Best tv shows like Respectable
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Respectable is a British sitcom, first shown in six episodes from 30 August to 4 October 2006 on Five; it was later repeated on Paramount Comedy 1. It follows Michael Price, a man acutely aware of his own dullness, trapped in a loveless marriage. In the first episode, he hesitantly visits a suburban brothel. Terrified of sex, he strikes up a platonic relationship with a young prostitute, Hayley. The series follows the development of this relationship, and Michael's attempts to conceal his visits to the brothel from his wife. This is complicated by the discovery that his builder, Barry, is a frequent and uninhibited visitor to the brothel. The show was written by Shaun Pye, Alan Connor and Harry Thompson. Former Hollyoaks actress Jodi Albert plays Hayley, a dumb hooker with a heart of gold; Kate is a university student, owner Maureen is a more mature lady who claims to be 27, while Yelena is a dominant Eastern European. Of the characters who don't work there, Michael is going through a mid-life crisis, while his friendly builder Barry is a typical "Jack the lad".
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 242
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: sitcom
Best tv shows and movies like Respectable (2006):
Similar in 85%
Borderline (2016)
Plot Summary:
Mockumentary based in the border security office of fictional Northend Airport, a small provincial airport which may lack a little in glamour, but still must abide by the same rules as larger international airports.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: mockumentary, sitcom, parody
Similar in 75%
Surgical Spirit (1989)
Plot Summary:
Surgical spirit is a British situation-comedy television series starring Nichola McAuliffe and Duncan Preston that was broadcast from 14 April 1989 through to 7 July 1995. It was written by Annie Bruce, Raymond Dixon, Graeme Garden, Peter Learmouth, Paul McKenzie and Annie Wood. It was made for the ITV network by Humphrey Barclay Productions for Granada Television.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 173
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: sitcom
Similar in 90%
Nine to Five (1982)
Plot Summary:
9 to 5 is an American situation comedy based on the 1980 film of the same name. The series aired on ABC from 1982 to 1983, and in first-run syndication from 1986 to 1988. 9 to 5 features Rachel Dennison, Dolly Parton's younger sister, in Parton's role of Doralee Rhodes; Rita Moreno portrayed the Lily Tomlin role of Violet Newstead, and Valerie Curtin took the Jane Fonda role of Judy Bernly. In the truncated third season, Curtin's Judy Bernly was replaced with Leah Ayres as secretary Linda Bowman. In the second version of the show, Sally Struthers replaced Moreno, and Curtin returned as Judy. A total of 82 episodes were filmed. The first season was on film in front of a studio audience but switched to videotape for the next season.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 438
Genere: Comedy
Country: USA
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: sitcom
Similar in 81%
It's a Living (1980)
Plot Summary:
It's a Living is an American sitcom set in a restaurant at the top of the Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles. The show aired on ABC from October 30, 1980 until June 11, 1982. After the series was cancelled, new episodes aired in first-run syndication from September 28, 1985 to April 8, 1989. The series was created by Stu Silver, Dick Clair and Jenna McMahon, and produced by Witt/Thomas Productions, later in association with Golden West Television and Lorimar-Telepictures.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy
Country: USA
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: sitcom, retro
Similar in 87%
Executive Stress (1986)
Plot Summary:
Executive Stress is a British sitcom that aired on ITV from 1986 to 1988. Produced by Thames Television, it first aired on 20 October 1986. After three series, the last episode aired on 27 December 1988. Written by George Layton, Executive Stress stars Penelope Keith as Caroline Fairchild, a middle-aged woman who decides to go back to work. Her husband, Donald, is played by Geoffrey Palmer in the first series. However, Palmer was unable to return for the second series, so Peter Bowles played Donald in the last two series. Keith and Bowles had previously appeared in together in To the Manor Born.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 157
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: sitcom
Similar in 89%
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 85%
Mountain Goats (2014)
Plot Summary:
