British Sitcom History Podcast

This week we begin an epic journey into the world's longest running sitcom, Last of the Summer Wine. We'll start by looking at just the first two series, after which Michael Bates left.

Here, we talk about the meandering and pointless nature of the first series, and we get a closer look at the careers of Peter Sallis and Bill Owen.

This month we've been looking at Ideal so what better opportunity to take a look back at an early acting appearance from Johnny Vegas in the infamously bad Sex Lives of the Potato Men.

Co-starring Mackenzie Crook, hot off The Office, and featuring surprisingly large supporting roles from Dominic Coleman and Mark Gatiss, this film is also packed with other Britcom cameos. It's also pretty crap and we get to make fun of it.

This week we continue our in-depth investigation into what exactly Ideal is and what it became as it carried on for several years. We also look at the career of Johnny Vegas and try and parse the blurred line between comedian and comedy character. And to top it all we have a report from the Ideal 25th Anniversary live stage show, which Allen went to see last year.

This week we find ourselves in the 21st Century to take a detailed look at cult favourite Ideal. Written by Graham Duff and starring Johnny Vegas, Ideal enjoyed a surprisingly long run for a slightly weird little show with more interest in music than story structure.

This is definitely one of the more interesting shows we've looked at and it sparks off discussions on the nature of art versus commercialism. Enjoy!

Writer David Scott has just released a new book looking at the career of Caroline Aherne so we got him into the virtual studio for a discussion. We go on at length about how much we love The Royle Family but also take on Mrs Merton, The Fast Show, The Fattest Man in Britain, and Dossa and Joe.

Caroline Aherne: Rebel in Disguise is available in all good book shops, and some bad ones as well.

Released in 1974, the Man about the House film drops right in the peak of seventies Britcom film spin-offs. Usually that means reworked material and a few pairs of Bristols but that's not what we get here. Join us on a journey of discovery to see Robin and Chrissy getting closer than ever before and a deep dive on the history of Hammer Films.

It's part 2 of our look at Man About the House and this week we're focusing on Richard O'Sullivan and what happened as the series progressed. In a fairly unusual move for a sitcom, the show has a definitive ending, not that we necessarily like where it goes. We address the "Norman Eshley problem" and have a side by side comparison with the American remake, Three's Company.

Now in video! We're back and it's a soft relaunch as we go full time into the sitcom game. We start up with an absolute classic of the early seventies in Man About the House. Ostensibly about the absolute scandalous idea of two birds living with a fella, the series soon becomes a will they/won't they between Robin and Chrissy, played by the sitcom powerhouses of Paula Wilcox and Richard O'Sullivan.

Here we make a close inspection of Paula Wilcox's career and get stuck into the writers, Brian Cooke and Johnnie Mortimer. But will we appreciate the outdated political ideas and double denim on show? How many times will we accidentally say Ronnie O'Sullivan? Watch and find out!

Allen has been to see the latest sitcom related stage show - I'm Sorry, Prime Minister. An updated look at the characters from Yes, Minister, the play is written by the show's original creator Jonathan Lynn and stars Griff Rhys Jones and Clive Francis.

Is it a faithful addition to the canon or a Fawlty Towers style cash-in?

It's christmas so we're heading back to Button House for a family get-together. Julian finds that the true meaning of christmas is learning to love again and Mike's family have come round to wind him up. All this and more in our special festive edition looking at Ghosts!