1
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The sitcom is one of the
defining and most-enduring TV genres.

2
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Oh... God... Al...mighty!

3
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I think people remember the sitcom
landmarks of British television

4
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more than they remember anything else.

5
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I think the sitcom is kind of
the Holy Grail of doing comedy.

6
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For 60 years, sitcom

7
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has brought us together
and made us laugh.

8
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AUDIENCE LAUGHTER

9
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Whoever you were, there are
certain sitcom characters

10
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that everyone was familiar with.

11
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You felt like it was
a sort of shared experience

12
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with other people
who you couldn't see.

13
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It was a kind of feeling
that you just don't get

14
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from any other form of television.

15
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It has shown us many aspects
of the British character.

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You snobs!

17
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We like laughing at people
who are rude to each other.

18
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Bloody blasphemous Scouse git!

19
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We like seeing people in pain.

20
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Social discomfort.

21
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You're not going to lose your job.

22
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You know, you're not
going to lose your job.

23
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Awkwardness.

24
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What?

25
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Don't matter.

26
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Someone who has fooled
themselves into thinking

27
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that they can put themselves
across as better than they are.

28
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That's automatically going to be funny.

29
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Alan, you've, er...
come free at the side.

30
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Oh! Sorry.

31
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One of the things I love
about sitcom was I think,

32
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in some ways, it's often very realistic.

33
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I think sitcoms, particularly
in Britain, reflect the world

34
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and the times that you're living in.

35
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That's what's so funny, quite often.

36
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They come over and get all their
false teeth, false eyeballs...

37
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Sitcoms often challenge us directly

38
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to reconsider who we are
and what we think.

39
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Got their £2,000, go home,

40
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start up in business, a new man!

41
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Trying to find taboo subjects,
and find a way of doing them

42
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so that no-one can be offended,

43
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is a very interesting
challenge in sitcom.

44
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That's it, now. In you go.

45
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Isn't that better? Good man.

46
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This will keep you nice and warm.

47
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Sitcoms, in particular,
can give voice to...

48
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..attitudes that dare
not speak their name.

49
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And in that way, it's quite
cathartic, because once you've

50
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said things out in the open,
you've acknowledged

51
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this prejudice that you have,
you've sort of...anaesthetised it.

52
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This hasn't been cleaned out for years.

53
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Hey, there's a little Japanese soldier in here,

54
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still fighting the war.

55
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You daft racist.

56
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So the British sitcom is not
just a way to lift the spirits,

57
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but a way to enlighten us, and tonight,

58
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we're going to look at how sitcom
has dealt with everything

59
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from our obsession with class

60
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to our attitudes to homosexuality,

61
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and from gender politics to race.

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You've got it now, white boy.

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The roots of British sitcom
are found in the work

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of Ray Galton and Alan Simpson.

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These ground-breaking writers gave us

66
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the first landmark British sitcoms

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with Hancock's Half Hour and Steptoe And Son,

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shows which created the blueprints
for much of the comedy to come

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over the next 60 years.

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BBC television presents
Tony Hancock in...

71
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Hancock's Half Hour.

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Hancock's Half Hour
featured Tony Hancock

73
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as the central character,

74
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Anthony Aloysius St John Hancock,
a man with delusions of grandeur

75
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who was constantly thwarted
by his own inadequacy.

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I loved Hancock...

77
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Stone me, this is hopeless.

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..because it perfectly captured a
sort of Little Englander mentality

79
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that is both contemptible and
lovable at the same time.

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Everybody gets colds.
Not like I get them.

81
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Oh, of course they do.
No, they don't.

82
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Samples, that's all they get.

83
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Me, I get the full output
of the entire germ kingdom.

84
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There's a slight inherent negativity,

85
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glass-half-empty attitude that
Hancock had that permeates sitcoms

86
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right through the decades,
and it's something that captures

87
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an essence of Britishness.

88
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The Hancock character always thought
he should be living better

89
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than he was but, I mean,
that's why he, at times,

90
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wore the astrakhan coat
and the Homburg hat.

91
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It gave him that sense of success.

92
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BELL RINGS

93
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Good afternoon.

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I wish to fly to Australia.

95
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What, on that or the carpet?

96
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What I loved about Hancock in
particular was that there was also

97
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an aspiration to be artistic,
and what that allowed for is

98
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some material that was... that's
ostensibly quite esoteric, like,

99
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you know, he'd have things about poetry,

100
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he'd talk about Bertrand Russell
and make these references that,

101
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ordinarily, you might think
were beyond the ken of most people

102
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and yet, that sitcom
had huge viewing figures.

103
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As the good poet Oscar Khayyam
put it...

104
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AUDIENCE LAUGHTER

105
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..you can fool some of
the people half of the time,

106
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you can fool half of the people
all of the time,

107
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but you cannot fool, all of the
time, some of the people

108
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who last laughed. Good luck.

109
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After the success
of Hancock's Half Hour,

110
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Galton and Simpson created
another pioneering sitcom.

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Steptoe And Son gave us not only
a mixture of laughter and pathos,

112
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but also British sitcom's
first working class family.

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Steptoe And Son kind of broke
the mould in that it was about,

114
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you know, real situations
and a tricky relationship,

115
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and it was set on the streets of London.

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What was interesting about
Steptoe And Son, for me,

117
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was that it just reflected
an England that I saw then.

118
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There was the rag-and-bone man.

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Steptoe And Son tapped into
the intergenerational conflict

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that was increasingly common
in 1960s Britain.

121
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Harold Steptoe was an aspirational,

122
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if sometimes pretentious, man
who dreamed of a better life.

123
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But in a decade when many people
of his age were moving out

124
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and living independent lives,

125
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Harold was stuck in a down-at-heel
rag and bone yard

126
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with his grubby,
lazy and stubborn father.

127
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With Steptoe, the father and son

128
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and love-hate relationship works
so well because it was very funny,

129
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also quite sad at times...

130
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I was thinking of going on holiday
on my own this year, anyway. Oh?

131
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Cos you saw this son trying to leave
his environment, and yet,

132
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he couldn't really leave his father.

133
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He needed his father as well.

134
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We've been on holiday together
since you was that high.

135
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I know we have, Dad.

136
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That's what I mean.

137
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He is trapped by his father,

138
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and this job that he
doesn't really want to do,

139
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and he knows he's sort of,
better than it,

140
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and he wants to move on and
every time he does move on,

141
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you get the "Oh, don't leave me!"

142
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The more I see of Steptoe,
the more I think it's in line with,

143
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you know, Harold Pinter and
Noel Coward and stuff like that,

144
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in terms of sort of family
and tension and torture.

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If you're mucking about,
I'll wallop you!

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AUDIENCE LAUGHTER

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We were very honoured
to have that on our screens.

148
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In 1964, with the arrival of BBC Two,

149
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television gained a new outlet
for situation comedy,

150
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and in December that year
came the first sitcom

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to be set in the North of England.

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Written by Dick Clement
and Ian La Frenais,

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The Likely Lads centred on the lives
of two young men in Tyneside,

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set against the background of the
huge social and economic revolution

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of the '60s and '70s.

156
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I was talking to somebody
the other day who was saying

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when his dad first saw
The Likely Lads,

158
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he was thrilled just to see
his part of the world on the screen.

159
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I thought you might
fancy this at half-time.

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It's not my birthday, is it?

161
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The original Likely Lads
ran for three series

162
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and dealt with the friendship
of Bob and Terry

163
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as they navigated the changing times
of the '60s.

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# Oh, what happened to you?

165
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# Whatever happened to me? #

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These two Geordie characters
returned to our screens in 1973

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in Whatever Happened
To The Likely Lads?,

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delivering not just laughs,
but also powerful social commentary.

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And of course, they've moved on,
or Bob certainly has,

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and Terry is the one wishing it
were not that way.

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The fact that he'd been out
of the UK for five years

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automatically meant you were going
to touch on the social landscape,

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social issues, because Terry
was new to it all.

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He felt that he'd missed it.

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Death of censorship. A new morality.

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Oh, Calcutta! Topless waitresses
in see-through knickers.

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AUDIENCE LAUGHTER

178
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They never caught on.

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The topless waitresses.

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Well, that's a crumb of comfort.

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At least, I'd like to have been here
to see them not catching on!

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Permissive society, I missed it all.

183
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It provided a commentary
on these people who were...

184
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who were trying to improve themselves,

185
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and drink wine with their meals.

186
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Now, I've got white, red or fizzy rose.

187
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Well, Thelma prefers white.

188
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It's a very interesting vignette
of what, perhaps, was going on

189
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at the time socially,
with groups of people thinking,

190
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"I just don't want to be
like that any more.

191
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"I want to improve myself,
I want to get on,"

192
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and yet, there was Terry reminding us,

193
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"Are you sure?
Is that what you want?"

194
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Oh, and these lovely table mats.
These are new.

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Wow, hunting scenes.

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Just haven't had them out before.

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They were a present
from Auntie Elsie.

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Oh, your auntie Elsie.

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How is she, Brenda? Is she still
a cleaner down the brewery?

200
00:09:48,480 --> 00:09:51,880
The social and political change
in Britain of the '60s and '70s

201
00:09:51,880 --> 00:09:54,920
also inspired one of the most
opinionated characters ever seen

202
00:09:54,920 --> 00:09:56,320
in a British sitcom.

203
00:09:56,320 --> 00:09:58,840
No-one was quite prepared
for the force of nature

204
00:09:58,840 --> 00:10:00,760
that was Alf Garnett.

205
00:10:00,760 --> 00:10:03,080
Johnny Speight said to me one day,

206
00:10:03,080 --> 00:10:05,040
cos I was his agent as well,

207
00:10:05,040 --> 00:10:08,600
"I want to write
a series about, um...

208
00:10:08,600 --> 00:10:13,040
"a family where the father
keeps arguing with the son-in-law."

209
00:10:15,360 --> 00:10:17,520
So I said that to the BBC
and they said,

210
00:10:17,520 --> 00:10:19,120
"Oh, well, we'll do that, then."

211
00:10:21,960 --> 00:10:24,960
The series addressed political
issues at a difficult time

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00:10:24,960 --> 00:10:28,840
in British society. As a result
of post-war government policy,

213
00:10:28,840 --> 00:10:32,120
the number of migrants to Britain
rose in the '50s and '60s

214
00:10:32,120 --> 00:10:35,800
and with mass immigration came
the rise of racial prejudice,

215
00:10:35,800 --> 00:10:38,560
a subject which was directly
addressed in the show.

216
00:10:40,720 --> 00:10:43,360
Look what's happening to your
National Health Service! See?

217
00:10:43,360 --> 00:10:46,800
In Till Death Us Do Part,
conservative Alf Garnett

218
00:10:46,800 --> 00:10:50,080
was constantly at war with his more
progressive and socially liberal

219
00:10:50,080 --> 00:10:52,600
daughter, Rita,
and his son-in-law, Mike.

220
00:10:53,640 --> 00:10:57,520
Look, up £100 million in one year,
the cost of your health service!

221
00:10:57,520 --> 00:10:59,920
100 million increase on it, innit?

222
00:10:59,920 --> 00:11:03,040
So? So? That's all your
bloody foreigners, innit?

223
00:11:03,040 --> 00:11:04,400
And all the antibiotics

224
00:11:04,400 --> 00:11:06,840
for all their new diseases they're bringing...

225
00:11:06,840 --> 00:11:10,240
He was a very political writer,
and Till Death,

226
00:11:10,240 --> 00:11:12,480
it was a very political show.

227
00:11:12,480 --> 00:11:14,000
It felt very real.

228
00:11:14,000 --> 00:11:17,960
It felt like the conversations
people were having...

229
00:11:17,960 --> 00:11:22,800
in their sitting rooms and kitchens
and bedrooms around the country.

230
00:11:22,800 --> 00:11:26,240
Johnny Speight was doing
the most difficult thing,

231
00:11:26,240 --> 00:11:28,800
which is treading the line of irony, really,

232
00:11:28,800 --> 00:11:32,160
in which you have to be careful
that you don't write characters

233
00:11:32,160 --> 00:11:37,520
that are so awful that a percentage
of your audience think,

234
00:11:37,520 --> 00:11:40,600
"I like this guy. He's...
Finally, there's a man on television

235
00:11:40,600 --> 00:11:42,000
"speaking the truth."

236
00:11:42,000 --> 00:11:43,760
The ingenious thing about Speight

237
00:11:43,760 --> 00:11:47,200
is that he'll put in a couple of
things that would just tickle the,

238
00:11:47,200 --> 00:11:50,760
you know, the nation's conscience
and so, you'd be laughing with him,

239
00:11:50,760 --> 00:11:53,640
too, because he'll say things
that people said, felt,

240
00:11:53,640 --> 00:11:57,360
but daren't say. But on the whole,
yeah, you were laughing at him.

