When was the last really good British pre watershed sitcom?

ever decreasing circles

so good it made it on to bbc4 recently

Ever decreasing circles was cr@p.

Terry and June (NAP)

To be fair how many really good pre watershed sitcoms have there ever been?

Ofah, dads army, fawlty towers(at a push).....  I am guessing steptoe and till death us do part were pre watershed but not necessarily family comedy.

Coronation street for me

Nothing since Fools & Horses doubt there ever will be....

Father Ted was kind of British (Hat Trick/C4), that wasn't that rude.

TBH thinking about it that time slot doesn't really have the market? It's not like there are loads of sitcoms 7/8pm to chose from and they are all crap, they just aren't being made for our main channels anymore?
We're more likely to have X-factor on ice and celebrity koala vag eating.

The sitcoms that time on other channels and bought in from the US.
Then later we do have our own sitcoms on our main channels, some of which are really good.

rising damp. Though 'rigsby' would never get away with his racist quips these days.

Ever Decreasing Circles. A quite brilliant comedy.

Good second point just checking.  Regards Father Ted, I would class that as a really good sitcom despite not being one of my favourites for whatever reason.  But that is defo post watershed, I mean there is a drunken priest who only says "fek" and @rse" all the time, hardly family entertainment.

I think My Family was the last really big effort to make a good family comedy.  Trouble is it was dire, and its popularity is an inditement on the lowering expectations of the GBP.

Yonderland

I thought My Family could be ok sometimes. I rather watch that than the royle family.

Inbetweeners was family entertainment, they were schoolkids, ... you BUMBDER!

I think it helps if the characters are at least likeable.  In my family and outnumbered none of them were likeable, the little I saw of them I was never on anyone's side.  Everyone loved del boy and corporal jones and captain mainwaring and grandad and uncle albert, and in a funny way Basil Fawlty and Alf Garnett.  Perhaps merely liking a character counts as pathos.

"I think it helps if the characters are at least likeable."
This why "Betfair Forum" the sitcom would fail.

The Young Ones

Still Game?

Birds Of A Feather. The canned laughter sh*t itself with excitement every time any of them opened their mouths, so it must have been good.

Especially the remake.

"Alright Trace?" "No Sharon, I'm half left" - cue canned laughter pissing its pants.
"You on a diet Sharon?" "Yes Trace, I only eat 20 kilos of cake if there is a y in the day" - cue the canned sound of sides splitting.

Oh how we roared.

I know I've said it before but Men Behaving Badly has to be the most underrated sitcom. Probably post-watershed though.

Was Porridge pre-watershed?

There was no bigger men behaving badly fan than me, but I have to say it hasn't passed the test of time Imo.  Watched a few episodes a while back but it wasnt as funny as i remembered it.  Game on, the first series was cracking as a tangential aside.

Perhaps I am being a little naive, but fk me MBB is blatantly a post watershed programme, wouldnt dream of watching it with littluns

I doubt it treble, but it was certainly pre ofah.

And welcome to the thread treble, we now have the sitcom master among us.

Porridge was definitely pre-watershed

Pre-watershed doesn't necessarily mean it's ok for all kids. Plenty of stuff before 9 is suitable for 14 year-olds but not for the under 10s

Btw, Pokermonster said Still Game, not Game On

Well yea it is a bit vague.  To be truly family comedy i guess a bit of light innuendo is ok(eg. Porridge) but not relatively graphic and literal references to sex(MBB). Bad language is a total no no.

Btw, Pokermonster said Still Game, not Game On

Yes i realise that, never heard of still game.

falwty towers

Worst fawlty towers anagram ever, certainly no flowery tw@ts

don't know where it stood with the watershed but for me Extras is the best sit com to ever appear on TV.

Yes, Extras was really good.  Just after the watershed I believe.

It was little Ronnie snorting coke that did for it.

For me Porridge is without peer, The Fall And Rise Of Reginald Perrin deserves an honourable mention in this category as well.

Porridge was superb, I'd have to agree.  On a par for me would be George Cole's portrayal of Arthur Daley.

One of many golden moments. Its genius was half down to the ability of Gervais to get so many famous bods to do it.

What about Darren and Barry taking turns with the novelty pen!

And then Robert de Niro asking to keep it.

I never really liked OF&H.That Reliant grated. It was so ridiculous for a cockney market trader without being funny.Also didn't like Del Boy pulling young birds .It was just Sid James all over again..daft but not funny

I have always and manytimes said that minder was brilliant, but only because of george cole.   The whole show was him.  Dennis waterman or whomever was playing the minder at the time was basically just a prop.  Great show, happy days.

When did del boy pull young birds?

I thought Only Fools and Horses was brilliant at first, but the later episodes were a pale shadow of its former self.

Correct poker.  They decided that rodney and cassandra arguing was good tv comedy.  They were wrong.

My Hero (2006 )

loved that series

Dads Army (Nap)

Have to agree with some others about
'Ever Decreasing Circles'

Can't believe no one has suggested It Ain't Arf Hot Mum....loved it when they repeated it on Gold a few years ago

That is older hanofah and one foot in the grave thoug.   It was also diabolical.

Can't believe no one has suggested It Ain't Arf Hot Mum....loved it when they repeated it on Gold a few years ago

Will be suprised if it will ever be repeated again, along with about a dozen others.
Overtly Racist and Homophobic apparently.
You will have to make do with repeats of Citizen Khan..

i told u falwty towers

Love Thy Neighbour - lots of nig-nog,white honky and the wonderful Nina Baden-Semple
Was the theme tune played by John Coltrane?
Fawlty Towers- great stuff.
Dad's Army-classic once it settled down.

Nina Baden- Semper that should be.

Mind Your Language was funny

Hi De Hi

Duty Free

Only When I Laugh

PM

Still Game was very funny to begin with but became far too crude. Definitely not pre watershed.

The best ever was Para Handy, the original series starring Roddy McMillan. Someone at BBC Scotland accidentally dumped the tapes in a skip and sadly only a few episodes remain.

the upper hand

u can still catch the repeats early morning itv