Set around the antics of a ragtag group of Mountain Rescue volunteers, Mountain Goats celebrates the Highlands of Scotland, with proper kilt wearing maniacs fighting disaster on a weekly basis against the stunning backdrop of the Glencoe hills. When our heroes aren't out rescuing people, or being rescued themselves, they spend their time in 'The Old Goat' pub - a place of great warmth and camaraderie, where people come in for a quick pint and never want to leave. The regulars in the pub are Jimmy, an old school mountain goat with a fag burn in his jumper and a glint of mischief in his bloodshot eyes, the wild and mysterious Bill; Bernie, a cheery, hard-working woman, who keeps the others on the straight and narrow; and Conor, a handsome, easy-going young man who is more than a little bit naive. Their HQ is in the local pub, and the landlady is Jules - a formidable force of nature who'll have you out on your ear at the first sign of trouble.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 136
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration:
Plot tags: sitcom
Similar in 87%
Dear John (1986)
Plot Summary:
Dear John is a British sitcom, written by John Sullivan. Two series and a special were broadcast between 1986 and 1987. This sitcom's title refers to letters - known as "Dear John" letters - from girls to their boyfriends breaking off a relationship. John discovers in the opening episode that his wife is leaving him for a friend, and he is forced to find lodgings. In desperation, he attends the 1-2-1 Singles Club and finds other members mostly social misfits. The series was also re-made for the U.S. market.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 538
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: sitcom, melancholic
Similar in 84%
Hi-de-Hi! (1980)
Plot Summary:
Hi-de-Hi! is a British sitcom set in Maplins, a fictional holiday camp, during 1959 and 1960, and was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, who also wrote Dad's Army and It Ain't Half Hot Mum amongst others. It aired on the BBC from 1980 to 1988. The title was the phrase used to greet the campers and in early episodes was written Hi de Hi. The series revolved around the lives of the camp's management and entertainers, most of them struggling actors or has-beens. The inspiration was the experience of writers Perry and Croft: after being demobilised from the Army, Perry was a Redcoat at Butlins, Pwllheli during the holiday season. The series gained large audiences and won a BAFTA as Best Comedy Series in 1984. In 2004, it came 40th in Britain's Best Sitcom and in a 2008 poll on Channel 4, Hi-de-Hi! was voted the 35th most popular comedy catchphrase.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: sitcom, atmospheric, comic
Similar in 78%
Mister Winner (2020)
Plot Summary:
Leslie Winner is an eternally-optimistic klutz with his heart in the right place. Somehow, despite his calamitous nature, he has found love with his fiancé Jemma and they are preparing for their wedding. The pressure is on Leslie to find, and keep a job, pay for the honeymoon and keep his father-in-law happy, his mum and her new boyfriend happy and hang on to Jemma long enough to walk up the aisle together. Will Leslie be a winner or will his surname continue to be ironic?.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 485
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: sitcom
Similar in 76%
George and Mildred (1976)
Plot Summary:
George and Mildred is a British sitcom produced by Thames Television that aired from 1976 to 1979. It was a spin-off from Man About the House and starred Brian Murphy and Yootha Joyce as an ill-matched married couple, George and Mildred Roper. The premise of the series had George and Mildred leaving their flat as depicted in Man About the House and moving to a modern, upmarket housing estate. Their arrival horrifies their snobbish neighbour Jeffrey Fourmile, an estate agent who despairs that the Ropers' presence will devalue his home. It was written by Brian Cooke and Johnnie Mortimer. Like many sitcoms of the day, George and Mildred was also turned into a film, which was dedicated to actress Yootha Joyce who died suddenly in 1980, just as the cast had been looking forward to recording a sixth series.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: sitcom
Similar in 78%
The Robinsons (2005)
Plot Summary:
The show's central character is a divorced reinsurance actuary, Ed Robinson, who realises that reinsurance is not his passion and decides to rethink his life.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 422
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: sitcom
Similar in 79%
Birds of a Feather (1989)
Plot Summary:
