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BuzzJack Music Forum _ Television _ BBC's Sitcom Season
Posted by: Froot. 15th November 2015, 02:11 PM
The BBC's Sitcom Season starts next week with one-off remakes of old classics including Porridge and Are You Being Served?, a number of new sitcoms, recreations of episodes of classic sitcoms that have been lost and special programmes looking at sitcoms in general. Here is the list of all the programmes that are to be broadcast:
Are You Being Served - Sunday 28 August, 9pm BBC One
It's 1988 and Young Mr Grace is determined to drag Grace Brothers into, well 1988, but he has a problem on his hands. Mr Humphries, Captain Peacock, Mr Rumbold and Mrs Slocombe all seem to be stuck in another era. A new member of staff, Mr Conway, joins the team - but will he help shake things up or will he just put a pussy among the pigeons?
Porridge - Sunday 28 August, 9.30pm BBC One
Imprisoned for a series of cyber-crimes, Fletch finds himself beholden to prison bad boy Richie Weeks and forced to use his hacking skills to get Weeks off the hook. The problem being that wily Officer Meekie has got his beady eye on Fletch - he knows a wrongun when he sees one.
Goodnight Sweetheart - Friday 2 September, 9pm BBC One
17 years have gone by and it’s 1962 - the year Gary was in fact born. Is it possible he could actually witness the event? Well, obviously not, according to the elementary rules of time travel: it might cause some very startling consequences such as being catapulted ahead into 2016 - a world he knows nothing about.
Young Hyacinth - Friday 2 September, 9.30pm BBC One
Kerry Howard (Him & Her) plays Hyacinth in a brand new one-off special called Young Hyacinth, a prequel to the popular 1990s classic sitcom Keeping Up Appearances, the BBC’s most popular TV export around the world. Written by the original creator Roy Clarke, Young Hyacinth will tell the story of Hyacinth’s early adulthood.
Pointless Celebrities - Sitcom Special - Saturday 27 August, 7.10pm BBC One
The celebrity line-up includes Charlie Higson (The Fast Show) and Adil Ray (Citizen Khan), as well as Pauline McLynn (Father Ted) who joins with Hugh Dennis (Outnumbered). Jean Ferguson (Last of the Summer Wine) teams with Tina Malone (Shameless), and also stepping up to the Pointless Celebrities podium are Richard Gibson (Allo Allo) and Vicki Michelle.
We Love Sitcom - Friday 9 September, 9pm BBC One
We Love Sitcom is a light-hearted panel quiz show that celebrates everything we love about British sitcom. Hosted by Ben Miller, this part comedy quiz and part nostalgia trip sees an all-star line-up go head to head to test their knowledge of British sitcoms.
The Coopers Vs The Rest - Monday 29 August, 10pm BBC Two
Along with her husband Toby (Paterson Joseph, Peep Show, Green Wing) she now divides just about enough money and nowhere near enough time between their three adopted children Frankie (Erin Kellyman), Alisha (India Brown) and Charlie (Joseph West). Tess tries to improve Charlie’s popularity by gate-crashing his classmate’s eighth birthday party, while back at home Toby has to deal with Alisha’s sudden interest in religion.
Home From Home - Tuesday 30 August, 10pm BBC Two
Their ‘traditional' lodge at Lake View Holiday Park means everything to them, the years of scrimping and saving all now feel worth it. That is until they wake up the next morning to discover their neighbours, the Dillons: Robert (Adam James - Doctor Foster) and Penny (Emilia Fox - Silent Witness). The Dillons are effortlessly superior in every way. Fiona enjoys the chance to make friends with her neighbours at a 'getting-to-know-you' barbecue, but Neil is less convinced. When night falls and the sangria flows the atmosphere goes from promising to catastrophic as Neil commits the ultimate faux pas.
Our Ex Wife - Thursday 1 September, 10pm BBC Two
Jack has finally found real happiness with fiancée Sara (Melanie Lynskey - Togetherness, Two And A Half Men), but his unhinged ex-wife and mother of his kids, Hillary (Victoria Hamilton - Doctor Foster, The Crown) is determined to destroy it. Whilst Jack wants Hillary out of their lives, Sara has made it her personal crusade to build a relationship with her for the sake of children Ava (Holly Earl) and Max (Archie Lyndhurst).
