The 20 best Channel 4 comedies of all time (2024)

Although the powers that be might be trying to take it away from us, there are many reasons to oppose the changes, to mount an unyielding defence of the home of all things good when it comes to British culture: Channel 4. For 40 years, the channel has presented the UK with thought-provoking, challenging, heartbreaking and downright hilarious moments that are seared into our contemporary society.

The network has been the home of a host of legends, ranging from the late Paula Yates to everyone’s favourite news anchors, Krishnan Guru-Murthy and Jon Snow. Channel 4 has also famously spawned timeless characters that range from Ali G to the Derry Girls, and even giving the beloved Vic & Bob their break when the BBC weren’t bold enough. They also offer real-life favourites such as the heroes who work on our A&E wards to our sofa critics on Gogglebox.

Channel 4 has been committed to presenting the country with the most uncompromising view of Britain since it was first established. It forced all other channels to up their game and get real. The station has invariably presented us with quality in the realms of movies, music shows and documentaries depicting every aspect of life, from the fantastical to the hard-hitting.

Nowhere else would you see such a diverse array of titles, people, cultures and environments, meaning that it has to be protected at all costs, much like an artefact in a museum. The glorious technicolour palette it offers is one of the greatest strings this gloomy sceptred isle has to offer. To lose it would be a travesty of epic proportions.

Duly, to celebrate Channel 4’s 40th birthday, we’ve listed their 20 finest comedies of all time. Expect to see some classics, and have a trip down memory lane like no other. Just a word of warning: we’ve omitted the likes of Shameless, Fresh Meat and Misfits as they just about enter the realm of drama.

The 20 best Channel 4 comedies:

20. Jam

Comedian, writer and filmmaker Chris Morris may be better known for his work on Brass Eye and the BBC series The Day Today, but in 2000, he released a truly curious comedy series in Jam. The project acts as an important reminder of Channel 4’s dedication to alternative comedy. Odd, obscure and often sincerely dark, Morris’ sketch show refused to play by the rules of contemporary humour.

In addition, the show also helped to give an industry leg-up to the likes of Amelia Bullmore, Julia Davis, Mark Heap and Kevin Eldon. The famous skit of a man choosing to be buried in his prime will live long in the memory. Jam remains uber-influential, but for every brilliant sketch about a man committing an armed robbery in a shop for cigarettes, there is an awful lot of forgettable madness.

19. Nathan Barley

It doesn’t get much more cultish than Charlie Brooker and Chris Morris’ 2005 series Nathan Barley. Comprised of only six episodes, it is arguably the sharpest comment on hipster culture to this day, even if it is 17 years old. The eponymous “self-facilitating media node”, DJ, webmaster, and screenwriter is a perfect representation of all the self-described “creatives” lacking self-awareness in our cities. This modern monster was aptly described by his creator as a “meaningless strutting cadaver-in-waiting”.

The show also comments on the rise of the internet, digital media and the widespread assumption by publishers that any content is worth attention. Notably, Barley’s bible is the magazine Sugar Ape, a parody of Dazed & Vice, which is as prescient as ever.

Nicholas Burns turns in his best performance as Barley and is backed up by a stellar cast, boasting Claire Keelan, Julian Barratt, Rhys Thomas, Noel Fielding, Charlie Condou, Richard Ayoade, Spencer Brown, Ben Wishaw, Nina Sosanya and Spencer Brown.

18. Fonejacker

Released at a unique time in internet culture, when the likes of Jackass had inspired a trend of online pranks, heightened by the video-sharing platform YouTube, Kayvan Novak and Ed Tracy’s Fonejacker was an ingenious idea. Essentially making prank calls a form of visual entertainment, with Novak taking centre stage as iconic fictional characters such as Terry Tibbs. The show was a unique revelation.

Perfectly defining the comedy of the era, Fonejacker was expanded into Facejacker in 2010 but was unable to reach the greatness of the original. Comedy has to say something about the zeitgeist and Fonejacker did that brilliantly.

17. Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace

Garth Marenghi is a fictional horror author, “visionary, and Dreamweaver”, played by Matthew Holness in Darkplace. The show itself is portrayed as a revival of a TV show that Marenghi wrote and starred in the 1980s, having found the tapes after they were lost in Peru. The original footage of the show is pierced by the hilarious commentary of Marenghi, his co-actor Todd Rivers, and producer Dean Learner.

The genius of Darkplace is that Marenghi himself is oblivious to the fact that he is a bad writer at best. He believes himself to be an auteur of the horror genre, even though he has “written more books than he has read”. The sequences of the fictional show are so poorly written, acted, produced and designed that they are elevated into the pantheon of cult genius.

16. PhoneShop

The brilliance of PhoneShop has always been slightly overlooked by critics. The reality is that it is a wonderfully written and performed comedy that explores the banality of working in a high-street mobile phone outlet. It also toyed with the conventions of UK street culture; Ashley and Jerwayne think they are rudeboys, even though they are mere cogs in the machine of commerce.

The show begins with recent graduate Christopher (who the rest of the team call ‘Phdickhe*d’ amongst other things) joining the Sutton branch of the fictional Phone Shop. Along with Ashley and Jerwayne, he works with Janine, a daft but spiritually attuned co-worker, and Lance, the shop manager who is anxiously desperate to appear young and cool despite his advancing age.

15. Da Ali G Show

When Da Ali G Show began in 2000, the format was a breath of fresh air, and Sacha Baron Cohen was free to wreak havoc on the celebrity class who had no idea his creation was fictional. Of course, as the show’s popularity grew, keeping the anarchic energy of the first series alive became impossible.

Famously, Ali G even interviewed the future President of the United States, Donald Trump, in a surreal meeting of minds. However, the show peaked when Cohen met members of the American public and went undercover to highlight their prejudices, which was the show at its most shocking. Hilarious viewing and frightening in equal measure, this is Baron Cohen at his best.

14. Father Ted

One of the true classics of Irish comedy, Father Ted ran on Channel 4 for three seasons between 1995 and 1998. It was set on the fictional Craggy Island, off the mainland of Ireland, and detailed the bickering ways of three priests who lived in its parochial house, as well as their housekeeper, Mrs. Doyle. Those three priests were among the most ludicrous to have ever graced the Catholic church. It’s a divisive and – at times – controversial comedy, but it certainly has an integral place in our culture.

There is the titular Ted Crilly, a heavily smoking and gambling man who wound up on Craggy Island after an investigation into the Las Vegas winnings that were just “resting in his account”. He’s joined by the utterly dim-witted but lovable Dougall Maguire and Jack Hackett, one of the diocese’s ‘old guard’ who redefines the alcoholic sexist priest.

13. Pete versus Life

Rafe Spall stars as the aimless wannabe sports journalist Pete Griffiths, who has his life narrated by football commentators who poke fun at the disastrous scenarios he finds himself in. The first series aired in 2010, and due to its success, Pete versus Life was renewed for a second series the following year. While there’s no deep meaning to the sitcom, unlike others on this list, it’s full of laughs and an underrated gem to search out on All 4.

The protagonist isn’t likeable in a traditional sense, yet it works. Spall said in a conversation with Comedy: “A really interesting thing about playing Pete is that he’s so amoral, and yet you can’t help but like him. That was a thing I wanted to do when I took on the part, I wanted to play this character who is, on paper, quite hateful, and lets himself down at every juncture, and yet you kind of want to root for him.”

12. Friday Night Dinner

From 2011 until 2020, Friday Night Dinner was a staple of the Channel 4 schedule. Written by Robert Popper, starring Tamsin Greig, the late Paul Ritter, Simon Bird, Tom Rosenthal, and Mark Heap, it focuses on a middle-class Jewish family in suburbia, and their Friday evening family meal, which always ends up in disaster.

In every episode, the spectacular appearance of Heap’s character, Jim, with his dog, Wilson, was a constant highlight that never got boring despite being predictable. In 2021, after the sixth series of the programme had aired on Channel 4, Ritter was posthumously handed a BAFTA nomination for ‘Best Male Comedy Performance’.

