I’m embarrassed to say I used to love gimme x3 😂 best quote of the show was Linda saying to Tom “when men look at me they don’t think cat, they think dog” 😅
Don't be embarrassed - it was an award winning show - obviously didn't fit with some people's idea of comedy. Perhaps those who didn't like it were far more interested in "classics" like "liveth neighbour" where racism was ramp.... perhaps the world wasn't ready for a potty mouthed Linda and her Gay flat mate. I enjoyed it for different reasons - when I was at Uni I knew a girl like Linda who lived with a gay guy- and they were exactly like these two - it was almost written about their lives lol
I think it's more about whether you find characters who are grotesques funny. There's no doubting that Gimme, Gimme, Gimme was popular though, so the world was definitely ready for it but that sort of humour is always going to be very divisive, regardless of the sexuality or personality of the characters. I was slobby and foul mouthed young woman in the nineties but I really hated Kathy Burke's character, she seemed to have no likeable qualities at all she was completely repulsive and selfish. The guy just seemed to be acerbic, with no other characteristics. The whole comedy just seemed to come from people being vile to each other. Then again, I was never a fan of Basil Fawlty or Alf Garnett... UK sitcoms in the nineties were not great, we seemed to do better at panel and sketch shows, like Goodness, Gracious Me and Chewin' the Fat, while the U.S was giving us crackers like Friends, Will and Grace, Frasier and in the early nineties, Roseanne.
I recently rewatched Gimme x3, Seasons 1 and 2 are excellent, but the 3rd season does flag. FWIW I think the series really captures the spirit of the 90s
If you think of Gimme Gimme Gimme as a piss-take of sitcoms, and how they'd be if they were based on real people, it's brilliant. And if you want to see the very worst sit-com in history, look at Miranda.
@@marksaxby607 Miranda was one of those, always naff, vehicles based on "highlighting" one performer's comedy chops over the actual situation or comedy parts of a sitcom, and distract from the lack of acting skills of said "star". That one with Lee Mack also springs to mind in recent times but I suppose the ones with Jim Davidson really kicked off the "format".
@@darthwiizius how about the classic "mam it's the dust bin men" the BBC has a long tradition of giving licence payers money to people with zero talent for script writing or acting providing they went to the same schools, Eton, Cambridge, Oxford, etc etc. . .
Mrs Brown's Boys has been surprisingly successful. Whilst being critically panned it certainly scored high ratings. There was outrage when in 2011 it was nominated for a BAFTA for best TV scripted comedy and apoplexy when it actually won the award the following year. There was also much gnashing of teeth in 2014 when it won National Television Awards for best comedy. Hey, it's not my cup of tea but it must have something to have got the awards it has.
Loving the comments about Gimme! One of the best sitcoms at the time and ground breaking in stupidity and representation of a classic odd couple. 10/10. Kathy Burke is an amazing actress and comedian. Such a shame she stood down from acting for the most part.
It was a good one developed from sketches in one of Jasper's stand up sketch shows on BBC one and both Robert Powell and George Sewell who played the parts in the comedy sketches reprised their roles for the sitcom,
I like Gimme Gimme Gimme. I watch an American UA-camr who's done a few reactions to it, and he really enjoys it. It's sort of a cult classic now. I watched All About Me. As someone who ended up working with people with disabilities, I've often thought about that show but can never remember any specifics.
I'm surprised it is in this list because it does have a cult following.Never did anything for me but I am aware some people did like it.I'm surprised Doctors Daughters is not here.
I loved Gimme Gimme Gimme and have fond memories of watching it. It was ridiculous, but that was the point. I'm also fairly sure it was the basis for Will and Grace, so it was quite influential.
I was going to say the same thing: I laughed and immediately thought, "well that's not so bad." I would have given the series a chance despite the reviews just on the strength of Briers alone.
I'm surprised to see 'Gimme Gimme Gimme' on this list. I know comedy is subjective, but with many, many sitcoms that have come and gone (some v briefly because they flopped so badly) this show has become a classic and many wanting it to return. I don't know anyone else that has rated it the worst sitcom or even one of the worst.
My Family - they had a go at being the first British sitcom to use a panel of writers like American sitcoms, then became the reason why we have never bothered since.
Not Going Out seems to follow that trend too. "Must have a gag every 15 seconds and must feature pointless exterior aerial shots of nowhere in particular for no apparent reason."
If it had Sally Geeson in it, then I would watch it no matter what. I was therefore a bit puzzled why she is not credited as appearing in the Spooner's Patch in either IMDB or Wikipedia despite being in this clip. However, it appears that she only appeared in the pilot, which is where that extract must be from. As it is, her last screen credit is for Bless This House in 1976, the year in which she married and then went on to have a family. I assume that's why she did not appear in the series as she'd given up acting by then.
Agreed, Doctor Beeching was terrible...the previous vehicle for Shane, Holland, and Pollard " You Rang M'lord " was at least passable, but this show stank.
@@fus149hammer5 unpopular opinion=the croft perry magic all went into dads army and everything since was rubbish. i hated hi de hi and as for you rang m'lord...
@andrewyoung1904 personally speaking It Ain't Arf Hot Mum was even better but we won't be seeing that on the telly any time soon. I'll content myself with the box set.
David Essex? His acting is so wooden he's at risk of catching dutch elm disease. It's so bad that when he was in Eastenders he made the rest of the cast look positively Shakespearean!
Strane coming across this just now, my wife and I just started to watch The River again last night on DVD, we both think the casting was perfect. He has a very low key voice in comparison to her Scottish voice. We Love it. The same can be said for Oh Doctor Beeching, we watch this often if we want something gentle and funny to watch. Love all the cast and have even been to the station where it was filmed Gimme Gimme was amazing, funny and vulgar at the same time BLOODY GREAT, most of the others were gentle, mild comedies that could be viewed by all the family. In this day and age all of them would upset some minority group who feel they were being hard done by. What amazes me is how so many "comedians" can swear and be completely vulgar using the F word constantly {amongst other things] and people don't bat an eyelid or complain. To be honest we watch them but after a while it gets a bit strained, you can only swear so many times be fore it gets boring. Interesting video, never heard or seen Divided We Fall.
Sorry - I'm not over ranting yet. People pay far too much notice of these silly smug little know-it-all "critics", who have never had a creative thought in their lives, who decide the life and death of people who actually stick their necks out to create something worthy of criticism. They destroyed a wonderful sit-com like "Chalk" (David Bamber as a crazy headteacher) with their snotty comments, not to mention "Oh Doctor Beeching" (which I for one loved!). There were some glorious victories though: "Bottom" (with Edmondson and Mayall) won public acclaim despite the tomtittery of one little snot who thought it witty to say that the writers were "scraping the BOTTOM of the barrel". Give that boy one star point for effort!
I think it's because that it never got off the ground it only got one episode out before being shot in the head, poisoned and then taken outside, covered in petrol set alight before being buried in a shallow grave.
@@fus149hammer5 Granted they only aired one episode but that's how bad it was, so worthy in my opinion to be included in this list. More so than "Gimme Gimme Gimme", love that camp show.
Heil Honey I'm Home was just an experimental pilot show on a satelite channel that didn't get commissioned. I have watched it and it captures the dated US sitcom vibe with a deliberately bad taste premise quite well but isn't quite funny enough to justify that premise. It certainly isn't one of the worst, but the Hitler next to Jews premise creates easy shock value for people making "worst" lists.
A sitcom I used to like that everyone else seemed to hate was Hyperdrive, starring Nick Frost and Miranda Hart. Although most of the criticisms I read just said it was 'trying to be Red Dwarf'. I didn't think that was true, they were just both sci-fi sitcoms. Still I do recognise I am a minority in liking that one.
That’s a show I remember, but didn’t see much of. Feels like everyone has forgotten about it, which I guess is understandable because Miranda Hart nor Nick Frost were quite household names at that time. Worth a revisit I’m sure!
I loved Hyperdrive. It always struck me as how Star Trek would have been with a modern day British crew. The hopeless leader promoted way beyond his abilities, the bitter underling who thought he could do better, even though he obviously couldn't, and the half arsed crew just there because they weren't anywhere else.
All About Me, I remember this. When I came to find out it got a second series, I thought the writers must have been well connected at the BBC for them to get a second chance. Gimme Gimme Gimme, wasn't the best sitcom ever, but it was okay for the later series. The one you missed was Big Top. It starred Amanda Holden and Tony Robinson. It was absolute crap!
"Bottle Boys, Bottle Boys, Up with the larks, Who cares if it's raining, Who cares if it's dark." Thought that would've been No1. Or was it too obvious? P.S. I liked Gimme, Gimme, Gimme!.
Would have been on the list but its been on a recent video already. Will likely re-surface though at some point: ua-cam.com/video/TDPP4fQ9dws/v-deo.html
The Original Married with Children was great at the time. Al Bundy was a classic character, who got as much as he gave from his wife. It was a rock n' roll sitcom that was out to be the opposite of the squeaky clean, morale teaching goody two shoes US family sitcom. Dysfunctional family sitcom at its best. I never saw the Russ Abbot remake, but yeah, safe to say the transitions didnt work!
Anything with Sharon Horgan and Dawn french the most useless actors I have seen . But people are afraid to tell them . I think Mrs Brown boys could have a complete channel of awfulness.
Curry and Chips was great. Was just a comedy that could not be made today , but had the brilliant Spike Milligan and Eric Sykes in it , so was bound to be controveral, the same for 19th Hole.
My dad had to explain who Dr Beeching was, when I watched Oh Dr Beeching. I wish I hadn't asked, as he was clearly a massive bar steward who didn't care about grinding Britain to a halt.
Thats not the worst of it, he was employed by Ernest Marples who was transport minister at the time. His "Wife" owned a road building company. Massive conflict of interest there.
I loved Gimme Gimme Gimme, mostly because of Kathy Burke and James Dreyfuss. I confess I actively avoided Oh Dr Beeching (sometimes the title is enough of a warning). I have no memory of any of the rest of them. Now that BBC and ITV have their miserable soap operas on four nights a week, the era of the family-friendly sitcom has ended and the era of pre-watershed murder and adultery is with us. Be careful what you wish for?
The one that I hated the most was on the buses it was funny at all and all the canned laughter was annoying all it was was the inspector saying I hate you butler
Notice how every reviewer thinks they’re being original by branding a sitcom ‘the worst ever made.’ Ironic how they then accuse others of lazy and unfunny writing…
Some of them no doubt deserve bad reviews, but what we must remember is that Dad's Army got panned by the critics when it was first released, being accused of being out of date and unfunny, yet over half a century later still frequently pulling in the biggest sit comedy audienceof the week..
Entertaining despite most of these being unknown to me. There is a special place in my heart for awful comedies, some of them can be entertainingly bad but it's a fine line. Sometimes a favourite comedian stranded in a sea of talentless cast can still be watchable such as Alexei Sayle in 'Paris' or Craig Charles in 'Captain Butler'. The older they are the more forgiving I am as like music there is more nostalgia invoked than actual pleasure. A shame some of these have no clips as like all the good stuff in life it's pre-digital. Subscribed :)
There was a listeners' survey on BBC Radio Merseyside a couple of years ago on the subject of "Liverpool's best-ever TV sitcom". Most of the presenters seemed to believe that it would be a walk-over for one of Carla Lane's works - either "The Liver Birds" or "Bread". And the winner was... "WATCHING", 50% of which was set on the Wirral Peninsula and was written by the hitherto-unknown Jim Hinchmough.