We The Jury - Monday 5 September, 10pm BBC Two
We The Jury is a comedy about jury duty, something William has dreamt of doing his whole life. He’s always known he was destined to be a juror but he never imagined that when the day finally came he’d land the mother of all jury gigs - an actual murder trial. The jury are a mismatched collection of enthusiastic fools, inconsiderate bullies and self-obsessed weirdos, constantly getting distracted from the case. Add in a demob-happy judge in her final trial and this has all the ingredients of a disaster.
Motherland
Motherland is a show all about navigating the trials and traumas of middle-class motherhood, looking at the competitive and unromantic sides of parenting - not the cute and acceptable public face of motherhood.We meet the 'Alpha Mums' headed by Amanda (Lucy Punch - The Wedding Video) who is very much the Queen Bee: everything in her life is organised, clean and sparkly - even the iamspamspamamicork board is a statement of success. At the other end of the spectrum we meet Liz (Diane Morgan - Cunk On Shakespeare) who's totally chaotic and feels the kids should enjoy free expression. Somewhere in the middle is Julia (Anna Maxwell-Martin - Reg), who, when she forgets it’s the school holidays, realises her organisational skills are nowhere near the level of the ‘Alpha Mums’.
Jimmy Carr And The Science Of Laughter: A Horizon Special - Sunday 11 September, 9pm BBC Two
With the help of leading scientists along with Jimmy’s own theories and ideas, together they will try and find answers to what laughter actually is, why we love doing it so much and why we associate laughter with being amused.
Comedy Feeds 2016 - BBC Three
Now on their fourth run, BBC Three’s Comedy Feeds continue to develop the next generation of British on and off-screen comedy talent.
This year they will include:
A Brief History of Tim, written by and starring Tim Renkow
Fail, featuring Will Merrick
Limbo, written by Lucien Young and Joe Parham
Man Like Mobeen, written by Guz Khan and Andy Milligan
Pumped, written by Stewart Thomson
The JPD3 Show, from the creators and stars of Mandem On The Wall
Lost Sitcoms - Hancock’s Half Hour - Thursday 8 September, 9pm BBC Four
On BBC Four, there are recreations of classic Lost Sitcoms (Hancock’s Half Hour, Steptoe and Son and Till Death Us Do Part). The scripts for these shows still exist but the original recordings have vanished from the archives. The episode, The New Neighbour, is about Tony Hancock’s new neighbour who has a very, very suspicious night-time routine. Kevin McNally plays the role of Tony Hancock with Robin Sebastian playing the role of Kenneth Williams. Other cast includes Jon Culshaw (Dead Ringers) playing Sid James; Katy Wix (Anna & Katy) playing Hattie Jacques and Kevin Eldon (Brass Eye) playing John Vere.
Lost Sitcoms - Steptoe And Son - Wednesday 14 September, 9pm BBC Four
Jeff Rawle (Drop The Dead Donkey) and Ed Coleman (Pride) re-create one of the most successful double acts in the history of British television playing Albert Steptoe and his son, Harold respectively. The episode, A Winter’s Tale, sees Harold desperate to go on a skiing holiday - but he doesn’t want Albert there, under any circumstances.
Lost Sitcoms - Till Death Us Do Part - Thursday 1 September, 9pm
[i]Till Death Us Do Part, written by Johnny Speight, sees Simon Day (Brian Pern, The Fast Show) reprise the role of Alf Garnett in the episode, A Woman’s Place Is In The Home. Alf arrives home to find himself in an empty house with a burnt supper, and sets about putting things right using his local telephone box. Other cast includes Lizzie Roper (Boy Meets Girl) playing Else; Sydney Rae White (Uncle) playing Rita and Carl Au (Waterloo Road) playing Mike.
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ORIGINAL POST:
Following the success of 'Still Open All Hours', the BBC appears to have looked at another classic Ronnie Barker sitcom and is hoping to bring an updated version back to our screens.