11. Derry Girls

The beauty of Channel 4 is that it provides a platform for those traditionally ignored by other broadcasters. On the surface, Derry Girls is about a group of school girls growing up in Northern Ireland during the troubles, which doesn’t sound like fertile ground for a comedy programme; but humour is found within the darkness.

While the stories told within Derry Girls are fictional, they are based on the upbringing of the show’s creator Lisa McGee. The first series, which aired in 2018, became the most-watched programme in Northern Ireland since records began. After three critically acclaimed series, a final episode aired in 2022 called ‘The Agreement’, set around the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, which brought Derry Girls to a fitting end.

10. Stath Lets Flats

Stath Lets Flats is another example of Channel 4 taking a risk on an unknown talent and making them a star. The programme features the hapless siblings Jamie and Natasia Demetriou, who run a family estate agency but are dramatically underqualified to do so.

Katy Wix and Kiell Smith-Bynoe play the pair’s co-workers, Carole and Dean, who offer sanity amid the absolute chaos that unfolds around them. Although Jamie’s character, Stath, doesn’t mean to cause anybody harm, he invariably manages to ensure that disaster strikes every time he leaves the house. The show has aired for three series and won two BAFTAs.

9. The IT Crowd

Starring a cast of British comedy royalty, including Katherine Parkinson, Chris O’Dowd, Noel Fielding, Matt Berry, Chris Morris and the beloved actor and filmmaker Richard Ayoade, The IT Crowd was a phenomenal success for seven years from 2006-2013. Following the mishaps of three IT misfits working in the basem*nt of a major corporation, the series became a national favourite.

Blending the classic sitcoms of the past with the off-beat humour of the present day, the series arrived on British TV screens at the perfect time. This was a world ripe for parody. It might be hammy at times, but it always has the big narrative moments to hit the heights of a belly laugh.

8. Trigger Happy TV

Dom Joly defined the hidden camera show with Trigger Happy TV, which initially ran for three seasons between 2000 and 2003 and received a series of shorts in 2017 after a 2016 Christmas special. Joly preyed on unsuspecting members of the British public in the show, appearing in several guises and placing them in uncomfortable situations.

However, the true genius of Trigger Happy Tv was its very subversion of the nature of the prank – which had hitherto been a typically cruel affair. Instead, Joly made himself the object of derision, acting unnecessarily angry or upset, given the sheer banality of the situations in which he would place his ‘victims’.

7. Vic Reeves Big Night Out

The appeal of Vic Reeves Big Night Out is best summed up by Matt Lucas – a man who would go on to work with Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer multiple times, no less – who tells the tale of how he hated the first episode so much, he decided to write a letter of complaint. He tuned in the next week purely because he was certain that it would be canned. By the end of the series, he was a certified mega-fan.

All the best things in life are an acquired taste, even booze is a wrenching folly during your first teen sips. However, once you found yourself in-tune with the artistic absurdity of Vic & Bob, you felt like you had found your niche. Nobody has tried to emulate the show since, and that is a mark of true originality. There might have been some teething problems as they fine-tuned the formula (they were only doing it in a pub a few weeks beforehand), but it was evident in these early stages that these daft bastards were going to have a huge cultural impact.

6. Spaced

Although it only had two seasons between 1999 and 2001, Spaced announced the arrival of some of our favourites. Created by and starring Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson, it also featured the likes of Nick Frost, Mark Heap, Julia Deakin and Katy Carmichael. It was also the first major indication of the brilliance that was to come from director Edgar Wright.

It tells the story of two 20-somethings in London who meet by chance in a cafe when flat-hunting. One of the most extraordinary and surreal adventures we’ve ever seen in comedy ensues, giving us genuinely heartfelt moments and other mirthful ones like when Pegg’s character, Tim, makes a child cry about the Star Wars prequel series.

