The Office tops comedy show vote

Ricky Gervais was the co-creator and star of The Office

British sitcom The Office has come top of a poll to find the funniest TV show of all time, carried out to coincide with Red Nose Day.

The Office, starring comedian Ricky Gervais, beat Fawlty Towers and Only Fools and Horses, both widely regarded as comedy classics.

The Simpsons cartoon was voted fourth best in the poll of 8,000 people, followed by Friends.

Out of the top 30, 19 were British and 11 were American shows.

Voters saw the 1970s as the richest decade for comedy with 11 shows featured in the list ,including Porridge, Rising Damp and Are You Being Served.

Top 10 comedy shows 1.The Office 2. Fawlty Towers 3. Only Fools and Horses 4. The Simpsons 5. Friends 6. Little Britain 7. Blackadder 8. Father Ted 9. Monty Pythons Flying Circus 10. Porridge

The oldest show to make the grade was Dad's Army from 1968 at number 14, while the most modern was Little Britain at number six.

The survey was carried out by McCain in the run-up to Comic Relief's Red Nose Day on 11 March.

"It's great to see British sitcoms have come out on top again," said a spokeswoman. "Its good news for British comedy fans everywhere - British is undoubtedly best in the comedy stakes."