The United Kingdom has produced a wealth of sitcoms, many of which have been exported to other nations or adapted for other countries. The British sitcom tends to rely less on quick-fire jokes and quirky characters, and focuses more on plots, the analysis of the British individual, and exaggerated caricatures of everyday stereotypes.There is also a tendency towards black humor. A frequent theme in British sitcoms is that of people trapped in an unpleasant situation or, more often, in a dysfunctional relationship.
Many British sitcoms are re-made for American audiences. For example, Till Death Us Do Part became All in the Family; Man About the House became Three's Company; and, the immensely popular Steptoe and Son became Sanford and Son. The Office was also remade for an American audience using the same title. Political sitcom The Thick of it is currently going an American adaption, also under the same name. However, most British sitcoms usually fare better in their original forms. Re-makes of Red Dwarf, Men Behaving Badly, Coupling, and One Foot in the Grave fell victim to adaptations that largely removed the essence of the comedy and did not stand the test of time.
Possibly the best example of this was Fawlty Towers, in which there were three attempts to Americanize the show. The first attempt was a proposed series titled Chateau Snavely in 1978 but a pilot was never produced. The second attempt at Americanising Fawlty Towers was Amanda's, where the character of Basil became a woman played by Beatrice Arthur. This eliminated the roles of the hen-pecked lead and the dragon-like wife. Amanda's was picked up by ABC in 1983 but never attracted an audience and was cancelled soon after. The final attempt to remake Fawlty Towers was Payne, in which John Larroquette played the title role. It was seen on CBS in 1999, but like Amanda's it was soon dropped by the network.
The UK is home to the world's longest running sitcom, Last of the Summer Wine. The show's pilot was broadcast in early 1973 with the first series starting that autumn. The series continues to this day with the show's 29th series, coming soon in 2008.