[The Weeping Angel]

I've heard it said that shutting down Thames was at least in part revenge for Death on the Rock.

Yeah heard that too Thames made some good stuff like The Bill The Sweeney
shame their sitcoms were crap

[youngian]

Although in mitigation its sister company London Weekend Television churned out the really bad comedy crap.

[The Weeping Angel]

Who can forget On the buses

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Reg Varney was the highest-paid entertainer in Britain at one time. On the Buses was very popular in its day. Hardly a failure.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Yes, but he was old school, an all round entertainer.

Acting wasn't his forte by any means.

[Lord Brett]

Reg Varney was the highest-paid entertainer in Britain at one time. On the Buses was very popular in its day. Hardly a failure.

Grim, mirthless stuff now, but quite amazingly popular in the early to mid 70s. Other examples include Love Thy Neighbour and Yus My Dear. They knew their audience at LWT.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Yes, but he was old school, an all round entertainer.

Acting wasn't his forte by any means.

Doesn't alter the fact that he, the Rag Trade and On The Buses were very popular.

[youngian]

And Varney was famously first to a cashpoint to withdraw his dosh. I also have a soft spot for On the Buses. And it is still shown, unlike other dubious offerings such as Arthur Mullard in Yus My Dear or Mind Your Language.

[Abernathy]

And Varney was famously first to a cashpoint to withdraw his dosh.

Not a lot of people know that. A similar piece of trivia is that the first mobile phone call in the UK was made by Ernie Wise.

[The Weeping Angel]

and Love Thy Neighbour. Don't forget Love Thy Nieghbour

[Kreuzberger]

And Varney was famously first to a cashpoint to withdraw his dosh. I also have a soft spot for On the Buses. And it is still shown, unlike other dubious offerings such as Arthur Mullard in Yus My Dear or Mind Your Language.

The soft spot I have for all that is approximately 1.73 cm due west of my perineum.

[The Weeping Angel]

Worst British Sitcoms

1 Sir Yellow (Yorkshire)
2 Up the Elephant and Round the Castle (Thames)
3 Trouble In Mind (LWT)
4 Take a Letter, Mr Jones (Southerni)
5 My Husband and I (1987-88) (Yorkshire)
6 Constant Hot Water (Central)
7 High and Dry (Yorkshire)
8 Come Back Mrs Noah (BBC)
9 Tripper's Day/Slinger's Day (Thames)
10 High Street Blues (LWT)
11 Room Service (Thames)
12 Romany Jones (LWT)
13 Rule Britannia (Thames)
14 Selwyn (Yorkshire)
15 Don't Drink the Water (LWT)
16 Odd Man Out (Thames)
17 In for a Penny ( LWT)
18 Plaza Patrol (Yorkshire)
19 Yus My Dear (LWT)
20 Bottle Boys (LWT)

ITV 19 BBC 1

Here's the source http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2003/se ... ing.uknews" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Kreuzberger]

Got a source or an explanation as to why they are "worst" or is that a Stuart Maconie (can't be arsed to check the spelling) thing?

LWT with over a third of the results. Was Greg Dyke running the shop then or just flogging airtime?

[Malcolm Armsteen]

I can put my hand on my heart (or where it should be) and say I have never seen a single episode of any of those shows.
Or Crossroads, Triangle, East Enders or Coronation Street since about 1966. Ditto Big Brother, X Factor, The Apprentice, Britain's Got Talent, The Voice, Dancing with Whatever or Celebrity Get Me A Sandwich.

I find the best defence from that sort of thing is not to watch it.

[Killer Whale]

LWT were responsible for End of Part One, so they got at least one thing right.