Gimme Gimme Gimme was meant to be terrible... and was brilliant at it. So no, I respectfully disagree with that one. Then again I can't take any "Worst British Sitcoms of all time" list seriously if Mrs Brown's Boys is nowhere to found on it.
Personally “Birds of a Feather” deserves to be on this list……. It started out ok but just went on far too long and the later series on ITV was just like digging up the remains
I agree; the first few series on BBC were OK, and when they show a clip on loose women, from the ITV ones, with Linda Robson, the audience and the rest of the panel, laugh their heads off, at something pretty ordinary.
I remember something called Conjugal Rites, and thinking it was atrocious. I haven't dared watch it again since then, though, so maybe it's actually a hidden gem.
You certainly have missed some real stink bombs: Here's my list- 'Mulberry' (with that jack the lad actor who popped up in Minder and The Sweeney on a few occasions; Karl Howman), 'On the Up' ( An embarrassing outing for Dennis Waterman.....he even wrote the feem toon), 'Relative Strangers' (Matthew Kelly's unconvincing portrayal of the father of a cocky teenager, played by the late Mark Farmer) , 'Curry and Chips' (Refreshingly politically un-correct but unfunny and a waste of Spike Milligan's comic genius), 'Bless this House' (As far as sitcoms are concerned, Sid James only nailed it in Hancock's Half Hour) and that awful vehicle for Tessa Peake Jones; 'So Haunt Me'. Perhaps next time, you can do a top 30 or 40 list as there are so many.
Waterman didn't only write the feem toon, he sung the feem toon as well if I remember?! Amazed you remember most of the other sitcoms you mention, I've not given them any thought for years!!
What! No "Chintz", no "Sometimes, Never", "Troubles and Strife" or "Sir Yellow"? "In For A Penny" forgotten, "The Other 'Alf" not even hinted at? "Hope It Rains" and "Small World" ignored? "The Wackers" and "Mog" not even given dishonourable mentions? "Stone me!" as that chap in the homburg and overcoat would have said.
This is USA calling... Glad to see BAD TV is NOT limited to a Yank audience! We do get UK sitcoms but only the cream-of-the-crop: Are You Being Served?, Fawly Towers, Last of the Summer Wine, Keeping Up Appearences, 'Allo 'Allo... I've NEVER heard of you just mentioned...
The truly awful sitcoms are the ones too generic to even remember, let alone merit the effort of forming an opinion. They're the ones whose titles are usually laboured puns on the protagonist's surname.
Surprised to see Gimme Gimme Gimme on the list. I take it this is from your viewpoint rather than the population at large? Enjoyed the video and excellent narration regardless
My friend and I used to watch All About Me because it was so insanely bad. We used to compare notes on how bad it was. We probably got the most joy out of it.
‘Miranda’ has to be a strong candidate for any ‘worst’ sitcom list (though admittedly Miranda Hart herself seems ok). Like a mug I watched the first series in vain hope before deducing that the writer(s) had only written enough original(ish) material for roughly one and half or so episodes. The rest seemingly comprised of crappy pratfalls et al ripped straight from the likes of Some Mothers Do Ave’ ‘Em. Perhaps said writer(s) cynically reasoned they could pilfer from old, vastly superior shows and get away with it in the confidence their humourless audience were unlikely to be familiar with actual comedy… 😉 Figuratively and literally everything was thrown at ‘Miranda’ to make it funny: constant lame fourth wall breaking, silly voices, the main character owning a joke shop (huh huh just too funny) and strategically ripped off clothing in embarrassing circumstances redolent of every Carry On film ever, from fifty years ago. That, despite its many obvious inadequacies and like Ms Hart herself, ‘Miranda’ was a sizeable (hit) for the BBC proved to me that the once venerable Great British sense of humour had well and truly f*cked off… 😢
"The River" was not actually set on a river. It was filmed at the lock and lock keepers cottage at Wootton Rivers on the Kennet & Avon Canal in Wiltshire.
Teenage Kicks (2008) has got to be seen to be believed. Written and Starring Ade Edmondson, it was so bad some Networks didn't even show all the episodes because of terrible reviews and non-existent viewing figures.
For me, Constant Hot Water deserves a place on this list. Most bad sitcoms at least let me know where the jokes are and therefore where I'm supposed to laughter even if I don't. In Constant Hot Water, I wouldn't even have been able to tell where the jokes were if it wasn't for the laugh track. Somebody would say something, there would be a burst of canned laughter, and I would think "Was that a joke? How was that supposed to be funny, even theoretically?"
I rewatched it recently while doing the night feeds with my baby and I kept laughing and waking her up, particularly the first season (didn't bother with the third)
Ken Campbell as a woman looked as if it could have been interesting. I loved Ken Campbell, amazing one-off character. BTW worst sitcom has only just finished (please God): Hold The Sunset. What on earth was he thinking?
Britics (that is British critics) tend to act as if they've been irradiated beyond recognition and are facing the terminal news that they will die in 14 days. Sure, there's crap in the waters, but if you have the luxury of plumbing, you would think they'd simply flush well and enjoy the clear water that rises. Oh, well.
I remember All About Me. But one sitcom that seems to be missing from the list of worst sitcoms is Blind Men that used to be played on Friday nights on Carlton. Reason why I remember it, cause Abba’s The Winner Take ls It All plays over the opening credits.
Gimme Gimme Gimme was brilliant 👏 those critics back then were out of touch and old fashioned and prudish and slated some programs were brilliant and got bad write ups they didn't deserve 😉
I would add the one set in a shop that Bruce Forsyth did (originally starring Leonard Rossiter). The whole thing just felt like Bruce Forsyth pretending to run a shop.
I'd forgotten most of these completely, but I do remember Gimme Gimme Gimme, The River as well as All In Good Faith. Looking at the ones there were clips of, none of them look the best. I think the critics were right.
