If you go on BBC iPlayer at the moment, you get offered a selection of complete sets of 'classic comedy'. I don't know, I always think a 'classic' needs to be defined as 'before I was born', because all of these twenty-to-thirty-year-old shows are things I watched when they were brand new! Nothing that has been brand new to me at some point should count as a classic. The BBC need to consult me and tailor their offerings accordingly.
Seriously, though, the BBC is defining 'classic' as 'conventional early-evening kind of stuff' rather than the more innovative and surreal comedy that was around in that era. But even if that's the rule, couldn't they bring in something that hasn't been aired so much lately? How about digging up Russ Abbot? I saw one of those strange satellite channels showing the Kenny Everett Video Show just recently, which was a delight (it's not very good, but it has a certain something and I remember my dad liking it). How about bringing back one of those sitcoms from the brief period when John Gordon Sinclair was the foremost sitcom star in Britain? Joking Apart? Coupling? I need to do some research and pick out all the good comedy that I personally haven't seen for too long.
And could they possibly drop the inescapable Fawlty Towers (yes, it IS very funny, but we've all seen it ten million times by now and I think we all need to re-evaluate the inflexible rule that it's the greatest sitcom in history) and replace it with something else from those days?
