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50 free British Comedy trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
British comedy has a habit of turning small things into national institutions: a bank manager with a platoon, a tailor's catchphrase, a tub of lard on a panel show, a radio game nobody can explain. Much of it was built on catchphrases, and much of the rest on characters who could not possibly exist yet somehow felt like your neighbours. These 50 questions range across seven decades: the classic sitcoms of the 1970s and 80s, the alternative wave that followed, sketch shows and their breakout characters, stand-up legends from Glasgow to Liverpool, panel games on television and radio, and the big-screen farces from Ealing to the 2000s. Every question carries a clue for the player who half-remembers, and every answer comes with the story behind it. It suits pub quiz rounds, family evenings and anyone who can still do the voices. Play on your phone with instant answers and explanations, or print it for the table.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which Are You Being Served? menswear assistant, played by John Inman, answered every call with 'I'm free!'?
Mr Humphries
Mr Humphries made 'I'm free!' his catchphrase, yet it was first spoken by Mrs Slocombe in the pilot; Inman used it backstage until Mollie Sugden told the writers to hand it to him.
Q 02Which fez-wearing magician-comedian collapsed and died on stage during ITV's Live from Her Majesty's in 1984?
Tommy Cooper
Tommy Cooper suffered a heart attack in front of 15 million viewers midway through his act, and he had borrowed his first fez from a passing waiter after forgetting a pith helmet.
Q 03Which conductor did Eric Morecambe grab by the lapels after being told he was playing 'all the wrong notes'?
André Previn
André Previn heard back that Eric was playing 'all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order', in a 1971 Christmas show sketch that billed him as 'Mr Andrew Preview'.
Q 04Which panel show credited 'The Rt. Hon Tub of Lard MP' in 1993 after Roy Hattersley pulled out at short notice?
Have I Got News for You
Have I Got News for You sat the lard in Hattersley's chair because, the host claimed, the two 'possessed the same qualities and were liable to give similar performances'.
Q 05Which Dad's Army character, the pompous bank manager played by Arthur Lowe, commands Walmington-on-Sea's platoon?
Captain Mainwaring
Captain Mainwaring appointed himself leader of the town's Local Defence Volunteers, in a show that was originally titled The Fighting Tigers.
Q 06Which comedy team's 1975 episode 'Kung Fu Kapers' made a King's Lynn bricklayer laugh until his heart gave out?
The Goodies
The Goodies' Tim Brooke-Taylor, as a kilted Scotsman, fended off Bill Oddie's black pudding with bagpipes; viewer Alex Mitchell laughed for 25 minutes and died of heart failure.
Q 07Which slapstick film star, the cloth-capped 'Gump' of 1950s Rank comedies, became a hero in Enver Hoxha's Albania?
Norman Wisdom
Norman Wisdom's films were among the few Western productions Hoxha allowed to be shown, and when he visited Albania in 1995 he was mobbed by fans.
Q 08Which sketch series' schoolgirl Lauren, of 'Am I bovvered?' fame, sparred with Tony Blair himself on work experience?
The Catherine Tate Show
The Catherine Tate Show's 2007 charity special had the sitting prime minister ask Lauren whether he looked bovvered, a catchphrase that had been 2006's Word of the Year.
Q 09Alan Partridge named his spoof chat show Knowing Me, Knowing You, and his son Fernando, after songs by which group?
ABBA
ABBA also supplied Partridge's talk-show catchphrase 'Aha!', on a character who first aired on Radio 4's news spoof On the Hour in 1991.
Q 10Which Matt Lucas and David Walliams sketch show created chav Vicky Pollard and Daffyd, 'the only gay in the village'?
Little Britain
Little Britain began on BBC Radio 4 in 2000 and, after three television series, spawned an HBO-produced spin-off, Little Britain USA, in 2008.
Q 11Which Father Ted housekeeper, chanting 'go on, go on, go on', never takes no for an answer to a cup of tea?
Mrs Doyle
Mrs Doyle stays up all night 'just in case one of you needs a cup of tea', and sometimes withdraws the offer once the priest finally gives in.
Q 12Which Richard Curtis sitcom, born of the Church of England's 1993 move to ordain women, stars Geraldine Granger?
The Vicar of Dibley
The Vicar of Dibley's creator consulted Joy Carroll, one of the first female Anglican priests, and its Christmas specials became some of the most-watched British programmes of the digital era.
Q 13Which E4 sitcom follows Will, moved from private school after his parents' divorce, and mates Simon, Jay and Neil?
Q 21In which 2007 Simon Pegg film is Nicholas Angel reassigned from London to the sleepy village of Sandford?
Hot Fuzz
Hot Fuzz's Nicholas Angel is moved for being 'too exceptional', and the film was shot in Wells, Somerset, director Edgar Wright's hometown, with the cathedral digitally painted out.
Q 22Which 2001 film's casting of American Renée Zellweger as a quintessentially British heroine stirred controversy?