241
00:11:58,600 --> 00:12:01,280
The tricky question of whether
the audience was laughing

242
00:12:01,280 --> 00:12:05,080
at Alf Garnett or with him was
addressed by Johnny Speight himself

243
00:12:05,080 --> 00:12:07,960
in a 1973 interview with
Michael Parkinson.

244
00:12:09,160 --> 00:12:10,520
I often wonder about Garnett.

245
00:12:10,520 --> 00:12:12,160
Was he a throwback
to your childhood,

246
00:12:12,160 --> 00:12:14,840
or is he a discernible character
that you see around you?

247
00:12:14,840 --> 00:12:17,880
I see him around me all the time,
not only in the East End.

248
00:12:17,880 --> 00:12:21,320
I see him in the middle classes,
the working...the upper classes,

249
00:12:21,320 --> 00:12:23,360
I think there's too many
Garnetts around. You know?

250
00:12:23,360 --> 00:12:25,600
Far too many ignorant,
bigoted people.

251
00:12:26,920 --> 00:12:29,240
Johnny Speight did not escape criticism

252
00:12:29,240 --> 00:12:31,640
when Till Death Us Do Part was broadcast.

253
00:12:31,640 --> 00:12:34,320
Mary Whitehouse and
the Clean Up TV campaign

254
00:12:34,320 --> 00:12:36,280
were not amused by Alf Garnett.

255
00:12:37,600 --> 00:12:41,000
However, Mary wasn't troubled
so much by his shocking views

256
00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:42,680
as by his shocking language.

257
00:12:44,840 --> 00:12:48,080
Today's post brings a flood
of letters bitterly criticising

258
00:12:48,080 --> 00:12:51,440
remarks made in the previous week's
Till Death Us Do Part.

259
00:12:52,680 --> 00:12:56,160
All of them, I think,
objecting to the blasphemy.

260
00:12:56,160 --> 00:12:58,960
"The reason why God and the Virgin
Mary hadn't had any more children,

261
00:12:58,960 --> 00:13:01,720
"except Jesus Christ, was perhaps
because they were on the pill."

262
00:13:01,720 --> 00:13:05,000
People who pontificate about
things like Alf Garnett,

263
00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:08,080
"We shouldn't let him go on
television," say, they themselves

264
00:13:08,080 --> 00:13:11,000
are never affected by it, but they
believe that everybody else is.

265
00:13:11,000 --> 00:13:13,360
They're speaking on behalf
of people they don't know.

266
00:13:13,360 --> 00:13:15,360
And they're assuming the audience is idiots.

267
00:13:15,360 --> 00:13:16,760
Well, of course, the audience

268
00:13:16,760 --> 00:13:20,000
are smarter than anybody who sets
themselves up as an arbiter

269
00:13:20,000 --> 00:13:22,600
of what should or shouldn't be
allowed to be said on television.

270
00:13:22,600 --> 00:13:26,080
Johnny Speight responded to the
criticism from Mary Whitehouse

271
00:13:26,080 --> 00:13:28,040
in the most powerful way he could -

272
00:13:28,040 --> 00:13:30,680
by making Alf Garnett
her number one fan.

273
00:13:30,680 --> 00:13:34,400
You want to read something a bit
edifying, something a bit educative?

274
00:13:34,400 --> 00:13:37,680
Educative? Yeah. Well, what are you
reading anyway, Mickey Spillane?

275
00:13:37,680 --> 00:13:41,000
No. No, not Mickey Spillane.

276
00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:42,840
Mrs Whitehouse, innit?

277
00:13:42,840 --> 00:13:44,640
Mrs Mary Whitehouse.

278
00:13:44,640 --> 00:13:45,920
AUDIENCE LAUGHTER

279
00:13:45,920 --> 00:13:49,120
And the thing about Alf Garnett,
he was weak.

280
00:13:49,120 --> 00:13:51,400
He was vulnerable. You know.

281
00:13:51,400 --> 00:13:56,000
And his way of dealing with
that was to attack. Was to...

282
00:13:56,000 --> 00:13:59,960
was to apport blame to immigrants,
or, you know...

283
00:13:59,960 --> 00:14:03,000
And it was a big political
statement at the time.

284
00:14:03,000 --> 00:14:05,800
But I think the thing about
these monster characters,

285
00:14:05,800 --> 00:14:08,040
who sometimes will say
the most ridiculous things,

286
00:14:08,040 --> 00:14:10,400
the important thing is,
they don't get away with it.

287
00:14:10,400 --> 00:14:12,000
You're Jewish, aren't you?

288
00:14:12,000 --> 00:14:14,120
I AM NOT JEWISH!

289
00:14:14,120 --> 00:14:15,600
AUDIENCE LAUGHTER

290
00:14:16,520 --> 00:14:17,720
You are!

291
00:14:17,720 --> 00:14:19,320
You know you are.

292
00:14:19,320 --> 00:14:22,160
They all know you, round this area.

293
00:14:22,160 --> 00:14:26,520
And listen, your grandfather's name
was Solly Diamond!

294
00:14:26,520 --> 00:14:29,560
LIES! It's all lies!

295
00:14:29,560 --> 00:14:32,760
Lies! Lies! It is not lies!

296
00:14:32,760 --> 00:14:37,440
Race has probably moved on
in the last half-century,

297
00:14:37,440 --> 00:14:40,720
more than quite a few
other attitudes.

298
00:14:42,160 --> 00:14:46,720
And so the attitude to race
then looks...bad, you know?

299
00:14:46,720 --> 00:14:49,320
But it doesn't look as bad
as Spike Milligan and Eric Sykes

300
00:14:49,320 --> 00:14:51,120
in Curry And Chips.

301
00:14:51,120 --> 00:14:55,280
Curry And Chips was a short-lived
sitcom from 1969,

302
00:14:55,280 --> 00:14:58,920
based on an idea by Spike Milligan
and written by Johnny Speight,

303
00:14:58,920 --> 00:15:01,400
starring Milligan as an Asian immigrant.

304
00:15:01,400 --> 00:15:04,560
Short-lived, and indeed,
more than a little ill-judged.

305
00:15:06,120 --> 00:15:09,160
Curry And Chips wasn't received
all that well at the time,

306
00:15:09,160 --> 00:15:14,000
and probably cos it wasn't quite
up to standard, to be honest.

307
00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:16,800
I hardly remember it,
that's not a good sign, is it?

308
00:15:16,800 --> 00:15:17,920
Hey!

309
00:15:17,920 --> 00:15:19,360
AUDIENCE LAUGHTER

310
00:15:19,360 --> 00:15:20,480
What's your name?

311
00:15:20,480 --> 00:15:21,720
O'Grady.

312
00:15:21,720 --> 00:15:23,280
AUDIENCE LAUGHTER

313
00:15:27,480 --> 00:15:28,920
Kevin O'Grady.

314
00:15:30,480 --> 00:15:31,880
That's an Irish name.

315
00:15:31,880 --> 00:15:33,040
Yes, I'm Irish.

316
00:15:33,040 --> 00:15:35,160
How did Spike Milligan
get away with that?

317
00:15:35,160 --> 00:15:37,400
But, you know, I speak
to my mum and my aunts,

318
00:15:37,400 --> 00:15:39,440
and they talk about watching that.

319
00:15:39,440 --> 00:15:41,720
You know, and they said, "Yeah,
we did watch Curry And Chips.

320
00:15:41,720 --> 00:15:43,000
"We watched it." And...

321
00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:47,640
But I think, because there was no
representation at all of diversity,

322
00:15:47,640 --> 00:15:51,880
I think they felt, "Well, yeah, OK,
we will watch this and, you know..."

323
00:15:51,880 --> 00:15:54,000
But, yeah, I do look back
at that now and go,

324
00:15:54,000 --> 00:15:56,080
"I'm not quite sure
how you got away with that."

325
00:15:56,080 --> 00:16:00,360
It wasn't that it was racist or
homophobic or anything terrible,

326
00:16:00,360 --> 00:16:02,680
it just wasn't very good.

327
00:16:02,680 --> 00:16:04,480
The show came to the attention

328
00:16:04,480 --> 00:16:06,400
of the Independent Television Authority

329
00:16:06,400 --> 00:16:08,520
and they declared
that it was offensive,

330
00:16:08,520 --> 00:16:11,040
and it was cancelled
after just six episodes.

331
00:16:13,760 --> 00:16:17,120
The subject of race was at
the core of another sitcom,

332
00:16:17,120 --> 00:16:20,800
broadcast on the ITV network from 1972.

333
00:16:20,800 --> 00:16:24,560
Love Thy Neighbour was written by
Vince Powell and Harry Driver, and

334
00:16:24,560 --> 00:16:26,600
it explored the tensions that arose

335
00:16:26,600 --> 00:16:28,720
when a black couple moved next door

336
00:16:28,720 --> 00:16:32,120
to a suburban, white working-class
couple in south London.

337
00:16:32,120 --> 00:16:33,800
We must face the facts fairly and squarely.

338
00:16:34,840 --> 00:16:36,960
A coloured family have
come to live next door,

339
00:16:36,960 --> 00:16:38,720
and it's up to us to come
to terms with it.

340
00:16:40,360 --> 00:16:41,440
We'll move.

341
00:16:41,440 --> 00:16:43,160
AUDIENCE LAUGHTER

342
00:16:43,160 --> 00:16:46,840
And that was a real issue,
I think, in the '70s.

343
00:16:48,360 --> 00:16:52,960
And you know, you heard words like
"Paki" and "whitey" and "honky",

344
00:16:52,960 --> 00:16:57,240
and all these words, which you heard
on the street or at the office,

345
00:16:57,240 --> 00:16:58,760
but you didn't see on television.

346
00:16:58,760 --> 00:17:00,240
And it was a breath of fresh air.

347
00:17:00,240 --> 00:17:02,360
I don't understand you, Eddie Booth.
For years,

348
00:17:02,360 --> 00:17:05,640
you've been shooting off your mouth
about socialism and equality.

349
00:17:05,640 --> 00:17:07,160
"Equal rights for all."

350
00:17:07,160 --> 00:17:09,560
Equal rights does not entitle
nig-nogs to move next door.

351
00:17:09,560 --> 00:17:10,720
AUDIENCE LAUGHTER

352
00:17:10,720 --> 00:17:12,680
With Love Thy Neighbour,
I thought it was very...

353
00:17:12,680 --> 00:17:13,880
It was...mild.

354
00:17:13,880 --> 00:17:16,760
You know? The fact is, they're
only calling me a nig-nog.

355
00:17:16,760 --> 00:17:19,080
Compared to the names we
were getting in the classroom,

356
00:17:19,080 --> 00:17:21,320
on the playground,
in the streets, you know...

357
00:17:21,320 --> 00:17:23,360
This was a very, very mild show.

358
00:17:23,360 --> 00:17:25,640
What's wrong with me
being a blood donor?

359
00:17:25,640 --> 00:17:27,480
I do have blood, you know.

360
00:17:27,480 --> 00:17:29,080
Yes.

361
00:17:29,080 --> 00:17:31,120
I know that, but it's coloured blood.

362
00:17:31,120 --> 00:17:33,520
Love Thy Neighbour
has been criticised for its

363
00:17:33,520 --> 00:17:36,320
politically incorrect handling
of issues of racism,

364
00:17:36,320 --> 00:17:39,600
and is one of a number of sitcoms
that are no longer repeated

365
00:17:39,600 --> 00:17:42,000
as a result of changing attitudes.

366
00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:45,680
We did watch it, and, yes,
you look back, and you go...

367
00:17:45,680 --> 00:17:48,600
Some of that stuff definitely
wouldn't sit right today.

368
00:17:48,600 --> 00:17:52,160
But, in a funny kind of way,
it had its place at that time.

369
00:17:52,160 --> 00:17:55,720
Our blood has matured
over thousands of years.

370
00:17:55,720 --> 00:17:56,960
You make it sound like wine!

371
00:17:56,960 --> 00:17:58,120
Exactly.

372
00:17:58,120 --> 00:18:00,600
You could say it's more
like vintage champagne.

373
00:18:00,600 --> 00:18:01,720
Yeah, you could...

374
00:18:01,720 --> 00:18:03,560
And what's ours? Brown ale?

375
00:18:05,320 --> 00:18:07,960
They might have been very big,
stereotypical characters,

376
00:18:07,960 --> 00:18:10,840
they might have been
the butt of jokes at times,

377
00:18:10,840 --> 00:18:13,480
but it was somebody
who looked like our uncle.

378
00:18:13,480 --> 00:18:15,360
You know? And that was...!

379
00:18:15,360 --> 00:18:17,640
There's something quite warming
and quite, you know...

380
00:18:17,640 --> 00:18:19,440
There's quite a connection in that, really.

381
00:18:20,800 --> 00:18:23,440
As well as dramatic changes
in race relations,

382
00:18:23,440 --> 00:18:27,160
the 1960s saw a transformation
in the role of women in society.

