Hitchhiker's Guide, Hancock and Harry Hill

The work of Douglas Adams and the Origins of the British Sitcom

Sep 29, 2009

A selection of the most important and influential British TV shows beginning with the letter H.

Comedy has once again taken over the A-Z of British TV list, this time with Shows Beginning with H being overrun by guffaws and a token drama for good measure. This article however focuses on the birth of the British sitcom in Hancock’s Half Hours, Harry Hill’s irreverent rundown of the week’s television in TV Burp, Angus Deayton getting sacked on Have I Got News For You, Arthur Dent travelling through space in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and the ITV cop drama that’s much better than The Bill.

Originally a BBC radio series Douglas Adams’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy spawned a collection of novels which in turn were made into a TV show, stage versions and, later, a film. The story was about a dull Englishman called Arthur Dent who has adventures through the universe with his friend Ford Prefect after Earth is demolished by an alien race to create room for a new hyperspace bypass.

Everyone has their own favourite version of these stories – some might even suggest the 2005 film is the best – and although the radio production is highly regarded with this being a TV list the six episode series is a must for Douglas Adams fans.

Derived from a hugely popular radio production of the same name, Hancock’s Half Hours starred Tony Hancock as a pompous version of himself waiting for his chance at the big time with Sid James, who would later star in the Carry On franchise, acting as his foil. The story/situation based comedy was a radical departure from the music hall tradition of comedy. James was eventually dropped from the show for the seventh series, simply entitled Hancock, which would be the last.

Written by successful duo Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, who also penned Steptoe & Son, Hancock’s Half Hours in both forms is considered by many to have set the template for almost every British sitcom that followed.

One of stand-up Harry Hill’s various TV ventures sees him crack family-friendly jokes about a wide range of the week’s small screen programmes from the mainstream (Corrie and The X Factor) to the hopelessly obscure (Freaky Eaters). It’s a tried and tested formula but never done so well as TV Burp.

An example of Hill’s surreal humour is how the intentionally oxymoronic segment ‘TV Highlight of the Week’ has moved on to such pointlessness as ‘Most Casual Turning On Of A Car Indicator of the Week’ and the recurring ‘I Beg Your Pardon Of The Week’. Credit is also due to the tireless team of writers and contributors who have to sift through hours of bad TV and dull soaps in order to find humorous clips worth mocking. The show is still going strong with a new series for 2009.

For anyone living under a rock Heartbeat is a period cop drama set in the ‘60s in the fictional Yorkshire town of Aidensfield showing a traditional image of the bobby on the beat. Heartbeat originally followed the character of PC Nick Rowan (Nick Berry) as he moved into the area for a new job, taking inspiration from the Nicholas Rhea Constable novels, but soon focused on other happens such as the misadventures of “lovable rogue” Claude Greengrass (Bill Maynard).

Despite being one of the most popular shows in the history of ITV it sometimes gets forgotten about when people mention long running serials. The show has so far run for 17 years and has its own spin-off in the form of medical drama The Royal.

A panel show based on the news? How original. Then again unlike Have I Got News For You most programmes don’t have improvisational comedian Paul Merton and Private Eye editor Ian Hislop as team captains. Although getting off to a strong start the show really found its stride when it became more conversational and featuring such classic moments as Paula Yates’s infamous clash with Hislop and replacing Labour MP Roy Hattersley with a tub of lard.

The sacking of host Angus Deayton due to a tabloid scandal has seen a number of random comedians and celebrities take up presenting duties since then. The quality has floundered since Deayton’s demise, except for a couple of star presenting turns by Boris Johnson and Brian Blessed, and due to tight-lipped answers from some of the politician guests fails to be funny on occasions. Still, the 38th series is set for late 2009.

The copyright of the article Hitchhiker's Guide, Hancock and Harry Hill in British TV is owned by Steven Cookson. Permission to republish Hitchhiker's Guide, Hancock and Harry Hill in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.