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2020 in British TV comedy brought us Maisie Williams as a kickass survivalist in a pickle, and a new parenting comedy from the hugely talented Simon Blackwell and Chris Addison starring Martin Freeman.

To add to that, there was also a fresh batch of comedians playing exaggerated versions of themselves in self-penned sitcoms, including Katherine Ryan, Mae Martin, Sara Pascoe, Kayleigh Llewellyn, Lucy Beaumont and Jon Richardson.

Here’s the skinny on all those new shows and more. Here’s what arrived in 2019, and here are the new British TV dramas that arrived in 2020.

Breeders

After their excellent 2014 relationship comedy Trying Again, Chris Addison and Simon Blackwell teamed up on a new series, this time about the trials of parenthood. Martin Freeman and Daisy Haggard played parents in this ten-part half-hour comedy, a co-production between Sky in the UK and FX in the US. Watch the first trailer here.

Bumps

Available...

Sky has launched a first look trailer for the new original comedy ‘Code 404’ starring Stephen Graham and Daniel Mays.

The 6 episode series follows Detective Inspectors Di John Major (Mays) and Di Roy Carver (Graham) who are the top crime-fighting duo in the Unit. But when an undercover sting goes horribly wrong, Major is gunned down on the job and killed.

Full of guilt and regret about Major’s untimely death, Roy turns to the only person who understands him, John’s wife, Kelly (Maxwell Martin). However, John gets a reboot. Chosen by the police as the prototype for a new A.I. driven initiative, John is brought back from the dead – much to the surprise of Roy and Kelly. He’d like to believe he’s better than ever, but something isn’t quite right…

Directed by Al Campbell and written by Daniel Peak, the series also stars Anna Maxwell Martin...

Exclusive: Trial & Error star Amanda Payton has joined Sky’s British police comedy Code 404.

The actor, who has also recurred on Animal Kingdom and had spots on Modern Family, The Big Bang Theory, NCIS and Workaholics, has booked a series regular role on the six-part series.

Code 404 stars Rogue One’s Daniel Mays and Boardwalk Empire’s Stephen Graham.

The series, which is produced by Broadchurch and Tin Star indie Kudos and Water and Power Productions, also stars Against The Law’s Richard Gadd. It was written by Horrible Histories and Not Going Out writer Daniel Peak and directed by Al Campbell. The pilot was directed by Ben Palmer.

Code 404 is set in the near future and will revolve around two Detective Inspectors, Di John Major (Daniel Mays) and Di Roy Carver (Stephen Graham), who are the top crime fighting duo in the Unit. But when an undercover sting goes horribly wrong,...

Sky handed police comedy Code 404, starring Rogue One’s Daniel Mays and Boardwalk Empire’s Stephen Graham, a full series after a successful pilot.

Deadline first revealed the project was in development at the pay-tv broadcaster in October and it has now been ordered for six half-hour episodes.

The series, which is produced by Broadchurch and Tin Star indie Kudos and Water and Power Productions, also stars Against The Law’s Richard Gadd. It was written by Horrible Histories and Not Going Out writer Daniel Peak and directed by Al Campbell. The pilot was directed by Ben Palmer.

Code 404 is set in the near future and will revolve around two Detective Inspectors, Di John Major (Daniel Mays) and Di Roy Carver (Stephen Graham), who are the top crime fighting duo in the Unit. But when an undercover sting goes horribly wrong, Major is gunned down on the job and killed.

Sky is developing a police comedy starring Rogue One’s Daniel Mays from Broadchurch and Tin Star indie Kudos.

I hear the pay-tv giant is making a non-tx pilot, which has the working title of Code 404, written by Horrible Histories and Not Going Out writer Daniel Peak and is being co-produced by Water and Power Productions.

Directed by Ben Palmer, who previously helmed The Inbetweeners and David Mitchell and Robert Webb comedy Back, the broadcaster is currently deciding whether to take the project to full series.