383
00:18:27,160 --> 00:18:29,720
There was a boom in the number
of jobs available to young,

384
00:18:29,720 --> 00:18:33,480
single women, and more girls
went on to higher education.

385
00:18:33,480 --> 00:18:36,280
Having lived away from home
and with greater intellectual

386
00:18:36,280 --> 00:18:38,000
and financial independence,

387
00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:40,120
many women could now have aspirations

388
00:18:40,120 --> 00:18:42,240
beyond being a wife or mother.

389
00:18:42,240 --> 00:18:47,160
And in 1969, a sitcom came
along that reflected just that.

390
00:18:56,160 --> 00:18:59,840
The Liver Birds was written by
a young Liverpudlian, Carla Lane.

391
00:18:59,840 --> 00:19:04,120
And in another first, the script put
two women at the heart of the story.

392
00:19:04,120 --> 00:19:08,400
It took a woman writer, Carla Lane,
to really put women

393
00:19:08,400 --> 00:19:13,360
at the centre of the screen,
and write fully-rounded women.

394
00:19:13,360 --> 00:19:16,520
And explore their problems
and issues and conflicts

395
00:19:16,520 --> 00:19:18,640
from a woman's point of view.

396
00:19:18,640 --> 00:19:20,400
How do I look?

397
00:19:20,400 --> 00:19:23,800
Well, you won't exactly
make Queen Magazine.

398
00:19:23,800 --> 00:19:26,400
I'll be lucky if I make
Horse And Hound in this!

399
00:19:26,400 --> 00:19:31,800
Women had always been girlfriends
and wives and sisters before,

400
00:19:31,800 --> 00:19:37,600
and we were the first women who were
actually the so-called stars of it.

401
00:19:37,600 --> 00:19:40,720
Remember your mum
when Gloria got engaged?

402
00:19:40,720 --> 00:19:43,240
"Oh, my daughter, my innocent little daughter!"

403
00:19:43,240 --> 00:19:44,840
Yeah, and there was our Gloria,

404
00:19:44,840 --> 00:19:47,040
scoffing her pill
with her elevenses.

405
00:19:48,840 --> 00:19:55,600
Carla did tap in on the gradual
emancipation of women, really.

406
00:19:55,600 --> 00:19:59,320
That women were beginning to feel,

407
00:19:59,320 --> 00:20:02,200
"Actually, we stand
on our own two feet."

408
00:20:02,200 --> 00:20:05,760
I tell you what, I'm going
dead off this marriage lark.

409
00:20:05,760 --> 00:20:08,360
The only ring I'm going
to wear is the ring of confidence.

410
00:20:08,360 --> 00:20:09,760
Yes. Freedom...

411
00:20:09,760 --> 00:20:13,160
And it was reflected right through,
really, in the theatres,

412
00:20:13,160 --> 00:20:18,040
in the television, and the politics,
that women began to matter.

413
00:20:18,040 --> 00:20:21,080
# I am what I am

414
00:20:21,080 --> 00:20:22,200
# What I am

415
00:20:22,200 --> 00:20:23,320
# What I am... #

416
00:20:23,320 --> 00:20:25,760
Attitudes in society were changing,

417
00:20:25,760 --> 00:20:27,680
some more quickly than others.

418
00:20:27,680 --> 00:20:31,440
But lagging way behind the rest was
the attitude towards homosexuality.

419
00:20:32,480 --> 00:20:34,080
# People have the right

420
00:20:34,080 --> 00:20:35,560
# To be just who they are... #

421
00:20:35,560 --> 00:20:38,160
For a long time, gay men
were either ignored,

422
00:20:38,160 --> 00:20:39,560
warily alluded to,

423
00:20:39,560 --> 00:20:42,600
or camped up to within
an inch of their screen life.

424
00:20:42,600 --> 00:20:47,040
Originally, a gay artist or
whatever, it wasn't discussed much.

425
00:20:47,040 --> 00:20:49,880
Some now and again,
I think it was rather hidden.

426
00:20:49,880 --> 00:20:53,840
As though it was not going to be
acceptable, or normal, or whatever.

427
00:20:53,840 --> 00:20:57,560
So, with Frankie Howerd,
for example...

428
00:20:58,560 --> 00:21:03,080
..it wasn't referred to, but you
would... He would use gestures...

429
00:21:04,600 --> 00:21:06,440
..over the top.

430
00:21:06,440 --> 00:21:09,160
And that's where the humour
came from. You know.

431
00:21:10,680 --> 00:21:13,760
John Inman used to do that,
really over the top.

432
00:21:13,760 --> 00:21:15,680
Mr Humphreys, are you free?

433
00:21:15,680 --> 00:21:17,960
I'm busy pricing my ties, Captain Peacock.

434
00:21:17,960 --> 00:21:19,760
The gentleman wishes to try on a dress.

435
00:21:19,760 --> 00:21:20,840
I'm free!

436
00:21:20,840 --> 00:21:22,040
AUDIENCE LAUGHTER

437
00:21:22,040 --> 00:21:24,320
I think the popular thing
to do is to diss them,

438
00:21:24,320 --> 00:21:27,640
but, you know...
If your only experience of what...

439
00:21:29,160 --> 00:21:32,680
What a gay man is like is Melvyn Hayes

440
00:21:32,680 --> 00:21:35,240
in It Ain't Half Hot, Mum...
I clung to them.

441
00:21:35,240 --> 00:21:37,200
I've warned you once before!

442
00:21:37,200 --> 00:21:38,600
Next time, I'll...

443
00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:41,040
Knock it off! He nearly did!

444
00:21:41,040 --> 00:21:43,160
We needed more, we needed better.

445
00:21:43,160 --> 00:21:44,920
The bottom line was they were funny,

446
00:21:44,920 --> 00:21:46,960
so it didn't really bother me
too much.

447
00:21:46,960 --> 00:21:51,400
It took until 1979 for sitcom
to give us the first witty,

448
00:21:51,400 --> 00:21:53,240
non-camp gay couple,

449
00:21:53,240 --> 00:21:55,600
when Michael Grade commissioned
the sitcom Agony.

450
00:21:55,600 --> 00:21:58,720
# I'm feeling kind of on the shelf

451
00:21:58,720 --> 00:22:00,160
# Sometimes I... #

452
00:22:00,160 --> 00:22:02,920
The show featured Maureen Lipman
as an agony aunt who lived

453
00:22:02,920 --> 00:22:04,920
next door to Rob and Michael,

454
00:22:04,920 --> 00:22:07,320
her more down-to-Earth neighbours.

455
00:22:07,320 --> 00:22:11,320
We wanted two guys who looked
like they had ordinary jobs,

456
00:22:11,320 --> 00:22:12,600
and loved each other.

457
00:22:12,600 --> 00:22:15,480
Well, now, how long
has it been for you two?

458
00:22:15,480 --> 00:22:18,480
It's three years today since
you introduced us. No!

459
00:22:18,480 --> 00:22:20,120
And you're still happily unmarried?

460
00:22:20,120 --> 00:22:21,600
Made for each other.

461
00:22:21,600 --> 00:22:24,880
The only reason we row is because
we enjoy kissing and making up.

462
00:22:24,880 --> 00:22:28,920
It seemed to us that if we could
establish these people

463
00:22:28,920 --> 00:22:31,720
as nice people, that would be good.

464
00:22:31,720 --> 00:22:34,560
Home-made nut roast. Ooh!
It's organic.

465
00:22:34,560 --> 00:22:36,600
Not to make them saints, but to say,

466
00:22:36,600 --> 00:22:40,240
as we had all said to each other
in private conversation,

467
00:22:40,240 --> 00:22:42,360
"You could live next door,
you'd never know."

468
00:22:42,360 --> 00:22:44,480
I keep thinking of Lawrence
having a great time

469
00:22:44,480 --> 00:22:46,000
with a different girl each night,

470
00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:48,480
and me sitting at home with
two gay boys. Nothing personal.

471
00:22:48,480 --> 00:22:49,720
No, no.

472
00:22:51,080 --> 00:22:53,800
To see the first gay couple
that felt real, rather than...

473
00:22:54,960 --> 00:22:57,040
..the more Dick Emery
version of it, you know,

474
00:22:57,040 --> 00:23:00,960
was to some people shocking,
and some people just unusual,

475
00:23:00,960 --> 00:23:02,880
and to some people a brilliant move.
You know.

476
00:23:02,880 --> 00:23:05,120
It... But it was definitely
something that made you go,

477
00:23:05,120 --> 00:23:07,080
you know, "I've not
seen that before."

478
00:23:07,080 --> 00:23:08,960
I've got the answer.
What was the question?

479
00:23:08,960 --> 00:23:10,480
The question of cheering you up!

480
00:23:10,480 --> 00:23:13,320
Why don't you become gay
and forget about men altogether?

481
00:23:13,320 --> 00:23:14,960
Didn't work for you, did it?

482
00:23:16,480 --> 00:23:18,920
People seemed to like it, too.
People enjoyed it.

483
00:23:18,920 --> 00:23:22,400
Not just the gay community,
who finally found expression

484
00:23:22,400 --> 00:23:25,560
on television in a way that
wasn't kind of music hall.

485
00:23:25,560 --> 00:23:27,000
It was real.

486
00:23:28,600 --> 00:23:30,880
But also, the whole
audience enjoyed it,

487
00:23:30,880 --> 00:23:35,320
and I think it did move sitcom
forward quite a bit.

488
00:23:35,320 --> 00:23:38,480
As the sexual and social revolution progressed,

489
00:23:38,480 --> 00:23:42,680
sitcoms continue to explore a wide
range of themes and attitudes.

490
00:23:42,680 --> 00:23:44,680
But there was one British preoccupation

491
00:23:44,680 --> 00:23:47,680
that was returned to again and again and again.

492
00:23:47,680 --> 00:23:49,120
Class.

493
00:23:49,120 --> 00:23:53,440
If you're writing fiction in this
country, for a British audience,

494
00:23:53,440 --> 00:23:58,760
you have to be very secure
in what class your characters sit.

495
00:23:58,760 --> 00:24:01,040
Otherwise, the audience
doesn't know where they are.

496
00:24:02,040 --> 00:24:06,160
And, you know, if it's a cosy,
middle-class show like...

497
00:24:07,440 --> 00:24:09,440
..Terry And June, that's fine.

498
00:24:09,440 --> 00:24:13,560
It knows where it sits
in the hierarchy.

499
00:24:17,840 --> 00:24:19,960
Despite the economic woes
of the '70s,

500
00:24:19,960 --> 00:24:22,480
there was a rise in consumerism

501
00:24:22,480 --> 00:24:26,440
and increased spending on leisure
activities and foreign holidays.

502
00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:29,800
As a result, middle-class sitcoms
were springing up quicker

503
00:24:29,800 --> 00:24:32,440
than you could say,
"Avocado bathroom suite".

504
00:24:32,440 --> 00:24:35,680
Terry And June, Butterflies and The Good Life

505
00:24:35,680 --> 00:24:37,440
all became huge hits.

506
00:24:38,840 --> 00:24:42,000
If you look at the '70s sitcoms,
stuff like The Good Life,

507
00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:43,440
they're obsessed with class.

508
00:24:43,440 --> 00:24:46,440
The point is, Barbara,
I got it home, I put it on,

509
00:24:46,440 --> 00:24:48,120
and I said to myself,

510
00:24:48,120 --> 00:24:50,360
"Margo, that simply
looks cheap and nasty."

511
00:24:50,360 --> 00:24:52,000
So I wondered if you'd like it?

512
00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:55,960
Class is a subject that absolutely
runs through British comedy.

513
00:24:55,960 --> 00:25:00,120
Because comedy at some point,
in some way, is always about

514
00:25:00,120 --> 00:25:03,560
conflict, and about wanting to
get somewhere where you can't go.

515
00:25:03,560 --> 00:25:06,960
And class, in the past,
not so much now, I don't think,

516
00:25:06,960 --> 00:25:10,320
has always been the great barrier
to it, isn't it?

517
00:25:10,320 --> 00:25:12,600
You know, you can't...
Posh is a club you can't join.

518
00:25:15,360 --> 00:25:20,080
Top of almost every classic British
sitcom list is Fawlty Towers.

519
00:25:20,080 --> 00:25:23,520
And in Basil Fawlty, we found
the epitome of the class-obsessed,

520
00:25:23,520 --> 00:25:26,360
frustrated, social-climbing middle Englander.

521
00:25:28,200 --> 00:25:32,640
I don't think there can be
a greater example of someone who was

522
00:25:32,640 --> 00:25:36,560
trying to improve their social
status than Basil Fawlty.

523
00:25:36,560 --> 00:25:37,720
Beg your pardon?

524
00:25:37,720 --> 00:25:39,960
Would you put both your names,
please?

