by Elisabeth Knapp

Created on: June 08, 2009   Last Updated: June 09, 2009

I think that it is more than fair to say that over the last forty years, the UK has set the standard for producing quality television programmes.

Currently, ITV have cornered the market for prime-time light entertainment programmes, gaining record viewing figures for shows such as The X Factor and Britain's Got Talent. The BBC has always been renowned for it's production of excellent dramas and documentaries. At the moment, programmes such as Ashes to Ashes are a big hit with viewers as well as The Apprentice, which also pulls in the ratings.

British television channels export their programmes across the world, as well as selling the rights to the formats of some shows, for example Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? as well as a certain Mr Simon Cowell doing incredibly well taking his reality show creations across the Atlantic.

But what is missing from these televisual delights? The sit-com of course. Sadly it seems to me that the glory days of British comedy are long gone. Fortunately we are still able to sample some of the classics such as Only Fools and Horses, Fawlty Towers and Porridge repeated on certain satellite channels. But where is the comedy for the here and now? As entertaining as the older shows still are, wouldn't it be great to see something new, more relevant to the times we currently live in?

So where is all the comedy? Could it be that as a nation we are becoming less funny? Is there less to smile about now than in the good old days? There's no doubt that comedy shows are being produced: comedy sketch shows like Little Britain and The Catherine Tate Show as well as panel shows like Mock the Week, but less and less so in the situation comedy format. Maybe the fault is not in the current comedy scene, but in the actual sit-com format itself. Many sit-coms have fallen by the wayside raising minimal laughs, so maybe it's just too difficult to write a sit-com that's funny?

I love to be entertained and I love to laugh, but often find myself laughing more at things such as reality TV shows rather than comedy shows that were actually designed to be funny. Many sit-coms these days I find painful and embarrassing to watch. I feel that many sit-coms these days are trying to tell me what is funny, and forcing me to laugh along with irritating canned laughter.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not anti sit-com, but I just haven't found one in the last five years that has made me laugh. Come on all you comedy talent out there.. write a cracking sit-com (without the canned laughter if you don't mind).

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