You’ve battered Euphoria, you’ve binged Sex Education and Schitt’s Creek and you’re bordering on re-watching New Girl for the eighth time. Congratulations you’ve completed Netflix. Now for something new – The best old school Channel 4 comedy series to binge watch.
The 90’s and 00’s saw some incredible comedy writers and directors come to the fore, while giving many famous faces their start on screen. Noel Fielding, Tamsin Grieg, Chris O’Dowd, Richard Ayoade, Sarah Alexander, Ardal O’Hanlon, Paddy McGuinness and loads more got their foot in the door via Channel 4, and we can’t think of a better way to waste a day than indulging in some old school comedy.
Here are four of the best old school Channel 4 comedy series to binge watch.
Smack the Pony
The Emmy-award-winning, female fronted and produced sketch show first aired in 1999 and it was pure genius. Following on from the Girl Power explosion that was the Spice Girls, Smack The Pony was a sketch show that proved women could be sexy, self-deprecating and funny. Pre-empting online dating, tv talent shows and even Bob Mortimer’s hilarious ‘Train Guy’, Smack the Pony is the perfect throwback sketch show. Watch Smack The Pony here:
https://www.channel4.com/programmes/smack-the-pony
Green Wing
Another comedy great from Producer Vicky Pile, Green Wing offered audiences a glimpse of life on the wards of a fictional London hospital. But don’t be mistaken, it’s not a show about medicine. Doctor’s playing recorders in their pants, secretaries bringing their cats into work by mistake and consultants using puppets in the operating theatre – all based on real experience and filmed in actual hospitals. Watch Green Wing here:
https://www.channel4.com/programmes/green-wing/on-demand/36484-001
Spaced
It may have aired more than 20 years ago, but Spaced is the unicorn of timeless comedy. Created by and starring Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson, this two-season indie comedy will thrill fans of Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and The World’s End. Tim and Daisy meet in a coffee shop while flat hunting and decide to pose as a couple to rent a local flat. 14 episodes of madness ensue. Colin the dog, Brian the lodger, Star Wars, and loads of famous faces. Watch Spaced here:
https://www.channel4.com/programmes/spaced
Father Ted
Father Ted Crilly is easily the most badgered, stressed, harangued man in Ireland, and boy do we love to see it! Running for just 25 episodes from the mid-90’s, Father Ted is a cult classic that depicts the calamity days of the clergy on fictional Craggy Island. The BAFTA award winning comedy follows Father Dougal, Father Jack and housekeeper Mrs Doyle through hysterical mishaps involving milk floats, song competitions, ‘Ireland’s largest lingerie section’ and lots and lots of tea. Watch Father Ted here:
https://www.channel4.com/programmes/father-ted
Peep Show
Jez and Mark, Mark and Jez, two painfully dysfunctional men just trying to have it all. There’s a whopping nine series of this Channel 4 comedy which first aired in 2003 and amassed a huge fan-following through its relatable scripts and endlessly funny scenarios. Shot on a single camera, Peep Show makes you feel like you’re part of the narrative, whether it’s Mark trying to sleep with the divorcee next door, Toni, or Jez becoming a life coach while consistently falling in love with every woman he meets. Watch Peep Show here:
https://www.channel4.com/programmes/peep-show
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