The Sunday Times is reporting that the series will be brought back with a BBC pilot centred around Norman Fletcher's (Ronnie Barker) grandson, who will be serving time for computer hacking.
Writers Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais have said that the BBC has commissioned them to write a single episode, which La Frenais hopes will be turned into a series.
"We were asked by the BBC to do a revival and decided to set it right up to date. It will be set in a modern prison while Slade was of course Victorian," explained La Frenais, who added that Norman's grandson would also be called Fletch and has "attitude".
The original series of Porridge ran between 1974 and 1977 and also starred the late Richard Beckinsale as Fletch's naive cellmate Lennie Godber and Fulton Mackay as prison officer Mr. Mackay.
Posted by: Suedehead2 15th November 2015, 02:40 PM
I wonder if the grandson is meant to be Fletcher's son's son. If so, Nicholas Lyndhurst could reprise his role as the son.
Posted by: bipolar angel 22nd February 2016, 10:52 AM
so, as well as finding out today benidorm is getting renewed, i also found out that the classic comedy are you being served? is getting remade, by none other than darren litten, writer of benidorm
how exciting!. i'm honestly looking forward to this (not just because it's written by the same guy who wrote benidorm), but because i love the show. i've always loved are you being served
and i think it will work. it's not the first remake and probably won't be the last
Posted by: Mack 22nd February 2016, 03:45 PM
I'm not too sure what do think of this. It won't be a patch on the original probably should be left alone although I hope I'm proved wrong.
Posted by: richie 22nd February 2016, 06:38 PM
How will that work? Department stores are not really the same as in the 70s are they? Not keen on remakes at all as there's no point in them if the original was great - look at Reggie Perrin. What was the point in remaking that?
Posted by: Regina 22nd February 2016, 06:53 PM
Considering that Benedorm is an utterly dire piece of shit, I have no hopes of this being any good. The original was a classic and should remain untainted.
Posted by: Qween 22nd February 2016, 07:05 PM
Almost word for word what Reginald said. I can't see this being anything other than a mess.
Posted by: Severin 22nd February 2016, 07:26 PM
Terrible idea. Are we that bereft of original thought that we can't come up with a new scenario for a sit-com? It's basically a given that it will be a poor imitation.
Posted by: Mart!n 22nd February 2016, 07:32 PM
This is only 1 episode its not a series, to mark 60 years of BBC Comedy sitcoms, there is also Some Mothers Do Ave Em with the original cast and some other comedy shows to mark the occasion, (Keeping Up Appearances, Porridge, The Good Life and Up Pompeii!) are the other suggestions for a 1 off episode.
As Corporal Jones says "Don't Panic!!!".
Posted by: Qween 22nd February 2016, 08:20 PM
Omg even ONE EPISODE of Keeping Up Appearances would be enough to send Patricia off to her grave.
(not that she really cares I imagine, given it was her call to end it to begin with, but on principle alone I think she would die and the world doesn't need or want THAT)
Posted by: Froot. 21st August 2016, 07:04 PM
The BBC's Sitcom Season starts next week with one-off remakes of old classics including Porridge and Are You Being Served?, a number of new sitcoms, recreations of episodes of classic sitcoms that have been lost and special programmes looking at sitcoms in general. Here is the list of all the programmes that are to be broadcast:
Are You Being Served - Sunday 28 August, 9pm BBC One
It's 1988 and Young Mr Grace is determined to drag Grace Brothers into, well 1988, but he has a problem on his hands. Mr Humphries, Captain Peacock, Mr Rumbold and Mrs Slocombe all seem to be stuck in another era. A new member of staff, Mr Conway, joins the team - but will he help shake things up or will he just put a pussy among the pigeons?
Porridge - Sunday 28 August, 9.30pm BBC One
Imprisoned for a series of cyber-crimes, Fletch finds himself beholden to prison bad boy Richie Weeks and forced to use his hacking skills to get Weeks off the hook. The problem being that wily Officer Meekie has got his beady eye on Fletch - he knows a wrongun when he sees one.