525
00:25:39,960 --> 00:25:41,440
Well, would you give me a date?

526
00:25:41,440 --> 00:25:42,880
I only use one.

527
00:25:42,880 --> 00:25:44,320
You don't have a first name?

528
00:25:44,320 --> 00:25:46,680
No, I am Lord Melbury,
so I simply sign Melbury.

529
00:25:50,960 --> 00:25:52,280
Go away.

530
00:25:52,280 --> 00:25:55,400
He's fooled by anyone
who's in a higher status than him,

531
00:25:55,400 --> 00:25:58,360
as happens when the aristocrat comes to stay

532
00:25:58,360 --> 00:26:00,440
and tries to borrow money.

533
00:26:00,440 --> 00:26:05,120
And Fawlty does it, simply because
he thinks this man is an aristocrat,

534
00:26:05,120 --> 00:26:08,720
and therefore, he's to be trusted,
there's no questions about it.

535
00:26:08,720 --> 00:26:12,040
Lord Melbury, may I offer you
a little aperitif, as our guest?

536
00:26:12,040 --> 00:26:15,040
That's very kind of you.
Dry sherry, if you please.

537
00:26:15,040 --> 00:26:16,480
What else?

538
00:26:16,480 --> 00:26:19,760
What's more interesting, to me,
is, we're still talking about that,

539
00:26:19,760 --> 00:26:22,400
as a thing. And we are still...

540
00:26:22,400 --> 00:26:25,280
Sort of, even at a subconscious
level, looking, immediately,

541
00:26:25,280 --> 00:26:27,320
at a character and going,
"What class are they?

542
00:26:27,320 --> 00:26:28,800
"What do they say?" You know,

543
00:26:28,800 --> 00:26:31,400
"What's their thing?"
And it's often defined by that.

544
00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:35,800
At the beginning of the 1980s,
the new Conservative government

545
00:26:35,800 --> 00:26:38,040
brought sweeping changes to Britain.

546
00:26:38,040 --> 00:26:41,480
They moved to liberalise
the economy through privatisation

547
00:26:41,480 --> 00:26:44,320
and the promotion
of entrepreneurialism.

548
00:26:44,320 --> 00:26:47,040
It was a profound change
that was quickly incorporated

549
00:26:47,040 --> 00:26:48,960
into the world of sitcom.

550
00:26:48,960 --> 00:26:52,640
The country seemed to be in the
thrall of this new Prime Minister.

551
00:26:52,640 --> 00:26:55,200
There was a whole sway,
a whole generation of people,

552
00:26:55,200 --> 00:26:58,040
who were very much anti-Thatcherite,

553
00:26:58,040 --> 00:27:00,160
and a sort of groundswell
of political activism,

554
00:27:00,160 --> 00:27:02,800
especially with young people
and students that sort of...

555
00:27:02,800 --> 00:27:06,440
were very vociferous in their...
antiestablishment-ism.

556
00:27:07,640 --> 00:27:09,440
# Once in every lifetime

557
00:27:10,400 --> 00:27:11,960
# Comes a love like this... #

558
00:27:13,160 --> 00:27:17,040
When The Young Ones came along,
to me it was a real revelation,

559
00:27:17,040 --> 00:27:20,280
because I was a student at the time,

560
00:27:20,280 --> 00:27:23,880
and it seemed to voice all the
things I was preoccupied with,

561
00:27:23,880 --> 00:27:26,040
in a way that many other sitcoms hadn't,

562
00:27:26,040 --> 00:27:28,560
because they were different times.

563
00:27:28,560 --> 00:27:32,880
It wasn't a sitcom for the people
who'd been watching sitcoms.

564
00:27:32,880 --> 00:27:35,240
It wasn't a family sitcom,
it wasn't a middle-aged sitcom,

565
00:27:35,240 --> 00:27:38,040
it wasn't a, "Let's sit cosy
in front of the fire

566
00:27:38,040 --> 00:27:39,520
"and all laugh at this" sitcom.

567
00:27:39,520 --> 00:27:41,160
It was for teenagers, wasn't it?

568
00:27:42,520 --> 00:27:44,120
No! No!

569
00:27:44,120 --> 00:27:47,080
We are not watching
The bleeding Good Life!

570
00:27:47,080 --> 00:27:49,920
Bloody, bloody, bloody!

571
00:27:49,920 --> 00:27:53,400
I hate it! It's so bloody nice!

572
00:27:53,400 --> 00:27:57,480
When Ade Edmonson smashes through
the titles of The Good Life,

573
00:27:57,480 --> 00:27:59,680
and goes, "This is rubbish!",

574
00:27:59,680 --> 00:28:02,480
I found myself going,
"Yeah, it's rubbish, The Good Life.

575
00:28:02,480 --> 00:28:03,880
"I'm going to be one of these people

576
00:28:03,880 --> 00:28:05,600
"that thinks The Good Life is rubbish."

577
00:28:05,600 --> 00:28:07,000
Even though I didn't think that.

578
00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:09,280
It made me think
I should think that way.

579
00:28:09,280 --> 00:28:13,040
And now, as you're older, you go,
God, The Good Life was brilliant!

580
00:28:13,040 --> 00:28:15,400
And it's definitely, it's
probably stood the test of time

581
00:28:15,400 --> 00:28:18,000
more than The Young Ones. But I
still love The Young Ones for...

582
00:28:19,160 --> 00:28:21,080
You know, just shaking it all up.

583
00:28:26,440 --> 00:28:28,920
Well, how ruddy considerate, Vivian!

584
00:28:28,920 --> 00:28:30,600
Thank you very much!

585
00:28:30,600 --> 00:28:33,640
Yeah, thanks, Viv, that petrol
bomb's really cleared my sinuses.

586
00:28:33,640 --> 00:28:35,560
The Young Ones was a show made by

587
00:28:35,560 --> 00:28:38,120
a group of young and
left-leaning comedians.

588
00:28:38,120 --> 00:28:40,800
It threatened the middle-class
and suburban status quo

589
00:28:40,800 --> 00:28:43,520
that dominated British comedy
in the 1970s,

590
00:28:43,520 --> 00:28:46,000
and was aimed squarely
at the next generation.

591
00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:47,680
Well, then, I shall write
to the lead singer

592
00:28:47,680 --> 00:28:49,200
of Echo and the Bunnymen!

593
00:28:49,200 --> 00:28:51,880
I remember, when I first saw
the first episode, thinking,

594
00:28:51,880 --> 00:28:55,080
"Oh, there are other people
like me, who think like that."

595
00:28:55,080 --> 00:28:59,120
And that was quite encouraging
to me, from a creative standpoint,

596
00:28:59,120 --> 00:29:02,200
because it felt like
the attitudes I had

597
00:29:02,200 --> 00:29:04,000
would resonate with other people.

598
00:29:04,000 --> 00:29:08,560
My parents wouldn't get it, and that
made its appeal all the greater.

599
00:29:08,560 --> 00:29:10,520
Hello, Vivian. Piss off!

600
00:29:10,520 --> 00:29:12,320
AUDIENCE LAUGHTER

601
00:29:12,320 --> 00:29:14,760
That's no way to talk
to your mother, Vivian!

602
00:29:14,760 --> 00:29:16,040
All right, then.

603
00:29:16,040 --> 00:29:17,240
Piss off, Mum.

604
00:29:18,800 --> 00:29:22,680
Viv was such an exaggeration
of the punk cliche,

605
00:29:22,680 --> 00:29:27,160
and Rick was such a great,
still valid,

606
00:29:27,160 --> 00:29:30,680
caricature of right-on politics.

607
00:29:30,680 --> 00:29:33,560
Well, I'm going to tell
Thatcher that we've got a bomb.

608
00:29:33,560 --> 00:29:35,760
And that if she doesn't do something
to help the kids

609
00:29:35,760 --> 00:29:37,080
by this afternoon...

610
00:29:37,080 --> 00:29:38,200
AUDIENCE LAUGHTER

611
00:29:38,200 --> 00:29:39,960
..we're going to blow up England!

612
00:29:39,960 --> 00:29:42,040
There are perfect episodes
of The Young Ones,

613
00:29:42,040 --> 00:29:44,160
and I just loved the...

614
00:29:45,960 --> 00:29:49,120
..utter energy of it,
and the stupidity of it,

615
00:29:49,120 --> 00:29:51,000
and the violence of it.

616
00:29:51,000 --> 00:29:53,480
Here goes... I'm completely
bloody sick of this!

617
00:29:56,200 --> 00:29:57,440
# Gotta get up... #

618
00:29:57,440 --> 00:30:00,400
While The Young Ones' rebellion
set the tone for much of the

619
00:30:00,400 --> 00:30:04,520
alternative comedy to come in the
'80s, more mainstream sitcoms

620
00:30:04,520 --> 00:30:08,160
were also dealing with the fallout
of the new political regime.

621
00:30:08,160 --> 00:30:12,840
Carla Lane set her 1980s sitcom
in a period of mass unemployment

622
00:30:12,840 --> 00:30:15,240
in her native Liverpool.

623
00:30:15,240 --> 00:30:19,360
Bread was on the runway when I
arrived as controller of BBC One.

624
00:30:19,360 --> 00:30:21,680
I was a huge fan of Carla's,

625
00:30:21,680 --> 00:30:24,680
and I looked at it and thought,
"Yeah, this is a really great show."

626
00:30:24,680 --> 00:30:27,640
Bread was firmly set in
Thatcher's Britain,

627
00:30:27,640 --> 00:30:31,040
and charted the ups and downs of the
larger-than-life Boswell family.

628
00:30:31,040 --> 00:30:32,440
Number one.

629
00:30:32,440 --> 00:30:34,480
House!

630
00:30:34,480 --> 00:30:38,320
With most of the family out of work,
they relied on trading stolen goods,

631
00:30:38,320 --> 00:30:42,760
and getting every last penny they
could from the benefits office.

632
00:30:42,760 --> 00:30:45,160
She got a lot of criticism for
writing about scroungers,

633
00:30:45,160 --> 00:30:47,200
you know, they were living
off the Welfare State.

634
00:30:47,200 --> 00:30:48,640
I had friends who were like,

635
00:30:48,640 --> 00:30:51,920
"Oh, it's a dreadful representation
of unemployed people.

636
00:30:51,920 --> 00:30:54,240
"Dreadful representation
of Liverpool!"

637
00:30:54,240 --> 00:30:56,000
But it still made me laugh.

638
00:30:56,000 --> 00:31:00,240
We have got a case of incontinence in the family,

639
00:31:00,240 --> 00:31:03,120
and I understand you
have a special allowance for this?

640
00:31:03,120 --> 00:31:05,480
We do, yes.

641
00:31:05,480 --> 00:31:09,720
But owing to the sudden
rush of incontinent 19-year-olds,

642
00:31:09,720 --> 00:31:12,440
we're only giving it to those who qualify.

643
00:31:12,440 --> 00:31:17,280
The benefit culture in Liverpool
was something Carla recognised,

644
00:31:17,280 --> 00:31:20,960
understood and felt confident
enough to write about.

645
00:31:20,960 --> 00:31:26,320
But again, it was a family,
so they were very much redeemed,

646
00:31:26,320 --> 00:31:28,880
because they were all struggling
to survive,

647
00:31:28,880 --> 00:31:30,760
and make their way in the world.

648
00:31:33,120 --> 00:31:36,880
Another family adapting to the new
political landscape in the 1980s

649
00:31:36,880 --> 00:31:38,920
were the Trotters from Peckham.

650
00:31:38,920 --> 00:31:40,560
In Only Fools And Horses,

651
00:31:40,560 --> 00:31:43,720
Del Boy embraced the Conservative
ideals with open arms,

652
00:31:43,720 --> 00:31:46,360
and approached life with an
entrepreneurial spirit

653
00:31:46,360 --> 00:31:49,240
that Thatcher would surely
have been proud of.

654
00:31:49,240 --> 00:31:51,840
# Cos where it all comes from
is a mystery... #

655
00:31:51,840 --> 00:31:53,960
He was definitely a
Thatcherite, wasn't he?

656
00:31:53,960 --> 00:31:58,320
He would definitely have voted
Tory at that point -

657
00:31:58,320 --> 00:32:00,600
and constantly wanting...

658
00:32:00,600 --> 00:32:04,000
It was all about self-improvement
and dragging yourself up.

659
00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:07,040
Tremendously British theme to it,
wasn't it?

660
00:32:07,040 --> 00:32:08,760
Executive mobile phone.

661
00:32:08,760 --> 00:32:10,080
State-of-the-art.

662
00:32:10,080 --> 00:32:12,040
You can phone someone
from the top of a mountain

663
00:32:12,040 --> 00:32:13,480
with one of these, you know.

664
00:32:13,480 --> 00:32:16,480
It's all to do with...
statellites or something.

