Best tv shows like Drop the Dead Donkey
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Drop the Dead Donkey is a situation comedy that first aired on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom between 1990 and 1998. It is set in the offices of “GlobeLink News”, a fictional TV news company. Recorded close to transmission, it made use of contemporary news events to give the programme a greater sense of realism. It was created by Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin. The series had an ensemble cast, making stars of Haydn Gwynne, Stephen Tompkinson and Neil Pearson. The series began with the acquisition of GlobeLink by media mogul Sir Roysten Merchant, an allusion to either Robert Maxwell or Rupert Murdoch. Indeed, Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin note on their DVDs that it was fortunate for their libel lawyers that the two men shared the same initials. The series is mostly based on the on-going battle between the staff of GlobeLink, led by editor George Dent, as they try to maintain the company as a serious news organisation, and Sir Roysten’s right-hand man Gus Hedges, trying to make the show more sensationalist and suppress stories that might harm Sir Roysten’s business empire. The show was awarded the Best Comedy Award at the 1994 BAFTA Awards. At the British Comedy Awards the show won Best New TV Comedy in 1990, Best Channel 4 Comedy in 1991, and Best Channel 4 Sitcom in 1994.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration:
Plot tags: sitcom, political, dark comedy, humorous, realistic, witty, not serious, biting, cynical, suspense
Best tv shows and movies like Drop the Dead Donkey (1990):
Similar in 75%
Action (1999)
Plot Summary:
Action is an American comedy series about a Hollywood producer named Peter Dragon, who is trying to recover from his last box-office failure. It aired on Fox during the 1999-2000 season. The series was critically praised for its irreverent, and sometimes hostile look at Hollywood culture. Thirteen episodes were produced. The show was created by Chris Thompson and the show runner was Don Reo. Future Saturday Night Live cast member Will Forte was the story editor for twelve episodes, and wrote two.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy
Country: USA
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: sitcom, cult classic, clever, humorous, realistic, witty, cynical, not serious, biting, black comedy
Similar in 85%
NileCity 105.6 (1995)
Plot Summary:
Nile City is the perfect series to watch if you want to know how the Swedish society looked like in the early 1990's. The show is about a commercial radio-station and commercial radio-stations weren't allowed in Sweden until the period in witch the show takes place.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Comedy
Country: Sweden
Duration: 180 min
Plot tags: sitcom, dark comedy, offbeat, humorous, realistic, talky, not serious, spoof, parody
Similar in 76%
Not the Nine O'Clock News (1979)
Plot Summary:
Attention, comedy fans: NOT THE NINE O'CLOCK NEWS is the real thing. This is scathing, no-holds-barred Brit humor at its best. Rapid-fire skits starring Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean) are as politically incorrect as they are side-bustingly funny, sparing no one as they take on the British Royal Family, Margaret Thatcher, Scotland Yard, country music, Christianity, devil worship, punk rock and bathroom etiquette. NOT THE NINE O'CLOCK NEWS is so irreverent that when the pilot was due to air in April 1979, the BBC cancelled it due to its incendiary political content. When at last it aired, the greatest comedy group to hit England since Monty Python's Flying Circus stormed the airwaves and revolutionized British and American television alike. Discover the show that set the standard for the anarchic cynicism that defined the alternative comedy of the 80's.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 25 min
Plot tags: sketch comedy, humorous, political, sitcom, parody, realistic, witty, not serious, spoof, vintage
Similar in 82%
The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin (1976)
Plot Summary:
Disillusioned after a long career at Sunshine Desserts, Perrin goes through a mid-life crisis and fakes his own death. Returning in disguise after various attempts at finding a 'new life', he gets his old job back and finds nothing has changed. He is eventually found out, and in the second series has success with a chain of shops selling useless junk. That becomes so successful that he feels he has created a monster and decides to destroy it. In the third and final series he has a dream of forming a commune which his long suffering colleagues help bring to reality. Unfortunately that also fails and he finds himself back in a job not unlike the one he originally had at Sunshine Desserts.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: sitcom, surreal, dark comedy, humorous, realistic, cynical, semi serious
Similar in 87%
Harry Hill's TV Burp (2001)
Plot Summary:
