Editing British sitcom (section)

===Beginnings===

The origins of British TV sitcoms trace back to radio comedies of the 1940s and 1950s like ''Hancock's Half Hour'', which aired on BBC Radio in 1954, British TV sitcoms were initially inspired by American comedy formats, but they quickly developed their own style that highlighted dry wit, social satire, and the nuances of British life.<ref name = "RTS"/>  Early shows of the 1950s often featured archetypal British characters such as the staff and pupils in ''Whack-O!'' and the various facets portrayed in ''Hancock's Half Hour'', and set the stage for what would become the British TV sitcom genre. They were set in post [[World War II]] working-class or domestic environments, highlighting issues of class, family dynamics, and British culture, while ''The Army Game'', ITV's first sitcom, parodied the life of army conscripts during the last years of the [[Conscription_in_the_United_Kingdom#After_1945|National Service]] which ended in 1963.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://archive.iwm.org.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.1272 |title=What was National Service? |last=Imperial War Museum |author-link=Imperial War Museum |website=archive.iwm.org.UK |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150112133452/http://archive.iwm.org.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.1272 |archive-date=12 January 2015 |url-status=dead |access-date=12 November 2024}}</ref>