665
00:32:16,480 --> 00:32:19,800
My dad, who's a kind of old hippy
left-winger,

666
00:32:19,800 --> 00:32:22,400
hates Margaret Thatcher,
loves Del Boy.

667
00:32:22,400 --> 00:32:25,120
There's something about him -
it's given a kind of human face

668
00:32:25,120 --> 00:32:30,000
to that kind of money-grabbing,
'80s Toryism, really.

669
00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:33,240
It was about seeing a barrow boy

670
00:32:33,240 --> 00:32:36,120
and wondering what his world
was like, and going into that -

671
00:32:36,120 --> 00:32:38,200
and the sort of pathos
of someone's ambition.

672
00:32:38,200 --> 00:32:39,920
Tell you what,
I'll show you how it works,

673
00:32:39,920 --> 00:32:41,560
I'll give you
a little demonstration.

674
00:32:41,560 --> 00:32:43,320
First of all, press that...

675
00:32:43,320 --> 00:32:45,000
KEYPAD BEEPS

676
00:32:51,360 --> 00:32:54,040
You'd see those characters make
idiots of themselves,

677
00:32:54,040 --> 00:32:55,960
again and again and again -

678
00:32:55,960 --> 00:32:59,880
but half the time you felt for them,
as well, you felt it,

679
00:32:59,880 --> 00:33:01,440
and that's what makes it so good.

680
00:33:01,440 --> 00:33:04,800
It's not just someone that you don't
know or care about slipping up,

681
00:33:04,800 --> 00:33:08,320
it's someone that you actually
kind of do care about.

682
00:33:08,320 --> 00:33:10,440
# From the long warm nights
with the ocean breeze

683
00:33:10,440 --> 00:33:12,560
# To the damp and to the rain
of London city... #

684
00:33:12,560 --> 00:33:15,400
Meanwhile, in another
part of Peckham in the 1980s,

685
00:33:15,400 --> 00:33:17,560
more history was being made.

686
00:33:17,560 --> 00:33:21,200
Desmond's was the first sitcom to
feature a predominantly black cast

687
00:33:21,200 --> 00:33:23,760
in the workplace, and portray
the black community

688
00:33:23,760 --> 00:33:25,760
within a British context.

689
00:33:25,760 --> 00:33:27,760
Based in a south London barbershop,

690
00:33:27,760 --> 00:33:31,320
it would go on to become Channel 4's
longest-running sitcom.

691
00:33:31,320 --> 00:33:33,000
The whole family thing

692
00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:37,080
was the fact about just
reflecting the black experience

693
00:33:37,080 --> 00:33:38,520
in this country,

694
00:33:38,520 --> 00:33:43,440
and it's one of mobility,
of education, of wanting to do well,

695
00:33:43,440 --> 00:33:45,200
and every family felt that.

696
00:33:45,200 --> 00:33:46,480
Hah!

697
00:33:47,920 --> 00:33:49,880
Father, I can't read the paper...
You can't read?

698
00:33:49,880 --> 00:33:52,560
After all the education I gave you,

699
00:33:52,560 --> 00:33:54,880
my son, the bank manager,
can't read?

700
00:33:54,880 --> 00:33:58,120
The show looked at the
differing experiences

701
00:33:58,120 --> 00:34:00,600
of the original immigrant members
of the family

702
00:34:00,600 --> 00:34:02,920
and their children,
who were growing up in Britain,

703
00:34:02,920 --> 00:34:05,240
and it remains one of the most
successful sitcoms

704
00:34:05,240 --> 00:34:06,880
that Channel 4 has ever made.

705
00:34:08,200 --> 00:34:09,840
What's your paper called?

706
00:34:11,320 --> 00:34:13,480
I never wrote Desmond's
for black people.

707
00:34:13,480 --> 00:34:14,760
We know who we are.

708
00:34:14,760 --> 00:34:17,480
I wrote them for white people,
so they can know who we are.

709
00:34:20,400 --> 00:34:21,680
There goes my street cred.

710
00:34:21,680 --> 00:34:23,560
It was from a completely
different world

711
00:34:23,560 --> 00:34:25,200
to what I was living in in Devon -

712
00:34:25,200 --> 00:34:26,720
but the thing about a sitcom is,

713
00:34:26,720 --> 00:34:28,720
because you're welcomed
into that world,

714
00:34:28,720 --> 00:34:33,920
it kind of brings other areas
into your living room

715
00:34:33,920 --> 00:34:37,080
that you can't see
on a day-to-day basis,

716
00:34:37,080 --> 00:34:40,080
and it's a very good way of
creating social integration

717
00:34:40,080 --> 00:34:42,320
without people even realising
what they're watching.

718
00:34:42,320 --> 00:34:44,200
Listen, you two,
after you've had this,

719
00:34:44,200 --> 00:34:45,200
I want you to go.

720
00:34:45,200 --> 00:34:46,760
This is not a cafe, you know.

721
00:34:46,760 --> 00:34:48,480
Come on, Shirl, don't be like that -

722
00:34:48,480 --> 00:34:50,640
it's people like us that keep this shop going.

723
00:34:50,640 --> 00:34:52,760
Without us, this place wouldn't be the same.

724
00:34:52,760 --> 00:34:55,400
Without you, this place would be a barbershop.

725
00:34:56,640 --> 00:34:59,360
Instead of a bookie and a social club.

726
00:34:59,360 --> 00:35:02,760
Where we lived, in a little village
outside of High Wycombe,

727
00:35:02,760 --> 00:35:05,080
was not particularly diverse -

728
00:35:05,080 --> 00:35:08,200
and here was a world
that I was not exposed to,

729
00:35:08,200 --> 00:35:11,880
yet here are characters that I absolutely love

730
00:35:11,880 --> 00:35:13,720
and associate with.

731
00:35:13,720 --> 00:35:15,040
I've got a couple of tickets

732
00:35:15,040 --> 00:35:17,440
for me boxing club dinner and dance
in a couple of weeks' time.

733
00:35:17,440 --> 00:35:19,600
I'm fighting, I'll knock him out
first round if you come.

734
00:35:19,600 --> 00:35:20,960
How about it, then, eh?

735
00:35:22,040 --> 00:35:24,040
SHE SPEAKS FRENCH

736
00:35:25,680 --> 00:35:28,240
But even as an Asian family,
we would connect with that,

737
00:35:28,240 --> 00:35:29,920
we really would connect
with that.

738
00:35:29,920 --> 00:35:32,680
We felt it was talking about us, in a way.

739
00:35:32,680 --> 00:35:37,880
We felt it was saying something
about the immigrant life in Britain.

740
00:35:37,880 --> 00:35:41,000
The great thing about Desmond's,
and comedy specifically,

741
00:35:41,000 --> 00:35:44,960
it gave you a platform to ridicule,
debate or, indeed, expand on -

742
00:35:44,960 --> 00:35:46,680
not necessarily your view,

743
00:35:46,680 --> 00:35:49,800
but the collective view
of your culture at the time.

744
00:35:51,320 --> 00:35:54,440
# They say I might as well
face the truth... #

745
00:35:54,440 --> 00:35:56,800
Writers have often used sitcom
to study our attitudes

746
00:35:56,800 --> 00:35:58,760
to different sections of society,

747
00:35:58,760 --> 00:36:01,880
and, in 1990, David Renwick
decided it was time

748
00:36:01,880 --> 00:36:04,840
to investigate how we treat our senior citizens.

749
00:36:04,840 --> 00:36:06,520
Of course, the biggest problem of all

750
00:36:06,520 --> 00:36:08,400
was - how do you ever replace a man

751
00:36:08,400 --> 00:36:09,920
like Victor Meldrew?

752
00:36:09,920 --> 00:36:11,680
Well, basically, with this box...

753
00:36:11,680 --> 00:36:16,520
Because Meldrew is in that position
of having to retire early,

754
00:36:16,520 --> 00:36:19,040
you've still got a very active mind,

755
00:36:19,040 --> 00:36:22,680
and someone who's full of
creativity, if you like,

756
00:36:22,680 --> 00:36:25,360
and doesn't have any focus for that.

757
00:36:25,360 --> 00:36:30,680
So his domestic life becomes
a drama around him, because of that.

758
00:36:36,520 --> 00:36:37,960
Afternoon!

759
00:36:37,960 --> 00:36:40,320
I think, after Del Boy
falling through the bar,

760
00:36:40,320 --> 00:36:42,360
the greatest moment ever in British sitcom

761
00:36:42,360 --> 00:36:44,240
is Victor Meldrew picking up the small dog -

762
00:36:44,240 --> 00:36:45,880
which I watch on YouTube once a month.

763
00:36:45,880 --> 00:36:46,880
PHONE RINGS

764
00:36:47,920 --> 00:36:49,920
4291?

765
00:36:52,160 --> 00:36:54,360
Where the bloody hell did you come from?

766
00:36:54,360 --> 00:36:55,680
PHONE RINGS

767
00:36:55,680 --> 00:36:58,280
Bugger off!

768
00:36:58,280 --> 00:37:00,640
A lot of people didn't actually realise

769
00:37:00,640 --> 00:37:04,040
how subversive
One Foot In The Grave is.

770
00:37:04,040 --> 00:37:06,040
It's an extraordinarily surreal sitcom.

771
00:37:06,040 --> 00:37:10,280
I've certainly wheeled a lot of old
ladies about, Mrs Meldrew.

772
00:37:12,640 --> 00:37:15,080
But who's going to wheel me about?

773
00:37:15,080 --> 00:37:17,480
The show challenged the
traditional boundaries

774
00:37:17,480 --> 00:37:19,280
of more conventional sitcoms,

775
00:37:19,280 --> 00:37:21,840
dealing with subjects
such as death and old age

776
00:37:21,840 --> 00:37:23,840
with pathos and black comedy.

777
00:37:31,760 --> 00:37:33,200
Victor!

778
00:37:35,120 --> 00:37:39,160
I think the marvellous
thing about Victor Meldrew

779
00:37:39,160 --> 00:37:43,760
was that, there but for
the grace of God go I.

780
00:37:43,760 --> 00:37:47,960
The things that irritated him
actually irritated nearly everybody.

781
00:37:47,960 --> 00:37:50,280
I was out the back working
in the garden when he arrived,

782
00:37:50,280 --> 00:37:51,880
so I asked him if,
for the time being,

783
00:37:51,880 --> 00:37:54,000
he'd put in the downstairs toilet for me.

784
00:37:54,000 --> 00:37:55,640
And you know what he's done?!

785
00:37:55,640 --> 00:37:57,800
He's only planted it in the bowl!

786
00:37:59,600 --> 00:38:03,640
He's trapped by the
conventions of old age, isn't he?

787
00:38:03,640 --> 00:38:07,280
Trapped by the idea that you have to
be a particular sort of person.

788
00:38:07,280 --> 00:38:11,160
But also playing fantastically on
the idea that, as you get older,

789
00:38:11,160 --> 00:38:12,680
you really don't care much any more,

790
00:38:12,680 --> 00:38:14,760
so you can just be as rude as you like.

791
00:38:16,880 --> 00:38:21,400
In the 1990s, Britain was awash with
a new sense of optimism.

792
00:38:21,400 --> 00:38:24,600
New Labour were on the rise,
Britpop was cool,

793
00:38:24,600 --> 00:38:27,640
and, for a while, it seemed
that things could only get better.

794
00:38:27,640 --> 00:38:30,120
Likewise, many of the
hit sitcoms of the era

795
00:38:30,120 --> 00:38:32,640
were big, bold and even brash.

796
00:38:32,640 --> 00:38:34,880
Brightest of all was a satire on excess,

797
00:38:34,880 --> 00:38:37,040
which started out life as a sketch

798
00:38:37,040 --> 00:38:38,960
from two of the country's funniest women -

799
00:38:38,960 --> 00:38:41,160
Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders.

800
00:38:41,160 --> 00:38:43,360
Where is it you're going?

801
00:38:43,360 --> 00:38:46,200
Aberdeen. Aber-bloody-deen!

802
00:38:46,200 --> 00:38:48,160
I don't know anybody

803
00:38:48,160 --> 00:38:51,320
in Aber-bloody-deen, darling!

804
00:38:51,320 --> 00:38:57,800
I think the '90s was quite a kind
of surface, kind of facile decade.

805
00:38:57,800 --> 00:39:00,960
It was kind of between
the fear of the Cold War

806
00:39:00,960 --> 00:39:02,960
and the fear of post-9/11,

807
00:39:02,960 --> 00:39:07,680
there was this era which was
obsessed with celebrity and fashion

808
00:39:07,680 --> 00:39:10,080
and kind of just having fun.

809
00:39:11,880 --> 00:39:14,560
# Wheels on fire... #

810
00:39:14,560 --> 00:39:17,400
You talk about a sitcom that
completely caught the moment

811
00:39:17,400 --> 00:39:19,560
and absolutely bottled it,
and that was it.

