Favourite 1980s TV series

[Ben@Forest]

Father Ted is worth a mention (though it's of the 90s not the 80s). It's interesting to note that at the time it was first shown there was some disquiet about its irreverence to the Catholic Church and the Irish (though written by Irishmen). 10 years later there was disquiet about it not taking abuses by the Catholic Church seriously enough. Times change..

[Cowsham]

I've often wondered whether some classic comedies would be made today.

"Derry Girls" is just out a couple of years and very funny but it's set in the 80's so have built in some PC forgiveness.

Speak of the devil
Lisa Magee writer of Derry Girls just on the news there now getting freedom of Derry city and Strabane for services to tourism and stuff.

[Cowsham]

Father Ted is worth a mention (though it's of the 90s not the 80s). It's interesting to note that at the time it was first shown there was some disquiet about its irreverence to the Catholic Church and the Irish (though written by Irishmen). 10 years later there was disquiet about it not taking abuses by the Catholic Church seriously enough. Times change..

Yes exactly -- didn't mention it since it's neither modern or 80's but was absolutely brilliant " Get them feckin crunchies outa the car ! "

https://youtu.be/yTn6c1NMxjM

[francovendee]

At the time I never watched Father Ted but have seen a number of episodes in recent years.
I wish now I'd watched the whole series.
Maybe they will re-run the show or does it touch on things that have brought the church into disrepute?

[Ben@Forest]

At the time I never watched Father Ted but have seen a number of episodes in recent years.
I wish now I'd watched the whole series.
Maybe they will re-run the show or does it touch on things that have brought the church into disrepute?

It runs on More4 or similar now and again. Apart from the fact that the three priests are variously a semi-violent drunk, an idiot and an idiot who thinks he's clever it touches upon themes like latent homosexuality and frustrated heterosexuality. In one episode Ted successfully gets a whole bunch of priests out of 'the biggest lingerie department in Europe' thus avoiding embarrassment for the Catholic Church. But of course it doesn't go near issues like paedophilia or babies being taken from unmarried mothers.

But overall it runs through a whole gamut of comedic themes, it won a lot of awards and consistently scores highly on 'best ever comedies'. However if someone thinks 'Vicar of Dibley' was an amazing comedy l generally think they 'don't get' Father Ted.

[al_yrpal]

Dibley was a gentle comedy often with a kind message. It welcomed everyone. Ted just seemed to extract the P and perceived hypocracy from the Catholic church. Two quite different slants. Over the years comedy often seems to me to have descended into a bit of unkindness.

Al

[Mick F]

Never ever watched a Father Ted episode and I don't expect to either.
I used to watch All Gas and Gaiters though.

Favourite comedy was the Good Life, and we often quote lines from it even now.

A Chinese bird scarer ............
Woosh! What was that? That's your life, mate!
Methane? You're inthane!
You'd make a marvellous photographer, the way you enlarge everything!
There are three sexes - man, woman, and Barbara!

Loads more.

[thirdcrank]

On a point of information, both Father Ted and The Vicar of Dibley ran from the mid-1990s.

[pete75]

Are you being served would be on the 'suspect list' to it's very camp portrayal of Mr Humphries.
It wasn't a great show but I always found something amusing in each episode.
I think our attitude to political correctness has put comedy writers into handcuffs.
I'm struggling to find any comedy I watch that's new.

Really? Never seen Jimmy Carr, Frankie Boyle, Rich Hall etc

[thirdcrank]

Dibley was a gentle comedy often with a kind message. It welcomed everyone. Ted just seemed to extract the P and perceived hypocracy from the Catholic church. Two quite different slants. Over the years comedy often seems to me to have descended into a bit of unkindness.

Al

FWIW, I'd say both were very similar in style in that they dealt with caricatures based on stereotypes. Neither ran long, the difference being that FT ended after the sudden death of the star while in VoD the star survived many of the cast. I'm not sure if the writers were intentionally sending up Dawn French. IMO, when series do run for a long time, there's a tendency to become increasingly OTT

[pete75]

Dibley was a gentle comedy often with a kind message. It welcomed everyone. Ted just seemed to extract the P and perceived hypocracy from the Catholic church. Two quite different slants. Over the years comedy often seems to me to have descended into a bit of unkindness.

Al

FWIW, I'd say both were very similar in style in that they dealt with caricatures based on stereotypes. Neither ran long, the difference being that FT ended after the sudden death of the star while in VoD the star survived many of the cast. I'm not sure if the writers were intentionally sending up Dawn French. IMO, when series do run for a long time, there's a tendency to become increasingly OTT

Dibley ran from 1994 to 2007 - a fair while for a TV show.

[francovendee]

Are you being served would be on the 'suspect list' to it's very camp portrayal of Mr Humphries.
It wasn't a great show but I always found something amusing in each episode.
I think our attitude to political correctness has put comedy writers into handcuffs.
I'm struggling to find any comedy I watch that's new.

Really? Never seen Jimmy Carr, Frankie Boyle, Rich Hall etc

I confess to not seeing Frankie Boyle so he it may be the exception.

Jimmy Carr can be mildly amusing in eight out of 10 cats but only if there is the right mix of guests.
Rich Hall was funny because of his voice and being different but now I find him a bit boring after a bit.

[pete75]

Are you being served would be on the 'suspect list' to it's very camp portrayal of Mr Humphries.
It wasn't a great show but I always found something amusing in each episode.
I think our attitude to political correctness has put comedy writers into handcuffs.
I'm struggling to find any comedy I watch that's new.

Really? Never seen Jimmy Carr, Frankie Boyle, Rich Hall etc

I confess to not seeing Frankie Boyle so he it may be the exception.

Jimmy Carr can be mildly amusing in eight out of 10 cats but only if there is the right mix of guests.
Rich Hall was funny because of his voice and being different but now I find him a bit boring after a bit.

I meant from the point of view of handcuffs and political correctness - haven't you seen any of their shows? Much of their stuff would be regarded as outrageous by many.

I saw Rich Hall a couple of weeks ago in Melton - brilliant.

[PM999]

I think The Good Life was 70's, but top TV nevertheless. Same writers (Esmonde & Larbey), and one actor in common (Richard Briers), delivered "Ever Decreasing Circles" in the 80's. It evaded my radar at the time, but the good lady wife prodded me to watch it on UK Gold. Priceless.

[mumbojumbo]

What about the Beiderbecke Tapes about the cornet player Bix B with James Bolam and Barbara Flynt, set outside Leeds?And Michaei Palin "Spinning Yarns" was a sequel to Monty.