Harry Hill's TV Burp is a British television comedy programme that ran for 11 years from 2001 to 2012. It was produced by Avalon Television for ITV and hosted by comedian Harry Hill. The show presents a look at the week's television, including extracts from TV shows with added sketches, observational voice-overs, and guest appearances. The show is based on clips of the previous week of programming on television, frequently reinterpreting actions or lines of dialogue in a humorous way, or pointing out how views of props or sets amusingly resemble other objects, and often lightheartedly or sarcastically commenting on the actual intended content of the programme. To produce the show, Hill and his programme associate writing team, including Brenda Gilhooly, Paul Hawksbee, Dan Maier, Joe Burnside and David Quantick, watch significant amounts of television, much on preview tapes. Clips from a variety of shows across most channels are included in the show, with soaps, dramas and popular-factual series being the most commonly represented genres. The clips are shown outside of the context of their original programme and only limited information about the scene is given, as the focus of the show's treatment is on the often unintentional humour which can be derived from the scene. The show was filmed at Teddington Studios, Greater London, in Studio 1 for series 1 to 8. From series 9 to 11, the studio has been the BBC Television Centre in London.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 23 min
Plot tags: humorous, witty, not serious, surreal, realistic, biting, offbeat, suspense
Similar in 84%
Dinnerladies (1998)
Plot Summary:
Dinnerladies is a BBC sitcom written by and starring Victoria Wood that chronicles the antics of a group of workers in a canteen in the north of England. Bren tries to maintain a semblance of order in amongst the chaos, while dealing with the canteen supervisor, slightly sex-obsessed cancer sufferer Tony. Dolly and Jean are the bickering menopausal older women, always at odds but best friends beneath it all. Then there's thick-as-two-short-planks Anita, and the terminally uninterested Twinkle, more concerned with having a good time than anything else. Making up the motley crew are military man handyman Stan, all rules and regulations, and ditzy Philippa, who never seems to get anything right.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 34 min
Plot tags: sitcom, humorous, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 76%
The Brittas Empire (1991)
Plot Summary:
The Brittas Empire is a British sitcom created and originally written by Andrew Norriss and Richard Fegen. Chris Barrie plays Gordon Brittas, the well-meaning but incompetent manager of Whitbury New Town Leisure Centre. The show ran for seven series and 53 episodes — including two Christmas specials — from 1991 to 1997 on BBC1. Norriss and Fegen wrote the first five series, after which they left the show. The Brittas Empire enjoyed a long and successful run throughout the 1990s, and gained itself large mainstream audiences. In 2004 the show came 47th on the BBC's Britain's Best Sitcom poll, and all series have been released on DVD. The creators Andrew Norriss and Richard Fegen often combine farce with either surreal or dramatic elements in episodes. For example in the first series, the leisure centre prepares for a royal visit, only for the doors to seal, the boiler room to flood and a visitor to become electrocuted. Unlike the traditional sitcom, deaths were quite common in The Brittas Empire.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: sitcom, surprise ending, humorous, realistic, not serious, fun
Similar in 87%
Yes, Prime Minister (1986)
Plot Summary:
James Hacker MP the Government's bumbling minister for Administrative Affairs is propelled along the corridors of power to the very pinnacle of politics - No. 10. Could this have possibly have been managed by his trusted Permanent Private Secretary, the formidably political Sir Humphrey Appleby who must move to the “Top Job” in Downing Street to support him, together with his much put upon PPS Bernard Wolley. What could possibly go wrong?.
IMDB Rating: 8.6
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: sitcom, political, political thriller, satirical, clever, humorous, realistic, witty, talky, cynical
Similar in 76%
Yes Minister (1980)
Plot Summary:
Set principally in the private office of a British Cabinet minister in the Department of Administrative Affairs in Whitehall, Yes Minister follows the ministerial career of The Rt Hon Jim Hacker MP, played by Paul Eddington. His various struggles to formulate and enact legislation or effect departmental changes are opposed by the British Civil Service, in particular his Permanent Secretary, Sir Humphrey Appleby, played by Nigel Hawthorne. His Principal Private Secretary Bernard Woolley, played by Derek Fowlds, is usually caught between the two. The sequel, Yes, Prime Minister, continued with the same cast and followed the events of the premiership of Jim Hacker after his unexpected elevation to Number 10 upon the resignation of the previous PM.
