Five of my Favourite Sitcoms

Last week Fawlty Towers was named best British sitcom but before it nabbed the top spot there were a few other contenders on the 20 Best British Sitcoms list that I think are worth mentioning. The Vicar of Dibley was voted 14^th and Only Fools and Horses came 6^th both of which were TV programmes I grew up with and would regularly look forward to watching. I'm Alan Partridge, a show I was relatively recently introduced to also made it onto the list, coming 3^rd overall. Although all of these are fantastic choices, worthy of the top spot, they wouldn't quite make it into my top 5.

I am going to be listing (in no particular order) five of my favourite British and American sitcoms of all time. I imagine most of you have already heard of and watched most of these by now as there are a few obvious choices, but hopefully there will be one or two you've not been introduced to that you like the sound of.

The King of Queens

In my opinion The King of Queens is a classic, it's one of my favourite TV shows and never fails to put a smile on my face. When I was younger it was on TV most days after school and I loved it. Admittedly as I got older it had become one of those shows I had fond memories of but hadn't watched in so long, I'd as good as forgotten what it was even about. Having always been a massive fan of Adam Sandler and later down the line becoming a fan of Kevin James (who stars in a lot of Adam Sandler films) I was dying to re-watch it as an adult to see if it was just as good as I'd remembered.

The short answer is yes, it's just as good as I'd remembered it, if not better. Doug Heffernan (Kevin James) is an IPS delivery driver living in Queens, New York with his wife Carrie and father in law Arthur. The King of Queens follows Doug's story as he endlessly battles for enough peace and quiet to watch his new television set and to hang out with his friends. This is made difficult for him when his unpredictable, elderly and oddball father in law moves into his basement after setting his own house on fire. The relationship between Doug and Arthur will have you in stitches, Arthur is one of funniest characters in the show, some of his one-liners or irrational outbursts often had me crying with laughter. Despite the handful of continuity issues during some flashback sequences there isn't a single negative thing I could say about this show and I would highly recommend giving it a go, Adam Sandler even makes a guest appearance in season nine.

The Office

I watched The Office (U.S.) for the first time about six or seven years ago and very quickly fell in love with it. The first season is a bit hit and miss as it pretty much copies the UK version, however once it finds it's feet and comes into it's own (which happens about half-way through the second season) it turns into one of the best TV shows I've ever seen. The level of humour never dips throughout all nine seasons, the casting is incredible and the documentary style is almost addictive in the sense that I found myself wanting to follow every character's storyline all the way to the end as if I was part of their world. Steve Carell stars as Michael Scott, the fun loving, over the top, unconventional regional manager who is eager to participate in filming and often acts out in front of the camera.

My explanation of the show won't be doing it justice, it's unlike anything I've ever seen before, the quality, humour and ongoing storylines are incredibly immersive and unique. If you've not seen it already (I imagine most of you have) I would highly recommend watching it and seeing it through to the end. I've actually been re-watching it recently with my boyfriend as he'd never seen it before, we're currently half way through season eight and loving it more than ever.

Miranda

Miranda Hart is one of my favourite female celebrities, she is the creator and star of Miranda, a BBC sitcom about a socially awkward and clumsy joke shop owner who is attempting to navigate life and love whilst avoiding her overbearing and pushy mother and her own ability to make every situation she faces an awkward experience.

Miranda is a slapstick comedy which is definitely a style of humour I enjoy and have enjoyed ever since childhood. Her over the top interpretations of everyday occurrences make her character and the show incredibly relatable on pretty much every level possible. This show never fails to cheer me up if I've had a bad day or am feeling under the weather and never fails to make me laugh even if I have seen it a million times. I would also recommend reading 'Miranda Hart: Is It Just Me?', it's so easy to read, incredibly funny and has been my favourite book ever since I read it.

Gavin and Stacey

Gavin and Stacey is probably my favourite TV show ever made. It's a British sitcom written by James Corden and Ruth Jones, who also star as Nessa and Smithy, Gavin and Stacey's best mates. The show follows Gavin and Stacey's long distance relationship after they first meet and hit it off. The show focusses on them travelling back and forth from Billericay in Essex to Barry Island in Wales to meet each other's families and start a life together.

Gavin and Stacey is probably the most story driven sitcom on this list so I don't want to say too much about it or spoil it for those of you who haven't been fortunate enough to watch it yet. What I will say though it that Nessa is my favourite character by far, she is so hilarious and has the most outrageous stories to tell that will have you howling with laughter. You need to see it if you haven't already. (P.S. the Christmas episode is fab).

Friends

Everyone loves Friends, if there was a list of the people's favourite sitcom from all of the countries combined I'm pretty sure Friends would win. I think it's the most talked about and loved sitcom ever, for my generation anyway. Considering it first aired in 1994 (the year I was born) and ended around 15 years ago in 2004 it is still incredibly popular to this day, you can't enter a shop without seeing some sort of merchandise or browse the internet without seeing something about one of it's stars. There is no need for me to explain what Friends is about because I doubt there is anyone out there reading a list about sitcoms who hasn't seen at least one episode, but I couldn't make a favourite sitcoms list without including it.

I must have seen Friends all the way through about ten times over, if not more. My favourite character has always been Rachael, and the others swap orders every time I watch it. They're all so lovable which is incredibly rare to find in a TV show or sitcom as there is always one annoying character that you kind of dislike or wish wasn't in it but with Friends that's not the case, they're all amazing, and all have such different personalities that blend so well together.

Thanks for reading my favourite sitcoms list, I hope you enjoyed it, let me know which ones you've seen and what your experiences of them have been. Alternatively let me know if you have any recommendations for me as I'm always looking for something new to watch. There are a few sitcoms that I love that missed out on making it into my top 5. I'd highly recommend looking into Him and Her, Spaced and Arrested Development if you've seen all of the ones on my list because they're brilliant too and would definitely be in my top 10.