Gimme Gimme Gimme is a stone cold classic. Still holds up today.
So does my toilet.
@@Toastrackman Hah! It's funny because it's a toilet! What a witty retort!Worthy of Oscar Wilde!
Bravo.
Agreed . Gimme gimme gimme was a good show .
Damn site funnier than Gavin & Stacey ( assuming that show is classed as comedy ) 😁
I guess it's either love it or hate it - at least it wasn't dull.
I’m embarrassed to say I used to love gimme x3 😂 best quote of the show was Linda saying to Tom “when men look at me they don’t think cat, they think dog” 😅
Don't be embarrassed - it was an award winning show - obviously didn't fit with some people's idea of comedy. Perhaps those who didn't like it were far more interested in "classics" like "liveth neighbour" where racism was ramp.... perhaps the world wasn't ready for a potty mouthed Linda and her Gay flat mate.
I enjoyed it for different reasons - when I was at Uni I knew a girl like Linda who lived with a gay guy- and they were exactly like these two - it was almost written about their lives lol
I think it's more about whether you find characters who are grotesques funny. There's no doubting that Gimme, Gimme, Gimme was popular though, so the world was definitely ready for it but that sort of humour is always going to be very divisive, regardless of the sexuality or personality of the characters. I was slobby and foul mouthed young woman in the nineties but I really hated Kathy Burke's character, she seemed to have no likeable qualities at all she was completely repulsive and selfish. The guy just seemed to be acerbic, with no other characteristics. The whole comedy just seemed to come from people being vile to each other. Then again, I was never a fan of Basil Fawlty or Alf Garnett... UK sitcoms in the nineties were not great, we seemed to do better at panel and sketch shows, like Goodness, Gracious Me and Chewin' the Fat, while the U.S was giving us crackers like Friends, Will and Grace, Frasier and in the early nineties, Roseanne.
I also was surprised to see this one on the list. Though overly cliched, I found it mostly very funny.
Don’t agree with this being on the list, Kathy Burke is a legend
Yeah, it was funny.
I recently rewatched Gimme x3, Seasons 1 and 2 are excellent, but the 3rd season does flag. FWIW I think the series really captures the spirit of the 90s
If you think of Gimme Gimme Gimme as a piss-take of sitcoms, and how they'd be if they were based on real people, it's brilliant.
And if you want to see the very worst sit-com in history, look at Miranda.
👏👏👏👏👏👏
Yes! Miranda is awful!
Worst 'Sitcom' is Mrs Brown's Boys, imo - Miranda is more of a pastiche of sitcoms, but I can see it's not for everyone.
@@marksaxby607
Miranda was one of those, always naff, vehicles based on "highlighting" one performer's comedy chops over the actual situation or comedy parts of a sitcom, and distract from the lack of acting skills of said "star". That one with Lee Mack also springs to mind in recent times but I suppose the ones with Jim Davidson really kicked off the "format".
@@darthwiizius
how about the classic "mam it's the dust bin men" the BBC has a long tradition of giving licence payers money to people with zero talent for script writing or acting providing they went to the same schools, Eton, Cambridge, Oxford, etc etc. . .
I'm surprised Up the Elephant and Round the Castle, and Mrs Brown's Boys didn't make this list.
Mrs brown's is complete crap. Can't believe so many idiots love it.
Mrs Brown's Boys has been surprisingly successful. Whilst being critically panned it certainly scored high ratings. There was outrage when in 2011 it was nominated for a BAFTA for best TV scripted comedy and apoplexy when it actually won the award the following year. There was also much gnashing of teeth in 2014 when it won National Television Awards for best comedy. Hey, it's not my cup of tea but it must have something to have got the awards it has.
Mrs browns boys, absolute dross
Mrs Brown's Boys isn't British though. However, I guess it's produced by the Beeb? It is horrendous
@@powderedground78 I think it's filmed in Scotland.
Loving the comments about Gimme! One of the best sitcoms at the time and ground breaking in stupidity and representation of a classic odd couple. 10/10. Kathy Burke is an amazing actress and comedian. Such a shame she stood down from acting for the most part.
Is it a coincidence that the narrator always has negative views about sitcoms that contain gay characters…….?
A good cast made it bearable. Had great moments and lines at times. My favourite "you're so far back in the closet you're in fucking Narnia".
I absolutely adore the sitcom Dear Ladies - written by and starring two gay men. I know what you are suggesting and you are wrong.
@@napoleonsolo1705 Yeah I think his opinions on puffs and soft southerners are pretty clear lol...
Have you seen Nil By Mouth?
I enjoyed Gimme Gimme Gimme and the occasional glimpse of Beth Goddard, who I liked the look of. (Don't tell her, she'll be creeped out)
She's nice👍😋
I don't want to creep her out either. But my days, she was hot.
Agree a very pretty lady
'Mrs Browns Boys' - utter shit for a future retrospective
I saw Jasper Carrott in the video pic and thought you were going to list The Detectives. There would have been hell to pay! 😆
I liked The Detectives (episodes on it's original run are a bit foggy - but thanks to Yewtube >the comedy still holds up stronger than concrete.)
Jasper is old school classic.
Hell toupee
How good was the detectives. . Two of them had me in stitches every episode.
It was a good one developed from sketches in one of Jasper's stand up sketch shows on BBC one and both Robert Powell and George Sewell who played the parts in the comedy sketches reprised their roles for the sitcom,
Gimme Gimme Gimme was fabulously funny. Some of Burke's lines were off the scale.
I like Gimme Gimme Gimme. I watch an American UA-camr who's done a few reactions to it, and he really enjoys it. It's sort of a cult classic now.
I watched All About Me. As someone who ended up working with people with disabilities, I've often thought about that show but can never remember any specifics.
