Summary
Only a few British sitcoms make an impression in the United States, but there are plenty of hilarious shows which deserve bigger international audiences. While shows likeFawlty Towers, BlackadderandThe Officehave had plenty of success in America, this is merely the tip of the iceberg. British comedy doesn’t always translate well overseas, so people don’t often give lesser-known British sitcoms a chance.
Another reason that American audiences sometimes struggle to connect with British shows is that there are so few episodes. If someone is accustomed to sitcoms with upwards of 20 episodes per season, it can be tough to adjust to British shows which only produce six episodes every couple of years. Despite the cultural differences between the US and the UK, giving lesser-known British comedies a chance can be hugely rewarding.
10 British TV Shows That Became Huge U.S. Hits On Streaming
With TV being so accessible worldwide now, it’s surprising just how many British TV shows have become huge hits in the U.S. through streaming.
10Back
David Mitchell And Robert Webb Reunite For Another Sitcom
David Mitchell and Robert Webb have been one of Britain’s best comedy duos for decades. After working on stage and radio, they successfully transitioned to TV with their sketch showThat Mitchell and Webb Look.Soon after, they created thebrilliant sitcomPeep Show,which is one of the few British comedies that has developed an international fan base. Their follow-up sitcom,Back,is still flying slightly under the radar.
WhilePeep Showis about young men wasting time and misbehaving in their 20s and 30s,Backis a comedy about the peculiarities of middle age.
WhilePeep Showis about young men wasting time and misbehaving in their 20s and 30s,Backis a comedy about the peculiarities of middle age. Mitchell and Webb play two long-lost brothers who jostle for control of a rural pub and their own family members.Baby Reindeerstar Jessica Gunning is among the supporting cast, but the focus stays on the increasingly absurd power plays of the two main characters.
9Toast Of London
Matt Berry Plays To His Strength
Matt Berry’s role inWhat We Do In the Shadowshas shone a light on the British actor, but he had been starring in plenty of hilarious British sitcoms for years before he became Laszlo Cravensworth. Many of these sitcoms feature Berry playing a ridiculous side character, butToast of Londonputs him at center stage, and the entire world of the show becomes much weirder as a result.
Toast of Londonputs Matt Berry at center stage, and the entire world of the show becomes much weirder as a result.
Steven Toast is a pompous but uninformed actor who tries to battle his way through the industry despite a string of terrible performances and his total lack of charm.The character suits Berry’s bombastic flair perfectly. It also gives him the rare opportunity to play the straight man, as Toast’s highly strung agent, his sneering professional rival and his Bohemian roommate are all just as absurd as he is.
8Motherland
A Parenting Sitcom That Ignores The Children
Motherlandis far from the first sitcom about the perils of parenting, but it rewrites every tired industry cliché.Outnumbered,another outstanding British sitcom, shows the daily annoyances of middle-class family life, but there’s always a comforting silver lining about how much the parents really do love the children and each other. By contrast, the children inMotherlandaren’t much more than props. Their main role in the show is to act as irritants and extensions of the ludicrous egos of their parents.
Motherlandisn’t about the day-to-day minutiae of child-rearing as much as it is about the absurd playground politics that consumes the characters.
Motherlandisn’t about the day-to-day minutiae of child-rearing as much as it is about the absurd playground politics that consumes the characters. The bickering, absent-minded parents inMotherlandare brought to life by a superb cast. One standout performer is Diane Morgan, who has also mastered the art of slack-jawed, dim-witted TV presenting as her character Philomena Cunk, who appears in a series of her own specials.
7The Mighty Boosh
A Slice Of The Surreal From Noel Fielding And Julian Barratt
Fans ofMonty Python’s brand of surreal humorwill find a lot to love inThe Mighty Boosh,a sitcom about two mismatched friends who live with a talking gorilla and a mystical alien shaman.The Mighty Booshhas earned a cult followingoverseas, but it deserves much more recognition for the way that it has influenced other sitcoms to push beyond the restrictive boundaries of the form.
The Mighty Booshsubverts the usual sitcom formula in favor of madcap adventures featuring the human embodiment of jazz, and strange beasts made of bubblegum.
Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt are the perfect odd couple inThe Mighty Boosh,with Fielding playing a trendy slacker and Barratt playing an anxious stick-in-the-mud. This framework sets up plenty of relatable human comedy, but the duo go against the grain as often as they can.The Mighty Booshsubverts the usual sitcom formula in favor of madcap adventures featuring the human embodiment of jazz, and strange beasts made of bubblegum.
6Detectorists
Detectorists Is A Rare Sitcom About Middle-Aged Friendship
Detectoristsstars Mackenzie Crook and Toby Jonesas two middle-aged friends who ignore their troubles by spending too much time in the fields of East Anglia with their metal detectors. Just as they dream about finding a boatload of buried Saxon gold while secretly knowing that their chances are minuscule, they also think they can get by in life without ever taking control of their destinies.
