BellaOnline Forums Travel and Culture English Culture English humor

Australians have a very similar humor to the English - and English comedies have always been popular here.

I'm a very happy girl at the moment, because I'm buying the "Allo Allo" series through Time Life over here. When it was shown here, it's ratings were huge, and I believe that the sales of the DVD's are correspondingly huge.

I am a Monty Python FREAK!! What's more, my veterinarian is also a Python freak. We send perverse emails about dead crabs & fish slapping back & forth to each other when we get bored.

Alas, we have cable & not satellite tv at our house, so we don't get BBC America. I'd give anything to get it.

Does anyone remember a show called "May to December"? I *loved* that show! About a younger divorced woman, Zoe Angel, who marries her solicitor, a much older Scots gent (character's name's escaping me at the moment). I think it was maybe only on for 2 seasons or so (w/ Zoe being played by 2 different actresses), but I taped every single one shown on PBS in our area, & love to pull them out occasionally & watch them.

May to December, I remember that one. A bit twee though (no offence). I think the old geezers* name was Anton somethingorother...erm, I know...Anton Rogers. That's it. Lordy I'm absolutely brilliant at remembering names and shows and stuff. In fact 'light entertainment' is my middle name**.

Let me think...hmmm......Middle-aged solicitor Alec Callender - a partner in Semple, Callender and Henty - is a suburbanite dreamer, pining for Perry Mason-style cases but rarely working on anything more exciting than simple house conveyancing. In the course of his work he meets Zoe Angell, a 26-year-old PE teacher befuddled by her impending divorce; although neither is looking for romance there is an unmistakable spark and soon they embark on the rocky road of a 'spring and autumn' romance. Every variation and pitfall of such a relationship was explored over the course of six series, with the central romance overcoming every obstacle. Alec gets on unexpectedly well with Zoe's parents because, being of virtually the same age, they have much in common. Zoe and Alec themselves share an affection for old musicals and detective stories, their love doing the rest, and after living together for a year they marry and produce a baby daughter, Fleur. At work, Alec's colleagues include his son Jamie and the prim Miss Flood (who then marries and becomes Mrs Tipple). Or somthing like that. And if I remember rightly (and I nearly always do, right matey!) Number of episodes: 39 Length: 38 x 30 mins � 1 x 55 mins. Or was it 40 episodes? Who can say? That's the power of my enigmas.

Mr Wenslydale

* bloke, guy
** it's true

Since it hasn't been answered, The Vicar of Dibley is very English. If you guys like programs like Smack the Pony and Little Britain and other new comedies like that you should try Green Wing, it's really good, already had two seasons over here in good old blightey.

*waves to battlekitten*

This is a bit off topic, but I see you are in Nottingham. I will be there myself in a couple of weeks. Any good restaurants you can recommend?

Hello *waves back* I noticed your signature was 'English Culture' and found it amusing, being English myself I'm not sure what could be that interesting, so I came over to see what y'all talked about <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Restaurants, hmm...depends what you like. Also I've been a student for years so I don't tend to go to nice places <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> If you've never been to a wagamamas then that's always good fun. It does Japanese dishes like teppan noodles and Ramen, you sit along benches next to other diners and is very informal, so if you don't like that kind of thing then it's probably not a good idea. Some places that have been recommended to me are Petit Paris, Pouchinello's, Le Bistro Pierre and Ben Bowers. It sort of depends on your budget and style.

This might help: http://www.city-visitor.com/nottingham/restaurants.html

Hope you have fun here in Nottingham <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Thanks so much! I'm actually doing a 10 day tour of England, trying to catch even more places that I've missed on previous trips...so yes, I am trying to be as thrifty as possible. I appreciate the suggestions!

And by all means, if you want to make a suggestion to the site...please do! I find it challenging sometimes to write about English Culture, being an American, but it seems that most of my audience isn't actually English...they are people who are just fascinated with English Culture. I always love to hear an English perspective.

Cheers! <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Are there no Spike Milligan fans among you?

The Goon Shows from the fifties and sixties were seminal and changed British humour completely. Spike was the main writer, the main catalyst, but Peter Sellers (Inspector Couseau) was also there with some of the greatest silly voices ever to vibrate a set of vocal chords. The Monty Python team (and probably most comedy writers since) will tell you that Spike was their inspiration. And mine too for what it's worth <img src="/images/graemlins/rolling.gif" alt="" />

Don't know if it would go down that well with an American audience today but the tapes are still available (they were radio shows). It's pretty zany stuff that rejoices in being very very silly. <img src="/images/graemlins/beamedup.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/rolling.gif" alt="" />

Also you might like to read "Puckoon", Spike's first novel. I first read it when I was about 17 and, honestly, I didn't know the written word could be that funny. <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />