Top 25 British TV series
by JetFred | created - 24 Jul 2020 | updated - 11 months ago | PublicMost of my lists are selections of notably good or remarkably bad movies, but I really don't enjoy TV pacing other than some animation and pure nostalgia. Except, that is, for British TV comedy. I own lots of live-action British comedy series, and they are my comfort food when I don't have time for a movie. I haven't really kept up with newer British television since my college years, so my favorites had all at least started by the 1990s. Most of what I collect either led the satirical wave up to the arrival of Python or were distinctly pulled along in the wake of its surreal influence. These are my favorites, approximately ranked, which I have in complete sets. I do like some British television that isn't comedy, but here, comedy beats drama, science fiction, horror, or documentary. Also, as much as this is all certainly Monty Python's fault, for me it probably began with Danger Mouse -- excluded here because it's animation -- leading me to wonder at the time who David Jason was.
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1. Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969–1974)
TV-14 | 30 min | Comedy
The original surreal sketch comedy showcase for the Monty Python troupe.
Stars: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle
Votes: 78,769
2. Only Fools and Horses (1981–2003)
TV-PG | 95 min | Comedy
Comedy that follows two brothers from London's rough Peckham estate as they wheel and deal through a number of dodgy deals and search for the big score that'll make them millionaires.
Stars: David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst, Roger Lloyd Pack, Buster Merryfield
Votes: 56,678
3. The Young Ones (1982–1984)
TV-14 | 35 min | Comedy
The crazy and sometimes surreal comedic adventures of four very different students in Thatcher's Britain.
Stars: Rik Mayall, Adrian Edmondson, Nigel Planer, Christopher Ryan
Votes: 16,443
4. Open All Hours (1976–1985)
30 min | Comedy
Arkwright is a miserly and eccentric shopkeeper with a stammer, who longs to marry his lifelong love Nurse Gladys. He runs a small town grocery store along with his errand boy and nephew, Granville and a particularly dangerous till.
Stars: Ronnie Barker, David Jason, Lynda Baron, Barbara Flynn
Votes: 5,951
5. Red Dwarf (1988– )
TV-14 | 30 min | Comedy, Sci-Fi
The adventures of the last human alive and his friends, stranded three million years into deep space on the mining ship Red Dwarf.
Stars: Chris Barrie, Craig Charles, Danny John-Jules, Robert Llewellyn
Votes: 37,276
6. Mr. Bean (1990–1995)
Not Rated | 25 min | Comedy, Family
Bumbling, childlike Mr. Bean has trouble completing the simplest of day-to-day tasks, but his perseverance and resourcefulness frequently allow him to find ingenious ways around problems.
Stars: Rowan Atkinson, Matilda Ziegler, Robin Driscoll, Matthew Ashforde
Votes: 133,243
7. Blackadder (1982–1983)
TV-PG | 195 min | Comedy
In the Middle Ages, Prince Edmund the Black Adder constantly schemes and endeavors to seize the crown from his father and brother.
Stars: Rowan Atkinson, Brian Blessed, Elspet Gray, Tim McInnerny
Votes: 41,064
8. Fawlty Towers (1975–1979)
TV-PG | 30 min | Comedy
Hotel owner Basil Fawlty's incompetence, short fuse, and arrogance form a combination that ensures accidents and trouble are never far away.
Stars: John Cleese, Prunella Scales, Andrew Sachs, Connie Booth
Votes: 100,112
9. Jeeves and Wooster (1990–1993)
TV-PG | 55 min | Comedy
Bertram Wooster, a well-intentioned, wealthy layabout, has a habit of getting himself into trouble and it's up to his brilliant valet, Jeeves, to get him out.
Stars: Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Richard Dixon, Robert Daws
Votes: 13,144
10. Are You Being Served? (1972–1985)
TV-PG | 28 min | Comedy
The misadventures of the staff of a retail floor of a major department store.
Stars: Mollie Sugden, John Inman, Frank Thornton, Wendy Richard
Votes: 9,224
11. Bottom (1991–1995)
TV-MA | 30 min | Comedy
Two perpetually bored and broke flatmates waste their days in a futile struggle to get laid, earn cash, and not kill one another.
Stars: Adrian Edmondson, Rik Mayall, Steven O'Donnell, Christopher Ryan
Votes: 14,183
12. The Thin Blue Line (1995–1996)
30 min | Comedy, Crime
Various mishaps at a police station in an English town. The main character is the anachronistic, yet charming and funny Inspector Fowler. CID foil to Fowler, Inspector Grim is a bumbling, seething idiot.
