Product Description

The Radio Times Guide to TV Comedy, by Mark Lewisohn, is the definitive and only guide to every single comedy show screened on British television.

Five years on from the widely acclaimed first edition, the guide has been fully revised and updated to 2003 and now includes more than 3000 shows – sitcom, stand-up, sketch, serial, satire, impressionism, monologue, animation and more.

Exceeding a million words over 960 pages, the book details every comedy programme shown by British TV channels from 1936 to the present day – all of those produced in Britain plus some 350 shows imported from America and elsewhere, everything from five-minute shorts in the 1930s to long-running series attracting headlines in the new millennium. Every show has its own entry, beginning with essential facts (cast list, key production credits, broadcast dates/days/times, etc) and concluding with an informative synopsis as well as an entertaining and often lively critique. There is also a raft of invaluable lists and appendices, multiple indexes, and – new to this edition – more than 80 rare comedy photographs from the Radio Times archive.

Paul Merton described the first edition as ‘thorough, opinionated and meticulously researched’ and Ronnie Barker said it was ‘wonderful and monumental’. Victoria Wood has contributed the foreword to the new edition.

Written with style, authority, wit and flair, the product of ten years’ work, Radio Times Guide to TV Comedy (the only all-inclusive encyclopedia of any British television genre) makes the perfect gift and is an absorbing read for television viewers of all ages. It is also an indispensable tool for anyone working in TV and entertainment.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #319468 in Books
• Published on: 2003-10-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 900 pages

Synopsis
This volume features details of every comedy show broadcast on British television, from the first shows inception in 1936 to the present day. Full broadcast details, cast information, credits, synopsis and critique are included.

Customer Reviews

This book is impossible to put down
As a fairly bright American I have a great appreciation for British television and especially British comedy so when Santa put this book under the Christmas tree I found that I just couldn't stop reading. It is full of great information and quite comprehensive, I recommend it to anyone that loves to read about comedy programming the great, not so great and ones best forgotten !Now if only there was one that covered British radio programming and British television drama in the same way, I would be soooo happy.

Men Of The World was brilliant
What can I say? The guy from the Radio Times updates his encyclopedia of all comedy programmes screened on British television (and throwing justified disdain on American teen shows such as Saved By The Bell) and the result is both comprehensive and fascinating to anyone with even the slightest interest in comedy whether you prefer happy family watching (The Good Life, Dad's Army) or darker material (The League Of Gentlemen and, er... virtually anything Chris Morris has ever done).

Any downers? Not really... er, the book's quite heavy? You can't read all of the pages at once? It's a top purchase.

There's nothing else like it
(Based on the first edition)
For any student of TV comedy, no other volume comes even close to the scale, authority and depth of this one. If it was on the box, it's in the book. I've owned it for five years and still find something new every time I pick it up. Deep respect.