IMDB Rating: 8.7
IMDB Votes: 16000
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: sitcom, political, clever, humorous, realistic, witty, political thriller, satirical, parody, talky
Similar in 89%
The Larry Sanders Show (1992)
Plot Summary:
Comic Garry Shandling draws upon his own talk show experiences to create the character of Larry Sanders, a paranoid, insecure host of a late night talk show. Larry, along with his obsequious TV sidekick Hank Kingsley and his fiercely protective producer Artie, allows Garry Shandling and his talented writers to look behind the scenes and to show us a convincing slice of behind the camera life.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Comedy
Country: USA
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: sitcom, parody, clever, humorous, realistic, witty, cynical, not serious, mockumentary, biting
Similar in 87%
Absolute Power (2003)
Plot Summary:
Stephen Fry and John Bird star as spin doctors Charles Prentiss and Martin McCabe as they bring the popular and satirical Radio 4 comedy Absolute Power to BBC Two. Stephen as Prentiss and John as McCabe are an unscrupulous pair who run the blue chip PR agency Prentiss McCabe. Dealing with commercial as well as personal PR, their remit covers everything from political communications to celebrity media relations. Their manipulation skills are tested to the full as they frequently find that their work brings them into conflict with political parties, newspaper editors and celebrities.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 29 min
Plot tags: sitcom, witty, humorous, cynical, semi serious, political, clever, realistic, talky, biting
Similar in 90%
Murphy Brown (1988)
Plot Summary:
Murphy Brown is an American situation comedy which aired on CBS from November 14, 1988, to May 18, 1998, for a total of 247 episodes. The program starred Candice Bergen as the eponymous Murphy Brown, a famous investigative journalist and news anchor for FYI, a fictional CBS television newsmagazine.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Comedy
Country: USA
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: sitcom, humorous, realistic, talky, not serious, retro, clever, witty
Similar in 83%
The Thick of It (2005)
Plot Summary:
Set in the corridors of power and spin, the Minister for Social Affairs is continually harassed by Number 10's policy enforcer and dependent on his not-so-reliable team of civil servants.
IMDB Rating: 8.7
IMDB Votes: 26000
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 29 min
Plot tags: sitcom, political, humorous, semi serious, mockumentary, entertaining, satirical, clever, realistic, talky
Similar in 81%
Brass Eye (1997)
Plot Summary:
Controversial spoof of current-affairs TV and the role of celebrity in the UK.
IMDB Rating: 8.6
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 25 min
Plot tags: parody, controversial, humorous, sitcom, political, absurd, spoof, sketch comedy, surreal, dark comedy
Similar in 78%
French and Saunders (1987)
Plot Summary:
French and Saunders is a British sketch comedy television series written by and starring comic duo Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. It is also the name by which the performers are known on the occasions when they appear elsewhere as a double act.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: sketch comedy, sitcom, parody, mockumentary, clever, humorous, realistic, witty, cynical, not serious
Similar in 89%
The Day Today (1994)
Plot Summary:
The Day Today is a surreal British parody of television current affairs programmes, broadcast in 1994, and created by the comedians Armando Iannucci and Chris Morris. It is an adaptation of the radio programme On the Hour, which was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 between 1991 and 1992. On the Hour was written by Morris, Iannucci, Steven Wells, Andrew Glover, Stewart Lee, Richard Herring, David Quantick, and the cast. For The Day Today, Peter Baynham joined the writing team, and Lee and Herring were replaced by Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews. The principal cast of On the Hour was retained for The Day Today. The Day Today is composed of six half-hour episodes and a selection of shorter, five-minute slots recorded as promotion trailers for the longer segments. The six half-hour episodes were originally broadcast from 19 January to 23 February 1994 on BBC2. The Day Today has won many awards, including Morris winning the 1994 British Comedy Award for Best Newcomer. All six episodes are available on BBC DVD, having previously been issued on VHS.
