The characters are fools, the set are faulty, and the graphics are not good. But classic British sit-coms got comedy spot on.
Modern British television comedy doesn’t make me laugh. It makes me smile – it may even make me tweet #LOL – but it rarely makes me actually laugh out loud. Comedy dramas are too often unfunny; the story lines are predictable and the characters are idiots (most of the time). However, go back 30-odd years, replace the idiots with fools and you have one of the best comedy sitcoms ever created. Of course, I’m talking about Only Fools And Horses. Only Fools, along with other classic British sitcoms such as Fawlty Towers and The Good Life are still loved in 2014 just as much as they were in the 70s and 80s. They clearly did something right.
I believe the success of these programmes is down to three things: magnified characterisation, impeccable comic timing, and carefully crafted story lines.
Classic British sitcoms gave us some of the best loved television characters of all time. However in the nicest possible way, these characters are failures. Take Basil Fawlty, although the manager of a respectable hotel, he can never seem to do anything right. Laughing at his failures distracts us from crying about our own. More than characters, these people are caricatures. They are exaggerated representations of character types we can relate to.
In real life, these caricatures would be most frustrating people to live with, particularly Margot Leadbetter, the no nonsense prim and proper suburban housewife par excellence.
But on screen, they are our dearest friends. Despite their failures, they prove time and time again that they have big hearts and we can’t help but love them.
The talented actors and actresses who brought all our favourite characters to life are far funnier than any modern comedians I have ever encountered. They have numerous commendable qualities, but it is their comic timing in particular which deserves applause. These actors know exactly how long to wait for laughs before continuing with their next line. They know just how long to hold a facial expression. They are so in tune with one another that they create the perfect ensemble. This impeccable comic timing can result in physical comedy which is nothing less than hilarious. Basil Fawlty’s silly German walk and Del Trotter falling through the open bar flap. Need I say more. I am laughing just thinking about these scenes.
The comedic situations these characters find themselves in are the work of extremely cleverly crafted story lines. The quality of the script writing is consistently high in every episode of classic sitcoms, and as a result, so is the comedy. Special mention should go to the late John Sullivan (writer of Only Fools And Horses) who was a genius at creating scripts full of unpredictable twists, satisfyingly bringing a story arc together. Often, the story lines spend half an hour building up to the climatic final few moments of an episode. Yet these moments never disappoint. In fact, they are even better on second, third and fourth viewing.
Yes, classic British sitcoms look dated, but their content is timeless. They are the definition of comedy and will never cease to be funny. Modern British television comedy has not yet managed to produce anything in the same league, and to be honest, I don’t think it ever will. Luckily, I am more than happy to watch repeats of Only Fools And Horses, Fawlty Towers and The Good Life over and over again. They distract me from the stress of modern life and absorb me into an audience where no one has time to tweet #LOL because everyone is too busy laughing out loud.