For the benefit of those who are not familiar with it, "Allo, Allo" is a British comedy series about the French Resistance during World War II. It is a comedy series that could never be produced today, and certainly could not be produced in the U.S. Only the British could have come up with a comedy series that contains more politically-incorrect material than would be found in an entire season of any present-day television show. To this day "Allo, Allo" remains among the things for which the French have never forgiven the British (along with Crecy, Agincourt, Joan of Arc, Blenheim, Trafalgar, Waterloo and Dunkirk). However, the French are not alone. The humor in "Allo, Allo " would be perceived to be equally offensive by Germans, Italians, women, homosexuals, the Catholics Church, the British themselves, and just about everybody else."Allo, Allo" was created by Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft, the same pair who created "Are You Being Served?". Consequently, it should come as no surprise that the show leaves no depth unplumbed in the pursuit of a laugh. "Allo, Allo" represents British burlesque humor at it's lowest. On the other hand it is also, for those whose sensibilities are not easily offended, truly one of the funniest shows ever produced.The best news is that "Allo, Allo" has recently been re-released on Netflix. That means that former fans can enjoy being offended by it all over again, and new fans will have the opportunity to enjoy being offended by it for the very first time.

I got an urge recently to re watch Allo Allo, I'd forgotten just how wonderful a sitcom it was. Probably the main comedy I remember growing up as a kid, I used to watch with my Dad. The quality of the first three series is enormous, they are slick, hilarious, original and addictive. From Series four onwards as you may expect it does lose a little of its zip and the gags get recycled, but who cares you'll still belly laugh.Too many favourite characters, and relationships to highlight, but I'll summarise what I feel are the best. The relationship between Renee and Gruber was possible the funniest in the show, the dialogue and misunderstandings right from the very beginning would be the high point of the show. The relationship between Colonel von Strom and Hans was also a joy, their timing was a joy, the show suffered from the departure of Sam Kelly. Both were physically funny too, I always laughed at the 'stuff it down the trousers' gag. Finally in terms of relationship I adored the one between Helga and Heir Flick, his lack of emotion, and her always ending up in her lingerie were hilarious, never stopped being funny.As for characters, I think my favourites were LeClerc and Mama, the oldies always delivered the laughs, you never knew who was going to end up in her bed, and you never knew what he was going to try and sell. The flashing knobs still make me howl with laughter. Officer Crabtree was an awesome addition, and some of the stuff he got away with, many a time he had me in tears laughingThe Gateau from the Château is hand on heart the funniest episode, with brilliance from Kay and Kelly, while the last ever episode remains very poignant.It's an absolute joy to watch 9/10

Allo Allo started out as a one off in 1982,but was well received enough by viewers, to become a regular BBC sitcom and ran for eight series, attracting 17 million viewers at its peak.Allo Allo is a send up of the seventies BBC drama, Secret Army, where a cafe owner hid downed British airmen from the Nazis and took part in resistance activities. However, while Secret Army certainly wasn't a comedy, Allo Allo sent up Secret Army by replacing Albert, the resistance hero, with a cowardly, double dealing restaurant owner called Rene, played brilliantly by Gorden Kaye, who is a reluctant resistance member, hiding two idiotic RAF pilots from the Gestapo. Also while being a fairly useless member of the French Resistance, he is hiding two valuable paintings for the Nazis and hoping to cash in when the Nazis win the war and sell the paintings.For all a few viewers complained to the BBC that Allo Allo was demeaning the brave work of the French resistance and portraying the Nazis, particularly Gestapo man Herr Flick, as incompetent buffoons rather than sadistic and evil, the whole point of David Croft's sitcom was to send up every wartime stereotype going. Hence the French were shown up as cowardly, devious and lusty, Germans as kinky, cruel( in a humorous way in Allo Allo) and insensitive, the British as upper class twits and Italians as lazy and untrustworthy.Yet without a fantastic script by David Croft and an excellent cast, Allo Allo could have flopped, but went on to become the biggest sitcom of the mid eighties. Catchprhases such as " I shall this only once" in an exaggerated French accent, " you stupid woman" whenever Rene was caught by his wife with one of the waitresses, and Officer Crabtree's mangled attempts at speaking French, " I am a poloceman", entertained millions for years. Special mention has to be made of Richard Gibson's Herr Otto Flick, the Gestapo officer who was constantly being thwarted and coming off worse( in one case being blown up), Kirsten Cooke's hilarious French resistance leader Michelle, and Guy Siner as the gay Nazi, Gruber, who fancies Rene and pursues him throughout the series.Sadly political correctness would probably stop a show like Allo Allo being made now, but repeats prove there is a healthy market for such a good sitcom that is still hilarious thirty years later.