@@bouncingbluesoul5270 Taffe316
I'm surprised it is in this list because it does have a cult following.Never did anything for me but I am aware some people did like it.I'm surprised Doctors Daughters is not here.
My condolences on watching All About Me. 😄
Each to their own, the first two series of Gimme were so good. Fantastic leads and horribly funny scripts. Third when it moved to BBC1 not so much.
I loved Gimme Gimme Gimme and have fond memories of watching it. It was ridiculous, but that was the point. I'm also fairly sure it was the basis for Will and Grace, so it was quite influential.
These all slipped under my radar with the exception of 'Gimmie' which still makes me laugh - sometimes!
No idea what Gimme x 3 is doing on this list - it’s ace! That said, it goes off the boil in the third series.
Ben Elton’s series The Wright Way about a council Health and Safety was just awful. Got panned by the critics
That was easily my choice. Like he’d tried to do Thin Blue Line again but forgotten the jokes.
He should have given up after Capt Blackadder went over the top that was simply brilliant and Upstart Crow is underrated but the rest? 💩
Good shout!
Gimme Gimme Gimme was actually excellent and has no place on a worst list
the 3rd series was awful but the first 2 were brilliant
Dreadful I thought 😬. Not the worst but definitely rank.
@@allan4922 you are outvoted by about 30 to 1 judging by the chat
Absolutely!!! Great sit co Gimme Gimme Gimme!!! Replace it on this list with Mothers Boys!!! Now that is CAK in any era.
Have to say, Oh Doctor Beeching wasn't that bad. And I liked Gimme Gimme Gimme and All About Me.
11:36 I have to admit, I did laugh at Richard's delivery of that line. He was a great actor.
True, he was great in other stuff, just clearly had a poor script to work with here
He was indeed...and, as his chilling performance in Inspector Morse shows, a great serious actor too.
I was going to say the same thing: I laughed and immediately thought, "well that's not so bad." I would have given the series a chance despite the reviews just on the strength of Briers alone.
It's impossible not to laugh at Richard Briars. I totally loved him, even in his poorer roles.
@@cisium1184 here here!!!
Gimme Gimme Gimme is amazing lol
Gimme, Gimme, Gimme, was well loved at the time. Not sure it belongs in the worst category.
I'm surprised to see 'Gimme Gimme Gimme' on this list. I know comedy is subjective, but with many, many sitcoms that have come and gone (some v briefly because they flopped so badly) this show has become a classic and many wanting it to return. I don't know anyone else that has rated it the worst sitcom or even one of the worst.
My Family - they had a go at being the first British sitcom to use a panel of writers like American sitcoms, then became the reason why we have never bothered since.
My family ran for 10 seasons plus specials gotta be something there
Not Going Out seems to follow that trend too. "Must have a gag every 15 seconds and must feature pointless exterior aerial shots of nowhere in particular for no apparent reason."
@@robertsmith1012 yes, a horrendous lack of taste in the British population.
it was great while Kris Marshall was in it,then went rapidly downhill after he left
I prefer a British series to an American season
I remember The River. Each episode ended with someone falling in the river. That was it.
If it had Sally Geeson in it, then I would watch it no matter what. I was therefore a bit puzzled why she is not credited as appearing in the Spooner's Patch in either IMDB or Wikipedia despite being in this clip. However, it appears that she only appeared in the pilot, which is where that extract must be from. As it is, her last screen credit is for Bless This House in 1976, the year in which she married and then went on to have a family. I assume that's why she did not appear in the series as she'd given up acting by then.
Carol Hawkins is my favorite.
@@Marty2011uk they appeared together in Carry On Abroad
@WOOF ! She is, and her sister Judy is a well known film actress.
The Royal Bodyguard, David Jason starred as a Johnny English clone minus the jokes
That's a new one on me I'll have to look it up
God that was bad , really really bad, and I'm not fussy I even laughed at oh doctor beaching, at times
Even Jason hates that, and I don't blame him.
It was the very worst. Terrible.
I gave Oh Doctor Beeching a pass because it was clearly just for keeping the Hi Di Hi mob off the streets, and letting them save for retirement ;)
True. By then the Perry/Croft/Lloyd magic had worn out.
Agreed, Doctor Beeching was terrible...the previous vehicle for Shane, Holland, and Pollard " You Rang M'lord " was at least passable, but this show stank.
@@fus149hammer5 unpopular opinion=the croft perry magic all went into dads army and everything since was rubbish. i hated hi de hi and as for you rang m'lord...
@andrewyoung1904 personally speaking It Ain't Arf Hot Mum was even better but we won't be seeing that on the telly any time soon. I'll content myself with the box set.
@@paulhirst7602 Who remembers "All Along The Watchtower" by Perry/Croft/Lloyd ?
I quite enjoyed The River, and even went so far as to buy it on DVD :) Maybe it just matched my sense of humour
ditto.
Thought it was ok but I was a kid
It had a certain charm. I remember enjoying it.
David Essex? His acting is so wooden he's at risk of catching dutch elm disease. It's so bad that when he was in Eastenders he made the rest of the cast look positively Shakespearean!
I loved The River too. It was charming rather than laugh out loud funny. Perhaps they should have dropped the laugh-track and called it a sit-charm.
Strane coming across this just now, my wife and I just started to watch The River again last night on DVD, we both think the casting was perfect. He has a very low key voice in comparison to her Scottish voice. We Love it. The same can be said for Oh Doctor Beeching, we watch this often if we want something gentle and funny to watch. Love all the cast and have even been to the station where it was filmed Gimme Gimme was amazing, funny and vulgar at the same time BLOODY GREAT, most of the others were gentle, mild comedies that could be viewed by all the family. In this day and age all of them would upset some minority group who feel they were being hard done by. What amazes me is how so many "comedians" can swear and be completely vulgar using the F word constantly {amongst other things] and people don't bat an eyelid or complain. To be honest we watch them but after a while it gets a bit strained, you can only swear so many times be fore it gets boring. Interesting video, never heard or seen Divided We Fall.
