Let's face it: Britain has the lead on acerbic and loony television series. From Monty Python's Flying Circus to Little Britain to Fleabag, America's neighbors across the pond know how to make people laugh without sacrificing the hard-hitting realities that make life so absurd.
This list pays homage to some of the darkest British comedy series of all time. Ranging in tone, subject matter, and approach, these series generate as many laughs as cringes. They incorporate elements of non-comedic genres - such as horror, political dramas, or romance - and turn them inside out in a way only British comedians can do.
League Of Gentlemen (1999 - 2007)
League of Gentleman is about as dark as it gets. It aired for three series, but the cast also went on to make two specials, a feature film, and embark on a live tour. This sketch series takes place in the fictional town of Royston Vasey, and it follows the demented and questionable lives of the town's various eccentric inhabitants.
One unique element of the show is that three actors play the vast majority of the town's inhabitants: Steve Pemberton, Reece Shearsmith, and Mark Gatiss. They also wrote the show along with Jeremy Dyson. From OCD uncles to murderous shop owners to power-hungry social service agents, the characters brought to life by Pemberton, Shearsmith, and Gatiss highlight the worst aspects of humanity.
Year Of The Rabbit (2019 - )
This entertaining and gruesome series stars Matt Berry as a Victorian detective named Inspector Rabbit who is a raging alcoholic hardened by decades of service. He's assigned a new partner: the gregarious, naive Detective Sergeant Wilbur Strauss who hasn't been tainted by the dark side of Victorian London.
Year of the Rabbit takes place in 1887, but it's full of well-placed anachronisms that revive and update the gritty crime genre. It's also hilarious. Berry gives a memorable performance in the title role, and Susan Womoka is wonderful as Sergeant Mabel Wisbech, the first female detective on the force.
Black Books (2000 - 2004)
Black Books makes a sitcom out of the types of people who hang out in local bookstores. The series stars a misanthropic bookshop owner named Bernard, who manages to keep his store open despite hating people and having no business skills.
Alongside Bernard are Manny and Fran. Manny is Bernard's accountant and shop assistant, and Fran is his best friend, who at one point runs the shop next door, a high-end knick-knack store. Fran tries to keep Bernard from delving into complete cynicism, but he usually draws her back into his nihilistic philosophy.
This Way Up (2019 - )
Often compared to Fleabag, This Way Up follows the trials and tribulations of a young Irish Catholic woman, Áine, after she suffers from a nervous breakdown. The series begins with Áine leaving a rehab center and stays focused on her as she tries to pull her life back together in London.
This Way Up digs into the troublesome nature of life in contemporary London. Áine is a language tutor by trade, and the show does a good job of highlighting the experiences of immigrants and non-English speakers in the English-speaking world.
The Young Ones (1982 - 1984)
A classic British absurd sitcom, The Young Ones tells the story of four college students sharing a flat together. Each one represents a facet of contemporary Britain: the aspiring capitalist, the hippie, the punk, and the anarchist.
The show is offbeat and surreal, relying on slapstick humor and non-sensical plotlines to generate jokes. The show also dredges up all the poverty and cynicism that defined life in the late 70s and early 80s England. The home the men share is in squalor, and they are constantly struggling to make ends meet.
The Thick Of It (2005 - 2012)
Before becoming a successful creator of American comedy shows like Veep, Armando Iannucci made waves by combining politics and comedy with his mockumentary-style show about the British government The Thick of It.
The Thick Of It doesn't hold back in painting a dismal portrait of British politics. All of the aides and public relations gurus who are constantly working to make the government seem less corrupt than it is are highlighted with full intensity here. Peter Capaldi, known for portraying Doctor Who, stars as the foul-mouthed and angsty enforcer of 10 Downing Street, where the Prime Minister resides. As Malcolm Tucker, he plays up the kind of egotistical and mad people who decide to get involved in politics.
Flowers (2016 - 2018)
Olivia Colman and Julian Barratt, known for his co-starring role in The Mighty Boosh, star as the parents in an eccentric and glum family. Barratt plays an Edward Gorey-esque children's author named Maurice, and Colman plays his wife, Deborah, who is a music teacher.
Flowers is full of macabre undertones, from Maurice's depressive tendencies to his older children's strange creative proclivities. His son Donald is an inventor, and his daughter Amy is a musician. While Flowers provides an honest portrayal of family life, it also revels in the darkness that many family dramas try to avoid.
Inside No. 9 (2014 - )
League of Gentleman's Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton joined forces for this horror anthology series. Each episode occurs in a domicile, office, or building with the number 9, which is the thread to keeps it all connected.
While Shearsmith and Pemberton star in many of the episodes, they bring in various actors, old and young, to contribute to the series. Episodes involve everything from home invasions to cryptic crosswords, but they all incorporate the dark humor Shearsmith and Pemberton are known for.
Peep Show (2003 - 2015)
This long-running British comedy series may be one of the better-known on this list. Set up like a sitcom, Peep Show comes from the minds of Robert Mitchell and David Webb. In the show, Mitchell plays Mark Corrigan, and Webb plays Jeremy "Jez" Usborne. They both share a flat in London, and they are both dysfunctional and problematic characters.
The duo is also known for their sketch show That Mitchell and Webb Look, which also delves into the world of contemporary England with a very dark lens.
Bottom (1990 - 1995)
Adrian Edmondson and Rik Mayall, who both starred in The Young Ones, are responsible for Bottom. They play Edward Elizabeth "Eddie" Hitler and Richard "Richie" Richard, two flatmates with no money or prospects living in West London.
The characters are slovenly and unapologetically misogynistic, parodies of self-entitled, immature men. Like The Young Ones, the show employs absurd and non-sensical humor, but it's ultimately a grim portrait of masculinity marketed as a comedy.