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British TV Comedies

Cultural Concepts, Contexts and Controversies

  • Book
  • © 2016

Overview

Editors:
  1. Jürgen Kamm

    1. University of Passau, Germany

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  2. Birgit Neumann

    1. University of Düsseldorf, Germany

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Table of contents (23 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xiii
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction: The Aesthetics and Politics of British TV Comedy

    1. Introduction: The Aesthetics and Politics of British TV Comedy

      • Jürgen Kamm, Birgit Neumann
      Pages 1-20

  4. The 1970s and 1980s: New Loyalties, Histories and Collective Identities — Post-familiar Paradigms

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 81-81
      Download chapter PDF

    2. ‘Sambo’ and ‘Snowflake’: Race and Race Relations in Love Thy Neighbour

      • Nora Plesske
      Pages 83-98

    3. ‘You Snobs! You Stupid… Stuck-Up… Toffee-Nosed… Half-Witted… Upper-Class Piles of… Pus!’ Basil Fawlty’s Touch of Class and Other Hotel Matters in Fawlty Towers

      • Paul Davies
      Pages 99-113

    4. Ignorant Master, Capable Servants: The Politics of Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister

      • Jürgen Kamm
      Pages 114-135

    5. Zany ‘Alternative Comedy’: The Young Ones vs. Margaret Thatcher

      • Eckart Voigts
      Pages 136-152

    6. The Uses of History in Blackadder

      • Gerold Sedlmayr
      Pages 153-166

    7. Black British Comedy: Desmond’s and the Changing Face of Television

      • Deirdre Osborne
      Pages 167-182
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Keywords

About this book

This collection offers an overview of British TV comedies, ranging from the beginnings of sitcoms in the 1950s to the current boom of 'Britcoms'. It provides in-depth analyses of major comedies, systematically addressing their generic properties, filmic history, humour politics and cultural impact.

Reviews

“This volume is sensitive to identity formations involving social class, gender, ethnicity, race, and factory labour. … The transnational authors of British TV Comedies, British and German, building on this expanding research, have elevated television comedy to a medium worthy of transcultural, cultural and political consideration for scholarly and general audiences.” (Marcia Landy, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Issue 2, September, 2016)


'This collection of essays provides an excellent review of the development of British situation comedy from the 1950s to the present day. It shows in a range of ways how British social and cultural history has been refracted through this distinctive media genre, focusing on such themes as the representation of social class, gender, age and ethnicity, the politics of humour, and the operative process of seriality. The book makes a fine contribution to the study of humour and comedy.' - Michael Pickering, Loughborough University, UK

'British TV Comedy covers all the key material, including the conventions of the genre as well as the contexts of production and the public controversies, taking the reader on an academic journey from Hancock's Half Hour to Little Britain. The book is essential reading for anyone serious about British television comedy.' John Storey, University of Sunderland, UK

Editors and Affiliations

  • University of Passau, Germany

    Jürgen Kamm

  • University of Düsseldorf, Germany

    Birgit Neumann

About the editors

Stephen Bourne, De Montfort University, UK Alexander Brock, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany Paul Davies, University of Passau, Germany Rainer Emig, Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany Marion Gymnich, University of Bonn, Germany John Hill, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK Mary Irwin, Northumbria University, UK Philip Jacobi, University of Passau, Germany Juergen Kamm, University of Passau, Germany Stephan Karschay, University of Passau, Germany Richard Kilborn, University of Stirling, UK Lucia Krämer, Leibniz University Hanover, Germany Angela Krewani, Marburg University, Germany Bernd Lenz, University of Passau, Germany Oliver Lindner, University of Leipzig, Germany Brett Mills, University of East Anglia, UK Birgit Neumann, University of Duesseldorf, Germany Deirdre Osborne, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK Nora Plesske, TU Braunschweig, Germany Anette Pankratz, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany Joanna Rostek, University of Passau, Germany Gerold Sedlmayr, TU Dortmund University, Germany Eckart Voigts, TU Braunschweig, Germany Dorothea Will, University of Passau, Germany

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