Britcom

A Britcom is a Sit Com made in the UK. Britcoms differ from other countries' sitcoms by being much, much more British.

Britcoms are often quite bawdy, playing against the stereotype of British Stuffiness. The typical Britcom takes a negative worldview, with the lead characters usually lonely, miserable, doomed to failure or just plain weird.

The standard length for a UK TV "season" (called a "series" in the UK) is 6 to 8 episodes. British shows tend to be written by just one or two people, often long term collaborators such as Gaulton and Simpson.

UK production companies will usually let a show end when it's over, rather than running successful franchises well into the ground. Thus, Fawlty Towers was a major hit and still ended in two series. There are exceptions such as Last of the Summer Wine, which lasted for 37 years, ending in 2010.

US remakes of Britcoms are usually Lighter and Softer and more Hollywood Homely, with less scope to make characters into Butt Monkeys or have unhappy endings for episodes. Americans can sometimes see Britcoms on Adult Swim, PBS stations or BBC America.

Expect to see a lot of Black Comedy, Double Entendre, surrealism and Refuge in Audacity.

Examples are, naturally, numerous (but feel free to start making lists).

Examples: