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| {{Infobox television
| | #REDIRECT [[w:Britain's Best Sitcom]] |
| | image =
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| | image_size =
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| | image_alt =
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| | caption =
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| | genre = [[Documentary series|Documentary]]
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| | creator =
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| | developer =
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| | writer = {{Plainlist|
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| * [[Robin Ince]]
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| * [[Steve Punt]]
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| * Lloyd Stanton
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| * Johnny Vaughan
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| * Andre Vincent
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| * Phil Wilding
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| }}
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| | director = {{Plainlist|
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| * Andy Devonshire
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| * Steve Franklin
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| * Carry John Hughes
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| * Norman Hull
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| * [[Becky Martin]]
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| * Andrew Nicholson
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| }}
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| | creative_director =
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| | presenter = See [[#Episodes|list of episodes]]
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| | starring =
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| | theme_music_composer =
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| | opentheme =
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| | endtheme =
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| | composer =
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| | country = United Kingdom
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| | language = English
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| | num_series = 1
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| | num_episodes = 12
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| | list_episodes = #Episodes
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| | executive_producer = {{Plainlist|
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| * Robin Ashbrook
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| * Ricky Kelehar
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| }}
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| | producer = {{Plainlist|
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| * Gerard Barry
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| * Karina Brennan
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| * Will Bryant
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| * Stephen Franklin
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| * Alex Hardcastle
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| * Garry John Hughes
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| * Norman Hull
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| * Shirley Hunt Benson
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| * Verity Maidlow
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| * Stephen McGinn
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| * Andrew Nicholson
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| * Matt O'Casey
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| * Cybele Rowbottom
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| * Elaine Shepherd
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| * Mark Turnbull
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| }}
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| | editor =
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| | location =
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| | cinematography =
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| | camera =
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| | runtime = 60 minutes<br>(180-min. premiere; 90-min. finale)
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| | company = [[BBC Manchester]]
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| | distributor =
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| | channel = [[BBC Two]]
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| | picture_format =
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| | audio_format =
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| | first_aired = {{Start date|2004|01|10|df=yes}}<ref name="2003_press_release">{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2003/12_december/30/best_sitcom.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050418225813/http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2003/12_december/30/best_sitcom.shtml |archive-date=18 April 2005 |title=BBC TWO asks the nation what is Britain's Best Sitcom? |date=30 December 2003 |website=[[BBC Online]] |publisher=BBC |access-date=8 October 2014}}</ref>
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| | last_aired = {{End date|2004|03|27|df=yes}}
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| | related = <!-- To be used only for remakes, spin-offs, and adaptations. -->
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| }}
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| '''''Britain's Best Sitcom''''' was a [[BBC]] media campaign in which television viewers were asked to decide the best [[British sitcom|British situation comedy]]. Viewers could vote via telephone, [[Short Message Service|SMS]], or [[BBC Online]].<ref name="press_release">{{cite press release |title=The battle of the sitcoms begins... |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2004/01_january/10/sitcom_top_ten.shtml |location=London |publisher=BBC |date=10 January 2004 |access-date=8 October 2014}}</ref> This first round of voting was conducted in 2003, after which the BBC published a list of the top 100 selections.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bbcattic.org/sitcom/top10.shtml |title=Britain's Best Sitcom: The Top 10 |year=2004 |website=bbcattic.org |location=London |publisher=BBC |access-date=8 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141013155339/http://www.bbcattic.org/sitcom/top10.shtml |archive-date=13 October 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="11-100">{{Cite web|url=http://www.bbcattic.org/sitcom/top11to100.shtml |title=Britain's Best Sitcom: Top 11 to 100 |year=2004 |website=bbcattic.org |location=London |publisher=BBC |access-date=8 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141013153757/http://www.bbcattic.org/sitcom/top11to100.shtml |archive-date=13 October 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref> From this list, they produced a 12-episode television series broadcast by [[BBC Two]] from January through to March 2004.<ref name="2003_press_release"/>
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| The series was a retrospective that examined the history and qualities of the contending programmes. In the first episode, [[Jonathan Ross]] summarised the progress of the poll and presented [[video clip]]s from the 50 sitcoms that received the most votes.<ref name="press_release"/> Each of the next ten weekly episodes, one hour in length, focused on one [[sitcom]].<ref name="2003_press_release"/><ref name="press_release"/> In each episode, a different celebrity presenter advocated a particular sitcom, delivering 20 reasons why it deserved viewers' votes.<ref name="2003_press_release"/><ref name="press_release"/> The sitcom's writers and actors, as well as celebrity viewers, also shared their own perspectives and memories. In the 90-minute series finale, transmitted live, Jonathan Ross announced the top sitcom to be ''[[Only Fools and Horses]],'' with ''[[Blackadder]]'' in second place and ''[[The Vicar of Dibley]]'' in third place.<ref name="top10">{{Cite web|url=http://www.bbcattic.org/sitcom/winner.shtml |title=The Final Top Ten Sitcoms |website=bbcattic.org |location=London |publisher=BBC |year=2004 |access-date=8 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141013160237/http://www.bbcattic.org/sitcom/winner.shtml |archive-date=13 October 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
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| Notably all finalists were BBC productions, with ITV and Channel 4 sitcoms not appearing (''[[Father Ted]]'', the highest-ranked non-BBC sitcom, was at number 11).