I'm not certain I've watched every episode of this show, but it sure is not for a lack of trying. The Brits have a tendency of(and a talent for) turning unpleasant historical events into the subject of satirical shows. The BlackAdder series covered many of Britain's greatest blunders through the last thousand years or so. This deals with WWII, using the setting of a small, occupied town in France, and spoofing basically any kind of person you might meet there... all the people and all the nationalities are covered. You'll meet Frenchmen, Brits, Germans, Russians, yes, even an Italian or two(actually... make that one). The humor is a good mix between the typically crude and silly humor of Benny Hill(complete with ending some episodes with people chasing each other in a farcical manner), and the more witty, verbal humor of shows such as the aforementioned BlackAdder series. There's even a tad of black comedy, mostly delivered by the undertaker, Monsieur Alfonse. It steers almost entirely clear of gross-out comedy, something that turned up in last-mentioned show(even if it didn't become terribly apparent before the last two seasons). The characters are well-written(if somewhat thin) and humorous. Though most of them are clichés, they are surprisingly easy to tell apart... their particular gag, their "schtick" is uniquely theirs. And though they are repeated throughout the series, the jokes hold up exceptionally well. You find yourself quoting characters years after you saw the episode where the line appeared, and some scenes stick in your mind for ages. The reason the stereotypical jokes work is that they hit the mark... every single one of them. You have the somewhat whiny German officers who didn't really *want* to be officers, but, as one remarks, "It's Hitler... he's a very demanding man." You have the small-time café owner who just wants to stay in business, but still lights up some at the thought of fighting for his countrymen, of being considered "the bravest man in all of France." We have Arthur Bostrom as the British undercover agent who couldn't speak French to save his life(parodying the difficulty of learning that language) is always fun, even if his lines and jokes are mostly derived from his mispronunciation, and therefore can hardly be claimed to be anything but silly(though there are moments of clever puns). Richard Gibson, as the eternally stiff, never-affected-emotionally Gestapo officer(who just happens to contain parts of various famous German officers, and even Hitler himself) is my personal favorite, in the role that always begets laughter. And Guy Siner must be mentioned... never has one character begotten so many jokes about sexuality. German discipline, French passion, Italian flashiness and British cheeriness are all expertly spoofed. The verbal comedy is masterful. Anyone not from Britain(and even there, it's not just anyone) needs an excellent grip on the British language. On that note... with how many different approaches there are to handling different languages(ignoring it, having the actors do accents, subbing and dubbing), I think this takes the cake, at least for me. No word of anything but English is spoken here. To distinguish, they simply have the (British) actors put on an accent according to which language they're supposed to be speaking(no H at the beginning of any word for the French, Z's instead of S's for the Germans, and A at the end of various words for the Italian, etc.). This is established in the very pilot, where both the Brits and the Frenchmen determine that they don't understand a word of what the other group is speaking. The British is all exaggerated British, as well... imitating the way the Brits sound to anyone who don't hear them too often. They're making an effort to help the viewer tell the nationalities apart, whilst flaunting the fact that they all speak the same language. Marvelous. The plot lines are intricate(but never overly complicated), and always filled with mix-ups and sitcom-like mishaps. The great thing is that in every episode(at least to my knowledge), you are treated to a minute or two of a character(typically René, the lead) explaining the current situation, complete with mix-ups. You can join the show at any point(though it's always the best to watch them in the right order, and as many as you can get near). The rich scenery of many episodes is quite a high-point, as well... BlackAdder, from the second season and onwards was always on sets, occasionally average-at-best ones. They flaunt that fact, similarly to how this flaunts the language difference(or lack thereof). Only the first season of BlackAdder had outdoor scenes(and let's face it, no matter how you look at it, the cinematography wasn't exactly brilliant). This has many outdoor scenes, complete with vehicles and surroundings that fit the time it is set in. That helps sell the setting and time period very well. The wide character gallery helps for variety, and some credibility is attained(and the tone is kept from being overly goofy) in part through authentic details and occurrences that seem realistic. This was a great show that almost attained excellence, were it not for a few bugging points... the occasional overdone or overly repeated gag, the few episodes which just aren't that funny, one or two characters that were somewhat one-note jokes(and not all that good ones, at that), and such. And replacing Gibson... even for the last few episodes... that, in my opinion, was a very big mistake. However, if you do catch this show and find it funny, I definitely suggest watching the whole thing through. Not only is the vast majority of episodes excellent, but the very ending, the last few minutes of the finale are marvelous. Perfect way to end the show. I recommend this to any fan of British humor, both verbal and the Benny Hill variation, as well as black comedy, and anyone looking to laugh at the second World War. Priceless entertainment. 8/10