In no particular order, these are a few TV series – or parts of TV series – that have stood out for their humour. Comedy can be subjective – what one person finds funny, another doesn’t. These show the kind (and range) of sense of humour I have.
Although I have indicated channels where I watched the TV series, please be aware that they will not necessarily remain available.
Check back as this is still a work in progress.
| Derry Girls Channel 4 | Hilarious dark comedy. I love the headmistress in particular. All the characters superbly drawn and acted. Two seasons so far and quite, quite brilliant. |
| Some Girls BBC 3 | Extremely funny series. Like Derry Girls, it’s centred on a group of school kids. But this is very unlike Derry Girls! |
| Chewing Gum Channel 4 | Hugely talented Michaela Coel wrote and starred in every episode. I enjoyed the uniqueness of her character. |
| There She Goes BBC 4 | Unusual combination of funny and terribly sad moments. Vital viewing if you know of any family caring for a child with learning difficulties. And even if you don’t. I especially appreciated the acting from Miley Locke and Jessica Hynes. |
| Fawlty Towers BBC 2 | Who hasn’t found this series hilarious? Favourite episodes include The Psychiatrist and The Germans. |
| The Windsors Channel 4 | British comedy irreverently aimed at the royal family. It is very funny. One of my favourite episodes is the Christmas special. |
| Father Ted Channel 4 | Extremely funny British TV series. I’ve watched every episode. |
| The IT Crowd Channel 4 | Great British comedy. My favourite episode is when Katherine Parkinson pretends to be Italian. She was brilliant. |
| Catastrophe Channel 4 | Amusing British comedy with Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney where a night out leads to a surprise pregnancy. |
| PhoneShop Channel 4 | British comedy about a group of people working in a… phone shop. Doesn’t sound funny, does it? But it is. |
| No Offence Channel 4 | Very funny British crime comedy. I loved it. |
| Derek Channel 4 | Although this is not a laugh out loud kind of British comedy it is worth watching. Ricky Gervais wrote the script and plays Derek. Unusually, it is set in a care home – and the more I watched the more I cared. |
| Teachers Channel 4 | British comedy. I liked the first series best and then the humour appealed increasingly less in the following series until it just wasn’t amusing me. |
| Sex Education Netflix | Hilarious (and informative!) British comedy. Asa Butterfield’s acting prowess is astonishing. I totally believe in his role. |
| The Worst Week of My Life BBC & DVD | This is a brilliant British sitcom that, when watched with friends, provides an evening of fantastic entertainment. All three series are great. |
| Good Omens Amazon Prime | A demon and an angel work together – against the rules – to save the world. One of the funniest British series I’ve seen. I wish I’d read the book first. David Tennant is a brilliant demon, and Michael Sheen makes a great angel. |
| Porterhouse Blue DVD | Brilliantly funny British comedy from Tom Sharpe’s novel. It’s also on Channel 4. |
| Schitt’s Creek Netflix | I almost gave up as I couldn’t stand the characters… but I’m glad I didn’t. The more I watched this American series, the funnier it became until I found the characters engaging and started to care about them. I think the script is intelligent and the characters well drawn. Stevie is my favourite. |
| Community Channel 4 | This American comedy grew on me – as did many of the characters. Loads of series. Some episodes did not grab me at all but I carried on watching for those that did. |
| Clean With Passion for Now Netflix | Korean romcom that starts off terribly funny with a germophobic hero… but the humour is not consistent further into the series. |
| I Am Not A Robot Netflix | Mad, yet laugh-out-loud, Korean romcom. A man allergic to human contact is duped into thinking a woman is an advanced robot. His behaviour, at times, leaves much to be desired but I couldn’t stop watching because it really was so funny. E.g. what does a robot do when she needs the loo? |
| Coffee Prince Netflix | In this hilarious quirky Korean romcom, a woman passes herself off as a man when she gets an unusual job offer – and is badly in need of money. One lie leads to many more. The employer has an identity crisis as he finds himself drawn to this other ‘man’… |
| Oh My Ghost Netflix | This quirky Korean romcom has many touching moments and dips into sadness at times. But it is, nevertheless, very amusing. A virgin ghost inhabits the body of a timid woman on and off – resulting in personality changes others just can’t understand. Including the hero. |
| Strong Girl Bong-Soon Netflix | If you can suspend disbelief at the heroine’s superstrength in this quirky Korean romcom, you will probably appreciate, like me, the hilarity in her being able to strike fear in gang members. I think my favourite scenes are when the hospital beds are filling up with all her crim victims. |
| Marry Me or Not Netflix | Taiwanese series that, like other East Asian romcoms I’ve watched, morphs into serious drama. The first eight episodes were delightfully funny. |
| Brain Dead Amazon Prime | Comic political thriller involving bugs from space invading the minds of people and taking control of Washington. Great fun. I’ve never looked at cherry blossom in the same way again. |
| The Big Bang Theory Netflix | If you like science and geeks and laughs just about every line, then this series is for you. The scriptwriters have done an amazing job with the dialogue and the funny scenarios. The four ‘geeks’ and their fellow geeks are very well crafted with clear differences between them. Series 4 has a nice surprise – maximum points for the humour of the new special character. This is a good programme to watch before settling down to clear your mind of troubles. |
| Young Sheldon Netflix | Once you get to know the adult Sheldon a bit, give the child version a go. He is believable as a young version of the Sheldon met in The Big Bang Theory and has been well cast. But I think his twin sister and older brother are super great and so is his mum. The younger mum is not played by the same character as the older mum in The Big Bang Theory and she seems much more likeable. |
Mari Jane Law 