Whatever Happened to the Britcom? (Part One)
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SIT-COM Whatever happened to the Britcom? - Part One British Sitcom has changed more over the last fifteen years than ever before in its history. Joseph Reaney uncovers the roots of this dramatic transformation and speculates on what the future holds for the nation's flagship television genre. 'Sitcom: A comedy, esp. as part of a There is much debate as to where the roots when Hancock's Half Hour began its first television or radio series, in which the of Sitcom lie. Some theorists credit 14th radio series in 1954, a new breed of British humour derives from the situations the century pageant dramas as the source while Sitcom character was born. Tony Hancock characters are placed in.' others cite Shakespeare's comedies, was a lovable loser, 'a belligerent, pompous, (Dictionary definition) pantomime or 19th-century newspaper frequently childish and petulant middle-aged sketches. Radio comedies of the 1930s and bachelor' (Krutnik & Neale; Popular Film and he real-world definition of 'Situation 1940s such as Band Waggon and It's That Television Comedy). comedy' has adapted and evolved Man Again included regular recurring The differences between American and over its 60-year-history but there characters as well as the guest stars and British sitcom characters are still apparent Tare many core characteristics musical interludes that were standards of the now: characters in Friends and Frasier associated with the genre that have not dominant 'variety show' format of the time. It are aspirational, quick-witted heroes who changed. If a programme is billed as Sitcom, was British television that would give the comment humorously on their own an audience can reasonably expect a thirty- world its first sitcom. drawbacks and inadequacies, while minute, scripted, self-contained narrative At 8.31pm on 29th November 1946, characters in I'm Alan Partridge and comedy involving an ensemble of recurring Pinwright's Progress began its ten-week run The Office are hopeless losers, unaware fictional characters within a workplace, on the BBC. It charted the adventures of J of their drawbacks and other peoples' home or institution. It is usually recorded in Pinwright, the successful proprietor of a attitudes towards them. With the transfer of front of a live audience or with an artificial multiple store with a good income and a Hancock's Half Hour to television in 1956, laughter track added, and by multiple loving family. He was a witty, intelligent, self- more Britcom standards were set. It cameras. Above all, the television audience aware character, which was common in pioneered the 'kitchen sink' style and should expect to laugh. American comedy at the time. However, focussed on character and situation more 14 September 2007 In an age of dropping ratings and high-risk commissions, broadcasters are looking for the 'complete package'. : BBC Women have feminised the genre with sitcoms like Absolutely Fabulous and Dinnerladies and sketch shows like Smack the Pony, and working-class life has hit our The Worst Week of my Life Week The Worst Laugh or the dog does not get a treat. screens in the shape of The Royle Family, Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights and Ideal. than quick-fire gags - another step away Office and its use of serial elements and From the 1970s to the early 1990s, only from the American model. character arcs. The 'multiple camera' rule was half a dozen writers (including John Sullivan, The next highly influential and successful defied in That Peter Kay Thing and Peep Show. Roy Clarke and Marks & Gran) were creating sitcom was Steptoe and Son. It came from So, why has the British Sitcom changed so and writing the vast majority of BBC sitcoms. the writing duo Galton & Simpson (of dramatically over the last fifteen years? Is the There was no training scheme in place, so Hancock's Half Hour) and established more change a natural evolution or does the very few new writers were joining the BBC. Sitcom values. It was the first of its kind to modern audience simply demand more from However, the emergence of BBC Choice employ actors in the main parts rather than its sitcoms? What does the future hold for (which became BBC3 in 2003) meant that comedians (the writing duo decided that they Britain's most cherished television genre? new writers could be trained on niche wanted performers who 'didn't count their programmes like Two Pints of Lager and a laughs'). It also introduced the great Sitcom Production and content Packet of Crisps. This afforded the BBC an theme of entrapment. Harold was desperate The Process influx of new talent and meant that the to escape to the 'swinging sixties' but was 'With a few notable exceptions … working- opportunity to create sitcom was open to held back by his father Albert. This has been class life has been repeatedly ignored by people across the country