Is Derry Girls the greatest UK-made sitcom ever?

A Peep Show fan account released their quintessential best 10 UK-made sitcoms in a recent post on X, formerly known as Twitter, but it led to much heated debate. 

There was much debate and confusion from fans of the show based in our city, with Derry Girls missing from their list. 

But is Derry Girls the best UK-made sitcom ever? 

Derry Girls

The Lisa McGee creation was widely praised, and Channel 4's most successful comedy since Father Ted receiving countless accolades, including Best Comedy from the IFTA Gala Television Awards, Best Scripted Comedy from the British Academy Television Awards, and Best Comedy Series from the International Emmy Awards.

Following the lives of five teenagers as they try to navigate living in mid-1990s Derry while attending Our Lady Immaculate College at the tail end of the Troubles. 

The careers of the main cast have gone from strength to strength since the show, with Nicola Coughlan starring in ‘Bridgerton’, Saoirse-Monica Jackson, a key cast member in Netflix’s ‘The Decameron', and Jamie-Lee O'Donnell in ‘Screw’.

The sitcom transcended all across the world, becoming a major hit when the rights to show it went to Netflix, creating a large fan base across America, Spain, and Australia, to name a few. 

Father Ted

Another sitcom based in Ireland was considered among the best ever produced in the UK. 

A comedic look and dissection into the lives of three Roman Catholic priests and the church in Ireland, with the key character, Father Ted Crilly, dealing in schemes to either deal with a situation on fictional Craggy Island or to win games of one-upmanship against his enemy, Father Dick Byrne of the nearby Rugged Island parish, capturing the zeitgeist of the Catholic Church in the 1990s.

The show starred the comedic talents of Dermot Morgan, Ardal O'Hanlon, Frank Kelly, and Pauline McLynn.

It has become an important piece of Irish culture, as demonstrated recently in the recreation of the famous 'small, far away’ scene with O'Hanlon by the Irish government in their ‘Don’t Feed the Deer’ campaign. 

The show has a number of notable fans, including director Steven Spielberg and actors Jim Carrey and Steve Martin, while Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees was buried with a copy of the DVD box set.

Peep Show

The fan page believed this show, starring David Mitchell and Robert Webb, was the best show ever produced in the UK. 

It follows the lives of Mark Corrigan (Mitchell) and Jeremy "Jez" Usbourne (Webb), two dysfunctional friends living in a flat in Croydon, London. 

The show has been considered a cult classic, with a number of iconic scenes and characters, including Super Hans and Alan Johnson.

Peep Show has been remembered fondly by many, including Ricky Gervais, who believes it is the best sitcom since Father Ted and the Guardian claimed it was the best comedy of the decade. 

The Office

It would be remiss if this show was not mentioned. 

The brainchild of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, launching them into the stratosphere of the comedic scene. 

It was a mockumentary-style comedy following the day-to-day lives of office employees in Slough. 

The show may have only lasted two seasons, but a spin-off film following main character David Brent was released in 2016, and the comedy inspired the much-loved 'Modern Family', while there is the US spin-off of 'The Office' that is considered one of the best sitcoms ever.

The Inbetweeners

A coming-of-age comedy following the misadventures of suburban teenager William McKenzie (Simon Bird) and his friends Simon Cooper (Joe Thomas), Neil Sutherland (Blake Harrison), and Jay Cartwright (James Buckley) trying to navigate that awkward stage in life between GCSE and A-Level at a high school. 

In an incredibly relatable situation, it was well received by the nation and helped launch E4 as a major channel in the UK. 

The show launched the career of Greg Davies as a beloved comedic talent across British TV, along with stars Bird and Thomas. 

Unlike all on the list, bar one, the show would have to feature-length films on the big screen that were mammoth financial successes for Film4. 

The show, like the rest on this list, has had a lasting legacy due to its empathetic qualities.

Mr. Bean

Potentially the most accessible show in the history of television. 

Rowan Atkinson and Richard Curtis created this juggernaut of comedy for the TV screen in the 1990s after the idea came to Atkinson at Oxford University while studying electrical engineering. 

From there, the rest is history. 

The character is one of the most recognisable people from the UK, with two feature-length films starring the almost mute character, apart from a few sounds and mumbles, a cartoon series that is beloved by children on ITV, and helping to make the London Olympic opening ceremony one of the most revered in the history of the competition. 

The original TV series on ITV consists of only 15 episodes, but this is all that was needed to create this colossus of British comedy. 

I’m Alan Partridge

Similar to Mr. Bean, the character has transcended the show and become synonymous with the actor who played them, creating opportunities across the world for Steve Coogan. 

Since the inception of the character and series by Coogan, Peter Baynham, and Armando Iannucci, the tactless and inept broadcaster has created fear amongst real broadcasters of suffering a ‘Partridge’ moment on air. 

Coogan plays the role flawlessly, with many people unaware that Partridge is just a character of Coogan’s creation. 

The cringe comedy that the show and character is famous for has become a staple of the modern landscape, and so the show and character finds new life and fans continuously, which explains the 2013 film ‘Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa’. 

Blackadder

The four-season series is another Atkinson juggernaut, with this sitcom exploring the history of the UK in a farcical manner through the Blackadder family line. 

Creating stars from the likes of Hugh Grant, Stephen Fry, and Tony Robinson, the 1980s show examining the reigns of three monarchs before Blackadder goes fourth takes a look at the First World War. 

The show was viewed as the 20th best TV series ever by Empire, beaten by the comedic royalty of ‘The Simpsons’ and ‘Friends’.

Peter Kay’s Phoenix Nights

Another show that only required two seasons to become a major part of the British comedic nobility was originally a spin-off from a spoof documentary series. ‘In the Club’.

While it may be the complete opposite of regency, with it being set in a working men's club in the northern English town of Bolton,. 

And from the show, there was a beloved spin-off with ‘Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere’.

The show helped elevate the already massive reputation Peter Kay had within Britain due to his stand-up and previous roles.

Rumours of a third series persisted for years, but nothing ever came of this icon of British comedy. 

Only Fools and Horses

A show spanning across three decades is set in working-class Peckham in south-east London.

Starring David Jason as ambitious market trader Derek "Del Boy" Trotter and his younger half-brother Rodney (Nicholas Lyndhurst).

It follows their highs and lows and their struggles to make it rich. 

Like other shows on this list, it has a massive cult following and has become pivotal in Britain's pop culture, with the Reliant Regal in the show becoming an iconic car in the country.

Like ‘The Office', the show had international remakes, including in the Netherlands, Portugal, and Slovenia. 

The sitcom won countless comedic awards and was voted Britain's Best Sitcom in a 2004 BBC poll.