"Radio Times" Guide to TV Comedy: Amazon.co.uk: Mark Lewisohn: Books

Amazon.co.uk Review

Television comedy is a serious business if the size of this book is anything to go by. From "A J Wentworth BA" to "Zzzap!" via "Bottle Boys" and "Fawlty Towers", every comedy programme screened on British television since transmission began in 1936 is included, and the result runs to eight hundred pages, mind-boggling in their scope. Any fears, though, of it belonging to the "dull but worthy" school of reference book are quickly dispelled upon opening it. The layout is easy to follow, with each entry listing the cast, production team and technical data before a brief synopsis and/or critique. Mark Lewisohn skilfully achieves a necessary balance between information and opinion; it takes a hardy enthusiast to spend six years researching such a subject, and consequently his tone is often positive, but he is an experienced broadcast historian (and Beatles expert, tangentially), and he keeps a pair of jackboots by the sofa to stomp all over any howlers. Lest we forget, for every "Seinfeld" there was a "Me and the Chimp". It is this diversity that will delight the browser, the fanatic and the pub quizzer alike, and Lewisohn has emerged, probably red-eyed and pale, with a valuable and entertaining guide to an ever-popular genre. --David Vincent --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Book Description

The Radio Times Guide to TV Comedy, by Mark Lewisohn, is the definitive and only guide to every single comedy show screened on British television.

Five years on from the widely acclaimed first edition, the guide has been fully revised and updated to 2003 and now includes more than 3000 shows – sitcom, stand-up, sketch, serial, satire, impressionism, monologue, animation and more.

Exceeding a million words over 960 pages, the book details every comedy programme shown by British TV channels from 1936 to the present day – all of those produced in Britain plus some 350 shows imported from America and elsewhere, everything from five-minute shorts in the 1930s to long-running series attracting headlines in the new millennium. Every show has its own entry, beginning with essential facts (cast list, key production credits, broadcast dates/days/times, etc) and concluding with an informative synopsis as well as an entertaining and often lively critique. There is also a raft of invaluable lists and appendices, multiple indexes, and – new to this edition – more than 80 rare comedy photographs from the Radio Times archive.

Paul Merton described the first edition as ‘thorough, opinionated and meticulously researched’ and Ronnie Barker said it was ‘wonderful and monumental’. Victoria Wood has contributed the foreword to the new edition.

Written with style, authority, wit and flair, the product of ten years’ work, Radio Times Guide to TV Comedy (the only all-inclusive encyclopedia of any British television genre) makes the perfect gift and is an absorbing read for television viewers of all ages. It is also an indispensable tool for anyone working in TV and entertainment.

Customer Reviews

5 star

4 star

3 star

2 star

1 star

9 reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars

Write a customer review

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

There's nothing else like it 30 Sep 2003

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

(Based on the first edition)
For any student of TV comedy, no other volume comes even close to the scale, authority and depth of this one. If it was on the box, it's in the book. I've owned it for five years and still find something new every time I pick it up. Deep respect.

Comment |

Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

Men Of The World was brilliant 11 Mar 2004

By "robertphilwoods"

What can I say? The guy from the Radio Times updates his encyclopedia of all comedy programmes screened on British television (and throwing justified disdain on American teen shows such as Saved By The Bell) and the result is both comprehensive and fascinating to anyone with even the slightest interest in comedy whether you prefer happy family watching (The Good Life, Dad's Army) or darker material (The League Of Gentlemen and, er... virtually anything Chris Morris has ever done).

Any downers? Not really... er, the book's quite heavy? You can't read all of the pages at once? It's a top purchase.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

Just Brilliant! 6 Sep 2000

This book really is excellent. You may start looking up someone. (There are A-Z indexes of performers, writers, directors and more included). I looked up Rowan Atkinson. Then you see Not the Nine'o'clock News. Which also featured Chris Langham. You take a look what he appeared in. You find a series in 1994 produced by John Cleese, etc. etc.

Before you know it you've spent an hour wading through comedy of the ages!

A really excellent book.