Stars: Rowan Atkinson, Mina Anwar, James Dreyfus, Serena Evans
Votes: 7,945
13. One Foot in the Grave (1990–2001)
TV-PG | 90 min | Comedy, Drama
Victor Meldrew is a retiree who attracts bad luck. If he's not driving his long suffering wife Margaret crazy with his constant moaning, he's fighting with neighbours.
Stars: Richard Wilson, Annette Crosbie, Doreen Mantle, Owen Brenman
Votes: 7,319
14. Rising Damp (1974–1978)
30 min | Comedy
Popular sitcom set in a seedy bedsit lorded over by the mean, vain, boastful, cowardly, racist landlord Rigsby. In each episode, his conceits are debunked by his long-suffering tenants.
Stars: Leonard Rossiter, Don Warrington, Frances de la Tour, Richard Beckinsale
Votes: 2,814
15. The Benny Hill Show (1969–1989)
TV-PG | 30 min | Comedy
A skit based show with Benny Hill, often containing smutty humour.
Stars: Benny Hill, Henry McGee, Jackie Wright, Bob Todd
Votes: 5,510
16. A Bit of Fry and Laurie (1987–1995)
TV-PG | 30 min | Comedy
Comedians Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie perform a variety of comedy skits and the occasional musical number.
Stars: Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Deborah Norton, Geoffrey McGivern
Votes: 9,917
17. Absolutely Fabulous (1992–2012)
TV-14 | 45 min | Comedy
The wild misadventures of Edina "Eddy" Monsoon and her best friend Patsy Stone, who live in a nearly constant haze of drugged, drunken selfishness.
Stars: Jennifer Saunders, Joanna Lumley, Julia Sawalha, June Whitfield
Votes: 21,517
18. Porridge (1974–1977)
TV-14 | 30 min | Comedy, Crime
The prison life of Fletcher, a criminal serving a five-year sentence, as he strives to bide his time, keep his record clean, and refuses to be ground down by the prison system.
Stars: Ronnie Barker, Brian Wilde, Fulton Mackay, Richard Beckinsale
Votes: 6,832
19. Keeping Up Appearances (1990–1995)
TV-PG | 60 min | Comedy
A snobbish housewife is determined to climb the social ladder, in spite of her family's working class connections and the constant chagrin of her long suffering husband.
Stars: Patricia Routledge, Clive Swift, Geoffrey Hughes, Judy Cornwell
Votes: 17,863
20. 'Allo 'Allo! (1982–1992)
45 min | Comedy, History, War
In France during World War II, René Artois runs a small café where Resistance fighters, Gestapo men, German Army officers and escaped Allied POWs interact daily, ignorant of one another's true identity or presence, exasperating René.
Stars: Gorden Kaye, Carmen Silvera, Vicki Michelle, Richard Marner
Votes: 27,044
21. Ripping Yarns (1976–1979)
TV-PG | 30 min | Adventure, Comedy
This show is a collection of tales that make for "ripping good" television. Sir Michael Palin played a different lead character in each yarn.
Stars: Michael Palin, Charles McKeown, Barbara New, David Griffin
Votes: 1,702
22. The Two Ronnies (1971–1987)
Comedy
This long-running BBC comedy show consisted of sketches and humourous musical routines.
Stars: Ronnie Barker, Ronnie Corbett, The Fred Tomlinson Singers, John Owens
Votes: 3,583
23. Yes Minister (1980–1984)
TV-PG | 30 min | Comedy
The Right Honorable James Hacker has landed the plum job of Cabinet Minister to the Department of Administration. At last he is in a position of power and can carry out some long-needed reforms, or so he thinks.
Stars: Paul Eddington, Nigel Hawthorne, Derek Fowlds, Diana Hoddinott
Votes: 16,534
24. Steptoe and Son (1962–1974)
TV-PG | 45 min | Comedy
British sitcom about a father-and-son rag-and-bone business in London. The intergenerational divide between the miserly Steptoe and his ambitious son results in comedy, drama, and tragedy.
Stars: Wilfrid Brambell, Harry H. Corbett, Frank Thornton, Tim Buckland
Votes: 3,421
25. French and Saunders (1987–2017)
TV-PG | 30 min | Comedy
Comedy duo Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders satirically present aspects of British life, films such as Batman Forever and Pulp Fiction.
Stars: Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, Simon Brint, Rowland Rivron
Votes: 3,745
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