epic journey into the world's longest running sitcom, Last of the Summer Wine. We'll start by looking at just the first two series, after which Michael Bates left. Here, we talk about the meandering and pointless nature of the first series, and we get a closer look at the careers of Peter Sallis and Bill Owen.
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  Sex Lives of the Potato Men 16.07.2026 54dk

  This month we've been looking at Ideal so what better opportunity to take a look back at an early acting appearance from Johnny Vegas in the infamously bad Sex Lives of the Potato Men. Co-starring Mackenzie Crook, hot off The Office, and featuring surprisingly large supporting roles from Dominic Coleman and Mark Gatiss, this film is also packed with other Britcom cameos. It's also pretty crap and we get to make fun of it.
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  Ideal (Part 2) 09.07.2026 1sa 8dk

  This week we continue our in-depth investigation into what exactly Ideal is and what it became as it carried on for several years. We also look at the career of Johnny Vegas and try and parse the blurred line between comedian and comedy character. And to top it all we have a report from the Ideal 25th Anniversary live stage show, which Allen went to see last year.
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  Ideal (Part 1) 02.07.2026 52dk

  This week we find ourselves in the 21st Century to take a detailed look at cult favourite Ideal. Written by Graham Duff and starring Johnny Vegas, Ideal enjoyed a surprisingly long run for a slightly weird little show with more interest in music than story structure. This is definitely one of the more interesting shows we've looked at and it sparks off discussions on the nature of art versus commercialism. Enjoy!
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  Career of Caroline Aherne (with David Scott) 21.06.2026 50dk

  Writer David Scott has just released a new book looking at the career of Caroline Aherne so we got him into the virtual studio for a discussion. We go on at length about how much we love The Royle Family but also take on Mrs Merton, The Fast Show, The Fattest Man in Britain, and Dossa and Joe. Caroline Aherne: Rebel in Disguise is available in all good book shops, and some bad ones as well.
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  Man About the House (film) 18.06.2026 1sa 7dk

  Released in 1974, the Man about the House film drops right in the peak of seventies Britcom film spin-offs. Usually that means reworked material and a few pairs of Bristols but that's not what we get here. Join us on a journey of discovery to see Robin and Chrissy getting closer than ever before and a deep dive on the history of Hammer Films.
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  Man About the House (Part 2) 11.06.2026 57dk

  It's part 2 of our look at Man About the House and this week we're focusing on Richard O'Sullivan and what happened as the series progressed. In a fairly unusual move for a sitcom, the show has a definitive ending, not that we necessarily like where it goes. We address the "Norman Eshley problem" and have a side by side comparison with the American remake, Three's Company.
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  Man About the House (Part 1) 04.06.2026 57dk

  Now in video! We're back and it's a soft relaunch as we go full time into the sitcom game. We start up with an absolute classic of the early seventies in Man About the House. Ostensibly about the absolute scandalous idea of two birds living with a fella, the series soon becomes a will they/won't they between Robin and Chrissy, played by the sitcom powerhouses of Paula Wilcox and Richard O'Sullivan. Here we make a close inspection of Paula Wilcox's career and get stuck into the writers, Brian Cooke and Johnnie Mortimer. But will we appreciate the outdated political ideas and double denim on show? How many times will we accidentally say Ronnie O'Sullivan? Watch and find out!
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  I'm Sorry, Prime Minister (theatre review) 23.04.2026 31dk

  Allen has been to see the latest sitcom related stage show - I'm Sorry, Prime Minister. An updated look at the characters from Yes, Minister, the play is written by the show's original creator Jonathan Lynn and stars Griff Rhys Jones and Clive Francis. Is it a faithful addition to the canon or a Fawlty Towers style cash-in?
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  Ghosts Christmas Special 25.12.2025 38dk

  It's christmas so we're heading back to Button House for a family get-together. Julian finds that the true meaning of christmas is learning to love again and Mike's family have come round to wind him up. All this and more in our special festive edition looking at Ghosts!
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  Are You Being Served? 2016 Reboot 18.12.2025 57dk

  We promise this is our last venture into the world of Grace Brothers but this 2016 reboot was too good to miss. Loads of top comedy actors and a seemingly genuine attempt to recreate the magic that actually works pretty well. But at the end of the day, what's the point?