Goodnight Sweetheart - Friday 2 September, 9pm BBC One
17 years have gone by and it’s 1962 - the year Gary was in fact born. Is it possible he could actually witness the event? Well, obviously not, according to the elementary rules of time travel: it might cause some very startling consequences such as being catapulted ahead into 2016 - a world he knows nothing about.
Young Hyacinth - Friday 2 September, 9.30pm BBC One
Kerry Howard (Him & Her) plays Hyacinth in a brand new one-off special called Young Hyacinth, a prequel to the popular 1990s classic sitcom Keeping Up Appearances, the BBC’s most popular TV export around the world. Written by the original creator Roy Clarke, Young Hyacinth will tell the story of Hyacinth’s early adulthood.
Pointless Celebrities - Sitcom Special - Saturday 27 August, 7.10pm BBC One
The celebrity line-up includes Charlie Higson (The Fast Show) and Adil Ray (Citizen Khan), as well as Pauline McLynn (Father Ted) who joins with Hugh Dennis (Outnumbered). Jean Ferguson (Last of the Summer Wine) teams with Tina Malone (Shameless), and also stepping up to the Pointless Celebrities podium are Richard Gibson (Allo Allo) and Vicki Michelle.
We Love Sitcom - Friday 9 September, 9pm BBC One
We Love Sitcom is a light-hearted panel quiz show that celebrates everything we love about British sitcom. Hosted by Ben Miller, this part comedy quiz and part nostalgia trip sees an all-star line-up go head to head to test their knowledge of British sitcoms.
The Coopers Vs The Rest - Monday 29 August, 10pm BBC Two
Along with her husband Toby (Paterson Joseph, Peep Show, Green Wing) she now divides just about enough money and nowhere near enough time between their three adopted children Frankie (Erin Kellyman), Alisha (India Brown) and Charlie (Joseph West). Tess tries to improve Charlie’s popularity by gate-crashing his classmate’s eighth birthday party, while back at home Toby has to deal with Alisha’s sudden interest in religion.
Home From Home - Tuesday 30 August, 10pm BBC Two
Their ‘traditional' lodge at Lake View Holiday Park means everything to them, the years of scrimping and saving all now feel worth it. That is until they wake up the next morning to discover their neighbours, the Dillons: Robert (Adam James - Doctor Foster) and Penny (Emilia Fox - Silent Witness). The Dillons are effortlessly superior in every way. Fiona enjoys the chance to make friends with her neighbours at a 'getting-to-know-you' barbecue, but Neil is less convinced. When night falls and the sangria flows the atmosphere goes from promising to catastrophic as Neil commits the ultimate faux pas.
Our Ex Wife - Thursday 1 September, 10pm BBC Two
Jack has finally found real happiness with fiancée Sara (Melanie Lynskey - Togetherness, Two And A Half Men), but his unhinged ex-wife and mother of his kids, Hillary (Victoria Hamilton - Doctor Foster, The Crown) is determined to destroy it. Whilst Jack wants Hillary out of their lives, Sara has made it her personal crusade to build a relationship with her for the sake of children Ava (Holly Earl) and Max (Archie Lyndhurst).
We The Jury - Monday 5 September, 10pm BBC Two
We The Jury is a comedy about jury duty, something William has dreamt of doing his whole life. He’s always known he was destined to be a juror but he never imagined that when the day finally came he’d land the mother of all jury gigs - an actual murder trial. The jury are a mismatched collection of enthusiastic fools, inconsiderate bullies and self-obsessed weirdos, constantly getting distracted from the case. Add in a demob-happy judge in her final trial and this has all the ingredients of a disaster.
Motherland
Motherland is a show all about navigating the trials and traumas of middle-class motherhood, looking at the competitive and unromantic sides of parenting - not the cute and acceptable public face of motherhood.We meet the 'Alpha Mums' headed by Amanda (Lucy Punch - The Wedding Video) who is very much the Queen Bee: everything in her life is organised, clean and sparkly - even the iamspamspamamicork board is a statement of success. At the other end of the spectrum we meet Liz (Diane Morgan - Cunk On Shakespeare) who's totally chaotic and feels the kids should enjoy free expression. Somewhere in the middle is Julia (Anna Maxwell-Martin - Reg), who, when she forgets it’s the school holidays, realises her organisational skills are nowhere near the level of the ‘Alpha Mums’.
