| Britain's Best
Sitcom, BBC 2, January 2004 |
In the BBC's search for Britain's best sitcom, viewers were
asked to vote for their favourite comedy series from a shortlist
of 100 shows. The top 50 sitcoms were then revealed in a
programme celebrating the genre, hosted by Jonathan Ross.
My Family was placed 24th, beating the likes of Birds of a
Feather, Rising Damp and even The Office. |
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My Family creator Fred Barron and Zoe, who plays Susan Harper in
the series, spoke briefly about the comedy's popularity in a
feature interspersed with clips from the show.
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Screen
captures |
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Click thumbnails to enlarge (images will open in a new window): |
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Transcript |
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Fred Barron:
The basic feeling behind My Family is if you can get through the
day with a modicum of dignity, you've survived! |
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John O'Farrell, author: I talk
to schoolkids about comedy sometimes, and they always cite My
Family as one of their favourites.
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FB: Kids are pains in
the ass [laughs] - I was one and I have them! |
Zoë Wanamaker: There is an
American attitude in it [the programme], which sits comfortably
with me. |
Jonathan Ross: That'll be
because My Family is one of the very few sitcoms over here to be
written American 'factory style' by a team of writers. |
FB: We write while the
show's ongoing, so you can use things you discover along the way
and incorporate them into the script. So, when I saw the
dynamic between Robert [Lindsay, who plays Susan's husband, Ben]
and Zoë, all the scripts then became addressing that. |
ZW: The bed scenes
soon became the most successful scenes - there was something
about them... The chemistry between Robert and I is - I
can't understand it really! [Laughs] No, I do
understand it. |
FB: When you get
chemistry like that, you just write to it. They [Ben and
Susan] can be ready to kill each other, but they can
still make each other laugh. |
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