5. Toast of London

Whilst Toast of Tinseltown, the fourth season of Matt Berry and Arthur Matthews’ surreal comedy, was helmed by the BBC, the first three came via Channel 4, and unsurprisingly, they were the best. Matt Berry was already a beloved hero when the show was commissioned, and ‘Toast’ served as the perfect platform. However, with the character of Steven Toast, he carved out a special place in our hearts.

The bumbling, self-important eccentric is one of the most colourful we’ve ever seen, and his perennial struggles with women, producer Clem Fandango and his archnemesis, Ray ‘Bloody’ Purchase, are the stuff of legend. From failed plastic surgeries that make the subject look like a terrifying version of Bruce Forsyth to being hunted by the West End enforcer himself, Michael Ball, the genius here is infinite.

4. Phoenix Nights

At the turn of the new millennium, the Bolton-born comedian Peter Kay was at the very heights of his career, releasing Phoenix Nights after That Peter Kay Thing in 2000. Appearing alongside the likes of Dave Spikey, Paddy McGuinness and Ted Robbins, the show became a phenomenon, grabbing the attention of the nation upon its release for its irreverent Northern humour. Although it might be dated sometimes, controversy is skirted by the integrity behind the humour, thus, some of the jokes miss, but its nostalgia remains largely judicious.

The series all followed the misadventures of club owner Brian Potter (Kay), who tries to make The Phoenix Club the best working men’s club in Greater Manchester. There’s a level of reliability to the madness here that will always remain rousing.

3. The Inbetweeners

Running for three seasons between 2008 and 2010, as soon as The Inbetweeners first burst onto our screens, we were all hooked on the trials and tribulations of the four suburban dorks. Will McKenzie, Simon Cooper, Jay Cartwright and Neil Sutherland instantly became household names, with a supporting cast of characters including the likes of the bully Mark Donovan, the imposing Mr. Gilbert and Mr. ‘Paedo’ Kennedy, all helping to make the show utterly timeless.

From football friends to strutting along a catwalk with your sack on show, this often gross-out comedy was one of the highlights of the noughties. Its success even spawned a pair of equally raucous films. It might not be universally beloved or cherished as much now as it once was, but the fact it hit the big screen twice is a mark of the love it inspired.

2. Brass Eye

Chris Morris parodied the current affairs news format following the success of his radio show On The Hour and its TV reincarnation, The Day Today. Morris was joined by a team of talented humourists, including Gina McKee, Doon Mackichan, Julia Davis and Kevin Eldon, in highlighting the utter ridiculousness of sensationalist British TV news outlets.

Each episode concerned a different theme, amongst them, ‘Drugs’, ‘Sex’ and a one-off special entitled ‘Paedogeddon!’ that explored the moral panic surrounding paedophilia. Morris also exposed the obliviousness of celebrity figures, including Gary Lineker and Phil Collins, who would act in the name of charities that were so ridiculous that they were evidently Morris’ fictional creations. Alongside this acerbic intelligence was a joyous irreverence that vitally added big laughs to the cultural lampooning, and lines that will last a lifetime.

1. Peep Show

One of the greatest British sitcoms of the 21st century, Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong’s Peep Show ran for nine seasons between 2003 to 2015, giving us a bucket load of hysterical moments, iconic lines and memorable characters. We went on a journey with this oddball gang and were privy to some strange character development that had us almost loathing the protagonists by the end, in a stark inversion of the norm.

Telling the story of best friends, stuffy Mark Corrigan and the outrageous Jeremy Usborne, the show subverts despair with a hefty dose of British sarcasm and ample cringey moments that are too much to bear for some. However, we endure them with a laugh as we do in our own dismal daily lives. This is the crux of the show: there is a bit of Mark and Jez in all of us.

As well as the two main characters being incredible, there’s also a host of supporting cult heroes, including Super Hans, Alan Johnson, Big Suze, Jeff Heaney, Gerard Matthew and Dobby, who solidify the series as eternally rewatchable. Topping it all off is the theme tune from season two onwards, Harvey Danger’s ‘Flagpole Sitta’, which ranks among the very finest theme tunes in all of television. You hear it, you brew the kettle, and you ready yourself to laugh for the hundredth time.

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