Detectoristsis a heartwarming story of solace and male friendship, but it also delivers plenty of laughs.
Detectoristsis a heartwarming story of solace and male friendship, but it also delivers plenty of laughs. Often, the best humor comes from the moments whenDetectoristsrefuses to acknowledge the niche appeal of its premise. The show presents turf wars between rival metal detecting groups as if they are tense political dramas, complete with accusations of sabotage and skullduggery.
5Cuckoo
A British Sitcom With A Few American Stars
Fans ofBrooklyn Nine-Nineand The Lonely Island may know about Andy Samberg’s British sitcom, butCuckoois still a hidden gem. Samberg plays an American hippie who upsets the balance of a stuffy English household when he marries into the family.Cuckoois a brilliant culture-clash comedy that aims jokes at both the traditionalist English set and the self-absorbed, imprecise American.
Fans ofBrooklyn Nine-Nineand The Lonely Island may know about Andy Samberg’s British sitcom, butCuckoois still a hidden gem.
Andy Samberg only sticks around for the first season ofCuckoo,but the show continues with a slightly different style. First, Taylor Lautner steps in as another guest in the household, a refugee from a spiritualist cult who doesn’t understand the ways of the outside world.Cuckoo’s final season switches things up once more with Andie MacDowell joining the cast. Throughout it all, Greg Davies proves to be the true star of the show.
4The Thick Of It
Razor-Sharp Political Satire From The Creator Of Veep
Before crossing the Atlantic Ocean and creating thehilarious political satireVeep,Armando Iannucci established a reputation as a keen observer of the frailties and foibles of British politics withThe Thick Of It.The BBC sitcom is just as vulgar and chaotic asVeep,and it has the same flair for creative insults. What makesThe Thick Of Itdifferent is that everything feels smaller and pettier.
The BBC sitcom is just as vulgar and chaotic asVeep,and it has the same flair for creative insults.
Party leaders and heads of state are rarely seen or even mentioned inThe Thick Of It.The show mainly follows the everyday behavior of politicians slightly lower down the ladder, and the long-suffering civil servants who have to execute their wishes.The star of the show is undoubtedlyDoctor Who’s Peter Capaldi, who delivers a masterclass in comedic rage and abuse. His character captures the dark heart of politics which is never meant for public display.
3W1A
A BBC Sitcom About The BBC
The BBC’s self-satirical sitcomW1Ashows the inner workings of the broadcaster, and the endless cavalcade of hilariously inefficient meetings that clog up the average workday. While there is a lot of comedy that’s specific to the TV industry,W1Ais also broad enough to be relatable for anyone who has spent too much of their life in meetings or making small talk with work colleagues.
The BBC’s self-satirical sitcomW1Ashows the inner workings of the broadcaster, and the endless cavalcade of hilariously inefficient meetings that clog up the average workday.
PaddingtonandDownton Abbeystar Hugh Bonneville plays the one reasonable character at the company, and he is surrounded by a clueless team of busybodies who each have their own nonsensical catchphrases and unique ways of derailing any project.W1Ais a spinoff fromTwenty Twelve,a similar workplace sitcom about the team tasked with delivering London’s 2012 Olympic Games, which is always worth rewatching in an Olympic year.
2Ghosts
A Historical Sitcom For Fans Of Blackadder
Ghostsis one of the best British sitcoms of recent years, and it recently ended with a perfectly measured Christmas special. The show follows a young couple who find no luck in the housing market until one of them surprisingly inherits an enormous country estate. When the couple arrive, one of them develops the ability to see the cast of strange ghosts who have accumulated within the four walls of the house over the centuries.
Each of the ghosts in Button House represent a different era of British history and a different stereotype of what it means to be British.
Ghostscomes from the same team that made the popular children’s showHorrible Histories, and it applies that show’s zany historical humor to a more adult-oriented story. Each of the ghosts in Button House represent a different era of British history and a different stereotype of what it means to be British, from the somber Edwardian dandy to the perennially repressed World War II captain. CBS’American remake ofGhostshas caused more viewers to find the original since it started in 2021.
1Green Wing
Green Wing’s Unique Sense Of Style Makes It Stand Out From The Crowd
As a hospital-based sitcom, the closest US equivalent toGreen Wingwould have to beScrubs.However, whileScrubsuses the high stakes baked into its setting for some emotionally devastating episodes from time to time,Green Wingnever takes itself so seriously. The doctors and hospital admin are too concerned with perpetuating their own self-image to really worry about seeing patients too much.
British sitcoms don’t rely on big ensemble casts as often as American ones, butGreen Winggives each of its strange characters plenty to do.
Green Wingis a highly stylized sitcom with slow-motion segments that feature characters practically waltzing through the hospital corridors. These moments add to the show’s dreamy feeling, which sets the scene for its zany humor. British sitcoms don’t rely on big ensemble casts as often as American ones, butGreen Winggives each of its strange characters plenty to do.
