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Review: Who Killed the British Sitcom?In January 2006 Channel 4 aired a documentary in which former ITV Director of Programmes David Liddiment analysed the 'death of the British sitcom'. The British Sitcom Guide's Scott Thompson had this response to the programme... Q: Who killed the traditional British sitcom? A: ITV for churning out so many spineless, unfunny efforts during the 80s and 90s.
Mr Liddiment pinned the blame on a series of suspects, including the US sitcom, alternative comedy and John Major (don't ask). And with the likes of Simon Pegg, Steve Coogan and John Sullivan weighing in with their opinions, he attempted to make sense of what has happened over the past two decades. Yet, the occasional interesting comment aside, you came out at the other end feeling none the wiser. Apparently, the mainstream sitcom is dead, apart from 'My Family', of course, but that's a startling exception. Oh, and let's not mention 'Last of the Summer Wine' (still going strong and you don't get much more mainstream than that), 'As Time Goes By', 'Blessed' and 'My Hero'! Another problem with the programme lay with certain people being given far too much screen time. Carla Lane, for instance, droned on and on about the good old days when she would wander around the BBC corridors and sell her latest 'masterpiece' to the first person she encountered. If, like me, you hated 'Bread' and everything else she produced, you would have been grinding your teeth whenever she appeared. Victoria Wood, meanwhile, bemoaned the process of making 'Dinnerladies'. "It was such a thankless task - it proved that the sitcom has gone as far as it can etc etc". And yet, as far as I remember, this show was a ratings success and there was huge disappointment amongst its fans when Wood decided to call it a day after only two series. 'Who Killed...' neglected to mention this.
The same shift in attitudes has happened in the US, as is seen by innovative programmes such as 'Arrested Development', 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' and 'My Name is Earl'. ' Who Killed the British Sitcom?' occasionally grappled with this changing landscape, but ultimately took aim at the wrong targets in our opinion. The result was a mish mash of ideas that didn't really hang together. Oh, and someone please give Carla Lane a commission - anything to stop her moaning! See also: Richard Bevan's review of 'Who Killed the British Sitcom?' |
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In this programme, Mr Liddiment joined a long line of people who have recently taken it upon themselves to declare the sitcom an endangered species. In 2004, UK terrestrial TV commissioned seven sitcoms, down from 60 two decades ago. People are simply too busy to put up with a show that needs two/three series to establish itself.
Multi-channel TV means that audiences are spoilt for choice and the slow-burning sitcom has suffered as a result. And so on... 
As I commented at the top of this article, the British sitcom is far from dead. Rather, it has reinvented itself for a modern audience. With the aforementioned exceptions, shows are no longer constructed for mass appeal - instead, they focus on a particular section of viewers, thus viewing figures are down but many of these shows pick up loyal followings.
A good example of this is '
