British television comedy usually takes the form of the traditional half-hour, except on those special occasions, such as Christmas where they may get longer, perhaps an hour. Occasionally, if it is very popular it will divert from this format, such as in the case of Only Fools and Horses, which in the late 80s and early 90s, went to 50 minutes. This was because the writer John Sullivan discovered that when he was writing the script it was too long and he often wrote twice as much material as was needed. This led the producer and directors and the actors themselves, expressing concern that some of the best jokes and the best material were being excluded. Therefore a deal was struck with the BBC to extend the shows to 50 minutes. This allowed a lot more of the original written material to be left in the programme, and indeed the plan proved popular with the show regularly hitting almost 20 million viewers on a weekly basis.

Although most British television comedy shows last for only half an hour, this is normally more than sufficient. Not only does it mean that the script is concise and contains some very good material it also makes it easy for the actors to rehearse and film, where series can run for up to 12 episodes.

British television comedy does not necessarily have to take on the traditional sitcom format. For example, shows such as topical satirical shows often generate very good viewing figures and run for many series. Variety shows have also been a good format; in previous years there would often be a stand-up comedian in between all the other acts, which featured singers and dancers.

It is not often the British television comedy show will be able to transfer to the United States, many shows sell their format and then a foreign country will remake it with their own actors, they rewrite the script, and it is just the format that remains. Some of the very popular shows overcome this, such as in the case of Monty Python’s flying Circus being unusually popular in the USA. This is particularly beneficial, as the injection of American money can sometimes benefit British television comedy. It also leads to them using the inspiration and the writing style from the shows and developing it into their own shows, using similar material. This cross funding of money can be seen in the modern movie industry were a British comedy film is offered funded with American money from one of the large movie studios

British television comedy is often described as being not what it once was, although one only has to take a look at some of the more popular series that have transferred to America, some in their original format and some that have been remade and are making a success out of their British originality, to see that perhaps now is the golden age of television comedy.

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