The New Statesman

Shows Like

The New Statesman (1987)

Comedy

If you loved The New Statesman, you'll love these similar shows. Handpicked based on shared themes, genre, and feel.

Spitting Image

Spitting Image

1984 ★ 7.2

Spitting Image is an award winning British satirical puppet show, created by Peter Fluck, Roger Law and Martin Lambie-Nairn. The series was produced by Spitting Image Productions for Central Independent Television over 18 series which aired on the ITV from 1984 to 1996. The series was nominated and won numerous awards during its run including 10 BAFTA Awards, including one for editing in 1989, and even won two Emmy Awards in 1985 and 1986 in the Popular Arts Category. The series featured puppet caricatures of celebrities famous during the 1980s and 1990s, including British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and fellow Tory politicians, American president Ronald Reagan, and the British Royal Family. The Series was the first to caricature the Queen mother.

Yes Minister

Yes Minister

1980 ★ 8.3

Satirical sitcom set in the office of a UK Cabinet minister, Jim Hacker MP, who struggles with Civil Service bureaucracy and political machinations as he tries to get on with government business.

The League of Gentlemen

The League of Gentlemen

1999 ★ 7.7

The League of Gentlemen is a British sitcom broadcast on BBC Two over three series from 1999 to 2002. In the fictional Northern England town of Royston Vasey—based on Bacup, Lancashire—the lives are explored of dozens of bizarre citizens, much of whom are played by three of the show's four writers—Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton, and Reece Shearsmith—who, along with Jeremy Dyson, formed the titular comedy troupe in 1995. The programme was followed by a film in 2005, and a three-part revival miniseries in December 2017 to celebrate the group's 20th anniversary.

The Day Today

The Day Today

1994 ★ 8.2

A spoof of the British news - including ridiculous stories, patronising vox pops, offensively hard-hitting research and a sports presenter clearly struggling for metaphors. Adapted from Radio 4 series 'On The Hour'.

Rising Damp

Rising Damp

1974 ★ 7.5

Set in a seedy bedsit, the cowardly landlord Rigsby has his conceits debunked by his long suffering tenants.

Decker

Decker

2014 ★ 6.6

The free world is in danger, and only one man can help. Jack Decker has sworn to defend America from foreign terrorists regardless of which spineless president is in charge. This is Decker: The Series.

The Mighty Boosh

The Mighty Boosh

2004 ★ 7.6

A British comic fantasy containing humour and pop-culture references. Episodes often featured elaborate musical numbers in different genres, such as electro, heavy metal, funk, and rap. The show has been known for popularising a style called "crimping"; short acappella songs which are present throughout all three series.

Another Period

Another Period

2015 ★ 6.9

Set at the turn of the century, “Another Period” follows the misadventures of the Bellacourts, Newport, RI’s first family, who have absolutely nothing to offer to the world, but who have so much money it doesn’t matter. The series focuses on sisters “Lillian” and “Beatrice”, who care only about how they look, what parties they attend and becoming famous, which is a lot harder in 1902.

I'm Alan Partridge

I'm Alan Partridge

1997 ★ 7.4

The fortunes of a former chat show host who is reduced to a lowly slot on Radio Norwich. Alan Partridge is divorced, living in a travel tavern, and desperate for a return to television.

Utopia

Utopia

2014 ★ 7.0

Set inside the offices of the “Nation Building Authority”, a federal government organisation responsible for overseeing major infrastructure projects, Utopia explores that moment when bureaucracy and grand dreams collide.

Gimme Gimme Gimme

Gimme Gimme Gimme

1999 ★ 6.9

Linda La Hughes shares a flat with Tom Farrell. Linda is overweight, loudmouthed and not particularly attractive. She thinks she's gorgeous and irrestible, however. She's also sex mad and obsessed with men. Tom is an aspiring actor. He's got an agent, but finds it difficult to get parts. He doesn't like Linda much, in spite of (or perhaps because of) the fact that they share a flat. She isn't completely comfortable with his homosexuality, perhaps because she finds it difficult to live with a man who doesn't find her sexually attractive.

Psychoville

Psychoville

2009 ★ 6.9

Five strangers receive blackmail notes from an anonymous source, leading them on a dark and surreal journey as their lives unravel, featuring bizarre characters like a man-child, a one-handed clown, and a blind millionaire.

Big Train

Big Train

1998 ★ 7.3

Twisted and original sketch show from the minds of Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews, starring Simon Pegg, Kevin Eldon and Mark Heap.

Blackadder

Blackadder

1983 ★ 8.0

Blackadder traces the deeply cynical and self-serving lineage of various Edmund Blackadders throughout British history, from the muck of the Middle Ages to the frontline of The Great War.

Shooting Stars

Shooting Stars

1993 ★ 7.7

Shooting Stars is a British television comedy panel game broadcast on BBC Two as a pilot in 1993, then as 3 full series from 1995 to 1997, then on BBC Choice from January to December 2002 with 2 series before returning to BBC Two for another 3 series from 2008 until its cancellation in 2011. Created and hosted by double-act Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer, it uses the panel show format but with the comedians' often slapstick, surreal and anarchic humour does not rely on rules in order to function, with the pair apparently ignoring existing rules or inventing new ones as and when the mood takes them.

French & Saunders

French & Saunders

1987 ★ 7.5

French and Saunders is a British sketch comedy television series written by and starring comic duo Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. It is also the name by which the performers are known on the occasions when they appear elsewhere as a double act.

The Red Green Show

The Red Green Show

1991 ★ 7.4

The Red Green Show is a Canadian television comedy that aired on various channels in Canada, with its ultimate home at CBC Television, and on Public Broadcasting Service stations in the United States, from 1991 until the series finale April 7, 2006, on CBC. The Red Green Show is essentially a cross between a sitcom and a sketch comedy series, and is a parody of home improvement, do-it-yourself, fishing, and other outdoors shows.

Phoenix Nights

Phoenix Nights

2001 ★ 8.0

The owner of The Phoenix Club is the wheelchair-bound Brian Potter, who has presided over two clubs in the past: the first (The Aquarius) flooded, the second (The Neptune) burned down. His ambition (with the help of Jerry St Clair) is to see The Phoenix Club become the most popular in Bolton and thus outdo his arch-nemesis, Den Perry, owner of rival club The Banana Grove.

Ideal

Ideal

2005 ★ 8.1

Sitcom about a small-time dope dealer and his strange collection of acquaintances.

Reno 911!

Reno 911!

2003 ★ 7.2

This partially unscripted comedy brings viewers into the squad car as incompetent officers swing into action, answering 911 calls about everything from speeding violations and prostitution to staking out a drug den. Within each episode, viewers catch a "fly on the wall" glimpse of the cops' often politically incorrect opinions, ranging from their personal feelings to professional critiques of their colleagues.

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