Jimmy Carr And The Science Of Laughter: A Horizon Special - Sunday 11 September, 9pm BBC Two
With the help of leading scientists along with Jimmy’s own theories and ideas, together they will try and find answers to what laughter actually is, why we love doing it so much and why we associate laughter with being amused.
Comedy Feeds 2016 - BBC Three
Now on their fourth run, BBC Three’s Comedy Feeds continue to develop the next generation of British on and off-screen comedy talent.
This year they will include:
A Brief History of Tim, written by and starring Tim Renkow
Fail, featuring Will Merrick
Limbo, written by Lucien Young and Joe Parham
Man Like Mobeen, written by Guz Khan and Andy Milligan
Pumped, written by Stewart Thomson
The JPD3 Show, from the creators and stars of Mandem On The Wall
Lost Sitcoms - Hancock’s Half Hour - Thursday 8 September, 9pm BBC Four
On BBC Four, there are recreations of classic Lost Sitcoms (Hancock’s Half Hour, Steptoe and Son and Till Death Us Do Part). The scripts for these shows still exist but the original recordings have vanished from the archives. The episode, The New Neighbour, is about Tony Hancock’s new neighbour who has a very, very suspicious night-time routine. Kevin McNally plays the role of Tony Hancock with Robin Sebastian playing the role of Kenneth Williams. Other cast includes Jon Culshaw (Dead Ringers) playing Sid James; Katy Wix (Anna & Katy) playing Hattie Jacques and Kevin Eldon (Brass Eye) playing John Vere.
Lost Sitcoms - Steptoe And Son - Wednesday 14 September, 9pm BBC Four
Jeff Rawle (Drop The Dead Donkey) and Ed Coleman (Pride) re-create one of the most successful double acts in the history of British television playing Albert Steptoe and his son, Harold respectively. The episode, A Winter’s Tale, sees Harold desperate to go on a skiing holiday - but he doesn’t want Albert there, under any circumstances.
Lost Sitcoms - Till Death Us Do Part - Thursday 1 September, 9pm
Till Death Us Do Part, written by Johnny Speight, sees Simon Day (Brian Pern, The Fast Show) reprise the role of Alf Garnett in the episode, A Woman’s Place Is In The Home. Alf arrives home to find himself in an empty house with a burnt supper, and sets about putting things right using his local telephone box. Other cast includes Lizzie Roper (Boy Meets Girl) playing Else; Sydney Rae White (Uncle) playing Rita and Carl Au (Waterloo Road) playing Mike.
Posted by: gooddelta 23rd August 2016, 11:01 AM
I rather love Goodnight Sweetheart so I'm quite intrigued to see that back, considering how it ended.
The episode where Phoebe walks into the 1990s by mistake and hears Republica's Ready To Go playing (having only been used to war and pre-war music) always makes me laugh out loud <3
Posted by: 🍑💦🍌 23rd August 2016, 11:14 AM
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/37162569/mrs-browns-boys-named-best-british-sitcom-in-audience-poll
The British sitcom standards are not quite high, are they?
Posted by: gooddelta 23rd August 2016, 11:29 AM
The British sitcom standards are not quite high, are they?
Not really. Mrs Brown's Boys is so completely dire...I just don't get it.
Raised By Wolves top ten though <3
Posted by: Brett-Butler 23rd August 2016, 05:18 PM
How I feel about Mrs Brown's Boys -
Posted by: bipolar angel 28th August 2016, 10:45 AM
are you being served is being written by none other than darren littan! (benidorm)
so naturally, i'm going to watch that
porridge too
perhaps we love sitcoms and the coopers
oh and motherland
Posted by: Mack 28th August 2016, 08:05 PM
Oh blimey the new 'Are You Being Served' is painful as anything
Posted by: bipolar angel 28th August 2016, 09:17 PM
oh i found it funny
and it had the benidorm hotel manager in it. even if it didn't, it would have still been funny... got a lot of laughs from it.
not so much from porridge though
Posted by: Suedehead2 28th August 2016, 09:54 PM
I liked the little references to the original series in the Porridge revamp, but overall it was a little disappointing.
