Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index A British sitcom is a situation comedy (sitcom) produced in Great Britain. In the United States, they are often called Britcoms, but that term also applies broadly to any British comedy. The British sitcom forms a distinct subgenre of the sitcom, and can be distinguished from its American cousin in that British situation comedies generally have shorter runs and a distinct style of humour. Also, actors in British comedies tend to appear in a wider range of sitcoms than their American counterparts. Many British sitcoms can be seen in the United States on stations that are part of the Public Broadcasting Service. Through these, a number of "Britcoms" have gained a cult following in the United States - particularly Fawlty Towers, Mr. Bean, Blackadder and Red Dwarf. Britcoms that have become popular with mainstream US audiences include Yes, Minister, Keeping Up Appearances, As Time Goes By, Father Ted, The Office and Coupling. Since the 1970s, the Cambridge Footlights club, the London based The Comic Strip club and the Edinburgh Festival have been springboards or breeding grounds for many of the big names in Britcom. Recurring writers/directors of that era include David Croft, Richard Curtis, Ben Elton and John Lloyd. Some of the most popular British sitcoms are listed alphabetically below: Absolutely Fabulous Allo Allo Are You Being Served As Time Goes By Birds of a Feather Blackadder Bless This House Bottom Bread The Brittas Empire Butterflies Chef Citizen Smith Coupling Dad's Army Dinnerladies Drop The Dead Donkey Ever Decreasing Circles The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin Father Ted Fawlty Towers Fresh Fields Gimme Gimme Gimme The Good Life Goodnight Sweetheart Hancock's Half Hour Hi-De-Hi It Ain't Half Hot Mum Just Good Friends Keeping Up Appearances Last of the Summer Wine The League of Gentlemen The Likely Lads Men Behaving Badly Mr. Bean My Family My Hero The Office One Foot in the Grave Only Fools and Horses Open All Hours Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights Porridge Rab C Nesbitt Red Dwarf Rising Damp The Royle Family Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em Steptoe and Son The Thin Blue Line Till Death Us Do Part To The Manor Born 2 Point 4 Children Two's Company The Vicar of Dibley Waiting For God Yes, Minister & Yes, Prime Minister The Young Ones The above is just a small list of British Sitcoms - over a thousand have been made. For a list containing over 800 British Sitcoms visit The British Sitcom Guide. Table of contents 1 Related Topics 2 See Also 3 External Links Related Topics List of British TV shows remade for the American market List of comedies See Also UK topics British comedy Sitcom External Links The British Sitcom Guide BBC Guide to Comedy This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.