812
00:39:19,560 --> 00:39:24,240
When we started it, I remember the
late George Melly on a review show

813
00:39:24,240 --> 00:39:26,280
saying, "Dear, oh, dear, oh, dear,

814
00:39:26,280 --> 00:39:30,000
"there is nothing funny about
recovering alcoholics."

815
00:39:30,000 --> 00:39:32,640
To which my response is,
"Who said they were recovering?"

816
00:39:32,640 --> 00:39:33,960
You're not eating, Patsy?

817
00:39:33,960 --> 00:39:35,880
No, liquid lunch for me, Mrs M.

818
00:39:35,880 --> 00:39:38,240
Ab Fab is just about excess, isn't it?

819
00:39:38,240 --> 00:39:41,440
And that feeling, which I think was
very prevalent at that point,

820
00:39:41,440 --> 00:39:45,920
of how things looked
being the most important thing.

821
00:39:45,920 --> 00:39:47,560
Opening a shop, Pats.

822
00:39:47,560 --> 00:39:49,040
Ooh, what are you going to sell?

823
00:39:49,040 --> 00:39:51,000
Ooh, just gorgeous things, you know.
Ooh, lovely!

824
00:39:51,000 --> 00:39:53,240
What sitcom's brilliant at

825
00:39:53,240 --> 00:39:58,520
is identifying a kind of social
movement or type and skewering it,

826
00:39:58,520 --> 00:40:00,640
and going, "This is stupid."

827
00:40:00,640 --> 00:40:02,840
What we need is a princess
with a press following

828
00:40:02,840 --> 00:40:04,360
and a designer dress on her back!

829
00:40:04,360 --> 00:40:07,600
Jonathan Swift said
satire is a glass

830
00:40:07,600 --> 00:40:11,560
wherein each man sees every face
except his own -

831
00:40:11,560 --> 00:40:13,200
and it's an interesting thing,

832
00:40:13,200 --> 00:40:15,960
that when you set out
with something like Ab Fab,

833
00:40:15,960 --> 00:40:18,480
which is about a bit of an industry, if you like,

834
00:40:18,480 --> 00:40:20,480
and you're poking fun at it.

835
00:40:20,480 --> 00:40:21,920
DANCE MUSIC PLAYS

836
00:40:21,920 --> 00:40:24,360
They loved it, they loved it.
No, they hated me, they hated me!

837
00:40:24,360 --> 00:40:26,880
No, they love, love, loved... Oh!

838
00:40:26,880 --> 00:40:30,360
When Jennifer wrote it, what she was
really trying to do, I think,

839
00:40:30,360 --> 00:40:33,760
was to say, "Look at these people,
they are a waste of space,

840
00:40:33,760 --> 00:40:35,640
"they're a waste of air.

841
00:40:35,640 --> 00:40:39,760
"PR is a kind of nonevent."

842
00:40:39,760 --> 00:40:41,440
I'm going down in history, Pats,

843
00:40:41,440 --> 00:40:44,440
as the woman that put Princess Anne
in a Vivienne Westwood basque!

844
00:40:44,440 --> 00:40:46,120
But it was interesting,

845
00:40:46,120 --> 00:40:49,280
how the people who
immediately embraced Ab Fab

846
00:40:49,280 --> 00:40:54,080
and took it to their bosoms were,
first, people in fashion and PR.

847
00:40:54,080 --> 00:40:56,720
So either we got it wrong -
which I don't think we did -

848
00:40:56,720 --> 00:41:01,160
or are they just went, "Hooray!
PR, you noticed! We're valuable!

849
00:41:01,160 --> 00:41:02,880
"We're useful to the community."

850
00:41:02,880 --> 00:41:04,920
What do you see when you
look in the mirror, darling?

851
00:41:04,920 --> 00:41:06,840
Me looking fabulous, what do you see?

852
00:41:06,840 --> 00:41:12,040
It also objectified the time,
which was materialistic,

853
00:41:12,040 --> 00:41:16,440
it was putting the wrong
emphasis on labels, and...

854
00:41:16,440 --> 00:41:21,720
You know, not the sort of thing
that was meaningful, really.

855
00:41:21,720 --> 00:41:23,800
It wasn't very meaningful -

856
00:41:23,800 --> 00:41:28,960
but she was being meaningful...
flagging it up. Clever girl.

857
00:41:28,960 --> 00:41:31,920
BOTH: # They say our love
won't pay the rent... #

858
00:41:31,920 --> 00:41:33,680
I'm Cher, Patsy!

859
00:41:33,680 --> 00:41:35,200
I'm doing the Cher bit.

860
00:41:35,200 --> 00:41:37,320
While Jennifer captured the zeitgeist

861
00:41:37,320 --> 00:41:40,160
with her satire of the fashion and PR worlds,

862
00:41:40,160 --> 00:41:42,960
her comedy partner, Dawn, was equally timely

863
00:41:42,960 --> 00:41:46,720
with a sitcom about a very different
issue affecting Britain at the time.

864
00:41:46,720 --> 00:41:50,200
Good evening. Centuries of tradition
and decades of campaigning

865
00:41:50,200 --> 00:41:51,600
came to an end tonight

866
00:41:51,600 --> 00:41:55,360
when the Church of England
ordained its first women priests.

867
00:41:55,360 --> 00:41:57,040
# The Lord is my shepherd... #

868
00:41:57,040 --> 00:41:59,600
Just eight months
after the historic ordination

869
00:41:59,600 --> 00:42:01,640
of women in the Church of England,

870
00:42:01,640 --> 00:42:04,520
the Vicar Of Dibley arrived on BBC One.

871
00:42:04,520 --> 00:42:08,280
Written by Richard Curtis, the show
introduced us to Geraldine Granger,

872
00:42:08,280 --> 00:42:11,560
the surprise arrival in a
small English village.

873
00:42:11,560 --> 00:42:13,640
Oh, dear. Oh, my God!

874
00:42:15,120 --> 00:42:16,840
You were expecting a bloke?

875
00:42:16,840 --> 00:42:18,400
Beard, Bible, bad breath?

876
00:42:18,400 --> 00:42:20,720
Yes, that sort of thing. Yeah.

877
00:42:20,720 --> 00:42:23,680
And instead, you've got a babe with
a bob cut and a magnificent bosom.

878
00:42:23,680 --> 00:42:24,800
So I see.

879
00:42:24,800 --> 00:42:26,240
The argument was in the air,

880
00:42:26,240 --> 00:42:28,920
and I was very interested in the argument,

881
00:42:28,920 --> 00:42:32,000
and I got to know
a woman called Joy Carroll,

882
00:42:32,000 --> 00:42:35,280
who was a female vicar,
and I remember going to see her

883
00:42:35,280 --> 00:42:38,840
in one of the synods where they
were all arguing about the issue,

884
00:42:38,840 --> 00:42:40,560
so I knew a fight was on,

885
00:42:40,560 --> 00:42:42,320
and it was always my feeling

886
00:42:42,320 --> 00:42:45,920
that if someone could just see
a woman in that job,

887
00:42:45,920 --> 00:42:47,960
their doubts would
instantly evaporate,

888
00:42:47,960 --> 00:42:50,040
and I think that was one
of the helpful things

889
00:42:50,040 --> 00:42:51,200
about The Vicar Of Dibley -

890
00:42:51,200 --> 00:42:53,280
people just knew,
"Oh, no, it makes total sense" -

891
00:42:53,280 --> 00:42:56,280
in fact, it makes no sense that you
would say a woman can't do this job.

892
00:42:56,280 --> 00:42:58,120
I did actually write
The Vicar Of Dibley

893
00:42:58,120 --> 00:43:00,360
in order to try and win the argument.

894
00:43:00,360 --> 00:43:04,440
Ah, Owen, this is Geraldine -

895
00:43:04,440 --> 00:43:06,120
she's the new vicar.

896
00:43:06,120 --> 00:43:07,200
Hello.

897
00:43:07,200 --> 00:43:08,520
No, she isn't.

898
00:43:08,520 --> 00:43:09,720
Why not?

899
00:43:09,720 --> 00:43:11,120
She's a woman!

900
00:43:11,120 --> 00:43:12,760
Oh, you noticed!

901
00:43:12,760 --> 00:43:14,960
These are such a giveaway, aren't they?

902
00:43:14,960 --> 00:43:17,920
It's a studio sitcom, it's family-orientated.

903
00:43:17,920 --> 00:43:22,120
You kind of forget that the
idea of a woman vicar,

904
00:43:22,120 --> 00:43:26,720
at the time, felt kind of controversial -

905
00:43:26,720 --> 00:43:29,640
or it was a new thing.

906
00:43:29,640 --> 00:43:34,560
It's kind of amazing that sitcom
can take an idea like that

907
00:43:34,560 --> 00:43:38,280
and smuggle it in to
8:30 on a Thursday night on BBC One,

908
00:43:38,280 --> 00:43:42,200
or whenever it was on, and make that
feel normal and accepted,

909
00:43:42,200 --> 00:43:44,400
and that's kind of a brilliant thing

910
00:43:44,400 --> 00:43:47,760
that Richard Curtis and Paul
Mayhew-Archer, who wrote it, did.

911
00:43:47,760 --> 00:43:51,400
The idea that, having
seen Geraldine Granger at work,

912
00:43:51,400 --> 00:43:54,080
you would ever think,
"Well, of course there shouldn't..."

913
00:43:54,080 --> 00:43:56,400
You know, "The idea of women priests is nonsense."

914
00:43:56,400 --> 00:44:00,280
She's unanswerable, really.
Every parish should be so lucky.

915
00:44:00,280 --> 00:44:02,880
RAPS: Nothing could be hotter
Nothing could be slicker

916
00:44:02,880 --> 00:44:06,400
Lock up your son and daughter
Cos here comes the vicar!

917
00:44:06,400 --> 00:44:08,680
I was really keen,
in The Vicar Of Dibley,

918
00:44:08,680 --> 00:44:10,640
to write someone nice and funny -

919
00:44:10,640 --> 00:44:13,640
because I think that's
the British joke, really,

920
00:44:13,640 --> 00:44:16,760
which is that we're always
in trouble trying to be nice -

921
00:44:16,760 --> 00:44:19,160
we can never break
the truth to people.

922
00:44:19,160 --> 00:44:22,920
And there is great tradition
of angry people in sitcoms.

923
00:44:22,920 --> 00:44:26,960
You know, the Arthur Lowe,
Basil Fawlty -

924
00:44:26,960 --> 00:44:28,400
the greatest of them all -

925
00:44:28,400 --> 00:44:30,720
One Foot In The Grave.
Blackadder's in that tradition,

926
00:44:30,720 --> 00:44:33,920
and I was really glad to
be in the nice tradition, as well.

927
00:44:36,000 --> 00:44:39,920
While Dibley was quietly subversive
on the subject of women vicars,

928
00:44:39,920 --> 00:44:42,000
another clerical comedy
was about to air

929
00:44:42,000 --> 00:44:44,080
which was equally subversive,

930
00:44:44,080 --> 00:44:46,680
and had much to say about our neighbours in Ireland

931
00:44:46,680 --> 00:44:49,760
and the role religion played in national life.

932
00:44:49,760 --> 00:44:52,200
We originally thought no-one
would want to do a sitcom

933
00:44:52,200 --> 00:44:53,560
about Irish people,

934
00:44:53,560 --> 00:44:57,040
so we wrote it in the form
of a series of mock documentaries

935
00:44:57,040 --> 00:44:59,080
with a different
character every week -

936
00:44:59,080 --> 00:45:02,000
and the one we handed in
as an example was Father Ted.

937
00:45:02,000 --> 00:45:04,200
They liked it, but they said,

938
00:45:04,200 --> 00:45:07,520
"No-one will want to see
a different character every week.

939
00:45:07,520 --> 00:45:10,240
"Can you do this
character and do him every week?"

940
00:45:10,240 --> 00:45:12,000
And we were like, "Really?!"

941
00:45:12,000 --> 00:45:14,400
They actually asked us for an Irish sitcom.

942
00:45:15,840 --> 00:45:17,840
..eck! Arse!

943
00:45:17,840 --> 00:45:19,520
These really do work, don't they, Dougal?

944
00:45:19,520 --> 00:45:20,800
Oh, you're right, there, Ted.

945
00:45:20,800 --> 00:45:23,440
Feck! Arse! Feck!

946
00:45:23,440 --> 00:45:28,200
The British-Irish relationship
has not always been a happy one.

947
00:45:28,200 --> 00:45:33,240
I can well see why the idea of
putting across these stereotypes

948
00:45:33,240 --> 00:45:38,200
almost in an ironic sense, "OK,
if you want that kind of Irishmen,

949
00:45:38,200 --> 00:45:39,640
"here they are," you know?

950
00:45:39,640 --> 00:45:44,280
We used to like taking
the extreme approach to everything.