Posted by: dandy* 28th August 2016, 10:33 PM
I endured about 10 minutes of it before I insisted Mr D* changed the channel. It was godawful.
Posted by: popchartfreak 29th August 2016, 08:36 AM
The British sitcom standards are not quite high, are they?
Some gems amongst a host of typically British sitcom fare - but generally I'm not a fan of the vast majority of British sitcoms, I prefer the best of American sitcoms (ignoring all the dire ones)
I caught the remakes. Oh dear. Oh dear. The original casts were mostly skilled long-working actors who understood farce and drama, apart from a couple of inspired castings (Roy Barraclough springs to mind), the new ones looked like they were bunged together using whoever turned up to the audition.
Those lost 60's classics - grew up watching them on TV. I don't miss them.....
Mrs Brown's Boys, is all about Brendan's adlibbing and good-natured ribbing of his family and cast members, that's why people love it. It's never going to win awards and will continue to mystify millions
Posted by: Mack 30th August 2016, 06:41 PM
Did anyone hear about Patricia Routledge saying that you won't watch the prequel to Keeping Up Appearances at all?
Posted by: richie 30th August 2016, 07:38 PM
The remakes were ok. I think the Porridge writers made a brave attempt to update it but it worked best when the comedy was timeless, such as the constant changing hands of the pineapple chunks.
Are You Being Served suffered from the size of the cast, but it was alright.
Posted by: bipolar angel 31st August 2016, 09:38 AM
so i've a question
are these just that, specials, or do the BBC have plans to make any of them in to a series if they go well
for example, i really liked the coopers and the remade are you being served?, and would love to see them made in to series
also, i'm not quite sure how i missed home from home on BBC 2 last night, had plans to watch it.. was it any good?
Posted by: Froot. 31st August 2016, 10:30 AM
are these just that, specials, or do the BBC have plans to make any of them in to a series if they go well
for example, i really liked the coopers and the remade are you being served?, and would love to see them made in to series
I think the remakes are intended to be one-offs at the moment but, I feel like if they believe any of them were successful, they'll make a full series of it. Sort of similar to Still Open All Hours which had a one-off special and then returned as a full series as it was so successful!
As for the new sitcoms airing on BBC Two, they seem to be intended as pilots so the most successful ones (if there are any) will be made into a full series!
Posted by: richie 1st September 2016, 01:44 PM
I'd love to see BBC4 show more sitcoms too. There are very, very few on the channel and it'd be great to see the likes of Kieran Hodgson, Josie Long or Spencer Jones given a six episode commission soon. The Beeb is still reeling a bit from Sachsgate I think and has reverted back almost entirely to cosy, studio-based sitcoms instead of allowing the next generation of young talent to come through.
Posted by: Mack 2nd September 2016, 08:32 PM
An ending to Goodnight Sweetheart which has screamed out a full series for sure, the best of the three I've seen from the revivals.
No one could be Mrs Bucket for me with Young Hyacinth on now than Patricia Routledge.
Posted by: Brett-Butler 2nd September 2016, 08:33 PM
The new episode of Goodnight Sweetheart was absolutely hilarious. It's great the way they've now reversed the premise of the original series, with Gary now travelling to a future that he is unfamiliar with, rather than a past he's unfamiliar with. I'd originally had reservations about it being nothing more than a one-off treat beforehand, but on the strength of this episode, I hope they turn it into a full revival series. Given that they've updated the theme tune, it's possible they had intended it to be a backdoor pilot.
Posted by: gooddelta 2nd September 2016, 08:37 PM
So nostalgic for the 90s <3 Goodnight Sweetheart HAS to be commissioned for a full series, it was great.
