T.V. Classic Comedy Anagrams Trivia Quiz

Answer: Black Books

"Black Books" originally aired on channel 4 from the 29 September 2000 to 15 April 2004 and was created by Dylan Moran.
Bernard Black (Dylan Moran) plays the cynical, people hating, heavy drinking, chain smoking owner of a small bookshop.
His only friend, Fran Katzenjammer (played by Tamsin Greig) is a neurotic man desperate woman who runs a gift shop next door.
That is until Manny Bianco, (played by Bill Bailey), arrives on the scene and becomes Bernard's assistant.
The humour is off beat and often surreal.
"Black Books " won a BAFTA in 2000 and 2005 for Best Situation Comedy. It also won a Bronze Rose at the Festival Rose d'Or of Montreux in 2001.

A bit of trivia for you: "Katzenjammer" is a German slang word for hangover, literally meaning "cat-wailing".

Answer: Monty Python

This is not only a classic but seminal, as "Monty Python's Flying Circus" influenced much of the comedy to come after it. However, some of their style and jokes (without punchlines) came from the likes of Spike Milligan and Peter Cook.
The word 'Pythonesque' is now used as an adjective to mean (of humour) surreal or absurd.
The Television series was created and performed by John Cleese, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, Graham Chapman, Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam.
"Monty Pythons Flying Circus" ran from 1969 to 1974 on the BBC.
But the group of geniuses found it hard to stay together and after forty episodes on television and a few films, the Pythons set out on their own solo careers.

Answer: Fawlty Towers

Written by ex Python John Cleese and his wife Connie Booth, there is absolutely no doubt about this being an all time classic.
According to John Cleese the idea for the series came from a hotel in which the Python team had stayed while filming. The proprietor was eccentric and rather rude to his guests.

Ideas for the storylines came from far and wide. One example is the storyline from the episode "The Kipper and the Corpse". John Cleese had been talking to the manager of a well known hotel in London and was told one of their biggest problems was finding a way of removing people who had died in the night, without upsetting the other guests.
Only twelve episodes were made, although Cleese had an idea for a thirteenth which involved him travelling to Spain to meet the long suffering Manual's family!

Basil Fawlty (John Cleese), owner of "Fawlty Towers" - A man who was, in John Cleese's words "an absolutely awful human being, but saying that, in comedy if an awful person makes people laugh, people unaccountably feel affectionate towards him" .

Answer: Blackadder

The first series of "Blackadder" was written by Rowan Atkinson and Richard Curtis while series two, three and four were written by Ben Elton and Richard Curtis.

Rowan Atkinson plays Edmund Blackadder throughout the four historical periods starting in 1485 and ending in 1917.
Baldrick, played by Tony Robinson, is his trusty, but not very intelligent sidekick.

Series two is set during the Elizabethan era and stars the wonderful Miranda Richardson as Queen Elizabeth.

The fourth series "Blackadder Goes Forth" is set in the trenches during WW1. The final episode "Goodbyee" had no closing titles, just the main protagonists going forth into the smoke and gunfire of no man's land and fading away to a sunlit poppy filled field. I still shed a tear when I watch that episode.

Answer: Only Fools And Horses

"Only Fools and Horses" , created and written by John Sullivan, became a family favourite during the 1980's and early 1990's with annual Christmas specials.

The sitcom centered around Derek 'Del Boy' Trotter, played by David Jason, a cockney market trader and Rodney Trotter, his younger brother, played by Nicholas Lyndhurst. And their attempts to become millionaires!

The show won various awards including being voted 'Britain's Best Sitcom' in 2004.

In 1996, the final episode of the Christmas trilogy "Time On Our Hands" attracted 24.3 million viewers, a record for a British sitcom.
"Time On Our Hands" was originally intended to be the last we saw of Del Boy and his "Trotters Independent Traders" but Christmas specials carried on until 2003.

Answer: M*A*S*H

Maybe the sign of a good comedy sitcom is to make you laugh, think and sometimes cry. "M*A*S*H" did all of these.
"M*A*S*H" (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) was a spin off from the 1970 Award winning film M*A*S*H and was originally aired from September 1972 until February 1983 with a total of 251 episodes. The last episode to be shown ""Goodbye, Farewell and Amen" was watched by over 105 million viewers.

The series is set during the Korean Conflict and the humour often dark, satirical and anti establishment.

Answer: Morecambe and Wise

"Morecambe and Wise" became a British institution during the 1960's and 1970's with their weekly shows and Christmas specials appearing on either the BBC or ITV for almost twenty years.

Eric Morecambe, born John Eric Bartholomew (1926- 1984), and Ernie Wise, born Ernest Wiseman (1925 -1999), began working together in 1941. Separated during the war a chance encounter reunited them in 1946. First working in music halls and making a name for themselves on radio, they had their first television show in 1954 called "Running Wild". It was a flop and they didn't attempt television again for several years.

