For the eighth consecutive year, WILL-TV viewers will have the opportunity to select a British comedy for our Saturday night lineup! Tune in Saturday, February 24 for The Great Britcom Vote!

The excitement starts at 7:00 pm as we air the first of five comedies. (See below for the list of candidates.) As usual, there will be a mix of old favorites and shows never before aired on WILL-TV. Throughout the night, we will offer viewers the opportunity to financially support our Britcoms, as well as to phone in a vote for their favorite of the five candidates.

The rules are simple:

1) Votes must be called in to the WILL pledge phone bank between 7:00 - 10:30 pm on February 24. Other votes will not be counted.

2) One vote per phone call.

3) One vote per viewer.

4) No "write-in" candidates. Votes for shows other than the five candidates will not be counted.

5) Viewers need not make a contribution to vote. (However, remember that our ability to actually purchase the Britcoms you enjoy is entirely dependent on viewer support.)

6) Viewers need not watch all five candidates to vote. (In fact, the phone lines tend to get busy near the end of the night. If you've already made your choice, call it in right away!)

The show that receives the most votes by the end of the night will be purchased to air Saturday nights during our next fiscal year.

Tune in and make your voice heard!

Featuring: Geraldine McEwan, Karl Howman

Years: 1992-1993

Last Time on WILL-TV: 2002

Number of Episodes: 13

Wanted: young person to render general domestic assistance. According to Bert and Alice, the two surly servants who work for the formidable Miss Farnaby, the notice should read "Wanted: masochist to be at beck and call of cantankerous old trout."

Fortunately, Mulberry has never met Bert or Alice. In fact, no one knows where he comes from. Out of the blue, he just turns up one day at the family mansion, without a single qualification to his name, and sweet-talks his way into the job. Suddenly, the dull old house is not dull any more, and Miss Farnaby's life will never be the same again.

Featuring: Ronnie Corbett, Barbara Lott

Years: 1981-1988

Last Aired on WILL-TV: Never

Number of Episodes: 42

Timothy Lumsden is approaching 50 and he's still his mummy's little boy! He is a young-at-heart 41 year old – a single man with a good job, an absorbing outside interest in the local amateur dramatic society and an eye for a pretty girl. Blessed with these obvious advantages, life should be fun – and would be if it wasn’t for one thing… his tyrannical mother!

Featuring: Rowan Atkinson, Serena Evans

Years: 1995-1997

Last Aired on WILL-TV: 1999

Number of Episodes: 14

Inspector Fowler is in charge of a motley crew of uniformed men and women. First and foremost, there's Sergeant Patricia Dawkins, Fowler's live-in lover for ten years. Then there's Constable Gladstone, Constable Habib and Constable Kevin Goody.

CID is headed by DI Grim, who's constantly depressing about having to spend his time dealing with hooligans, yobboes and foul-mouthed delinquents - and that's just his CID officers!

Ever Decreasing Circles

Featuring: Richard Briers, Penelope Wilton

Years: 1984-1989

Last Time on WILL-TV: Never

Number of Episodes: 27

Martin is the king of DIY, a busybody know-it-all who runs (or tries to run) the community. His uptight personality drives some folks up the wall, but let's face it, if it weren't people like him nothing would get done. He's a great organizer--the Residents' Association, the boys' football team, the Rotary Club--whatever he can get involved with. If there's a lamp post on the blink, he's the one who phones the Council. He has a rather boring job in middle management and real life starts on Friday night when he gets home to his committees. Fundamentally he's a very good man. He's also a pompous bore.

The local residents tend to regard Martin as a bit of a joke, although he does have a hard core of faithful followers, like Howard and Hilda, who generally give their full support to Martin's many schemes. And his wife, Ann, is a patient and loving ally, although she is at times driven to despair by her husband's inability to relax and by his unawareness of her needs and expectations. Ann receives more attention from their new neighbor, Paul, than she gets from Martin--although Martin doesn't have time to notice such things. What he does notice, however, is the way Paul likes to ridicule him. And to a man who takes himself as seriously as Martin does, this is the ultimate insult.

Featuring: Graham Crowden and Stephanie Cole

Years: 1990-1994

Last Aired on WILL-TV: 2001

Graham Crowden and Stephanie Cole star as the rebel inmates in this wry and very funny look at how people treat the elderly. It's set in the Bayview Retirement Village, a purpose-built complex where each chalet has a pleasant view of the immaculate gardens and supposedly a haven where the genteel residents can mark time before going to meet their Maker.

The newest arrival, an agiing Walter Mitty type called Tom, doesn't quite fit the mold. Tom's fed up with his family. For his daughter-in-Iaw, Marion, who is eager to be rid of him, Bayview seems to be an ideal solution. Soon, he's disrupting the peace and quiet of the other residents and causing headaches for Harvey and Jane, who run the home. After performing his impressions of Tom Jones, emus and other assorted birds, Tom stages a hunger strike until there's a distinct improvement in the food.

His neighbor, Diana Trent, a sharp-tongued spinster who did exactly as she pleased until 'arthritis and penury' turned the tables on her, shows no interest in the latest addition to the home.

But as they find themselves thrown together by circumstances beyond their control, Tom and Diana strike up an uneasy alliance that portends many an adventure.

© 2008 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS