Sitcom quiz

Sitcom quiz

Taking a shameless cue from that fine television institution, University Challenge, here is the Magazine's midweek quiz. Students on the BBC quiz were asked to identify characters from British sitcoms. Can you do any better?

1.) Sitcom quiz

Where would you have found Miss Tibbs and Miss Gatsby?

1. Renting a room in Rising Damp
   
2. Staying at Fawlty Towers
   
3. Cats in Bless This House
   

2.) Sitcom quiz

In Sorry! Timothy Lumsden was still tied to his mother's apron strings despite being in his 40s. He eventually found love, but what was his girlfriend's name?

1. Pippa
   
2. Muriel
   
3. Annette
   

3.) Sitcom quiz

Where did Terry and June live?

1. Purley
   
2. Surbiton
   
3. Hampton Wick
   

4.) Sitcom quiz

What was the surname of Bob (on the left) in the 1960s hit, The Likely Lads?

1. Scarborough
   
2. Collier
   
3. Ferris
   

5.) Sitcom quiz

James Bolam also played long-term NHS hospital bed occupant Roy Figgis in Only When I Laugh. Who was the doctor he dreaded seeing?

1. Dr Michael Upton
   
2. Dr Gordon Thorpe
   
3. Dr Geoffrey Loftus
   

6.) Sitcom quiz

In One Foot in the Grave, what had been Victor Meldrew's job before retirement?

1. Librarian
   
2. Museum curator
   
3. Security guard
   

7.) Sitcom quiz

And on a similar note, what did Tom do in the Good Life before turning his back on the rat race?

1. Fridge fitter
   
2. Draughtsman
   
3. Civil servant
   
4. Toymaker
   

8.) Sitcom quiz

Where do George and Anthea appear together?

1. Vicar of Dibley
   
2. Open All Hours
   
3. Men Behaving Badly
   

9.) Sitcom quiz

Who was bus driver Stan Butler's lecherous sidekick in On The Buses?

1. Jack Harper
   
2. Arthur Rudge
   
3. Terry Duggan
   

10.) Sitcom quiz

Many sitcoms feature an annoying neighbour, but which had the particularly irritating Jeffrey Fourmile?

1. Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps
   
2. George and Mildred
   
3. Keeping Up Appearances
   

Answers

1. It's staying at Fawlty Towers. The hard-of-hearing old ladies, played by Gilly Flower and Renee Robert, were permanent residents of the hotel and often the subject of Basil Fawlty's sarcasm.
2. It was Pippa. Timothy Lumsden, played by Ronnie Corbett, left home in the last episode to be with her. Muriel was his sister and Annette a former love interest.
3. They lived in Purley's Popular Avenue, on the outskirts of south London. Surbiton was where Tom and Barbara lived in The Good Life and Hampton Wick was George and Mildred's hometown.
4. It's Ferris. His full name, which was not revealed until Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads in the 1970s, was Robert Andrew Scarborough Ferris. Collier was the surname of his co-star Terry, played by James Bolam.
5. It's Dr Gordon Thorpe, who was played by Richard Wilson. Michael Upton was a junior doctor in the sitcom Doctor in the House and Geoffrey Loftus an ill-tempered surgeon.
6. He was a security guard. In the first episode, he lost the job and was replaced by an automated machine.
7. He was a draughtsman for a company that makes plastic toys for cereal packets, but he packed in his job on his 40th birthday for a self-sufficient life.
8. It's in Men Behaving Badly. George and Anthea work for Gary and drive him mad with their old-fashioned approach to life.
9. It was bus conductor Jack Harper. Arthur Rudge was his brother-in-law.
10. It's George and Mildred. Jeffrey is an estate agent who turns his nose up at George.

Your Score

0 - 3 : Bottom

4 - 7 : Only Fools

8 - 10 : Ab Fab

For a complete archive of past quizzes and our weekly news quiz, 7 days 7 questions, visit the Magazine page and scroll down.