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| ==Episodes==
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| {{Episode table |total_width=auto |overall= |title= |writer= |Aux1= |aux1T=Presented by |airdate= |episodes=
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| {{Episode list
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| |Title=The Launch
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| |WrittenBy={{?}}
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| |Aux1=[[Jonathan Ross]]<ref name="press_release"/>
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| |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|2004|1|10|df=yes}}
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| |EpisodeNumber=1
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| |ShortSummary=Jonathan Ross recaps the 50 top British sitcoms, as determined by an electronic poll conducted in 2003.
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| }}
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| {{Episode list
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| |Title=Blackadder
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| |WrittenBy=[[Ben Elton]], [[Richard Curtis]] and [[Rowan Atkinson]]
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| |Aux1=[[John Sergeant (journalist)|John Sergeant]]<ref name="press_release"/>
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| |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|2004|1|17|df=yes}}
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| |EpisodeNumber=2
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| |ShortSummary=John Sergeant advocates ''[[Blackadder]]'', an historical farce that premiered in 1983 on [[BBC1]].
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| }}
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| {{Episode list
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| |Title=Fawlty Towers
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| |WrittenBy=[[John Cleese]] and [[Connie Booth]]
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| |Aux1=[[Jack Dee]]<ref name="press_release"/>
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| |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|2004|1|24|df=yes}}
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| |EpisodeNumber=3
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| |ShortSummary=Jack Dee advocates ''[[Fawlty Towers]]'', a comedy of errors that premiered on [[BBC2]] in 1975.
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| }}
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| {{Episode list
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| |Title=The Good Life
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| |WrittenBy=[[Esmonde and Larbey|John Esmonde and Bob Larbey]]<ref>{{cite news|title=''A Celebration of The Good Life''|first=Richard|last=Webber|publisher=Orion Books|year=2000}}</ref>
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| |Aux1=[[Ulrika Jonsson]]<ref name="press_release"/>
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| |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|2004|1|31|df=yes}}
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| |EpisodeNumber=4
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| |ShortSummary=Ulrika Jonsson advocates ''[[The Good Life (1975 TV series)|The Good Life]]'', a sitcom about a middle-class English couple who make an attempt at farming at their house in the southwest London suburb of [[Surbiton]]. It premiered on [[BBC1]] in 1975.
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| {{Episode list
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| |Title=Yes Minister
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| |WrittenBy=[[Antony Jay]] and [[Jonathan Lynn]]
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| |Aux1=[[Armando Iannucci]]<ref name="press_release"/>
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| |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|2004|2|7|df=yes}}
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| |EpisodeNumber=5
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| |ShortSummary=Armando Iannucci advocates ''[[Yes Minister]]'', a [[political satire]] that premiered on [[BBC2]] in 1980.
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| {{Episode list
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| |Title=One Foot in the Grave
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| |WrittenBy=[[David Renwick]]
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| |Aux1=[[Rowland Rivron]]<ref name="press_release"/>
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| |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|2004|2|14|df=yes}}
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| |EpisodeNumber=6
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| |ShortSummary=Rowland Rivron advocates ''[[One Foot in the Grave]]'', a [[dark comedy]] about the trials of an elderly curmudgeon and his longsuffering wife. It premiered on [[BBC1]] in 1990.
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| {{Episode list
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| |Title=Porridge
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| |WrittenBy=[[Dick Clement]] and [[Ian La Frenais]]
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| |Aux1=[[Johnny Vaughan]]<ref name="press_release"/>
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| |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|2004|2|21|df=yes}}
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| |EpisodeNumber=7
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| |ShortSummary=Johnny Vaughan advocates BBC1's ''[[Porridge (1974 TV series)|Porridge]]'' (1975–1978) and its sequel, ''[[Going Straight]]'' (1978). The programmes concern different aspects of prison life, including – in ''Going Straight'' – acclimatisation to a changed family life and outside world.
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| {{Episode list
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| |Title=Only Fools and Horses
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| |WrittenBy=[[John Sullivan (writer)]]
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| |Aux1=[[David Dickinson]]<ref name="press_release"/>
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| |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|2004|2|28|df=yes}}
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| |EpisodeNumber=8
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| |ShortSummary=David Dickinson advocates ''[[Only Fools and Horses]]'', which centres on an ambitious [[Cockney]] [[market trader]] called [[Del Boy]]. It premiered on BBC1 in 1981.
