I confess that "Keeping Up Appearances" usually sets my teeth on edge. The pomposity of that woman, Hyacinth Bucket, and the emasculated daily humiliation of her long suffering husband, Richard, I find a bit depressing. There are laughs when she is usually shone up as the fool she is, towards the end of each episode. But the jokes about her fine china with hand painted periwinkles, her grueling candlelight dinners, or her princess telephone get a bit stale for me.
I do enjoy the Onslows... do any of them ever work for a living? Or are they professional dole-accepters?
Fawlty Towers was a gem.
My favorite Brit comedy of all time was "The Rise and Fall of Reginald Perrin". First broadcast in the 70's, its send-up of corporate stupidity, materialistic modern culture, and meaningless lives was way before its time, as well as more than a little existential wandering. "I didn't get to where I am today by biting people in the changing room..." LOL...
Sadly, the series is not available on DVD as yet... and it is rerun only rarely on our local PBS stations... nearly always on one for which I get poor reception.