IMDB Rating: 8.6
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: parody, humorous, political, sketch comedy, sitcom, surreal, offbeat, realistic, cynical, not serious
Similar in 87%
Spitting Image (1984)
Plot Summary:
Spitting Image is an award winning British satirical puppet show, created by Peter Fluck, Roger Law and Martin Lambie-Nairn. The series was produced by Spitting Image Productions for Central Independent Television over 18 series which aired on the ITV from 1984 to 1996. The series was nominated and won numerous awards during its run including 10 BAFTA Awards, including one for editing in 1989, and even won two Emmy Awards in 1985 and 1986 in the Popular Arts Category. The series featured puppet caricatures of celebrities famous during the 1980s and 1990s, including British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and fellow Tory politicians, American president Ronald Reagan, and the British Royal Family. The Series was the first to caricature the Queen mother.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 25 min
Plot tags: sketch comedy, humorous, sitcom, political, absurd, controversial, surreal, parody, clever, realistic
Similar in 90%
The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret (2009)
Plot Summary:
Comedy about an inept American placed in charge of sales at his company's London branch. He has no experience with British culture, knows nothing about sales, and has only one employee, Dave. Each episode begins with a scene of Margaret appearing in dire circumstances.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Comedy
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 25 min
Plot tags: sitcom, humorous, not serious, realistic, feel good, entertaining, light, sincere, captivating, funny
Similar in 85%
Getting On (2009)
Plot Summary:
Darkly comic series about life on a hospital ward and a nursing team who have to get on with the job despite challenges thrown up by the modern NHS.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: sitcom, humorous, not serious, realistic, witty, dark comedy, light, feel good, offbeat, mockumentary
Similar in 75%
Good God (2012)
Plot Summary:
Good God is a Canadian television comedy-drama series which premiered in April 2012 on HBO Canada. The show follows the life of character George Findlay, a role that Ken Finkleman reprised from The Newsroom and subsequent television projects. The series was originally slated to be the second season of Finkleman's previous HBO Canada project Good Dog, but was retitled in accordance with a change in the show's setting. The show was described in early media coverage as having been inspired in part by the launch of Sun News Network. In the show's first episode, for example, Findlay is forced to respond to allegations that his new venture is aspiring to be "Fox News North", an epithet which the real Sun News Network also faced both before and after its launch. The series was nominated for several awards at the 2013 Canadian Screen Awards, including Best Comedy Series, Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for Jason Weinberg and Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series nods for both Samantha Bee and Jud Tylor.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 293
Genere: Comedy
Country: Canada
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, not serious, cynical, biting
Similar in 76%
Blunt Talk (2015)
Plot Summary:
A British newscaster moves to Los Angeles with his alcoholic manservant and the baggage of several failed marriages to host a sanctimonious talk show.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Comedy
Country: USA
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: not serious, humorous, realistic, witty, cynical, independent film, biting, suspense
Similar in 86%
WKRP in Cincinnati (1978)
Plot Summary:
When a Cincinnati radio station switches from sedate music to top-40 rock 'n' roll, its staff of oddball characters is forced to switch gears quickly. New programming director Andy Travis brings in a new DJ named Venus Flytrap to work with the station's burned-out veteran, Dr. Johnny Fever. Neurotic newsman Les Nessman, eager beaver Jan Smithers, sleazy salesman Herb Tarlek, blonde bombshell Jennifer Marlowe, who serves as the station's ultra-capable receptionist, and station manager Arthur Carlson, whose domineering mother owns WKRP, round out the eccentric bunch.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Comedy
Country: USA
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: sitcom, humorous, realistic, witty, not serious, vintage
Similar in 85%
Spin City (1996)
Plot Summary:
Spin City is a smart, sophisticated sitcom about the behind-the-scenes workings of City Hall in the biggest city in America. Workaholic Mike Flaherty is the Deputy Mayor of New York City, serving as Mayor Randall Winston's key strategist and much-needed handler. Mike runs the city with the help of his oddball staff: an anxious and insecure press secretary; a sexist, boorish chief of staff; an impeccably groomed gay activist running minority affairs; a sharp and efficient, man-crazy accountant; and an idealistic young speechwriter. Like Mike, they are all professionally capable but personally challenged.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 30000
Genere: Comedy
Country: USA