951
00:45:44,280 --> 00:45:47,320
So, if Jack was going
to be an alcoholic,

952
00:45:47,320 --> 00:45:49,760
then he was going to
drink things like Toilet Duck.

953
00:45:49,760 --> 00:45:52,680
Oh, no, Ted. Look at this.
Oh, God...

954
00:45:52,680 --> 00:45:55,640
And if Dougal was going to be stupid,

955
00:45:55,640 --> 00:45:57,360
then he was going to be stupid to an extent

956
00:45:57,360 --> 00:45:59,200
that you've never seen before.

957
00:45:59,200 --> 00:46:02,320
Like, someone who, when you turn out
the light, turn it back on again,

958
00:46:02,320 --> 00:46:03,840
he thinks he's had a sleep.

959
00:46:03,840 --> 00:46:05,360
Anyway, night, Dougal.

960
00:46:05,360 --> 00:46:06,600
Night, Ted.

961
00:46:09,040 --> 00:46:10,640
Oh, damn!

962
00:46:10,640 --> 00:46:11,680
Oh...

963
00:46:12,840 --> 00:46:14,520
Ahh!

964
00:46:18,600 --> 00:46:21,200
'To be able to go in and
explode a few myths...'

965
00:46:21,200 --> 00:46:22,520
DOUGAL WHISTLES

966
00:46:22,520 --> 00:46:24,200
No, Dougal it's not morning.

967
00:46:24,200 --> 00:46:26,320
'..we built him in an image
that we liked

968
00:46:26,320 --> 00:46:27,560
'and we had fun with.'

969
00:46:27,560 --> 00:46:29,840
I don't know, it was healthy.

970
00:46:29,840 --> 00:46:32,240
The larger than life approach to
sitcom would continue

971
00:46:32,240 --> 00:46:33,560
throughout the decade,

972
00:46:33,560 --> 00:46:36,880
and was exemplified by the
outrageous flat-share sitcom

973
00:46:36,880 --> 00:46:38,680
Gimme Gimme Gimme.

974
00:46:38,680 --> 00:46:40,880
Following in the footsteps
of the huge characters

975
00:46:40,880 --> 00:46:44,280
in Absolutely Fabulous,
Tom Farrell and Linda La Hughes

976
00:46:44,280 --> 00:46:48,120
were queenie, camp
and a long, long way over the top.

977
00:46:48,120 --> 00:46:49,840
The show revelled in innuendo,

978
00:46:49,840 --> 00:46:53,600
and in Tom it also gave us the
most out and proud gay character

979
00:46:53,600 --> 00:46:55,840
we'd seen in British sitcom.

980
00:46:55,840 --> 00:46:58,480
# Gimme, gimme, gimme a man! #

981
00:46:58,480 --> 00:47:01,160
The differentiation between him
and, say, John Inman's character

982
00:47:01,160 --> 00:47:05,000
in Are You Being Served?
was at least Tom had a dick

983
00:47:05,000 --> 00:47:08,280
and he was going out and he was
copping off, and he was openly gay.

984
00:47:08,280 --> 00:47:09,840
He wasn't in the closet.

985
00:47:12,120 --> 00:47:16,080
'He was an actively sexual gay man,

986
00:47:16,080 --> 00:47:17,840
'so that was the difference for me -

987
00:47:17,840 --> 00:47:20,120
'that that step forward
was being taken.

988
00:47:21,080 --> 00:47:22,840
'The gay press hated it.'

989
00:47:22,840 --> 00:47:25,520
I had done that play and
film, Beautiful Thing,

990
00:47:25,520 --> 00:47:28,680
which had a rose-tinted ending
and positive role models

991
00:47:28,680 --> 00:47:33,080
for young gay people,
and then here I write a...

992
00:47:33,080 --> 00:47:35,840
a comedy show about a vile,
camp queen,

993
00:47:35,840 --> 00:47:38,560
and I suppose they were hoping
it would be the next role model,

994
00:47:38,560 --> 00:47:39,920
but it wasn't.

995
00:47:39,920 --> 00:47:41,600
Did you have a good evening, sir?

996
00:47:41,600 --> 00:47:43,240
I am twatted.

997
00:47:43,240 --> 00:47:44,680
Is that a Welsh name, sir?

998
00:47:45,800 --> 00:47:49,480
Linda and Tom are not an ideal couple...

999
00:47:49,480 --> 00:47:51,840
Do you have to eat with your mouth open?!

1000
00:47:51,840 --> 00:47:54,080
How else am I supposed
to get the bleedin'...?

1001
00:47:54,080 --> 00:47:55,320
'..but we love them.'

1002
00:47:55,320 --> 00:47:58,160
We love them for the extremity of what they do.

1003
00:47:58,160 --> 00:48:00,640
I'm reading my stars. Shush.

1004
00:48:00,640 --> 00:48:02,440
Is the moon in Uranus?

1005
00:48:02,440 --> 00:48:04,680
One was not quite as pretty as she thought she was,

1006
00:48:04,680 --> 00:48:06,640
and neither was the other.

1007
00:48:06,640 --> 00:48:08,000
# Knowing me, knowing you

1008
00:48:08,000 --> 00:48:09,960
# Ah-ha... #

1009
00:48:09,960 --> 00:48:11,680
Towards the end of the decade,

1010
00:48:11,680 --> 00:48:15,680
we got another sitcom character
with ideas above his station.

1011
00:48:15,680 --> 00:48:19,320
We'd previously seen and heard
Alan Partridge on a radio show,

1012
00:48:19,320 --> 00:48:22,560
in a sketch show and a mock chat show.

1013
00:48:22,560 --> 00:48:26,160
You'd better believe it, babe.
There's a new chat in town.

1014
00:48:26,160 --> 00:48:29,040
His latest incarnation,
I'm Alan Partridge,

1015
00:48:29,040 --> 00:48:31,880
explored the character who was
trying to change with the times -

1016
00:48:31,880 --> 00:48:33,320
and usually got it wrong.

1017
00:48:33,320 --> 00:48:34,480
Current affairs...

1018
00:48:34,480 --> 00:48:36,480
Would it be terribly
rude to stop listening to you

1019
00:48:36,480 --> 00:48:38,440
and go and speak to somebody else?

1020
00:48:38,440 --> 00:48:40,880
'The character's definitely evolved.'

1021
00:48:40,880 --> 00:48:44,880
The pathos creeps in more and more
as the years go on.

1022
00:48:44,880 --> 00:48:47,760
He's playing catch-up
with changing social attitudes,

1023
00:48:47,760 --> 00:48:50,760
and when we write the character,
we grapple with those things.

1024
00:48:50,760 --> 00:48:52,840
We're not gay!

1025
00:48:52,840 --> 00:48:54,760
I've nothing against them,
it's just...

1026
00:48:54,760 --> 00:48:56,880
As I see it,
God created Adam and Eve.

1027
00:48:56,880 --> 00:48:59,440
He didn't create Adam and Steve.

1028
00:48:59,440 --> 00:49:02,000
Whereas before, it would have been
funny to laugh at someone

1029
00:49:02,000 --> 00:49:03,960
who was just prejudiced
and narrow-minded,

1030
00:49:03,960 --> 00:49:06,320
it was funny to see Alan
struggle with attitudes

1031
00:49:06,320 --> 00:49:08,720
that maybe don't come
naturally to him,

1032
00:49:08,720 --> 00:49:11,360
but he tries to be modern, if you like.

1033
00:49:11,360 --> 00:49:13,200
Can I have a sniff? Yeah, sure.
Great.

1034
00:49:13,200 --> 00:49:14,360
HE SNIFFS

1035
00:49:14,360 --> 00:49:15,800
Mm...

1036
00:49:15,800 --> 00:49:17,880
Actually, sorry, I shouldn't
touch members of staff -

1037
00:49:17,880 --> 00:49:19,480
unless I'm reprimanding them,

1038
00:49:19,480 --> 00:49:23,640
and then I'll put you across
my knee and smack your bare bottoms.

1039
00:49:23,640 --> 00:49:27,800
Normally, comic characters live
within their thing and their world,

1040
00:49:27,800 --> 00:49:29,320
and that's where it exists.

1041
00:49:29,320 --> 00:49:32,360
It is incredibly rare to have a character

1042
00:49:32,360 --> 00:49:37,680
just to span...a lifetime within your lifetime

1043
00:49:37,680 --> 00:49:40,040
and never, ever let you down.

1044
00:49:40,040 --> 00:49:42,520
Ben, can you take this up
to my room? Yeah, sure, no problem.

1045
00:49:42,520 --> 00:49:45,520
Cheers.

1046
00:49:45,520 --> 00:49:47,400
'There's something about...'

1047
00:49:47,400 --> 00:49:51,080
putting it in a comedy, also,
which allows you licence

1048
00:49:51,080 --> 00:49:54,280
to talk about things that,
otherwise, you wouldn't be able to.

1049
00:49:54,280 --> 00:49:56,960
# Curly, black and kinky...

1050
00:49:56,960 --> 00:50:00,000
# Mixed with yellow chinky. #

1051
00:50:00,000 --> 00:50:01,440
Can you still say that?

1052
00:50:01,440 --> 00:50:03,640
Oh, you're all right with that, like,

1053
00:50:03,640 --> 00:50:05,520
cos it's a race of people,
AND it's a food.

1054
00:50:05,520 --> 00:50:07,200
Chinese...

1055
00:50:07,200 --> 00:50:08,880
Yeah, you're absolutely right, yeah.

1056
00:50:08,880 --> 00:50:11,920
'Alan Partridge, in his ignorance, can say things'

1057
00:50:11,920 --> 00:50:15,000
which reflect deeply held prejudices,

1058
00:50:15,000 --> 00:50:18,840
and can say them out loud,
and people will laugh at them

1059
00:50:18,840 --> 00:50:21,080
because they realise the joke is on Alan.

1060
00:50:21,080 --> 00:50:23,280
If I were to say some of
the things Alan said,

1061
00:50:23,280 --> 00:50:26,480
as myself, unironically,
I'd be in deep trouble.

1062
00:50:26,480 --> 00:50:29,280
You're listening to North Norfolk Digital,

1063
00:50:29,280 --> 00:50:32,040
Norfolk's...North Norfolk's best music mix.

1064
00:50:32,040 --> 00:50:33,320
In his modern incarnation,

1065
00:50:33,320 --> 00:50:35,240
he tries to reflect those social changes,

1066
00:50:35,240 --> 00:50:40,680
so Alan is aware that,
for example, it's OK to be gay,

1067
00:50:40,680 --> 00:50:43,000
'so he tries to reflect
those things.

1068
00:50:43,000 --> 00:50:46,240
'He's aware of the zeitgeist,
and tries to fit in with it.'

1069
00:50:46,240 --> 00:50:47,920
..kicking off your shoes and socks

1070
00:50:47,920 --> 00:50:51,360
and sharing an expensive bottle of
wine with the woman in your life.

1071
00:50:51,360 --> 00:50:53,920
Or the man in your life, if you're a woman.

1072
00:50:53,920 --> 00:50:55,960
Or, the man in your life, if you're gay.

1073
00:50:55,960 --> 00:50:59,920
Yeah - oh, y-yeah. Absolutely.
Absolutely, yes. Um...

1074
00:50:59,920 --> 00:51:02,960
I will be the first to
hold my hands up and say,

1075
00:51:02,960 --> 00:51:08,160
in the past, circa 1983,
I developed a fairly robust dislike

1076
00:51:08,160 --> 00:51:10,000
for the gay community -

1077
00:51:10,000 --> 00:51:12,400
but that was before I met Dale Winton.

1078
00:51:14,720 --> 00:51:17,600
The '90s was the era of outrageous characters

1079
00:51:17,600 --> 00:51:19,720
and exaggerated situations,

1080
00:51:19,720 --> 00:51:22,520
but the following decade saw
a distinct change in direction,

1081
00:51:22,520 --> 00:51:25,760
and a new realism
began to appear in sitcom.

1082
00:51:25,760 --> 00:51:27,720
Characters still had their flaws,

1083
00:51:27,720 --> 00:51:31,720
but now they found themselves
in more naturalistic surroundings.

1084
00:51:31,720 --> 00:51:36,120
Ten years ago, the big things in British sitcom

1085
00:51:36,120 --> 00:51:37,840
were The Royle Family and The Office.

1086
00:51:37,840 --> 00:51:41,440
It set an agenda to be
very naturalistic and real.

1087
00:51:41,440 --> 00:51:44,280
Are you going to make that
cup of tea, Barb, or what?

1088
00:51:45,480 --> 00:51:48,200
The Royle Family, I think,

1089
00:51:48,200 --> 00:51:55,280
is probably the most important
comedy that I ever watched.

1090
00:51:55,280 --> 00:51:59,360
It was the first time
I had ever seen on TV...

1091
00:51:59,360 --> 00:52:04,280
a family like mine, watching TV.

