Oh FFS

Rowan Atkinson, aka Edmund Blackadder, doesn't like the current Birtcom scene:

“I like American things,” he told this week’s Radio Times. “Endless repeats of Friends and The Big Bang Theory. I tend to enjoy traditional sitcom formats. There's not a lot that makes me laugh on British TV at the moment.”

This is the sort of tiresome second-hand opinion about TV that smacks of ignorance and snobbery. As one of the elder statesmen of British mirth-making, Atkinson should know better. Sadly, he’s fallen into ye olde “things were better in my day” trap.  And The Big Bang Theory? Really, Rowan?

There’s lots to complain about on TV at the moment. We do a fair amount of it ourselves. But comedy is one genre where the UK is right up there with the best. Just look at the prolific comedy output of our main channels.

Look, Atkinson can say what he wants in my eyes because as Blackadder he'll always be comedy royalty. But he's also 1) a 65 year-old  guy and, more importantly, 2) wrong.

I understand people love "The Golden Age" of British sitcoms. I too love Fawlty Towers, The Good Life, Porridge, and yes, Only Fools and Horses and more. But the whole "things were better back in my day!" not only rings as pathetic but is patently false. There are TONS of great BBC sitcoms just from the last decade; I'd suggest Atkinson watch the following:

Peep Show, The Green Green Grass, Rev., Spy, Whites, Miranda, Friday Night Dinner, Episodes, Back, Uncle, Derry Girls, What We Do in the Shadows, Cuckoo, Detectorists, Chickens, Vicious, Moone Boy, The Wrong Man(s), Count Arthur Strong

...and on and on and on and on and on and on. Lighten the eff up, Blackadder!

But hey, he gave us all this so we need to be patient.