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| }}
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| {{Episode list
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| |Title=Open All Hours
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| |WrittenBy=[[Roy Clarke]]
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| |Aux1=[[Clarissa Dickson Wright]]<ref name="press_release"/>
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| |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|2004|3|6|df=yes}}
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| |EpisodeNumber=9
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| |ShortSummary=Clarissa Dickson Wright advocates ''[[Open All Hours]]'', which premiered on BBC2 in 1973. It concerns a [[South Yorkshire]] shopkeeper and his wistful nephew.
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| {{Episode list
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| |Title=The Vicar of Dibley
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| |WrittenBy=[[Richard Curtis]] and [[Paul Mayhew-Archer]]
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| |Aux1=[[Carol Vorderman]]<ref name="press_release"/>
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| |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|2004|3|13|df=yes}}
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| |EpisodeNumber=10
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| |ShortSummary=Carol Vorderman advocates ''[[The Vicar of Dibley]]'', in which Geraldine, the buxom new vicar of a small village in [[Oxfordshire]], lives among a colourful cast of characters there – and encounters some opposition. BBC1 premiered ''The Vicar of Dibley'' in 1994.
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| {{Episode list
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| |Title=Dad's Army
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| |WrittenBy=[[Jimmy Perry]] and [[David Croft (TV producer)|David Croft]]<ref>{{cite news|title=''Dad's Army: The Complete Scripts''|first=and Webber|last=Croft, Perry|publisher=Orion Books|year=2003}}</ref>
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| |Aux1=[[Phill Jupitus]]<ref name="press_release"/>
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| |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|2004|3|20|df=yes}}
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| |EpisodeNumber=11
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| |ShortSummary=Phill Jupitus advocates ''[[Dad's Army]]'', a comparatively long-running comedy that first aired on BBC1 in 1968. Set during the [[Second World War]], it introduces viewers to an unlikely group of [[Home Guard (United Kingdom)|Home Guard]] volunteers on England's south coast.
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| {{Episode list
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| |Title=The Live Final
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| |WrittenBy={{?}}
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| |Aux1=Jonathan Ross<ref name="press_release"/>
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| |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|2004|3|27|df=yes}}
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| |EpisodeNumber=12
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| |ShortSummary=Jonathan Ross announces which British sitcom received the most votes from viewers.
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| }}
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| ==Results==
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| {| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
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| |-
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| ! scope="col" width="30" | {{Abbr|No.|Number}}
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| ! scope="col" width="250" | Title
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| ! scope="col" width="100" | Years broadcast
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| ! scope="col" width="100" | Number of votes<ref name="top10"/>
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| |- style="background:#e5d1cb;"
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| ! scope="row" | 1
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| | align=center | ''[[Only Fools and Horses]]''
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| | 1981–2003
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| | 342,426
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| |-
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| ! scope="row" | 2
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| | align=center | ''[[Blackadder]]''
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| | 1983–1989
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| | 282,106
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| |-
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| ! scope="row" | 3
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| | align=center | ''[[The Vicar of Dibley]]''
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| | 1994–2007
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| | 212,927
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| |-
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| ! scope="row" | 4
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| | align=center | ''[[Dad's Army]]''
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| | 1968–1977
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| | 174,138
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| |-
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| ! scope="row" | 5
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| | align=center | ''[[Fawlty Towers]]''
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| | 1975–1979
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| | 172,066
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| |-
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| ! scope="row" | 6
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| | align=center | ''[[Yes Minister]]''
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| | 1980–1984
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| | 123,502
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| |-
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| ! scope="row" | 7
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| | align=center | ''[[Porridge (1974 TV series)|Porridge]]''
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| | 1974–1977
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| | 93,902
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| |-
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| ! scope="row" | 8
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| | align=center | ''[[Open All Hours]]''
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| | 1976–1985
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| | 67,237
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| |-
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| ! scope="row" | 9
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| | align=center | ''[[The Good Life (1975 TV series)|The Good Life]]''
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| | 1975–1978
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| | 40,803
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| |-
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| ! scope="row" | 10
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| | align=center | ''[[One Foot in the Grave]]''
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| | 1990–2000
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| | 31,410
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| |-
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| |}
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| ==References==
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| {{Reflist}}
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| ==Further reading==
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| * {{Cite book |last=Lewisohn |first=Mark |author-link=Mark Lewisohn |title=Radio Times Guide to TV Comedy |edition=Revised 2nd |year=2003 |publisher=BBC Consumer Publishing |isbn=0-563-48755-0 |oclc=52830784}}
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| ==External links==
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| * [https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/search/0/20?adv=0&q=britain%27s+BEst+Sitcoms&media=all&yf=1923&yt=2009&mf=1&mt=12&tf=00%3A00&tt=00%3A00#search Radio Times billings]
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| * {{IMDb title}}
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| [[Category:BBC television documentaries]]
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| [[Category:BBC television comedy]]
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| [[Category:2004 in British television]]
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| [[Category:2004 British television series debuts]]
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| [[Category:2004 British television series endings]]
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| [[Category:Top television lists]]
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| [[Category:British television-related lists]]
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