Your Favourite Episode of your Favourite Sitcom

[SiHart]

An interesting question turned up on The Question Time Thread today. What is your favourite episode of your favourite sitcom.

I think there's a thread in that.

So what is your favourite sitcom and what is your favourite episode of that sitcom... and why do you rate them so highly?

Si xx

[WhiteCrowNZ]

Crikey that's hard!

I would probably off the top of my head for for Porridge's "A Night In", which was a very simple episode, but thanks to some great writing and acting, is brilliantly executed.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0756974/#comment

Set entirely in Fletch and Godber's cell, this episode deals really with light's out at the prison. Godber is new to prison, and can't help thinking of the things he used to get up to outside, and Fletch kind of steps up as a mentor on prison ways.

Brilliant episode, I've seen it several times, and it feels kind of oddly timeless.

[Si Hunt]

It's tricky because your favourite sitcom episode might not neccessarily hail from your favourite sitcom!

My favourite sitcom is surely "Fawlty Towers", but I have quite a few favourite episodes. I wouldn't know whether to pick "Kipper" (which, incidentally, we're going to watch at work tomorrow!), "Basil the Rat", "The Hotel Inspectors" or "The Psychiatrist". But maybe the latter.

It's chock full of funny moments. There's Basil putting his hand on Raylene Miles breasts and the hugely funny double take when he notices the black palm print on her top... there's "A bit of game pie! Must have got stuck up there!" and there's the infamous lightswitch fumble. But nothing beats the famous 'up the ladder' moment when we cut perfectly from Basil setting up the ladder, to Johnson and his girlfriend in their room drinking champers (who you think Basil is about to catch) and then to the room he actually peers into - the Abbotts, getting ready for bed. Mrs Abbot (Elspet Gray) stops brushing her hair, they both stare at the window... and Basil silently does his 'checking the walls' knocking before the ladder slowly falls away from the window, with him still on it.

Perfect!

Si.

[WhiteCrowNZ]

An interesting question turned up on The Question Time Thread today.

Did the BNP guy choose Love Thy Neighbour or Mind Your Language?

[Jamie McCrimmon]

My favourite sitcom is Red Dwarf, and my favourite episode is Quarantine. I love the idea of the positive viruses, I love Mr. Flibble, and I love the scenes where Lister, Cat and Kryten are in quarantine, initially vowing not to argue but then, in the next shot, Kryten has panel beaten his head back into shape after a fight and Lister is crocheting hats. That first reveal of Rimmer in a dress is hilarious, as is Cat agreeing to fly on a magic carpet to visit the king of the potato people to beg for his freedom. And I love how Chris Barrie somehow remains drop dead sexy even with the red and white gingham dress, army boots and Mr. Flibble.

[Larry]

An interesting question turned up on The Question Time Thread today. What is your favourite episode of your favourite sitcom.

thanks Si, that's a nice easy question..

my favourite sitcom is probably Yes Minister/Prime-Minister, but the writting and the performances by Paul Eddington and Nigel Hawthorne, and Derek Fowlds are so consistanly brilliant it's almost impossible for me to chose a favourite episode.

[Si Hunt]

My favourite sitcom is "Last of the Summer Wine" and my favourite episode is the one where the old men rolled down the hill in a bath.

Si.

[Jon Masters]

My favourite sitcom is "Last of the Summer Wine" and my favourite episode is the one where the old men rolled down the hill in a bath.

Si.

That's every episode

[SiHart]

Ha!

My favourite episode of One Foot in the Grave is The Beast in the Cage. Victor and Margaret are stuck in their car in Bank Holiday traffic and typically Victor is at his most frustrated. There are so many great moments- Victor trying the seatbelt tension, Margaret's tension, the whole sequence of the man chatting up the women in the car opposite Victor's, but the stroke of genius is when Mrs Warbuoys suddenly gets in the car half way through and gives the episode a huge lift! I adore Mrs Warbuoys.

There's also the typically One Foot moment where it all goes poignant with the life as a motorway metaphor before that's cut down by the mechanics song on the tape Victor plays at the end. Superb stuff.

Si xx

[Captain Tancredi]

The episode of Frasier which is based around a cocktail party in Niles's apartment where the guests have to dress as literary characters. There's a running gag which requires you to know about 'The Story of O', for a start, and it just takes the usual highbrow references up a notch.

[Si Hunt]

Si, don't forget Margarets great un-PC cutting down of Victor from that episode:

Victor: I wish I was dead.

Margaret: I wish you were dead!

Si. :mobile

[SiHart]

Oh yes!

Si xx

[Andrew Curnow]

but the stroke of genius is when Mrs Warbuoys suddenly gets in the car half way through

Agreed, it's brilliant. I can still remember seeing that for the very first time, just hilarious!