Love the references to all the old running jokes and the new characters seemed pretty good too, certainly room for more, especially Gary's relationship with his daughter. I'm so glad the time portal has reopened *.* Incredible how much things have changed since 1999, which feels like yesterday to me in many ways.
Posted by: Mark. 2nd September 2016, 08:38 PM
Really enjoyed the new Goodnight Sweetheart very good. Hope there will be a new series.
Posted by: gooddelta 2nd September 2016, 08:39 PM
Yes I agree. Plus giving a very clear reopening to the narrative with the time portal reopening. If he hadn't been able to get back through again at the end then it would have been a clear one-off but this screams 'we're making another series'.
As an aside, Reg has aged well, he barely looked a day older.
Posted by: bipolar angel 6th September 2016, 03:21 PM
i can't wait for motherland tonight!
yay?
watched the jury thing yesterday, thought it was funny
Young Hyacinth though
what
that is all
Posted by: Froot. 6th September 2016, 10:37 PM
Just watched both 'We the Jury' and 'Motherland', mainly because Diane Morgan (aka Philomena Cunk) is in both of them but I thought the concept of the former was interesting and I've realised that the latter is written by Graham Lineham (Father Ted & The IT Crowd) and Sharon Horgan (Catastrophe) amongst others!
Both gave a good few laughs but I probably preferred 'Motherland' overall as I see more potential in a full series, with the posh mums going against the 'normal' mums. I loved the three main leads in it too. All good sitcoms have over-exaggerative concepts and characters and that's what makes them so good but I think there was a bit too much of that in 'We the Jury' which slightly put me off. The concept would be more beneficial in a full series as it would allow the 12 different characters of the jury to develop but, at the same time, it would also have a limited life span and I'm not entirely sure whay they would use as the subject of each episode.
I would like to see both be commissioned as full series but, if I had to choose one, it would probably be 'Motherland'!
Posted by: richie 7th September 2016, 08:02 AM
Darn, I missed Motherland - must catch up on iPlayer.
By the way, not a new sitcom (or even that much of a sitcom, more a dark comedy drama) but Fleabag is well worth watching. Sometimes outwardly crude but always deviously subtle.
Posted by: Steve201 7th September 2016, 11:04 PM
Agree with everything about Goodnight Sweetheart - it was brilliantly redone - def would watch a new series and it's so easy to write jokes for the series and so many interesting narratives both in the 60s and 2016.
I found it was a series which grew stronger as each series passed as they expanded the format of the storylines.
Posted by: Froot. 6th October 2016, 10:32 AM
Porridge is getting a full series with production starting in January!
I hope this means we will hear some news on some of the original pilots getting full series orders. I'd love to see more of Motherland!
Posted by: Froot. 6th October 2016, 01:32 PM
...and the BBC have passed on giving Goodnight Sweetheart a full series. Looks like the writers/creators/whatever will be trying to shop around to get it on another channel.
Posted by: Mack 6th October 2016, 08:46 PM
Wrong choice for me should have been Goodnight Sweetheart. Don't agree with a new series of Porridge because Kevin Bishop is not a patch on Ronnie Barker.
Posted by: Froot. 6th October 2016, 09:21 PM
There won't be any new series for Are You Being Served? or Young Hyacinth either! So only Porridge is getting a full series out of the classic sitcoms.
Posted by: Suedehead2 7th October 2016, 09:26 AM
Nobody could possibly replace Ronnie Barker. An attempt to recreate the role of Norman Stanley Fletcher with a different actor wouldn't have worked. I'm not surprised they are going ahead with a new series, but I am rather surprised that they aren't continuing with Goodnight Sweetheart. I thought the one-off episode of that worked well and was clearly designed as a pitch for a new series. Let's see whether another channel now picks it up.
Posted by: Froot. 13th October 2016, 10:14 AM
BBC Two have ordered a full series of Motherland which I'm very happy about. It means more Graham Linehan writing and more Diane Morgan on our screens! 
Posted by: richie 13th October 2016, 12:09 PM
I'd have preferred more Missing Hancocks - but they were done really well on Radio 4 already.
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