Dicho, they've damn near disappeared from Orstrilian telly as well. When the old Brit comedies disappeared from the screen, we had the whole gamut of poorly managed shows to contend with. There were the American sit-coms which tended to work very hard to give one laugh at the end of a half-hour programme. We also had the rapid-fire shows with machine-gun deliveries and very little to laugh at. And we also got the serials built around one person who is supposed to be funny because they are the star.

After all this , the viewing public's tastes is affected, and they'll applaud anything that they're told is funny. Trouble is, that when a new British comedy is announced it turns out to be UN-funny. The standard is really descending into the rubbish strata. Is this only because we just get the rejects and the good stuff is kept in the UK, or is humour itself undergoing a process of change. If so, how can we stop it declining even further. Bring back Open All Hours, and Last of The Summer Wine etc...