Watch Blackadder

David Brent at Wernham Hogg in Slough; twelve episodes and a Christmas special that invented the form.

Malcolm Tucker swears his way through Whitehall; Armando Iannucci before Veep.

Sir Humphrey runs the minister; Margaret Thatcher's favourite programme.

Twelve episodes of John Cleese running a Torquay hotel badly; "don't mention the war".

Phoebe Waller-Bridge talks to the camera through grief and a hot priest; two perfect seasons.

The Ministry of Silly Walks, the Dead Parrot and the giant foot; 45 episodes from 1969.

Derek Jacobi as the stammering emperor and Sian Phillips as Livia; the BBC's 1976 Rome.

Mark Rylance as Thomas Cromwell by candlelight; Hilary Mantel on the BBC.