General UK Comedy Articles

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By Michael Holden

LONDON (Reuters) - Quirky sketch show "Little Britain" has beaten off BBC rival "The Office" to take top honours at the British Comedy Awards 2004.

The show, which parodies life in suburban Britain and features a bizarre array of characters, won the Best TV Comedy award while its stars Matt Lucas and David Walliams were jointly named Best TV Comedy Actor.

"We do get the chance to perform in 'Little Britain' alongside some great people," said Lucas.

The show, which began life on radio, developed a cult audience on digital channel BBC3 thanks to the popularity of its characters such as "Dafydd", who refuses to accept he is not the only gay in a Welsh village.

Its success prompted a move to the mainstream BBC1 channel although its content had to be toned down.

There was some consolation for "The Office", which swept the awards last year, with Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant winning a special prize for writing the hit comedy.

"The show has won an awful lot of awards in the last couple of years, too much," Gervais said.

"It's got embarrassing to be honest."

The awards ceremony, broadcast live from ITV1's London studios on the South Bank, has gained a notorious reputation for swearing and general tomfoolery.

This year was no exception with Brigitte Nielsen, former wife of Sylvester Stallone, stroking the head of former British government minister Robin Cook while handing out one award.

Other notable winners included presenters Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly who added the awards for Best Comedy Entertainment Personality and Best Comedy Entertainment Programme to their growing list of accolades.

"The Simpsons" was named Best International Comedy Show and its creator Matt Groening picked up an outstanding contribution award from Professor Stephen Hawking, who has appeared on the cult cartoon.

Caroline Quentin was named Best TV Comedy Actress and Martin Clunes' "Doc Martin", a drama about a tactless doctor living in a small Cornish village, won Best TV Comedy Drama. Catherine Tate won Best Comedy Newcomer for "The Catherine Tate Show", "Nighty Night" was named Britain's Best New TV Comedy and "School of Rock" beat "Shaun of the Dead" to the Best Comedy Film award.




Winners

TV comedy actor Matt Lucas and David Walliams

TV comedy actress Caroline Quentin

Comedy entertainment personality Ant and Dec

Comedy newcomer Catherine Tate

New TV comedy of 2004 Nighty Night

TV comedy Little Britain

TV comedy drama Doc Martin

Comedy entertainment programme Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway

International comedy show The Simpsons Comedy film School of Rock