Sitcom is a genre which has remained successful by reacting to the changing contexts of the times in which it is produced, as well as more recently experimenting with hybridisation in order to attract its audiences. (Depending on how much time you wish to spend, you could show either clips or episodes, and I have suggested suitable episodes which should be readily available on DVD or possibly Youtube.)
Rooted in the radio variety shows of the 1940s and 1950s, with texts such as “Ray’s A Laugh”, which included an ongoing sketch in which a husband and his wife were in binary opposition in a domestic setting, Hancock’s Half Hour extended this sketch-format, using the predominant media form of the day, radio, in the still-recognisable generic half-hour format on radio (1954 – 58).
In 1953 there were around 2 million TV sets in Britain; by 1958 some 8 million household had television sets. In 1956, Hancock recognised this context and made the successful transition from radio to TV. [Could play ‘The Blood Donor’ as an audio. It was actually made for TV, but the point is that you don’t need the vision to appreciate it – it clearly still holds on to its roots of audio-based comedy.]
Context
With the ending of post-war rationing and a society which had become aspirational, Steptoe and Son (1962 – 1974) reflected this desire...
