High accolade for high farce: Fawlty Towers named best British sitcom

Fawlty Towers won best British sitcom of all time, but who else made the Top 20 laugh list?

Only 12 episodes of the iconic sitcom Fawlty Towers were ever made, but they have stood the comedy test of time. Picture: Supplied

Fawlty Towers has been named as the greatest British sitcom of all time, with credit going to a “six-foot-five comic genius”.

The list of the 20 best British sitcoms has been compiled by a panel of television experts for Radio Times magazine.

John Cleese has been credited with channelling his rage as the highly-strung Basil Fawlty, proprietor of a sub-par Torquay hotel, which made the series a hit.

Fawlty Towers came top of the list ahead of other series including Father Ted, Blackadder, I’m Alan Partridge and Only Fools And Horses.

The BBC series ran for just two series of six episodes each in the 1970s. Speaking to the Radio Times, co-writer and co-star of Connie Booth said: “Fawlty Towers succeeds, I think, because it allows infantile rage and aggression a field day in a buttoned down, well-mannered English society.

The core cast of Fawlty Towers: Connie Booth as Polly, left, Cleese, rear, Prunella Scales as Sybil and Andrew Sachs as Manuel.

“It’s unique in being a farce, with all the plot surprises and precision that the style requires. And it doesn’t hurt that the star of the show is a six-foot- five comic genius. If he was shorter I can’t imagine how it would have worked.”

Cleese added: “I was very lucky to be working at the BBC when decisions were taken by people who had actually made programs.

“What a cast. I’m proud we are up there with Porridge and Only Fools and Ab Fab and Blackadder and The Office and Reggie Perrin and The Thick of It.” Channel 4 sitcom Father Ted, penned by Arthur Mathews and Graham Linehan, came second in the list, while I’m Alan Partridge came third.

The list was voted for by 42 comedy expert including lauded writers Mathews, Linehan and Richard Curtis, as well Barry Cryer and Alison Graham.

The Radio Times list in full:

Fawlty Towers (1975-9, BBC Two)

Father Ted (1995-8, Channel 4)

I’m Alan Partridge (1997-2002, BBC Two)

Blackadder (1983-9, BBC One)

Dad’s Army (1968-77, BBC One)

Only Fools and Horses (1981-2003, BBC One)

Porridge (1973-8, BBC One)

The Royle Family (1998-2012, BBC One)

Absolutely Fabulous (1992-2012, BBC Two)

Dinnerladies (1998-2000, BBC One)

The Thick of It (2005-12, BBC Four and Two)

The Office (2001-3, BBC Two)

Peep Show (2003-15, Channel 4)

The Vicar of Dibley (1994-2007, BBC One)

The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin (1976-9, BBC One)

The Young Ones (1982-4, BBC Two)

Gavin & Stacey (2007-10, BBC Three and One)

The Good Life (1975-8, BBC One)

Detectorists (2014-17, BBC Four)

Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? (1973-4, BBC One)

AP

High farce: Basil (Cleese) comes to grips with his hapless employee, Manuel (Andrew Sachs”. Picture: Supplied