1092
00:52:04,280 --> 00:52:08,560
The feeling of my dad in
his regular seat, my mum there,

1093
00:52:08,560 --> 00:52:10,760
one or both of my sisters,

1094
00:52:10,760 --> 00:52:15,680
me, and then watching
almost this sort of mirror image,

1095
00:52:15,680 --> 00:52:22,320
not in terms of situation or set,
but just the dynamics of family.

1096
00:52:22,320 --> 00:52:25,720
Dad! Stop fiddling with yourself.

1097
00:52:25,720 --> 00:52:27,240
I'm not fiddling with meself.

1098
00:52:27,240 --> 00:52:29,080
I paid a quid for these underpants.

1099
00:52:29,080 --> 00:52:30,880
I've got 50-pence worth stuck up me
arse.

1100
00:52:30,880 --> 00:52:34,120
I think if it hadn't been for
The Royle Family, I don't know if...

1101
00:52:34,120 --> 00:52:37,080
I don't know if Gavin & Stacey
would exist.

1102
00:52:37,080 --> 00:52:40,160
One of the great things about sitcom
is we've been able to fit in...

1103
00:52:40,160 --> 00:52:42,720
We haven't got imprisoned by the form,

1104
00:52:42,720 --> 00:52:45,040
which you sometimes
think American sitcoms have,

1105
00:52:45,040 --> 00:52:47,440
that they expect a certain level of brightness

1106
00:52:47,440 --> 00:52:48,840
and a certain level of noise,

1107
00:52:48,840 --> 00:52:50,640
and I think one of the
brilliant things

1108
00:52:50,640 --> 00:52:52,560
that particularly the BBC has done

1109
00:52:52,560 --> 00:52:56,160
is experiment with the shape,
form and texture of sitcom

1110
00:52:56,160 --> 00:52:57,440
over the years.

1111
00:52:57,440 --> 00:53:00,640
One of the boldest sitcoms
the BBC has ever produced

1112
00:53:00,640 --> 00:53:02,880
turned out to be one of the most successful.

1113
00:53:02,880 --> 00:53:05,920
The Office was a mockumentary
set in the Slough branch

1114
00:53:05,920 --> 00:53:08,160
of the Wernham Hogg paper company.

1115
00:53:08,160 --> 00:53:10,240
While the format was relatively new,

1116
00:53:10,240 --> 00:53:13,400
the themes that the show dealt with
were familiar to British audiences.

1117
00:53:13,400 --> 00:53:15,280
Lovely Dawn.

1118
00:53:15,280 --> 00:53:17,840
Dawn Tinsley. Receptionist...

1119
00:53:17,840 --> 00:53:19,480
Social awkwardness, self-importance,

1120
00:53:19,480 --> 00:53:21,280
frustration and desperation.

1121
00:53:21,280 --> 00:53:23,320
I'd say, at one time or another,

1122
00:53:23,320 --> 00:53:25,760
every bloke in the office
has woken up at the crack of dawn.

1123
00:53:25,760 --> 00:53:27,360
HE SNIGGERS
What?!

1124
00:53:28,720 --> 00:53:32,920
The Office would have captured
that feeling at the time

1125
00:53:32,920 --> 00:53:37,000
of the early noughties, of kind of,
you know, "Why have a job?

1126
00:53:37,000 --> 00:53:38,800
"Why have a career?

1127
00:53:38,800 --> 00:53:41,600
"Why do you want to spend
your life doing this?"

1128
00:53:41,600 --> 00:53:44,240
And that does reflect that people are no longer

1129
00:53:44,240 --> 00:53:47,720
going in to having a job for life, you know?

1130
00:53:47,720 --> 00:53:49,920
It was saying, "Hey, look, it's all changed

1131
00:53:49,920 --> 00:53:51,640
"and we haven't even noticed."

1132
00:53:51,640 --> 00:53:57,160
There's these brilliant kind of
examinations of people's attitude

1133
00:53:57,160 --> 00:54:00,320
to things like race and sexism,

1134
00:54:00,320 --> 00:54:03,600
and how that laddishness of the '90s

1135
00:54:03,600 --> 00:54:06,200
against the politically
correct movement in the '90s

1136
00:54:06,200 --> 00:54:07,360
clashed together.

1137
00:54:07,360 --> 00:54:08,760
Do you mind kissing me on the nose?

1138
00:54:08,760 --> 00:54:11,240
No. Put your quid in. OK.

1139
00:54:11,240 --> 00:54:13,440
Kiss me on the nose. Ooh!

1140
00:54:13,440 --> 00:54:15,640
Hey, what do I get for a tenner?

1141
00:54:15,640 --> 00:54:17,440
Oh, no! Squeal, piggy, squeal.

1142
00:54:17,440 --> 00:54:19,240
HE SQUEALS

1143
00:54:19,240 --> 00:54:22,240
..and I think David Brent
and the character Finchy

1144
00:54:22,240 --> 00:54:25,720
embody that really well, and there's
just really good little set pieces

1145
00:54:25,720 --> 00:54:28,240
that actually deal with things

1146
00:54:28,240 --> 00:54:32,560
that maybe, you know, it would take
someone to write a 10,000-word thesis

1147
00:54:32,560 --> 00:54:34,680
at university to deal with,

1148
00:54:34,680 --> 00:54:37,440
and they deal with it
in six lines, or something.

1149
00:54:40,080 --> 00:54:42,240
Real lives were back in vogue,

1150
00:54:42,240 --> 00:54:44,640
and another hugely relatable situation -

1151
00:54:44,640 --> 00:54:46,880
the classic boy meets girl story -

1152
00:54:46,880 --> 00:54:49,200
was playing out in both Essex and South Wales.

1153
00:54:49,200 --> 00:54:50,360
WOMAN LAUGHS

1154
00:54:53,360 --> 00:54:55,040
Stop it!

1155
00:54:56,280 --> 00:54:58,520
Everyone's looking at me.

1156
00:54:58,520 --> 00:55:01,960
Another big hit, this sitcom
was about the modern experience

1157
00:55:01,960 --> 00:55:05,760
of parenthood, family life, loyalty,
friendship and love.

1158
00:55:05,760 --> 00:55:08,120
It was unconventional in that it didn't rely on

1159
00:55:08,120 --> 00:55:12,160
the anguish or frustration of the
central characters for laughs.

1160
00:55:12,160 --> 00:55:15,040
Oh, can you believe we're
actually going to meet tomorrow?

1161
00:55:15,040 --> 00:55:17,840
Only 17 hours to go now, babes.

1162
00:55:17,840 --> 00:55:21,000
For a British sitcom,
it was remarkably pain free.

1163
00:55:21,000 --> 00:55:23,800
One of the things about
sitcom is it can be as far away,

1164
00:55:23,800 --> 00:55:27,200
like Blackadder, as you like,
from any life that you know,

1165
00:55:27,200 --> 00:55:28,880
and then incredibly close -

1166
00:55:28,880 --> 00:55:32,800
and just the kind of intimate
realism of Gavin & Stacey I adore.

1167
00:55:32,800 --> 00:55:35,160
I also love the fact
that Gavin & Stacey is nice.

1168
00:55:35,160 --> 00:55:36,920
That's one of the great things about sitcom -

1169
00:55:36,920 --> 00:55:39,040
it doesn't need to point towards catastrophe.

1170
00:55:39,040 --> 00:55:42,520
It can point towards resolution,
unlike most drama.

1171
00:55:42,520 --> 00:55:44,280
Stacey.

1172
00:55:44,280 --> 00:55:45,920
Oh, my God!

1173
00:55:45,920 --> 00:55:47,280
Hiya.

1174
00:55:47,280 --> 00:55:49,800
When did you get here?
I thought you weren't going to come.

1175
00:55:49,800 --> 00:55:52,600
Of course I was going to come.
I've only been here ten minutes.

1176
00:55:52,600 --> 00:55:55,600
I like your cardie.
Cheers. River Island.

1177
00:55:55,600 --> 00:55:58,120
Oh, so is my belt! Amazing.

1178
00:55:58,120 --> 00:56:02,240
I don't think we set out
to make a show that was warm,

1179
00:56:02,240 --> 00:56:07,560
but we definitely wanted to make
a show that had a heart in it.

1180
00:56:07,560 --> 00:56:08,600
What's all the noise?

1181
00:56:08,600 --> 00:56:09,680
Everything all right?

1182
00:56:09,680 --> 00:56:12,120
Oh, don't worry, Pam,
your little prince is fine!

1183
00:56:12,120 --> 00:56:13,240
It was about people

1184
00:56:13,240 --> 00:56:15,160
who loved each other, mostly.

1185
00:56:15,160 --> 00:56:17,880
Even when they would
have rows or not get on,

1186
00:56:17,880 --> 00:56:20,680
it was still from a place of warmth, you know?

1187
00:56:20,680 --> 00:56:24,200
Very, very unusual in British comedy
to be completely positive.

1188
00:56:24,200 --> 00:56:27,240
You've got to have a
character who's annoyed or upset

1189
00:56:27,240 --> 00:56:30,120
or hasn't achieved -
but it didn't have any of those.

1190
00:56:30,120 --> 00:56:35,040
It was just a really sweet love story

1191
00:56:35,040 --> 00:56:37,320
peopled by very funny characters.

1192
00:56:37,320 --> 00:56:40,040
Don't promise me nothing.

1193
00:56:40,040 --> 00:56:43,680
If this is all it's meant to be,
I'm still so happy I met you.

1194
00:56:45,600 --> 00:56:47,920
I think there has always been shows that have

1195
00:56:47,920 --> 00:56:50,680
reflected where we're at as a country.

1196
00:56:50,680 --> 00:56:54,120
I mean, if we sat down to try
and write Gavin & Stacey today,

1197
00:56:54,120 --> 00:56:58,800
it would be a very different show -
purely because of social media.

1198
00:56:58,800 --> 00:57:03,200
You know, you can't make
a boy meets girl...

1199
00:57:03,200 --> 00:57:05,280
Characters who don't...

1200
00:57:05,280 --> 00:57:07,160
Who've only seen a photo
of each other,

1201
00:57:07,160 --> 00:57:09,320
and don't know much about
each other's life,

1202
00:57:09,320 --> 00:57:12,280
because you are in a world
of Facebook and googling people

1203
00:57:12,280 --> 00:57:15,080
and Skype and FaceTime,
and all of those things,

1204
00:57:15,080 --> 00:57:18,400
and Twitter feeds
and stuff like that, so...

1205
00:57:18,400 --> 00:57:23,520
that, on a very linear level,
will always reflect the times.

1206
00:57:23,520 --> 00:57:25,760
If you say it, I'll say it back.

1207
00:57:28,280 --> 00:57:30,360
I love you. I love you too. Ooh!

1208
00:57:31,480 --> 00:57:32,840
In the last 60 years,

1209
00:57:32,840 --> 00:57:36,520
British sitcom has entertained and
challenged in equal measure,

1210
00:57:36,520 --> 00:57:40,240
and done an excellent job
of showing us who we are.

1211
00:57:40,240 --> 00:57:42,840
The gift of making the whole nation laugh

1212
00:57:42,840 --> 00:57:46,800
for half an hour every
week is a very special moment.

1213
00:57:46,800 --> 00:57:48,520
Light, light...

1214
00:57:48,520 --> 00:57:51,920
The great sitcom characters can have
as much impact on our lives

1215
00:57:51,920 --> 00:57:54,280
as real people.

1216
00:57:54,280 --> 00:57:56,800
I do think about Jim Royle.

1217
00:57:56,800 --> 00:57:59,160
I wonder if Anthony went to university.

1218
00:57:59,160 --> 00:58:01,240
I hope he did.
Do you know what I mean?

1219
00:58:01,240 --> 00:58:04,000
There's something profoundly satisfying

1220
00:58:04,000 --> 00:58:05,960
about the way that sitcoms are shaped.

1221
00:58:05,960 --> 00:58:08,840
If you had to say...
What I watch now most on TV,

1222
00:58:08,840 --> 00:58:10,240
we're in a golden age

1223
00:58:10,240 --> 00:58:12,320
of situation comedy,
or half-hour comedy.

1224
00:58:12,320 --> 00:58:13,880
British sitcom continues

1225
00:58:13,880 --> 00:58:16,440
to point out our strengths and our faults,

1226
00:58:16,440 --> 00:58:18,320
and proves time and again

1227
00:58:18,320 --> 00:58:21,080
that the best way to take on a serious subject

1228
00:58:21,080 --> 00:58:22,720
is to make it funny.

1229
00:58:22,720 --> 00:58:24,280
If you can make someone laugh,

1230
00:58:24,280 --> 00:58:26,720
it is a pleasure that doesn't cost any money,

1231
00:58:26,720 --> 00:58:29,120
so it's a life-affirming thing

1232
00:58:29,120 --> 00:58:33,760
that you can do...that you don't
need any equipment for.