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You can’t beat a classic British sitcom. There have been some absolute corkers over the decades that have cemented British television’s reputation for making the finest comedy anywhere in the world.
Of course, there have been some utter stinkers too — you can read Gary Bushell’s verdict on the worst 11 British sitcoms ever made here, including at least one that stars an all-time TV legend.
While many people will probably immediately think of older classics like Fawlty Towers, Steptoe and Son or Porridge as the pinnacle of British situation comedy (and I wouldn’t necessarily argue with them) the 1990s were most definitely also a golden age. Despite the 25 years that have passed since the 1990s ended, if you asked me to name the best British comedies, my mind would immediately leap back to that decade.
If you're wondering why some classics didn’t make the list, I'll pre-empt you: Blackadder misses out because it was over before the 1990s began. So is The Office, which is as good as anything from the nineties but didn’t first air until 2001. Razor sharp 1990s comedies like Brass Eye and The Day Today don’t make the list because, while hilarious and ground-breaking, they’re not sitcoms. The same goes for Shooting Stars and classic sketch show series like Harry Enfield and The Fast Show.
11. Mr Bean
Some may turn their nose up at the inclusion of Mr Bean on this list. They shouldn’t. Of every programme included here, Mr Bean is arguably the most watched and most successful. It ran from 1990 to 1995 and made Rowan Atkinson even more famous than Blackadder already had. The animated version, still voiced by Atkinson, launched its fourth series in 2025 and it’s finding a whole new audience in the streaming era.
Atkinson explained not too long ago why he thought it was so phenomenally popular all over the world, despite the fact that his character almost never talks. He said Mr Bean is “essentially a child in a man’s body” and that “across all races and cultures, the behaviour of children tends to be the same and so is easily identified and laughed at”. Whether they are six or 36, people today are still laughing at Mr Bean the way we did three decades ago.
(Image: Mirrorpix)
10. Drop The Dead Donkey
This sitcom about a TV newsroom doesn’t immediately appear as iconic as the others on this list. But it in fact ran for longer than most of them, lasting eight years on Channel 4 from 1990 to 1998 with episodes peaking at 4.5 million viewers.
It also attracted guest stars like Neil Kinnock and Jon Snow, as well as upcoming stars like Daniel Craig and Andrew Lincoln who would go on to become global megastars.
Its creators, Guy Jenkin and Andy Hamilton, based it in a newsroom for the way it “gives you constant moral dilemmas in a way that not many offices do”. Having overheard an exchange in a BBC newsroom in which an editor said “If he’s dead, he’s in” reacting to a report of a shooting, the pair wanted to call it Dead Belgians Don’t Count, but Channel 4 said no. So they just made up the title that eventually ended up becoming famous.
(Image: Mirrorpix)
9. One Foot in the Grave
There’s no way any of you reading this lived through the 1990s without hearing “I don’t believe it!” It was so universally well-known that it was even included in other sitcoms on this list on the assumption that everyone in Britain knew it. Remember the Father Ted episode where Ted sees Richard Wilson at a tourist attraction and thinks it’s a great idea to say it back to him?
One Foot In The Grave ran from 1990 to 2000, centred on the lives of Wilson’s Victor Meldrew and his wife Margaret, played by Annette Crosbie. It won multiple major comedy awards throughout the decade. The BBC series’ final episode led to a major controversy when ITV was accused of trying to “rig” the ratings by broadcasting the first ever jackpot winner of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? at the same time on November 20, 2000.
(Image: Mirrorpix)