Top 10 British Comedy since 1980

Britain has always fared well when pointing its camera lenses towards comedy. Off the back of quality radio (the wit of Spike Milligan and The Goon Show, accompanied ably by the delightful antics of Peter Sellers and Harry Secombe) and television (the Monty Python team constantly obscuring the day-to-day British regime with side-splitting skits) there’s always been plenty of source material for cinema to draw on.

Even thought the Ealing comedies of the 1950s had some success across the pond, it was the appeal of Monty Python and the subsequent release of films “And Now For Something Completely Different”, “Holy Grail”, and “Life of Brian” during the 1970s that took British comedy to a world stage. John Cleese, Michael Palin, and Eric Idle became household names, and Terry Gilliam became one of the world’s most interesting and visually impressive filmmakers.

Living up to the Monty Python team’s best work – “Holy Grail” and “Life of Brian” – has been a difficult task since the end of the seventies, even for the Python’s themselves. They released “The Meaning Of Life” in 1983 which features my favourite sketch of theirs. John Cleese, playing a schoolteacher, advises a class on sex education. Making no attempt to be subtle, he introduces his wife to the ‘children’ (played entirely by the adult Python actors) and they proceed to get undressed so he can educate the class on exactly how it should be done. It’s a classic scene, however, one of only a few in the hit and miss “Meaning of Life”.

Cleese, Palin, Idle, Terry Jones, and Gilliam worked on individual projects, many allowing them to re-team for cameo appearances or writing stints. Some of their films didn’t work and failed to appeal to mainstream audiences, but some certainly did work. It’s these that make up a major part of the best British comedy since 1980.

10. East Is East (Damien O’ Donnell, 1999)
Dir. Damien O Donnell; screenplay by Ayub Khan-Din; starring Om Puri, Linda Bassett, Jordan Routledge, Archie Panjabi, Chris Bisson, Jimi Mistry
Setting: Manchester, England

A surprise hit that struck a chord with modern audiences with its depiction of a multi-cultural Pakistani-British family. The film is funny yet poignant and at times quite dark. It is also, even within its 1970s setting, a telling remark on present day Britain.

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9. About A Boy (Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz, 2002)
Dir. Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz; screenplay by Peter Hedges, Chris Weitz, Paul Weitz; starring Hugh Grant, Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette, Rachel Weisz, Sharon Small
Setting: London, England

Based on the Nick Hornby novel, this is yet another successful cinematic adaptation of his work. What makes “About A Boy” better than “High Fidelity” is that it retains the British setting.

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8. Brassed Off (Mark Herman, 1996)
Dir. Mark Herman; screenplay by Mark Herman, starring Pete Postlewaite, Tara Fitzgerald, Ewan McGregor, Stephen Tompkinson, Jim Carter, Philip Jackson, Peter Martin
Setting: Barnsley, England

At times it might resort to soap-opera melodrama but this powerful and frequently funny film about political discontent and coal mine redundancies during the middle 1990s is an important and culturally significant piece of entertainment. However, what makes it stand out is the music, performed wonderfully by the Grimethorpe Colliery Brass Band (of whose actual experiences the film loosely bases its story on).

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7. Gregory’s Girl (Bill Forsyth, 1981)
Dir. Bill Forsyth; screenplay by Bill Forsyth; starring Gordon John Sinclair, Dee Hepburn, Clare Grogan
Setting: Cumbernauld, Scotland

The most widely praised film of Bill Forsyth’s career, “Gregory’s Girl” is a observant and funny story about weird kid Gregory Underwood as he learns about love when his place on the football team is taken by a girl.

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6. Educating Rita (Lewis Gilbert, 1983)
Dir. Lewis Gilbert; screenplay by Willy Russell, starring Michael Caine, Julie Walters
Setting: Liverpool, England

Willy Russell adapts his own successful stage play for the screen in which Michael Caine and Julie Walters (who played Rita on stage prior to the film) take on the roles of dispassionate, alcoholic teacher and overzealous, mature student.

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5. Clockwise (Christopher Morahan, 1986)
Dir. Christopher Morahan; screenplay by Michael Frayn; starring John Cleese, Sharon Maiden, Stephen Moore, Penelope Wilton
Setting: Midlands

John Cleese is brilliant in this post-Monty Python era film about an overtly punctual school headmaster who conducts his life based on strict regimen and perfect time-keeping but finds his entire day, en-route to a headmaster’s conference, disrupted by one mishap after another.

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4. A Fish Called Wanda (Charles Crichton, 1988)
Dir. Charles Crichton; screenplay by Charles Crichton, John Cleese; starring John Cleese, Michael Plain, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline, Maria Aitken, Tom Georgeson
Setting: London, England

This list could become a battle of the Monty Python team. Michael Palin and John Cleese star in Charles Crichton’s manic crime-farce with both Python’s stealing the show. Although, Kevin Kline, as the delightfully sadistic Otto runs them close.

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3. Time Bandits (Terry Gilliam, 1981)
Dir. Terry Gilliam; written by Terry Gilliam, Michael Palin; starring John Cleese, Sean Connery, Shelley Duvall, Ralph Richardson, Katherine Helmond, Ian Holm, Michael Palin David Warner, David Rappaport, Craig Warnock
Setting: Various

Another surreal masterwork from Terry Gilliam. A wonderful and varied dreamland setting beautifully brings to life Gilliam and Michael Palin’s funny yet twisted and ironic fairytale story.

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2. Brazil (Terry Gilliam, 1985)
Dir. Terry Gilliam; screenplay by Terry Gilliam, Tom Stoppard, Charles McKeown; starring Jonathan Pryce, Kim Greist, Michael Palin, Robert De Niro, Katherine Helmond, Bob Hoskins, Iam Holm
Setting: Fictional future city

Terry Gilliam was always going to feature on a list of the greatest British comedy films, the only question was where and how many times. The answer: twice – second and third place. “Brazil” pips “Time Bandits” to the silver prize because its message is still as relevant today as it was in 1985.

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1. Withnail and I (Bruce Robinson, 1986)
Dir. Bruce Robinson; screenplay by Bruce Robinson; starring Richard E. Grant, Paul McGann, Richard Griffiths, Ralph Brown
Setting: London, England

Bruce Robinson’s semi-autobiographical foray into the hazy world of drugs and alcohol through his wonderful creations Withnail and best friend known only as ‘I’ is easily the best British comedy since 1980.

Read my full review HERE

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