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: sitcom, humorous, political, entertaining, light, feel good, captivating, parody, hilarious, clever
Similar in 83%
Episodes (2011)
Plot Summary:
A British husband-and-wife comedy writing team travel to Hollywood to remake their successful British TV series, with disastrous results.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 36000
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: sitcom, humorous, funny, realistic, witty, cynical, erotic, sexy, feel good, grindhouse
Similar in 76%
The New Statesman (1987)
Plot Summary:
The New Statesman is a British sitcom of the late 1980s and early 1990s satirising the Conservative government of the time. It was written by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran at the request of, and as a starring vehicle for, its principal actor, Rik Mayall. The show's theme tune is an arrangement by Alan Hawkshaw of part of the Promenade from Pictures at an Exhibition by Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky. The programme was made by the ITV franchise Yorkshire Television between 1987 and 1992, although the BBC made two special episodes; one in 1988, the other in 1994.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 70 min
Plot tags: sitcom, dark comedy, political, surreal, clever, humorous, realistic, witty, semi serious, parody
Similar in 88%
Dead Ringers (2002)
Plot Summary:
Dead Ringers is a United Kingdom radio and television comedy impressions show broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and later BBC Two. The programme was devised by producer Bill Dare and developed with Jon Holmes, Andy Hurst and Simon Blackwell. It starred Jon Culshaw, Jan Ravens, Phil Cornwell, Kevin Connelly and Mark Perry. The main writers for season 1-3 on Radio were Jon Holmes and Andy Hurst with Tom Jamieson and Nev Fountain coming on board in Series 4. Other writers have included Simon Blackwell, Jon Culshaw, Jan Ravens, John Finnemore, David Mitchell, Richard Ward, Terry Newman, Jonathan Morris, Colin Birch, Carl Carter and Tony Cooke. It was revealed by star Jan Ravens that the BBC quietly cancelled the television run in 2007 after five years of broadcast.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 403
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: humorous, witty, talky, cynical, not serious, political, sketch comedy, spoof, clever, realistic
Similar in 89%
Mid Morning Matters with Alan Partridge (2010)
Plot Summary:
Famous DJ Alan Partridge gives us an insight into what happens behind the microphone at North Norfolk digital radio.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 23 min
Plot tags: clever, humorous, not serious, realistic, witty, talky, sitcom, offbeat, cynical
Similar in 78%
Nathan Barley (2005)
Plot Summary:
Nathan Barley is a Channel 4 sitcom written by Charlie Brooker and Chris Morris, starring Nicholas Burns, Julian Barratt, Charlie Condou and Claire Keelan. The series of six weekly episodes began broadcasting on 11 February 2005 on Channel 4. Described by his creator as a "meaningless strutting cadaver-in-waiting", the character originated on Brooker's TVGoHome – a website parodying television listings – as the focus of a fly-on-the-wall documentary called Cunt.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 26 min
Plot tags: sitcom, humorous, parody, not serious, realistic, biting, suspense
Similar in 80%
I'm Alan Partridge (1997)
Plot Summary:
I'm Alan Partridge is a BBC situation comedy starring Steve Coogan, of which two series of six episodes each were produced — the first in 1997 and the second in 2002. The series followed the titular Alan Partridge, a failed television presenter whose previous exploits had featured in the chat-show parody Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge, and who is now presenting a programme on local radio in Norwich. Both series were written by Peter Baynham, Coogan and Armando Iannucci; supporting Coogan were Felicity Montagu as his faithful, mouse-like personal assistant, Lynn Benfield; Simon Greenall as Geordie Travel Tavern handyman/BP garage attendant Michael; and Phil Cornwell as disc jockey Dave Clifton. It has been well received by both critics and fans, and was nominated for three BAFTAs, two British Comedy Award, and a Royal Television Society award.
IMDB Rating: 8.6
IMDB Votes: 22000
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 29 min
Plot tags: sitcom, hilarious, clever, offbeat, humorous, realistic, witty, talky, cynical, not serious
Similar in 79%
LateLine (1998)
Plot Summary:
LateLine is an American TV sitcom that ran on NBC from March 17, 1998, through March 16, 1999. Due to an abrupt cancellation, there were seven unaired episodes. Created by John Markus and Al Franken, LateLine depicted the behind-the-scenes goings-on of a fictitious late-night television news broadcast, patterned in part after the long-running ABC program Nightline. Many plotlines in the series were satirical, dealing with topics like Deep Throat and the Watergate break-in, and the episodes often had cameos by famous politicians. On August 17, 2004, Paramount released a DVD set containing all nineteen episodes on three discs.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 176
Genere: Comedy
Country: USA
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: sitcom, clever, offbeat, humorous, realistic, witty, cynical, semi serious, biting, suspense