Nightingales

I was only in my teens when this originally aired on Channel 4, so knew nothing about Robert Lindsays previous comedy exploits, or David Threfalls standing as a very well respected actor, but what I do know is that for 30 mins once a week, I was watching one of the funniest things I have ever seen in my life, and the 7 days in between seemed an absolute bore.

Like th other commenter on here, I can't understand why more people aren't aware of this diamond amongst the sitcom rough, everyone I've told to see this who has seen this loves it, and can't believe they didn't know about it either.

Like the great Seinfeld, this series has fantastic premises, great dialog, superb acting, and takes twists and turns you don't expect, that are so bizarre, but are hilariously funny it's insane.

The sad thing is anyone reading this is probably also a fan, so knows these things already, but if you haven't seen it yet, trust me, you'll be watching the episodes over and over again for life once you've seen it.

Probably the most underrated of channel 4's sit-coms. Superbly acted by the principles (especially David Threlfall). The reason it is not particularly well known is the stupid scheduling it received (after 11pm midweek), consequently not many people saw it. The surreal humour is not to everyones tastes so it's a case of love it or hate it. People who do love it really do love it. Somehow it manages to capture the slightly demented state of mind that night-workers tend to develop, the in-jokey humour and the flights of fantasy in their enclosed little world. Particularly recommended are the two werewolf episodes and the one with a gorilla called Trevor Oblong.

I wonder what Samuel Beckett is doing now?

Loved the programme Nightingales. Takes me back a few years. Off the wall. Surreal. Fantastic. Late night jewel. Ideal for insomniacs.

Well know for the phrase "there is nobody here but us chickens".

Maybe other fans were Steven Moffat famed for writing Doctor Who amongst other things. In Doctor who wrote the episode "The empty child". An episode of Doctor who from the first series...with Christopher Eccleston.

An hysterical four year old child at the door asks "Are you my mommy?". The doctor replies "No mommies here. Nobody here but us chickens". "Well this chicken".

One of those programmes no-one else seems to have heard about. Every carefully scripted episode justifies the expense of buying a television. The fact that this hasn't been rerun since its first transmission is a crime against sitcom.

UK TV comedy is woeful and a re-showing of this to all potential writers is a must. All production companies seem afraid of taking on anything that doesn't scream "Mainstream". Whoever agreed to green-light this series deserves a special "Services To The Comedy Industry".

This is true British comedy following in the footsteps of the Goons or Monty Python. You wouldn't think that a sitcom about 3 security guards and an empty building would yield much in the way of laughs but this comedy did using a combination of off-the-wall plots and fantastic characterisation by Lyndsey, Thewlis and Allison.

If you like Nightingales, check out The High Life and Joking Apart.

"Anyone here?" "There's nobody here but us chickens"