Items21The creator’s order
  1. 1Mr. Bean (1990)Mr. Bean (1990) 8.6/10 on IMDbFirst aired Jan 1, 1990It arrived on ITV on New Year's Day 1990 and barely needed dialogue. Rowan Atkinson, writing with Richard Curtis and Robin Driscoll, plays a social misfit who turns simple everyday tasks into chaos, and the comedy is almost entirely physical. That makes it the easiest show here to share across…0
  2. 2One Foot in the Grave (1990)One Foot in the Grave (1990) 7.9/10 on IMDbFirst aired Jan 4, 1990David Renwick took the oldest sitcom figure there is, the grumpy retiree, and built farce around him with the patience of a crime writer. Richard Wilson plays Victor Meldrew, pushed into early retirement with far too much time on his hands, and the scripts plant small details that detonate scenes…0
  3. 3Waiting for God (1990)Waiting for God (1990) 7.8/10 on IMDbFirst aired Jun 28, 1990Michael Aitkens set his sitcom in the Bayview retirement home and made the residents the troublemakers. Graham Crowden and Stephanie Cole play two retirees determined to grow old disgracefully, and Cole's acid-tongued Diana gets the best line in almost every scene. It's a gentle studio comedy in…0
  4. 4Keeping Up Appearances (1990)Keeping Up Appearances (1990) 7.9/10 on IMDbFirst aired Oct 29, 1990The most traditional show on this list, and proof of how far one performance can carry a sitcom. Roy Clarke wrote it, and Patricia Routledge made suburban snob Hyacinth Bucket, forever chasing influential people while hiding her working-class relatives, into one of the best-known characters in…0
  5. 5Drop the Dead Donkey (1990)Drop the Dead Donkey (1990) 8.0/10 on IMDbFirst aired Aug 9, 1990Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin's newsroom comedy was filmed the day before transmission, so the staff of GlobeLink News could joke about that week's real headlines. Scripts were left with gaps and filled with topical references right up to recording. That makes some episodes a time capsule of…0
  6. 6The Brittas Empire (1991)The Brittas Empire (1991) 7.1/10 on IMDbFirst aired Jan 3, 1991Chris Barrie plays Gordon Brittas, manager of Whitbury New Town Leisure Centre, a man whose ambition and good intentions wreck everything they touch. A leisure center was a fresh workplace for a sitcom, and the writing pushes each episode toward escalating, sometimes absurd farce. It's broader…0
  7. 7Bottom (1991)Bottom (1991) 8.3/10 on IMDbFirst aired Sep 17, 1991Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson wrote it and star as Richie Richard and Eddie Hitler, two broke, anti-social and regularly violent losers stuck in a squalid Hammersmith apartment. This is slapstick pushed to cartoon extremes, where the punchline is usually somebody getting hurt. It isn't subtle…0
  8. 82Point4 Children (1991)2Point4 Children (1991) 6.9/10 on IMDbFirst aired Sep 3, 1991Andrew Marshall's family comedy looks like the most ordinary premise of the decade: the Porters, a mother, a father, a son and a daughter. Then it keeps tipping into stranger, sillier territory than you expect, which is what makes it more than filler. Belinda Lang is terrific as stressed-out Bill,…0
  9. 9As Time Goes By (1992)As Time Goes By (1992) 8.3/10 on IMDbFirst aired Jan 12, 1992Judi Dench and Geoffrey Palmer play Jean and Lionel, a nurse and a young soldier madly in love until he is sent away, who meet again 38 years later. Bob Larbey's scripts are quiet and grown-up, built on dry exchanges rather than set pieces. Few sitcoms of the decade were about romance later in…0
  10. 10Men Behaving Badly (1992)Men Behaving Badly (1992) 7.7/10 on IMDbFirst aired Feb 18, 1992Simon Nye's roommate comedy started on ITV in 1992 and moved to the BBC from its third series, where it became the defining "lad" sitcom of the decade. Martin Clunes and Neil Morrissey play Gary and Tony, two overgrown boys whose main relationship is with the fridge full of lager. What keeps it…0