Bridget Jones's Diary
Bridget Jones's Diary won Zellweger an Oscar nomination, south-eastern English accent and all, in a story loosely adapted from Pride and Prejudice.
Q 23Which Roy Clarke sitcom's Hyacinth answers the phone 'The Bouquet residence, the lady of the house speaking'?
The Inbetweeners
The Inbetweeners, created by Damon Beesley and Iain Morris, put its four friends through sixth form at Rudge Park Comprehensive, after a 2006 pilot titled 'Baggy Trousers'.
Q 14Which Graham Linehan sitcom's Roy and Moss answer calls with a taped 'Have you tried turning it off and on again?'?
The IT Crowd
The IT Crowd's Roy keeps reel-to-reel recordings of stock advice, including 'Is it definitely plugged in?', in the dingy basement of Reynholm Industries.
Q 15Which sitcom's café owner René Artois hides two British airmen and 'The Fallen Madonna' painting in occupied Nouvion?
'Allo 'Allo!
'Allo 'Allo! was devised by Croft and Lloyd as a parody of the BBC wartime drama Secret Army, with René running the local Resistance cell under the codename 'Nighthawk'.
Q 16Which Lisa McGee sitcom makes Michelle's English cousin James the first boy at Our Lady Immaculate College?
Derry Girls
Derry Girls became Channel 4's most successful comedy since Father Ted, and James is sent to the girls' school out of fear for his safety at the local Christian Brothers school.
Q 17Which charity, founded in 1985 in response to the Ethiopian famine, stages the Red Nose Day telethon every March?
Comic Relief
Comic Relief's first charity single, in April 1986, had Cliff Richard and the cast of a BBC student sitcom rework his 1959 hit 'Living Doll' all the way to number one.
Q 18Which comedian's sped-up chases, set to Boots Randolph's 'Yakety Sax', were exported to over 100 countries?
Benny Hill
Benny Hill's audience topped 21 million in 1971, and the BFI credited his global appeal to visual humour 'transcending language barriers'.
Q 19Which panel show, hosted by Stephen Fry then Sandi Toksvig, names each series after the next letter of the alphabet?
QI
QI's permanent panellist Alan Davies has appeared in every episode, and the series began with 'A' in 2003, so each episode's topics start with that series' letter.
Q 20Which Greg Davies-fronted show began with its creator emailing 20 comedians a monthly challenge for a year?
Taskmaster
Taskmaster was first staged at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2010, reached television on Dave in 2015 and moved to Channel 4 after its ninth series.
Keeping Up Appearances
Keeping Up Appearances ended in 1995 when Patricia Routledge chose to move on, and Clarke was partly inspired by people surnamed Bottom who insisted on 'Bo-tome'.
Q 24Which anarchic 1982 sitcom follows Scumbag College students Rick, Vyvyan, Neil and Mike in a squalid shared house?
The Young Ones
The Young Ones' cast took 'Living Doll' to number one with Cliff Richard and Hank Marvin for charity in 1986, and Rick proclaimed himself the singer's most avid fan.
Q 25Which Glasgow comedian played banjo beside Gerry Rafferty in the Humblebums before turning to stand-up?
Billy Connolly
Billy Connolly bought his first banjo at the Barrowland market after watching The Beverly Hillbillies, having given up welding in the shipyards to sing folk.
Q 26Which 1988 John Cleese heist comedy won Kevin Kline a supporting-actor Oscar as the Anglophobe weapons expert Otto?
A Fish Called Wanda
A Fish Called Wanda earned Kline the Best Supporting Actor award for Otto, a weapons expert posing as Wanda's brother, and was 1988's seventh-highest-grossing film worldwide.
Q 27Which foul-mouthed Number 10 enforcer, played by Peter Capaldi in The Thick of It, terrorises the ministers of DoSAC?
Malcolm Tucker
Malcolm Tucker is modelled chiefly on Tony Blair's communications director Alastair Campbell, and Capaldi reckoned about 80% of each finished episode was the script, the rest improvised.
Q 28Which Absolutely Fabulous fashion director, Edina's best friend, claims not to have eaten anything since 1973?
Patsy Stone
Patsy Stone got her job at Ella magazine by sleeping with the publisher, and Joanna Lumley's portrayal won the 1995 BAFTA for Best Comedy Performance.
Q 29Which Netflix comedy-drama stars Ricky Gervais as Tony Johnson, a suicidal widowed reporter on the Tambury Gazette?
After Life
After Life ran for three series from 2019 to 2022, with Penelope Wilton as Anne, the widow Tony meets at the graveyard who dispenses the show's sage advice.
Q 30Which Bain and Armstrong sitcom cast David Mitchell and Robert Webb as dysfunctional flatmates Mark and Jeremy?
Peep Show
Peep Show became Channel 4's longest-running comedy by years on air, running from 2003 to 2015, its point-of-view shots sometimes filmed with cameras strapped to the actors' heads.