I guess it's lucky for you that you aren't some minority.
Sorry - I'm not over ranting yet. People pay far too much notice of these silly smug little know-it-all "critics", who have never had a creative thought in their lives, who decide the life and death of people who actually stick their necks out to create something worthy of criticism. They destroyed a wonderful sit-com like "Chalk" (David Bamber as a crazy headteacher) with their snotty comments, not to mention "Oh Doctor Beeching" (which I for one loved!). There were some glorious victories though: "Bottom" (with Edmondson and Mayall) won public acclaim despite the tomtittery of one little snot who thought it witty to say that the writers were "scraping the BOTTOM of the barrel". Give that boy one star point for effort!
I'm shocked you added "Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie" and not "Heil Honey I'm Home!'.
Heil Honey I’m home👍👍👍👍
I think it's because that it never got off the ground it only got one episode out before being shot in the head, poisoned and then taken outside, covered in petrol set alight before being buried in a shallow grave.
@@fus149hammer5 Granted they only aired one episode but that's how bad it was, so worthy in my opinion to be included in this list. More so than "Gimme Gimme Gimme", love that camp show.
Heil Honey I'm Home was covered recently: ua-cam.com/video/MSgdgk1VDJA/v-deo.html&ab_channel=70stv80stv90stv-TheFootOfOurStairs
Heil Honey I'm Home was just an experimental pilot show on a satelite channel that didn't get commissioned. I have watched it and it captures the dated US sitcom vibe with a deliberately bad taste premise quite well but isn't quite funny enough to justify that premise. It certainly isn't one of the worst, but the Hitler next to Jews premise creates easy shock value for people making "worst" lists.
Gimme Gimme Gimme is amazing, what you on about?
Gimme gimme gimme. Sorry wrong there. Brilliantl.
Mrs Brown's Boys for me
I wouldn't even class it as a comedy.
That was absolutely terrible, far too predictable to ever be funny.
I agree the first three seasons was brilliant
By far.
That's a comedy??
Great video, mate :) Very few I remember, but if the snipets you showed were anything to go by, that's all the better for me ;)
Some best left forgotten
Duck Patrol?
Richard Wilson and a pre-Dr Who David Tennant couldn't salvage it.
Next video 👍
A sitcom I used to like that everyone else seemed to hate was Hyperdrive, starring Nick Frost and Miranda Hart. Although most of the criticisms I read just said it was 'trying to be Red Dwarf'. I didn't think that was true, they were just both sci-fi sitcoms. Still I do recognise I am a minority in liking that one.
That’s a show I remember, but didn’t see much of. Feels like everyone has forgotten about it, which I guess is understandable because Miranda Hart nor Nick Frost were quite household names at that time. Worth a revisit I’m sure!
I loved Hyperdrive. It always struck me as how Star Trek would have been with a modern day British crew. The hopeless leader promoted way beyond his abilities, the bitter underling who thought he could do better, even though he obviously couldn't, and the half arsed crew just there because they weren't anywhere else.
@@Benjiesbeenbetter. Thank you, it does feel great to be validated lol
@lloroshastar6347 I know! Nobody I know even watched it.
It could have gone a long way with the writers having a bit more practice ... and hart didn't fall down once. She was actually funny in this.
Anything by Carla bloody Lane.
Like Bread.
Facts
I'll admit, it's a bit weird seeing "Gimme Gimme Gimme" on there, seeing as it was number 48 on the list of Britain's Best Sitcoms in 2004.
48? That's bad, there probably wasn't 48 sitcoms on tv at that time.
@@Toastrackman It was out of a list of 100 sitcoms. I'm personally annoyed that The Brittas Empire, my favorite sitcom, is only one place above it.
@@Toastrackman It also didn't have to be current - I think Blackadder was the most popular and it had been over for years by 2004.
@@Toastrackman Anywhere in the top 100 best sitcoms is a great sitcom. If you see the list you would be amazed the quality sitcoms there is below 50 .
All About Me, I remember this. When I came to find out it got a second series, I thought the writers must have been well connected at the BBC for them to get a second chance. Gimme Gimme Gimme, wasn't the best sitcom ever, but it was okay for the later series. The one you missed was Big Top. It starred Amanda Holden and Tony Robinson. It was absolute crap!
I was looking to see if someone remembered the travesty of Big top! :D
@@Sasahara-Lafiel Amanda Holden said she did it to prove she had the right to judge performers on Britain's Got Talent. Er.......
@@davidjames579 Yeah, "you're almost as bad as me, it's a no!" :D
@@Sasahara-Lafiel She was barely Holden it together. I should write for local newspapers.
Jasper carrot really does look like a tortoise.
6:35 is that the OXO dad?
I love Gimme gimme gimme
Yup. Well spotted.
i loved gimme gimme gimme
"Bottle Boys, Bottle Boys,
Up with the larks,
Who cares if it's raining,
Who cares if it's dark."
Thought that would've been No1. Or was it too obvious?
P.S. I liked Gimme, Gimme, Gimme!.
Would have been on the list but its been on a recent video already. Will likely re-surface though at some point: ua-cam.com/video/TDPP4fQ9dws/v-deo.html
I love gimme gimme gimme one of my favourite sitcoms
The Original Married with Children was great at the time. Al Bundy was a classic character, who got as much as he gave from his wife. It was a rock n' roll sitcom that was out to be the opposite of the squeaky clean, morale teaching goody two shoes US family sitcom. Dysfunctional family sitcom at its best. I never saw the Russ Abbot remake, but yeah, safe to say the transitions didnt work!
There's a multi part one where Bill Oddie plays a long lost relative. Awesome stuff.