The full details of the police project have been kept under wraps, but I’m told the narrative comedy has a similar tone to Charlie Brooker’s A Touch of Cloth, the spoof cop comedy that ran on Sky One in 2012. Phil Temple and Diederick Santer exec produce for Kudos and Sam Myer exec produces for Water and Power.

It is an interesting role for Mays,...

Wesley Mead Dec 21, 2016

Here's day three in our countdown of the top Christmas TV episodes of all time: entries 60 to 41...

This article was first published in December 2015. Read entries 100 - 81 here and entries 80 - 61 here.

See related Sherlock series 4 episode 1 spoiler-free review: The Six Thatchers Sherlock series 4: go behind the scenes; spoiler-free review Doctor Who Christmas special: The Return Of Doctor Mysterio review Doctor Who Christmas special: The Return Of Doctor Mysterio nerdy spots & Easter eggs

Since the medium’s infancy, viewers have enjoyed sharing holidays with their favourite television characters. We grow invested in our friends on screen over the years; spending Christmas with them is a rite of passage, a chance for us to share tradition from our world with the fictional ones we see on screen. Some shows embrace the season wholeheartedly, characters in good spirits and enjoying the trappings of the season; others skew a little darker,...

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Here's day three in our countdown of the top Christmas TV episodes of all time: entries 60 to 41...

Read entries 100 - 81 here and entries 80 - 61 here.

Since the medium’s infancy, viewers have enjoyed sharing holidays with their favourite television characters. We grow invested in our friends on screen over the years; spending Christmas with them is a rite of passage, a chance for us to share tradition from our world with the fictional ones we see on screen. Some shows embrace the season wholeheartedly, characters in good spirits and enjoying the trappings of the season; others skew a little darker, bringing the more oppressive, burdensome side of the holidays to life. Either way, Christmas episodes tend to demonstrate the strengths of our favourite series, and it’s long been a festive ritual of mine to wheel out old DVD sets and settle back for a few favourites during December.

Remember Kinvig, Clone, Not With A Bang? These are the UK sci-fi sitcoms you’re unlikely to see on comedy best-of lists…

With E4 sci-fi comedy commissions, Tripped and Aliens, and in-development Channel 4 projects, Space Ark and Graham Linehan/Adam Buxton collaboration The Cloud, in the works, a new crop of sci-fi sitcom could be making its way to UK TV.

Making funny sci-fi on a small-screen budget is tough enough without the additional pressure of having to attract viewers more traditionally down-to-earth in their sitcom tastes. Sci-fi sets and effects can be seen as prohibitively expensive by comedy commissioners (which is perhaps why the best UK sci-fi sitcoms of recent years has been on BBC Radio), and the genre’s niche status doesn’t scream mainstream hit. Over the years, one or two stand-outs have managed to straddle the sci-fi and comedy TV worlds, but plenty more have stumbled in the attempt.

A quick heads up for all our readers in the UK, who have yet to catch BBC3’s latest oddball, adult puppet comedy ‘Mongrels.’ Having caught the first two episodes yesterday we’d highly recommend you give it a watch as it is just f**king hilarious. Written by Jon Brown and Daniel Peak, Mongrels - which we can only describe as a darkly twisted 'The Muppets' meets 'South Park' - follows the exploits of a unlikely group of animal friends Nelson, a “metro”sexual fox; Destiny, a pretentious pedigree 'it-bitch'; Kali, a deeply cynical pigeon; Marion, an abandoned tom cat; and Vince, a foul mouthed and streetwise fox.

A quick heads up for all our readers in the UK, who have yet to catch BBC3’s latest oddball, adult puppet comedy ‘Mongrels.’ Having caught the first two episodes yesterday we’d highly recommend you give it a watch as it is just f**king hilarious. Written by Jon Brown and Daniel Peak, Mongrels - which we can only describe as a darkly twisted 'The Muppets' meets 'South Park' - follows the exploits of a unlikely group of animal friends Nelson, a “metro”sexual fox; Destiny, a pretentious pedigree 'it-bitch'; Kali, a deeply cynical pigeon; Marion, an abandoned tom cat; and Vince, a foul mouthed and streetwise fox.