Television series

The Fast Show

The Fast Show is British sketch comedy at its most concentrated: sketches rarely run past two minutes, characters announce themselves and vanish before boredom sets in, and half the country greets each other with 'Suits you, sir!' It's warm rather than cruel, obsessed with everyday English types - the pub bore, the outdoorsman, the hapless enthusiast - built for repeat viewing, since anticipating the catchphrase is half the fun.

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Harry Enfield & Chums1994

Paul Whitehouse co-wrote this before The Fast Show, and you can feel the format being road-tested - recurring daft characters, instant catchphrases, sketches that never overstay. The missing link, basically.

But Some sketches lean on repetition more than wit, and a few characters wear thinner with age than they used to.

Harry Enfield & Chums poster

Monty Python's Flying Circus1969

The show that invented sketch comedy without punchlines, cutting mid-scene and refusing to explain the joke. The Fast Show's blackout style and love of the absurd owes it a direct debt.

But Some bits feel dated, the pace is slower than modern sketch comedy, and not every sketch has aged well.

Monty Python's Flying Circus poster

The League of Gentlemen1999

Same commitment to grotesque English archetypes and instant catchphrase recall, but curdled into horror-comedy. If you loved the character work here and want it darker, this is the next stop.

But It's genuinely disturbing in places - body horror and real cruelty sit right beside the jokes, which won't suit everyone.

The League of Gentlemen poster

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Monkey Dust2003no page yet

Same blackout-sketch structure and obsession with British social archetypes, but pushed from warmth into darkness - proof of how far the format can be twisted before it stops feeling cosy.

An animated adult sketch show from the BBC that takes The Fast Show's love of instantly recognisable British types and drags them somewhere properly disturbing and bleak.

But It's genuinely upsetting in places rather than just edgy - some sketches are closer to horror than comedy, and the animation is deliberately ugly.

More like this (7)

Big Train1998no page yet

Written partly by League of Gentlemen and Father Ted alumni, this is sketch comedy gone properly surreal - deadpan, absurd, over before you've processed the joke. A cousin rather than a sibling.

But Its dry, flat delivery is a world away from The Fast Show's warmth, and some sketches are stranger than funny.

A Bit of Fry and Laurie1987

Wordier and cleverer than The Fast Show but built the same way - blackout sketches, recurring bits, two performers clearly delighting in each other's company.

But It's talkier and more cerebral, with less physical daftness and more verbal gymnastics than some viewers will want.

A Bit of Fry and Laurie poster

French and Saunders1987no page yet

A double act rather than an ensemble, but the same love of parody and repeated bits. Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders originated a lot of what British sketch comedy still runs on.

But The pace is gentler, and the targets - mostly other films and shows - date faster than pure character comedy does.

Absolutely1989no page yet

A criminally underseen Scottish sketch show with the same rapid, character-stuffed structure and a similarly warm eye for oddballs and eccentrics.

But Much harder to find and less slickly made - this is a cult favourite rather than a polished classic, and it shows.

Smack the Pony1999no page yet

Same blackout-sketch DNA, entirely female-led, just as fond of running gags and odd little rituals. Sharper and stranger than it tends to get credit for.

But Some sketches ride a single idea longer than it needs, and the tone runs drier than The Fast Show's.

The Day Today1994

Same year, overlapping cast energy, completely different target - a pitch-perfect demolition of TV news that's somehow gotten funnier as actual news has gotten worse.

But It's satire rather than character comedy, so if catchphrases and daft voices were the appeal, this scratches a different itch entirely.

The Day Today poster

Seven Up!1964

The Fast Show's characters are loving caricatures of English types you half-recognise; the Up series is the sober, real-life version of that same national character-watching instinct, minus the catchphrases.

A landmark documentary that revisits the same group of British people every seven years from childhood onward, tracking class, accent and character type across a real lifetime.

But It's a serious documentary with no jokes at all, and the commitment - multiple films spanning decades - is a big ask for casual viewing.

Seven Up! poster

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Cast

Production

Recommended by

Little Britain, The Kids in the Hall, A Bit of Fry and Laurie, Not the Nine O'Clock News, Harry Enfield & Chums