David Croft

A celebration of the much-loved holiday camp sitcom, featuring classic scenes and interviews with members of cast and crew including Su Pollard, Ruth Madoc, Jeffrey Holland, Paul Shane and Jimmy Perry. The programme reveals that Butlin's, the real-life inspiration for the series, were not impressed with the show, and there are backstage secrets, such as the day several cast members nearly drowned in the swimming pool

A cinema remake of the classic sitcom Dad's Army (1968). The Walmington-on-Sea Home Guard platoon deal with a visiting female journalist and a German spy as World War II draws to its conclusion.

5.2/10
3.2%

Jimmy Perry and David Croft wrote some of Britain's favourite sitcoms, but these classic comedies are also a unique chronicle of 20th century Britain.

6.9/10

Profile of actress Wendy Richard's remarkable television career, featuring classic clips and contributions from colleagues.

7.3/10

Documentary about the lost episodes of Dad's Army (1968) and their recovery and restoration.

Terry Wogan presents a compilation programme celebrating the unique talent of Arthur Lowe. Featuring interviews with those who knew him, and footage from both his classic comedy performances and his many straight roles.

The misadventures of hapless cafe owner René Artois and his escapades with the Resistance in occupied France.

8.3/10

Hi-de-Hi! is a British sitcom set in Maplins, a fictional holiday camp, during 1959 and 1960, and was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, who also wrote Dad's Army and It Ain't Half Hot Mum amongst others. It aired on the BBC from 1980 to 1988. The title was the phrase used to greet the campers and in early episodes was written Hi de Hi. The series revolved around the lives of the camp's management and entertainers, most of them struggling actors or has-beens. The inspiration was the experience of writers Perry and Croft: after being demobilised from the Army, Perry was a Redcoat at Butlins, Pwllheli during the holiday season. The series gained large audiences and won a BAFTA as Best Comedy Series in 1984. In 2004, it came 40th in Britain's Best Sitcom and in a 2008 poll on Channel 4, Hi-de-Hi! was voted the 35th most popular comedy catchphrase.

6.5/10

The clothing department's floor requires renovation; rather than let the staff sit idle while the area is closed off, the management sends them on a paid holiday in Costa Plonka, a fictional city in Spain. Their hotel and its surroundings prove to be dismal, and the group tries to pass the time by acting on the crushes they have developed for one another in the workplace. This results in disaster, as multiple amorous notes reach the wrong recipients and everyone gets wrong ideas about who fancies whom. Meanwhile, Carlos, the hotel manager receives an unwelcome visit from an old acquaintance, Cesar Rodriguez, who is after Mrs. Slocombe after seeing her passport. He is also plotting a revolutionary uprising and wants to use the hotel as his base.

6.3/10

A BBC TV comedy movie about the people living in Pompeii prior to its destruction by volcano, focusing on the life of a house slave (played by Frankie Howerd). A sort of prequel to the 1971 movie "Up Pompeii"

7.6/10

A married British furrier gives a mobster's mistress a cheap mink coat.

5.7/10

Classic comedy set in fading department store Grace Brothers.

8/10

Dad's Army was a 1971 feature film based on the BBC television sitcom Dad's Army. Directed by Norman Cohen, it was filmed between series three and four and was based upon material from the early episodes of the television series. The film told the story of the Home Guard platoon's formation and their subsequent endeavours at a training exercise.

7/10

Introducing the Walmington-On-Sea home guard. During WW2, in a fictional British seaside town, a ragtag group of Home Guard local defense volunteers prepare for an imminent German invasion.

8.1/10

Steptoe and Son is a British sitcom written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson about a father and son played by Wilfred Brambell and Harry H. Corbett who deal in selling used items. They live on Oil Drum Lane, a fictional street in Shepherd's Bush, London. Four series were broadcast by the BBC from 1962 to 1965, followed by a second run from 1970 to 1974. Its theme tune, "Old Ned", was composed by Ron Grainer. The series was voted 15th in a 2004 BBC poll to find Britain's Best Sitcom. It was remade in the US as Sanford and Son, in Sweden as Albert & Herbert and in the Netherlands as Stiefbeen en zoon. In 1972 a movie adaptation of the series, Steptoe and Son, was released in cinemas, with a second Steptoe and Son Ride Again in 1973. The series focussed on the inter-generational conflict of father and son. Albert Steptoe, a "dirty old man", is an old rag and bone man, set in his grimy and grasping ways. By contrast his 37-year-old son Harold is filled with social aspirations, not to say pretensions. The show contained elements of drama and tragedy, as Harold was continually prevented from achieving his ambitions. To this end the show was unusual at the time for casting actors rather than comedians in its lead roles, although both actors were drawn into more comedic roles as a consequence.

7.7/10

A shy British teacher looks back nostalgically at his long career, taking note of the people who touched his life.

7.9/10
8.2%