British TV Comedies

This collection offers an overview of British TV comedies, ranging from the beginnings of sitcoms in the 1950s to the current boom of 'Britcoms'. It provides in-depth analyses of major comedies, systematically addressing their generic properties, filmic history, humour politics and cultural impact.

This volume is sensitive to identity formations involving social class, gender, ethnicity, race, and factory labour. The transnational authors of British TV Comedies, British and German, building on this expanding research, have elevated television comedy to a medium worthy of transcultural, cultural and political consideration for scholarly and general audiences. (Marcia Landy, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Issue 2, September, 2016)

Autorentext
Stephen Bourne, De Montfort University, UK Alexander Brock, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany Paul Davies, University of Passau, Germany Rainer Emig, Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany Marion Gymnich, University of Bonn, Germany John Hill, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK Mary Irwin, Northumbria University, UK Philip Jacobi, University of Passau, Germany Juergen Kamm, University of Passau, Germany Stephan Karschay, University of Passau, Germany Richard Kilborn, University of Stirling, UK Lucia Krämer, Leibniz University Hanover, Germany Angela Krewani, Marburg University, Germany Bernd Lenz, University of Passau, Germany Oliver Lindner, University of Leipzig, Germany Brett Mills, University of East Anglia, UK Birgit Neumann, University of Duesseldorf, Germany Deirdre Osborne, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK Nora Plesske, TU Braunschweig, Germany Anette Pankratz, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany Joanna Rostek, University of Passau, Germany Gerold Sedlmayr, TU Dortmund University, Germany Eckart Voigts, TU Braunschweig, Germany Dorothea Will, University of Passau, Germany

Inhalt

Notes on Contributors
Acknowledgements

1. Introduction: The Aesthetics and Politics of British TV Comedy; Juergen Kamm and Birgit Neumann
   PART I: THE 1950S AND 1960S: BEGINNINGS OF THE BRITISH SITCOM AND THE SATIRE BOOM
2. A Golden Age of British Sitcom? and ; Richard Kilborn
3. 'Your Little Game': Myth and War in (1968-1977); Bernd Lenz
4. 'The Struggle of Class against Class Is a What Struggle?' and Its Politics; Alexander Brock
5. : 'Everybody Out!' Gender, Politics and Class on the Factory Floor; Mary Irwin
   PART II: THE 1970S AND 1980S: NEW LOYALTIES, HISTORIES AND COLLECTIVE IDENTITIES - POST-FAMILIAR PARADIGMS
6. 'Sambo' and 'Snowflake': Race and Race Relations in ; Nora Plesske
7. 'You Snobs! You Stupid... Stuck-Up... Toffee-Nosed... Half-Witted... Upper-Class Piles of... Pus!' Basil Fawlty's Touch of Class and Other Hotel Matters in ; Paul Davies
8. Ignorant Master, Capable Servants: The Politics of and ; Juergen Kamm
9. Zany 'Alternative Comedy': vs. Margaret Thatcher; Eckart Voigts
10. The Uses of History in Blackadder; Gerold Sedlmayr
11. Black British Comedy: and the Changing Face of Television; Deirdre Osborne with some additional information from Stephen Bourne
    PART III: THE 1990S: (UN)DOING GENDER AND RACE
12. Laughing at Racism or Laughing with the Racists? The 'Indian Comedy' of ; Jochen Petzold
13. Exploding Family Values, Lampooning Feminism, Exposing Consumerism: ; Rainer Emig
14. Comic Strategies of Inclusion and 'Normalisation' in; Lucia Krämer
15. Subverting the Sitcom from Within: Form, Ideology and; John Hill
16. 'The Lady of the House Speaking' - The Conservative Portrayal of English Class Stereotypes in ; Marion Gymnich
17. Family Life in Front of the Telly: ; Angela Krewani
18. Old Jokes: , Comedy and the Elderly; Brett Mills
    PART IV: THE 2000S: BRITCOM BOOM - NEW BRITAIN = 'COOL BRITANNIA'?
19. Spin, Swearing and Slapstick: (2005-2012); Anette Pankratz
20. Life is Stationary: Mockumentary and Embarrassment in (2001-2003); Philip Jacobi
21. From Ever-lusting Individuals to Ever-lasting Couples: (2000-2004) and Emotional Capitalism; Joanna Rostek and Dorothea Will
22. The Comic Nation: and the Politics of Representation; Oliver Lindner
23. Laughing in Horror: Hybrid Genre and the Grotesque Body in ; Stephan Karschay
    Index