Who remembers Packet of Three? Early 90s Channel 4 sitcom set in a theatre, starring Frank Skinner and Jenni Eclair. I was discussing Frank Skinner with my wife earlier and she doesn't remember it, but it's the first thing I remember seeing him in on TV (it predates Fantasy Football). I think I saw him doing stand-up in the early 90s as well. It seems to have fallen off the radar of popular culture - barely even merits a skeleton article on Wikipedia.
Going back a few years before that, another sitcom I quite liked was Brush Strokes, which came to mind because of the death last week of Howard Lew Lewis who played Elmo, the slow-witted barman. I suspect it was actually rubbish. Reading about it the other day, I was surprised to discover it was created by Esmonde & Larbey, better known for The Good Life, but also the superb Ever Decreasing Circles, which was on TV around the same time as Brush Strokes. Hard to believe two so totally different series came from the same creators. Ever Decreasing Circles was repeated a little while ago on one of the digital channels and although it looks a bit dated, still stands out for the exquisite performances of Richard Briers and Penelope Wilton.
This got me thinking about other sitcoms that have been lost in the mists of time. Who remembers Paris? It starred Alexei Sayle as an artist in Paris in the 1920s. I loved it but it only lasted one series and has never been repeated as far as I know. A couple of years later, the same writing partnership came up with another sitcom - it was about a priest in rural Ireland, of all things. Highly unlikely but since I liked Graham Linehan and Arthur Matthews' previous work, I thought I'd give it a go. Turned out to be quite good.
How about Nightingales? Yet another early 90s sitcom, this time about three night security guards. Totally off the wall but utterly brilliant and very, very funny. Starred Robert Lindsay, David Threlfall and James Ellis.
Going back to the 80s, one of my favourites was Chance In A Million - starring a young Simon Callow as Tom Chance, a man whose life is a series of increasingly unlikely coincidences, and Brenda Blethyn as his girlfriend. Deserved a much wider audience than it had but probably suffered through being on Channel 4 which was still in its infancy at the time.
Another favourite was Watching, starring Emma Wray and Paul Bown as a mismatched couple - she was a gobby Scouser, he was an introverted birdwatcher. Astutely observed and very funny.
Going back even further, who remembers The Happy Apple? First major TV role for Leslie Ash (though she'd already been in Quadrophenia by then). All I really remember about that is that she played Nancy, who was a secretary in an advertising agency, which sticks in my mind because those were the words of the theme tune, set to Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. I've never seen it repeated.
And even further back than that, I have memories of a sitcom called Rosie, about a young idealistic but naive policeman, but I must have been very young when that was on so I don't know why it made an impression on me. Anyone remember that?
Another one that I've just remembered: Is It Legal? - set in a solicitors' office in Hounslow and written by Simon Nye, who had previously made Men Behaving Badly. I always thought Is It Legal? was the far superior of the two but it never seemed to make the same impression on the world at large.
Talking of Men Behaving Badly, there was a sitcom in the 80s called No Place Like Home - about a couple who are looking forward to a quiet retirement until their grown up children (who included a very young Martin Clunes) all return to the nest. Although I was young at the time, I could appreciate that it was pretty awful, and the thing I mostly remember about it is that it used the same house that Terry and June once occupied - at least, I'm fairly sure it did, though I can't find any evidence to support this online.
Anyone else have any favourite lost sitcoms?