Anything with Sharon Horgan and Dawn french the most useless actors I have seen .
But people are afraid to tell them .
I think Mrs Brown boys could have a complete channel of awfulness.
Loved Gimme Gimme Gimme. As he says on a Episode Fuck a Duck xd And i liked my family but after NICK left it went down hill.
To be fair, Johnny Speight also wrote Curry and Chips which was pretty terrible as well
Curry and Chips was great. Was just a comedy that could not be made today , but had the brilliant Spike Milligan and Eric Sykes in it , so was bound to be controveral, the same for 19th Hole.
Lasted one series and that was generous.
@@stephenreeds3632 Still was a lot better than the rubbish made nowadays.
My dad had to explain who Dr Beeching was, when I watched Oh Dr Beeching. I wish I hadn't asked, as he was clearly a massive bar steward who didn't care about grinding Britain to a halt.
Thats not the worst of it, he was employed by Ernest Marples who was transport minister at the time. His "Wife" owned a road building company. Massive conflict of interest there.
@@bryemycaz so it was both short-sighted and corrupt. 🤬
I'm 78 this year, and having seen this (I only remember 'The River), I'm glad that I had better things to do than become a couch potato.
I loved Gimme Gimme Gimme, mostly because of Kathy Burke and James Dreyfuss. I confess I actively avoided Oh Dr Beeching (sometimes the title is enough of a warning). I have no memory of any of the rest of them.
Now that BBC and ITV have their miserable soap operas on four nights a week, the era of the family-friendly sitcom has ended and the era of pre-watershed murder and adultery is with us. Be careful what you wish for?
The one that I hated the most was on the buses it was funny at all and all the canned laughter was annoying all it was was the inspector saying I hate you butler
You are right. It was depressing . That dreary house, the ugly old men who had the nerve to criticise Olive. Yuk.
Gimme Gimme Gimme is a work of genius given what's happening today.
Notice how every reviewer thinks they’re being original by branding a sitcom ‘the worst ever made.’ Ironic how they then accuse others of lazy and unfunny writing…
"Confused broth of joke-free zone" pretty much sums up my entire life.
Some of them no doubt deserve bad reviews, but what we must remember is that Dad's Army got panned by the critics when it was first released, being accused of being out of date and unfunny, yet over half a century later still frequently pulling in the biggest sit comedy audienceof the week..
Entertaining despite most of these being unknown to me. There is a special place in my heart for awful comedies, some of them can be entertainingly bad but it's a fine line. Sometimes a favourite comedian stranded in a sea of talentless cast can still be watchable such as Alexei Sayle in 'Paris' or Craig Charles in 'Captain Butler'. The older they are the more forgiving I am as like music there is more nostalgia invoked than actual pleasure. A shame some of these have no clips as like all the good stuff in life it's pre-digital. Subscribed :)
Miranda and Mrs Brown's boys should have been on the list
Both absolute crap, and about as funny as this years electricity bill's
There was a listeners' survey on BBC Radio Merseyside a couple of years ago on the subject of "Liverpool's best-ever TV sitcom". Most of the presenters seemed to believe that it would be a walk-over for one of Carla Lane's works - either "The Liver Birds" or "Bread".
And the winner was... "WATCHING", 50% of which was set on the Wirral Peninsula and was written by the hitherto-unknown Jim Hinchmough.
Gimme Gimme Gimme was meant to be terrible... and was brilliant at it. So no, I respectfully disagree with that one.
Then again I can't take any "Worst British Sitcoms of all time" list seriously if Mrs Brown's Boys is nowhere to found on it.
Personally “Birds of a Feather” deserves to be on this list…….
It started out ok but just went on far too long and the later series on ITV was just like digging up the remains
I agree; the first few series on BBC were OK, and when they show a clip on loose women, from the ITV ones, with Linda Robson, the audience and the rest of the panel, laugh their heads off, at something pretty ordinary.
I remember something called Conjugal Rites, and thinking it was atrocious. I haven't dared watch it again since then, though, so maybe it's actually a hidden gem.
Gimme gimme gimme was hilarious!
Babes In The Wood featuring Denise Van Outen from 1998 is the most appalling sitcom ever.
I liked the Jasper Carrot and Meera Syal show and 'Gimme' was brilliant !
You certainly have missed some real stink bombs: Here's my list- 'Mulberry' (with that jack the lad actor who popped up in Minder and The Sweeney on a few occasions; Karl Howman), 'On the Up' ( An embarrassing outing for Dennis Waterman.....he even wrote the feem toon), 'Relative Strangers' (Matthew Kelly's unconvincing portrayal of the father of a cocky teenager, played by the late Mark Farmer) , 'Curry and Chips' (Refreshingly politically un-correct but unfunny and a waste of Spike Milligan's comic genius), 'Bless this House' (As far as sitcoms are concerned, Sid James only nailed it in Hancock's Half Hour) and that awful vehicle for Tessa Peake Jones; 'So Haunt Me'. Perhaps next time, you can do a top 30 or 40 list as there are so many.
Waterman didn't only write the feem toon, he sung the feem toon as well if I remember?! Amazed you remember most of the other sitcoms you mention, I've not given them any thought for years!!
Gimme Gimme was Ace ( the first 2 series anyway) .
Since you had one from the 2000s. The one I was thinking before it started was the royal bodyguard with David Jason
I just felt embarrassed for David Jason for agreeing to be in it and for me because i watched it. UTTER CRAP
It was terrible. It was David Jason does Mr Bean does James Bond. Oh hang on that had already been done that was Johnny English!
So true it was terrible, I would think why are you doing this rubbish
I think it's the worst comedy show I've ever watched , the Chuckle brothers was more funny and that was a silly show for kids
@@RichardPhillips1066
"To me, to you!" 🤣
What! No "Chintz", no "Sometimes, Never", "Troubles and Strife" or "Sir Yellow"? "In For A Penny" forgotten, "The Other 'Alf" not even hinted at? "Hope It Rains" and "Small World" ignored? "The Wackers" and "Mog" not even given dishonourable mentions? "Stone me!" as that chap in the homburg and overcoat would have said.
