Category: Sitcoms

  • Shaping Up
    Shaping Up

    Just watch these opening titles, and see if you do a double take, like I did, at the tonal shift once the actors’ credits begin to appear. Shaping Up was an ABC sitcom, which aired in 1984, and had quite the pedigree. It was created by Emmy-award winners Sam Simon and Ken Estin, who wrote…

  • A Ship Off The Old Block
    A Ship Off The Old Block

    Here’s a fun article from The Stage, marking the transition between series two and three of Red Dwarf, including some gossip about movie and US TV adaptations, and a chat with the writers Rob Grant and Doug Naylor.

  • The British Broadcasting Century
    The British Broadcasting Century

    Comedy on Air: Hysterical History from The Co-Optimists to Bottom The British Broadcasting Century is a fabulous podcast, with the excellent Paul Kerensa, that charts and explores the true story of British broadcast’s forgotten pioneers. Every episode is well worth a listen, and I had the pleasure of chatting to Paul about all things comedy…

  • Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Clippings
    Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Clippings

    It’s publication day for my new sci-fi comedy novel, and I am trying to resist my most British of urges to just cough politely, and never mention it again. In so doing, I thought I’d have a look at some early newspaper coverage of The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, and there’s very little of…

  • Christopher Ryan Clippings
    Christopher Ryan Clippings

    It’s been said enough to no longer really be insightful, but Christopher Ryan as Mike in The Young Ones was excellent. But he’s even better as Dave Hedgehog in Bottom, and his appearances in One Foot In The Grave and Absolutely Fabulous are marvellous too. It seems he has always been quietly getting on with…

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  • Nineteen 90s Shows
    Nineteen 90s Shows

    I wrote another book about television. I like television. I like television so much that the first thing I modelled and printed on my new 3d printer was this … I made some more after that too. There’s a few more, including TVS, ATV, and HTV, but I bought you here to talk about my…

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  • Re-Casting Keanu
    Re-Casting Keanu

    Keanu Reeves is 56. That makes him eight years older than Clive Dunn was when he was first cast in Dad’s Army. But don’t panic, Clive Dunn was always playing much older characters than his own age. Keanu Reeves is 56. That makes him seven years older than Stephanie Cole was when she was first…

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