Birds of a Feather is a British sitcom that was broadcast on BBC One from 1989 until 1998 and on ITV from 2013. Starring Pauline Quirke, Linda Robson and Lesley Joseph, it was created by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran, who also wrote some of the episodes along with many other writers. The first episode sees sisters Tracey Stubbs and Sharon Theodopolopodos brought together when their husbands are sent to prison for armed robbery. Sharon, who lived in an Edmonton council flat, moves into Tracey's expensive house in Chigwell, Essex. Their next-door neighbour, and later friend, Dorien Green is a middle-aged married woman who is constantly having affairs with younger men. In the later series the location is changed to Hainault. The series ended on Christmas Eve 1998 after a 9-year-run. On 3 March 2009, the The Mirror reported that the classic sitcom was set for a return reporting that Lesley Joseph, Pauline Quirke and Linda Robson have all been asked by the team behind the sitcom to make another series. Quirke was reported as saying that they were up for the challenge if the writers came up with good ideas. After this speculation of a return in early 2009 nothing more was said. However, in July 2012 Lesley Joseph hinted that Birds of a Feather could return for another series following a successful stage tour.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 75 min
Plot tags: sitcom
Similar in 82%
Open All Hours (1976)
Plot Summary:
Open All Hours is a BBC sitcom written by Roy Clarke and starring Ronnie Barker as a miserly shop keeper and David Jason as his put-upon nephew who works as his errand boy. It ran for 26 episodes in four series, which premiered in 1976, 1981, 1982 and 1985 respectively. The programme developed from a television pilot broadcast in Barker's comedy anthology series, Seven of One. Open All Hours ranked eighth in the 2004 Britain's Best Sitcom poll.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: sitcom, humorous, realistic, contemplative, semi serious
Similar in 83%
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 87%
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 76%
The Likely Lads (1964)
Plot Summary:
The Likely Lads is a British sitcom created and written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, and produced by Dick Clement. Twenty episodes were broadcast by the BBC, in three series, between 16 December 1964 and 23 July 1966. However, only eight of these shows have survived. This show was followed by a popular sequel series, in colour, entitled Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?, broadcast between 9 January 1973 and 24 December 1974. This was followed in 1976 by a spin-off feature film The Likely Lads. Some episodes of both the original black and white series and the colour sequel were adapted for radio, with the original television cast.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 756
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: sitcom, humorous, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 81%
Phoenix Nights (2001)
Plot Summary:
Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights is a British sitcom about The Phoenix Club, a working men's club in the northern English town of Farnworth, Greater Manchester. The show was written by Neil Fitzmaurice, Peter Kay and Dave Spikey, produced by Goodnight Vienna Productions and Ovation Entertainments, and was broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK. All the music was written by Toni Baker and Peter Kay. Additional material was provided by Paddy McGuinness. Two series have been produced, which were first transmitted in 2001 and 2002. The show is a spin-off from the spoof documentary series That Peter Kay Thing, and in turn gave rise to the spin-off Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere. It won the People's Choice Award at the British Comedy Awards 2002, and was nominated for several others. Kay is also its star, in multiple roles, and directed the second series. In September 2006, Kay revealed on BBC Radio 1 that a third series of Phoenix Nights has been written, but it is unknown when the series will be filmed. On 8 May 2007, another announcement by Kay was made promising another series will be made. However Dave Spikey, in interviews with The Sentinel and the Croydon Guardian in late-2009, claimed that neither he nor fellow co-writer Neil Fitzmaurice were aware of any plans to bring back the series.
IMDB Rating: 8.6
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 25 min
Plot tags: sitcom, humorous, semi serious, realistic
Similar in 76%
Call Me Kat (2021)
Plot Summary:
Kat is a woman who struggles every day against society and her mother to prove that she can still live a happy and fulfilling life despite still being single at 39. Which is why she recently spent her entire savings to open a cat café in Louisville, Kentucky.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 21 min
Plot tags: sitcom, light, humorous, feel good
Similar in 76%
Trollied (2011)
Plot Summary:
Set in Valco, a fictional budget supermarket in the north west of England, Trollied finds the funny in one of our most familiar surroundings and focuses on the types of characters we all recognise: bored checkout staff, ineffectual managers and a range of customers, from the irate to the downright bizarre.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 26 min
Plot tags: sitcom, humorous, not serious, realistic
Similar in 88%
Early Doors (2003)
Plot Summary:
A sitcom set in a small pub in Manchester, “The Grapes”, where daily life is bound up in the issues of love, loneliness, and blocked urinals. Regular drinkers Joe and Duffy pass the time with landlord Ken and his police officer cronies.