Covered several of them in other vids here. ua-cam.com/video/MSgdgk1VDJA/v-deo.html&ab_channel=70stv80stv90stv-TheFootOfOurStairs
I’m sorry but you’re totally wrong about Gimme Gimme Gimme. It’s brilliant
I loved gimme x3 it was so funny 😁
This is USA calling... Glad to see BAD TV is NOT limited to a Yank audience! We do get UK sitcoms but only the cream-of-the-crop: Are You Being Served?, Fawly Towers, Last of the Summer Wine, Keeping Up Appearences, 'Allo 'Allo... I've NEVER heard of you just mentioned...
I still love gimme gimme gimme
Me to loved it
The truly awful sitcoms are the ones too generic to even remember, let alone merit the effort of forming an opinion. They're the ones whose titles are usually laboured puns on the protagonist's surname.
The Good Life was popular in its day.
Surprised to see Gimme Gimme Gimme on the list. I take it this is from your viewpoint rather than the population at large? Enjoyed the video and excellent narration regardless
Most are these are comedic gems compared to the crap they put out today.
Is that Michael Macintyre playing the kid in Married for Life??
My friend and I used to watch All About Me because it was so insanely bad. We used to compare notes on how bad it was. We probably got the most joy out of it.
Have to disagree about gimmex3. Deffo not up there with the big classics but great performances.
‘Miranda’ has to be a strong candidate for any ‘worst’ sitcom list (though admittedly Miranda Hart herself seems ok).
Like a mug I watched the first series in vain hope before deducing that the writer(s) had only written enough original(ish) material for roughly one and half or so episodes. The rest seemingly comprised of crappy pratfalls et al ripped straight from the likes of Some Mothers Do Ave’ ‘Em.
Perhaps said writer(s) cynically reasoned they could pilfer from old, vastly superior shows and get away with it in the confidence their humourless audience were unlikely to be familiar with actual comedy… 😉
Figuratively and literally everything was thrown at ‘Miranda’ to make it funny: constant lame fourth wall breaking, silly voices, the main character owning a joke shop (huh huh just too funny) and strategically ripped off clothing in embarrassing circumstances redolent of every Carry On film ever, from fifty years ago.
That, despite its many obvious inadequacies and like Ms Hart herself, ‘Miranda’ was a sizeable (hit) for the BBC proved to me that the once venerable Great British sense of humour had well and truly f*cked off… 😢
"The River" was not actually set on a river. It was filmed at the lock and lock keepers cottage at Wootton Rivers on the Kennet & Avon Canal in Wiltshire.
I honestly like Oh Doctor Beeching. Honestly a really underrated show in my opinion. 👍🏻
Teenage Kicks (2008) has got to be seen to be believed. Written and Starring Ade Edmondson, it was so bad some Networks didn't even show all the episodes because of terrible reviews and non-existent viewing figures.
For me, Constant Hot Water deserves a place on this list. Most bad sitcoms at least let me know where the jokes are and therefore where I'm supposed to laughter even if I don't. In Constant Hot Water, I wouldn't even have been able to tell where the jokes were if it wasn't for the laugh track. Somebody would say something, there would be a burst of canned laughter, and I would think "Was that a joke? How was that supposed to be funny, even theoretically?"
Gimme Gimme Gimme was brilliant. Some moments from that show had me in hysterics.
Yeah just pretend it's a blip on the list. The show is superb
I rewatched it recently while doing the night feeds with my baby and I kept laughing and waking her up, particularly the first season (didn't bother with the third)
I like gimme gimme gimme
Ken Campbell as a woman looked as if it could have been interesting. I loved Ken Campbell, amazing one-off character.
BTW worst sitcom has only just finished (please God): Hold The Sunset. What on earth was he thinking?
He was a highly eccentric guy , it probably emmused him to play the role
I liked Gimmee Gimeee Gimmee, what was wrong with it
Gimme, Gimme, Gimme was ok in its first series.
Britics (that is British critics) tend to act as if they've been irradiated beyond recognition and are facing the terminal news that they will die in 14 days. Sure, there's crap in the waters, but if you have the luxury of plumbing, you would think they'd simply flush well and enjoy the clear water that rises.
Oh, well.
I remember All About Me. But one sitcom that seems to be missing from the list of worst sitcoms is Blind Men that used to be played on Friday nights on Carlton. Reason why I remember it, cause Abba’s The Winner Take ls It All plays over the opening credits.
That's a new one on me
Gimme Gimme Gimme was brilliant 👏 those critics back then were out of touch and old fashioned and prudish and slated some programs were brilliant and got bad write ups they didn't deserve 😉
I would add the one set in a shop that Bruce Forsyth did (originally starring Leonard Rossiter). The whole thing just felt like Bruce Forsyth pretending to run a shop.
Yeah that was awful!
Honey For Tea?
You beat me to it. Slinger's Day. Yep, it was a shocker.
I'm surprised about Oh! Dr. Beeching. I really loved that show.
It was fine. Nowhere near bottom 10 material
I'd forgotten most of these completely, but I do remember Gimme Gimme Gimme, The River as well as All In Good Faith. Looking at the ones there were clips of, none of them look the best. I think the critics were right.
Fully agree re. "Gimme gimme gimme", but I rather liked deadpan David Essex in "The River"...
Gimme Gimme Gimme, are you shitting me, its class
That said, some other infamous ones:
* Sam's Game
* Babes in the Wood
* The Wright Way
* A Prince Among Men
And a dreadful one with Syd James when he never took off his hat. Total tripe.
Up the elephant and round the castle was AWFUL