In 1968 they teamed up with writer Eddie Braben and "The Morecambe and Wise Show" was born!
Celebrities queued up to be on their show where they were mocked or humiliated. (Don't worry they knew exactly what they were letting themselves in for and it was mostly scripted.)

The very long list includes Andre Previn or "Andre Preview" or "Privit", as one of Morecombe and Wise's running gags was to not recognise their famouse guests or to remember their names. This sketch spawned a classic line when Andre Previn told Eric he was playing all the wrong notes on the piano. Eric took Previn by the coat lapels and said " I'm playing all the right notes but not necessarily in the right order ".

We saw Angela Rippon, a BBC newsreader, as we had never seen her before!
Some other guest stars; Laurence Olivier, John Mills, Vanessa Redgrave, Peter Cushing, Frank Finlay, Tom Jones, Shirley Bassey, Judy Dench, The Beatles and Harold Wilson.
Also Des O'Conner, often at the wrong end of many a joke. However, in reality they were close friends and O'Conner even helped write some of the gags about himself.
The show often ended with a little play written by Ernie Wise's character and hallmarked by bad grammar and pretentiousness.
Glenda Jackson played Wise's Cleopatra and the line most of us remember " All men are fools. And what make them so is having beauty like what I have got".
Jackson's appearance on the show almost certainly lead to her Oscar winning role in " A Touch of Class"

" The Morecambe and Wise show" often included dance and song routines, which demonstrated not only their dancing skills, but their incredible comic timing.

In 1968, Eric Morecambe suffered his first heart attack but despite this the energetic dance routines carried on. In 1979 he suffered a second heart attack. The pressure and work was becoming to much for Morecambe and the last Morecambe and Wise Christmas special was broadcast in 1983.
Eric Morecambe died in 1984 after a third heart attack.
Ernie Wise in 1999 also from a heart related condition.

Both had been awarded the OBE in the 1970's.

In September 2006, they were voted by the British public as number 2 in a poll of "TV's Greatest Stars".
Their 1977 Christmas special was watched by 28 million viewers, half of the population. A British record for light entertainment and I believe it still is.

Answer: Father Ted

Incredibly funny sitcom, set on the fictional Craggy island off the west coast of Ireland.
Father Ted Crilly, played by Dermot Morgan, is exiled to the backwater parish of Craggy island for stealing church funds, although he always claims that the money was "Just resting in my account". Ted dreams and schemes, of ways to escape exile and run a wealthy parish.
He lives with:
Father Jack Hackett (Frank Kelly) an elderly priest who is constantly drunk and foul mouthed. He's also violent, lecherous and for some reason terrified of nuns!
Father Dougal McGuire (Ardal O'Hanlon), a simple minded young priest with a addiction for roller blading and no understanding of religion or real life. Exiled to Craggy island for an incident involving nuns and a ferry!

Mrs Doyle ( Pauline Mclynn), the housekeeper and responsible for looking after the three priests. Famous for her constant tea making "You'll stay for a cup of tea now won't you?" and the catch phrase "Go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, GO ON!" She doesn't like her tea, sandwiches or cakes to be refused.
Mrs Doyle is also responsible for bathing father Dougal!

Answer: The Good Life

"The Good Life", written by John Esmonde and Bob Larbey, originally ran from 1975 to 1978 with a total of 30 episodes.

The plot centers around the 40 yr old Tom Good, played by Richard Briers, who decides to leave his 9 to 5 job in the city and become self sufficient in his suburban home.
The sitcom couldn't fail with it's cast of brilliant actors. Only Richard Briers was well known at the time but it introduced:
Felicity Kendel as Barbara Good and Toms wife.
Paul Eddington as Jerry Leadbetter, Tom and Barbara's next door neighbour and
Penelope Keith as Margo Leadbetter, Jerry's wife.
Although the four are good friends as well as neighbours, the relationship's starts to strain as Tom introduces pigs, goats and chickens into his garden!

Answer: Taxi

Not everyone's 'cup of tea' but for me a U.S comedy classic to be remembered.
"Taxi" was originally broadcast on 12 September 1978 and ran for 111 episodes. Even though it collected 14 Emmy awards in just five seasons it was cancelled by two different networks, and the ratings fell to the ground in it's final season. Perhaps not too much of a feel good factor as the cabby's seemed to be doomed to failure.
However some stars were born.
Danny DeVito, who played Louie De Palma, went on to be a successful film actor and director.

Christopher Lloyd, who played Jim Ignatowski, also went on to have a successful career, best remembered, in my mind, for "The Back To The Future" films.


I hope you have enjoyed this quiz and it is dedicated to Carol and Alan and their menagerie :)