Men Behaving Badly

1992-1999. ITV, BBC1. Written by Simon Nye. Situation: Two men sharing a flat and behaving badly.

Originally developed as star vehicle for comedian Harry Enfield. He played Dermot next to Martin Clunes's Gary. Enfield dropped out after the first series because he thought a proper actor might do a better job and was replaced by Neil Morrissey as Tony. ITV dropped to comedy because the ratings were not satisfactory. It was picked up by BBC1 and became a great hit (cf. Blake 149, 161).

Mills considers it the "defining British sitcom of the 1990s" (Milly 1) because of its celebration of laddishness.

References:

Blake, Marc. How Not to Write a Sitcom. London: Methuen, 2011.

Mills, Brett. The Sitcom. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2009.