60 best sitcoms of all time

42. Coupling

Steven Moffat is best known now as the man who gave us Sherlock and as the current showrunner of Doctor Who. But you might have your mind blown to know that his first big TV success was the sitcom Coupling, which was loosely based on his own life and sort of a British version of Friends — right down to the fact that it had a cast which was wildly talented.

Coupling focused on characters based on Moffat and his wife, Sue, who were naturally named Steve (the spot-on Jack Davenport before those pirate movies and Smash) and Susan (the equally magnificent Sarah Alexander). The duo was surrounded by their crazy friends and exes. Steve’s former girlfriend Jane was nuts; that would be Gina Bellman before you met her as Sophie on Leverage. She was nowhere near as weird as Jeff, the eccentric one of the group played by Richard Coyle. Rounding out the group were Susan’s ex Patrick (Ben Miles) and her best friend Sally (Kate Isitt), who would eventually realize they were meant for each other.

This was another show about love and relationships, but it was an uproarious one. There was one episode where, having broken up, Steve and Susan’s stories were told in split screen. There are hilarious takes on complacency in relationships, dinner parties gone wrong and the value of couch cushions. Any episode in which Steve has a rant is a little gem. And you can’t miss the installment where Jeff tries to take on the Spider-Man theme tune. Coupling was a laugh riot, and while the final season flagged, it’s still got some of the best gags in British comedy.

Next: 41. The Bernie Mac Show