British Sitcom History Podcast

Ranking history

About the show

Latest episodes

• Only Fools and Horses (Series 4+5) Part 1

  October 1, 2026 · 54 min

  We are back in Peckham! Having previously looked at the "Grandad Years", now we take on Uncle Albert and some of the other players who are starting to populate the world of Del and Rodney. Are these the peak years of Only Fools and Horses?

• The Savages

  September 17, 2026 · 1 hr 0 min

  This week we are following on from our Simon Nye connection to take a look at a much more obscure sitcom. 2001's The Savages is a pretty basic domestic sitcom but has some interesting elements, including Marcus Brigstocke as the lead and…

• Is It Legal? Part 2

  September 10, 2026 · 54 min

  Here is Part 2 of our look at Simon Nye's Is It Legal? starring the great Imelda Staunton. This week, we take a close look at Patrick Barlow and have good things to say about the physical comedy in the show.

• Is It Legal? Part 1

  September 3, 2026 · 59 min

  This month we are looking at the somewhat forgotten mid nineties sitcom Is it Legal? Coming from Simon Nye while still riding high on the success of Men Behaving Badly, the show features theatre star Imelda Staunton in a relatively rare…

• James Gilbert Deep Dive

  August 24, 2026 · 36 min

  As part of our look at early Last of the Summer Wine, we came across the name of James "Jimmy" Gilbert, who was a big cheese at the BBC for many years. He played a big part in the satire boom of the sixties, brought The Two Ronnies…

• Spanner's Eleven (Seven of One)

  August 20, 2026 · 46 min

  This week we're having a look at one of the episodes from Seven of One, an anthology series designed to find sitcoms built around Ronnie Barker. The series spawned two huge successes, Porridge and Open All Hours. But this one…

• Last of the Summer Wine (The Blamire Years) Part 2

  August 13, 2026 · 53 min

  Part 2 of our look at just the tip of the long-running Last of the Summer Wine. We finish our analysis of the episode, marvel at the technical set dressing of a church, and take a closer look at the work of Michael Bates.

• Last of the Summer Wine (The Blamire Years) Part 1

  August 6, 2026 · 1 hr 1 min

  This week we begin an epic journey into the world's longest running sitcom, Last of the Summer Wine. We'll start by looking at just the first two series, after which Michael Bates left. Here, we talk about the meandering and pointless…