Comedian Joe Wilkinson grew up obsessed with sitcoms and has even written a couple of them himself – Rovers, The Cockfields – so he knows a thing or two about British situation comedies. “Embarrassingly,” he says, “I regularly spout lines from some of my favourite sitcoms in my everyday life, which must be unbearable to be around.”
Here he selects his five favourites of all time, and their most memorable lines.
Porridge (1974-77)
Ronnie Barker as Norman Stanley Fletcher and Richard Beckinsale as Lennie Godber (Photo: BBC)
I used to watch this every week with my whole family. Ronnie Barker was my hero and Richard Beckinsale was taken too soon. I just wanted to hang out in a prison with them. I think that if, as a young person, you want to go to prison off the back of a sitcom, that’s pretty amazing. I got to meet the writers, Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, for Joe and David’s Magical Sitcom Tour and I was like a rabbit in the headlights. My favourite bit is when Fletch (Barker) berates “’Orrible” Ives (Ken Jones) and calls him a “nerk” or a “scrote”. I love to do the same to my mum as I thank her for the delicious meal she’s just made for us all that evening. Luckily she’s also a fan of the show.
