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Of the 10 sitcoms which appear in the public’s top-20 list of favourite shows, none was less than a decade old.

Dad’s Army (first broadcast in 1968); The Good Life (which began in 1975); Fawlty Towers (another from 1975); and Yes, Minister (a relative newcomer, first broadcast in 1980) all featured prominently. While the youngest episode of Only Fools And Horses, which topped the poll, was a Christmas special from 2003.

More recent offerings were nowhere to be seen. So just why is it that every time the viewing public is asked to pick its favourite comedies, the golden oldies constantly trounce their modern-day siblings?

Should we blame political correctness -now termed wokeism – for strangling the life out of comedies and entertainment in general? Or is it more complicated?

Jim Sullivan, the writer whose late father John created such classics as Only Fools and Just Good Friends, blames patronising writing and commissioning, with fashionable agendas shoved down viewers’ throats.

He hasn’t watched any new sitcoms for years and can understand why audiences are turned off by modern-day offerings.

“Over the last decade or so, I’ve found myself looking to the past for entertainment – whether that’s comedy, movies or even sport,” he explains.

“In the main, that’s because I want to be entertained. I don’t want political agendas shoved down my throat.”

“Whatever your take on the pros and cons of old and new, audiences were once treated with much more respect. They didn’t need anyone to hold their hands.”

Political correctness has, in Jim’s view, been wholly detrimental to the genre. “It’s been gradually ramped up over the decades to the point where it’s now the default state but, as far as I can tell, it ultimately hurts everything it touches,” he says.

“You even have major charity organisations quite happily outing themselves as being a bunch of racists and pinning the same label on their donors.”

“But when it comes to entertainment, I think most people just want to be entertained. I don’t imagine they want to be schooled or told off. At least, that’s how I feel.”

Alarmingly, Jim, 43 – who wrote seven episodes of his late father’s Only Fools spin-off The Green, Green Grass, and is co-writer with Paul Whitehouse of the West End hit Only Fools And Horses: The Musical – doesn’t believe his father’s comedy classic would be commissioned today.

“If you went to the BBC today and handed them the script to Only Fools, the only thing they would see is three white men. I’d wager they wouldn’t get beyond page one before spitting out their tea and accusing you of all kinds of ‘isms’,” he says.

“It hit home recently just how weird and regressive things have become when I noticed that in the introduction to the character of Trigger in the original 1981 script, his colour was described as being ‘of no importance’, a notion that here now in 2022 – where such characteristics are of utmost importance – would not be tolerated.”

Jim continues: “The only BBC show I do watch is Paul Whitehouse and Bob Mortimer’s Gone Fishing, while the last sitcoms that made me laugh were the IT Crowd and Toast Of London, which I think were both Channel 4.”

“There is a huge void between the values and wants of the general public and those of media corporations and studios.”

“I think that’s partly due to everyone now feeling afraid of saying or doing, or even thinking, the wrong thing. As a result, every- thing has to, firstly, be made ‘safe’ and ‘acceptable’ – therefore, mediocre.”

“There was a time when the most important element of a comedy was that it made people laugh. That’s important because laughter is, and always will be, something humans can share. Happy and warm memories are built around laughter.”

“Any prolonged strangulation of that results in people feeling more afraid, more depressed and more disconnected. So it’s no wonder people pine for a time when it wasn’t that way.”

Reflecting on the result of the poll, Jim admits that his father – who died in 2011, aged 64 – would have been proud, especially because it was a public vote. As to why people still love the Peckham-based sitcom, Jim says there are many reasons.

“The writing and acting, obviously. Only Fools has timeless themes, well-crafted and fully-rounded characters plus lots of warmth.”

“Above all, it was, and still is, very funny.”

“But again, we’re talking about a time when the most important element of a comedy series was that it makes people laugh, and I’m not being facetious. Laughter breaks down barriers and brings people together.”

Digging deeper into why the golden oldies remain popular, writer David Renwick – who brought us the irascible Victor Meldrew in the delicious sitcom, One Foot In The Grave (1990 to 2000) – believes comedy has gradually evolved away from the traditional sitcom.

Perhaps, then, it has isolated the very people who sit down in the evening hoping to be entertained by a half-hour slice of comedy?

“One thing we know for certain is that the level of executive scrutiny is now far, far greater,” says David, 70, who’s semi-retired and grateful he doesn’t have to write sitcoms in today’s climate.”

“I can imagine a lot of very heavy intellectual arguments taking place when deciding whether to commission an idea or not. This, of course, would be at the expense of raw comic intuition, which is rarely helpful.”

“For better or worse, in the old days producers and writers were pretty much left to make their own decisions, so there was a much greater chance of a truly organic project.”

Reflecting on why shows such as Fawlty Towers remain so incredibly popular, David – who also wrote Jonathan Creek – suggests it is because they adhered to a very classic, recognisable format: essentially a finely-tuned farce in a realistic setting, something he tried to achieve in One Foot In The Grave.

“Others, like Dad’s Army, rely almost entirely on funny characters and the plots are secondary. It’s hard to think of any that aren’t built around at least one or two exceptionally funny actors,” he continues.”

“Maybe the difference today is that so many writers come from a background of stand-up. So their instincts for how to generate a laugh will be largely coloured by their own techniques in performance. Which perhaps gives you a different starting point, without the same emphasis on ideas and construction. Maybe it’s why a lot of stuff now seems to thrive on attitude and adrenalin.

Writers, however, have to be so mindful of offending these days that it can inhibit creativity.

Lack of creativity, however, is not something you would associate with the great John Sullivan. So with the popularity of Only Fools remaining undimmed, what are the chances of a modern-day reboot, I wonder?

Jim can’t see himself heading down that route. “I think what made Only Fools work back then are the exact things which would make it unworkable in a modern-day setting.

It would be impossible to recapture its honesty and warmth on TV in today’s sterilised climate,” he smiles.

“The show had a certain grit and rawness to it, especially in the earlier episodes, which is exactly what my dad was aiming for.

He was writing about a working-class family and community all mucking in and struggling to get by in what was, at the time, a contemporary multicultural London.

“The characters didn’t loathe themselves and made no apologies for existing.

They were just people making the best of their lot, which I think is what helped make them feel so real and relatable.”

“The show was also never afraid to tackle heavier subject matter whilst remaining funny and without being condescending.””But it could only do that because it was written, produced and aired during a period when audiences were treated like adults.”Only Fools And Horses: The Musical is at the Theatre Royal Haymarket. Visit onlyfoolsmusical for tickets and information

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