IMDB Rating: 8.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: sitcom, humorous, realistic, semi serious, talky
Similar in 83%
Watching Ellie (2002)
Plot Summary:
A single woman, Ellie Riggs, tries to navigate her way through the Los Angeles music scene and her own messy personal life.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 360
Genere: Comedy
Country: USA
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: sitcom, humorous, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 75%
Still Open All Hours (2013)
Plot Summary:
Still Open All Hours is a sitcom set in a grocer's shop. It is a sequel to the series Open All Hours, written by original series writer Roy Clarke and featuring several of the permanent cast members of the original series.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: sitcom, humorous, light, feel good, captivating, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 77%
White Van Man (2011)
Plot Summary:
The incredible misadventures of two handymen on the road and the extraordinary people they meet along the way.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 618
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: sitcom, humorous, captivating, light, feel good, realistic, not serious
Similar in 82%
Desmond's (1989)
Plot Summary:
Desmond's was a British television situation comedy broadcast by Channel 4 from 1989 to 1994. With 71 episodes, Desmond's became Channel 4's longest-running sitcom. The first series was shot in 1988, with the first episode broadcast in January 1989. The show was made in and set in Peckham, London, England and featured a predominantly Black British Guyanese cast. Conceived and co-written by Trix Worrell, and produced by Charlie Hanson and Humphrey Barclay, this series starred Norman Beaton as barber Desmond Ambrose. Desmond's shop was a gathering place for an assortment of local characters.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: sitcom, touching, humorous, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 83%
W1A (2014)
Plot Summary:
The follow-up to 'Twenty Twelve' as Ian Fletcher takes up the position of 'Head of Values' at the BBC. His task is to clarify, define, or re-define the core purpose of the BBC across all its functions and to position it confidently for the future, in particular for Licence Fee Renegotiation and Charter Renewal in 2016 and 2017 respectively.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: sitcom, mockumentary, humorous, semi serious, light, feel good, realistic, talky
Similar in 85%
Saxondale (2006)
Plot Summary:
Steve Coogan plays Tommy Saxondale: an ex-roadie with anger management issues and a pest-control business. Tommy is a little arrogant, a little egotistical and feels the world owes him more respect than it typically shows him. He has an assistant named Raymond who lives in a spare room in Tommy's house, a live-in girlfriend named Magz who owns a T-shirt business, and a receptionist named Vicky who has a tendency to drive him up the wall.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: sitcom, humorous, witty, realistic, semi serious, offbeat
Similar in 80%
Hardware (2003)
Plot Summary:
Hardware is a British sitcom that aired on ITV from 2003 to 2004. Starring Martin Freeman, it was written and created by Simon Nye, the creator of Men Behaving Badly. The show's opening theme was A Taste of Honey by Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 449
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: sitcom, funny, light, feel good, humorous, captivating, entertaining
Similar in 85%
The Smoking Room (2004)
Plot Summary:
The Smoking Room is a British television sitcom written by Brian Dooley, who won a BAFTA for the series in 2005. The first series, consisting of eight episodes, was originally transmitted on BBC Three between 29 June and 17 August 2004. The Christmas Special was first transmitted on 20 December 2004. A second series of eight episodes began airing on 26 July 2005. The first series, including the Christmas Special, was released on DVD by the BBC on 6 February 2006 and on CD in a four-disc set on 4 April 2005. The second series was released on 16 October 2006; a boxed set containing both series was released on the same date. There will not be a third series; in an interview for the BBC News website on 30 November 2006, the actor Robert Webb who plays Robin, said in passing, "...there is no more Smoking Room". England's smoking ban, which prohibits indoor smoking in workplaces, came into force on 1 July 2007, as a result of which internal smoking rooms, like the one in which the series is set, became illegal.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 938
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: sitcom, light, humorous, captivating, entertaining, satirical, disturbing, semi serious
Similar in 80%
The Geena Davis Show (2000)
Plot Summary:
The Geena Davis Show is an American sitcom starring Geena Davis. The show lasted one season on ABC.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 321
Genere: Comedy
Country: USA
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: sitcom, touching, humorous, semi serious, realistic