by David Chaproniere

Created on: February 29, 2008

What defines a great sitcom? Whether your tastes are sassy, slapstick, highbrow, smutty or downright weird, there are sitcoms to cater to your type of humour, but whether widely popular or niche, a good sitcom is incredibly difficult to achieve, with writers ever looking for the perfect formula.

Of course, here in Britain we have had our fair share of exceptionally great sitcoms; equally, we have had some pretty awful ones, too. Unlikely though it is that many US readers on Helium will be familiar with most of our best comedies, I will touch on some of the defining moments of British TV comedy.

Top of the list is Fawlty Towers, starring John Cleese (of Monty Python) as Basil Fawlty, hotel owner and suffering husband of Prunella Scales's Cybil. Basil is a highly strung, tight-fisted rogue who always gets it wrong (famously he pleads "Don't mention the war" in relation to some German guests, but they later see him goose-stepping, finger under his nose to imitate Hitler's moustache). Only 12 episodes of this series were ever recorded, and yet seeing these programmes each time is like watching them afresh: always hilarious, and always memorable. Perhaps it is because many people can relate to the kind of frustration Basil encounters, from trying to place a bet on a horse race without Cybil knowing, to beating his broken-down car with a tree branch. I'd heard that Fawlty Towers had been remade by American TV, only for it to drop Basil from the show because he was unpopular - a claim that we Brits simply find astonishing, as Basil was the key character in the original show.

Next up, Only Fools and Horses, about some very dodgy south London dealers of tat and broken goods, usually sold out of large suitcases in local markets. This long running sitcom is greatly loved by Brits and has been remade in various guises across the globe. Excellent writing, a fantastic cast and highly hilarious situations - including shattering an expensive chandelier in a stately home, running through a very rough part of London dressed as Batman and Robin, and one character falling sideways through bar hatch in a pub in one of the very best slapstick moments seen in any sitcom - assures repeat viewings on UK Gold.

Along similar lines to Fawlty Towers is One Foot in the Grave, with yet another cranky old sod, Victor Meldrew, taking centre stage. Here, much of the comedy was bitter sweet, with Victor falling prey to highly ridiculous situations that could befall no one else, such as a houseplant

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