Contemporary British comedy scribes find themselves preceded by a long-standing tradition of great British comedy screen-writers.

With a very identifiable sarcastic undertone and dry connotation, British comedy has its own unique identity, not just in the English speaking world, but further afield.

We take a look at 5 great British screen-writers…

 

Ford Kiernan and Greg Hemphill

The Scottish duo are responsible for two classic Scottish comedy series’ – Chewin’ the Fat and Still Game, two shows which are widely regarded to be the finest comedy shows to come out of Scotland.

 

Ben Elton

OBE Elton is responsible for two staple marks in British comedy culture – ’80s show Blackadder, which follows the misfortunes of the protagonist played by Rowan Atkinson, and The Young Ones, also written and aired in the ’80s.

 

Ricky Gervais

Hailing from Reading in the South of England, Gervais tried his hand at making music before going on to write several high-profile British comedy shows, some of which went on to become global brands. Gervais is the man behind The Office, Extras, An Idiot Abroad and Derek.

 

Graham Linehan

Sill flavour of the month, Linehan has written three present-day classic British sitcoms; Father Ted, Black Books and of course The IT Crowd, which follows three computer geeks in the IT department of a multi-national.

While most of us would need a step by step guide to making a website, these guys – who (most notably Richard Ayoadae) portrayed the clichéd online role playing, dodgy trainers wearing, IT geeks so perfectly – are the ones who most likely write these guides.

 

John Cleese

Leader of classic British comedy writing group – The Pythons – Cleese has an incredible volume of timeless works of comic art.

Often cited as the most accomplished British television series ever – Monty Python was only the beginning of Cleese’s contribution to British comedy and he went on to write and star in Fawlty Towers and Life of Brian.