and not just white, a much-used theme since, whether the British sitcoms.' (Brett Mills, Television middle-class men. institution is employment, marriage or Sitcom) As previously mentioned, Steptoe and Son physical restraint (prison, the army etc.). was the first sitcom to employ actors rather Over the next thirty years, Sitcom charted Throughout its long history, the British than comedians, a trend that seems to have the lives of clergymen, officers and soldiers, Sitcom has commonly been penned by male, been reversed in recent years. There have been department store employees, landlords, middle-class, Oxbridge graduates for male, several modern sitcoms that use comedians in hoteliers, shopkeepers, vets, MPs, market middle-class audiences. Although there are their main roles, such as 15 Storeys High and traders, students and butlers, to name but a some high-profile exceptions such as Galton Phoenix Nights. It is notable that in these few. It became the dominant form on & Simpson's Steptoe and Son and Johnny cases, the actors (Sean Lock and Peter Kay television, was declared dead and then rose Speight's Till Death Us Do Part, they are in a respectively) are also creators and writers on again. But despite such a tempestuous past, small minority compared to the total Sitcom their series. Paul Mayhew-Archer, co-creator the content and production of Sitcom production since the 1940s. There has, of The Vicar of Dibley and writer on My Hero, managed to remain relatively unchanged. however, been a recent trend towards better argues that this duality allows a sitcom to That is, until recently… representing the diversity of Britain. There arrive on the screen 'fully formed'. Though this In this new millennium, Sitcom is a very was a boom in black comedy in the UK during is not an entirely new concept (Fawlty Towers different thing. So many of the rules have the early 1990s with the successful sitcom employed it over thirty years ago) it has been broken, critics disagree over what can Desmond's and sketch show The Real McCoy gained prominence recently as, in an age of even be defined as Sitcom. The 'thirty minute' leading the way. Though Desmond's remains dropping ratings and high-risk commissions, rule was flouted with Marion & Geoff the only highly successful sitcom of broadcasters are looking for the 'complete (approximately 8 minutes) and Green Wing predominantly non-white cast, comedy package'. As a result of this, there are now (approximately 50 minutes). The scripted rule programmes such as Little Miss Jocelyn, The sitcoms where comedians are employed as was questioned with the much-improvised Kumars at No. 42 and 3 Non-Blondes go actors only and are not involved with writing, sitcom Operation Good Guys. The 'self- some way towards reflecting the such as Peep Show (David Mitchell and Robert contained' rule was threatened with The multicultural makeup of modern Britain. Webb) and Ideal (Johnny Vegas). September 2007 15 SIT-COM The production of Sitcom from script has also changed dramatically. For over 45 years, the standard production technique was the 'three-headed-monster': a set with three cameras located in front of the live audience at the invisible 'fourth wall', recording the scene as a whole and also two-character reaction shots. This was pioneered by the American mega-sitcom I Love Lucy but is in decline in favour of single-camera shows. A major reason for this could be the influence of fast-paced cinema and television drama which were making Sitcom appear slow. Consequently, in the fifteen years since 1992, the average number of scenes in a thirty- minute British sitcom has risen from thirteen to twenty-two. Another blow to the three-headed- monster style of production was the rise of cinéma vérité born out of the 1990s documentary boom. In order for sitcoms like : BBC People Like Us and The Office to maintain the pretence of documentary, they aped the style 2 Pints of Lager of shooting and dispensed with the audience. Lager touts This meant that sitcom characters were aware of the camera and could play up to it; abandonment of the laughter track 'the most to working like this and the laughter track their 'unpredictability' results in reaction significant development in the Sitcom form would give radio listeners the sense of shots often being cut short or missed as the since the introduction of the three-headed- community that they were used to. camera tries to keep up, the opposite purpose monster'. When Sitcom started to move from sets to of the multi-camera setup. The laughter track came about as a means locations, the laughter went with them, The boom in single-camera comedy meant of audience transition. Narrative comedy had overlaid as a soundtrack and occasionally that new shows that could never have been always been a communal activity with (especially in America) 'sweetened' if the true shot on set in front of a live audience audience reaction were less than were produced.