Geektown Awards – Best New & Returning Comedy Series
If there is one thing that the last couple of years have needed, it was something to make you laugh, and that’s what we have in the ‘New Comedy and Returning Comedy’ categories! 2021 introduced a great collection of new shows to keep your spirits up throughout the pandemic. We also had a really good selection of returning comedic series to help us keep laughing through another difficult year. We’ll start with the New Comedy series which had you chuckling the most.
Best New Comedy Series
Nominees: Dollface – Disney+, Kevin Can F*** Himself – Amazon, Mr. Mayor – Sky, Mysterious Benedict Society – Disney+, Only Murders In The Building – Disney+, Reservation Dogs – Disney+, Starstruck – BBC, The Cleaner – BBC, The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers – Disney+, Young Rock – Sky, Monsters at Work – Disney+, Solar Opposites – Disney+
Bronze: Monsters At Work – Disney+
Silver: Only Murders In The Building – Disney+
And the Gold goes to …
Winner: The Cleaner – BBC
This is probably the only time you will see Greg Davies win a battle against The Rock… Based on the multi-award-winning long-running German comedy series ‘Der Tatortreiniger’, Davies plays Paul “Wicky” Wickstead, a state-certified cleaning technician with a very special field of work: as a crime scene cleaner he is responsible for the removal of any signs of death. Armed with chemicals, scrubbing brushes and cleaning rags, Wicky removes the gruesome mess at the scene of the crime. When carrying out his duties, he stumbles across the strangest of people: from the victim’s relatives, employers, neighbours and acquaintances, to occasionally even the murderers themselves. And because he’s a sociable type, he sometimes gossips more than he cleans.
The brilliant comedy, written by Davies, was a lovely mix from straight jokes to surreal comedy, to slapstick, all blended perfectly into a uniquely different series. He was supported by a great array of guest stars including Helena Bonham Carter, Donald Sumpter, Ruth Madeley, Georgie Glen and David Mitchell.
Best Returning Comedy Series
Nominees: Back (Season 2) – Channel 4, Breeders (Season 2) – Sky, Dead Pixels (Season 2) – E4, Dickinson (Season 2 & 3) – Apple TV+, Ghosts (Season 3) – BBC, Inside No 9 (Season 6) – BBC, Mythic Quest (Season 2) – Apple TV+, Staged (Season 2) – BBC, Superstore (Season 6) – ITV, Ted Lasso (Season 2) – Apple, What We Do In The Shadows (Season 3) – BBC, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist (Season 2) – E4
Bronze: What We Do In The Shadows – BBC
Silver: Superstore (Season 6) – ITV2/Netflix/Peacock
And the Gold goes to …
Winner: Ghosts (Season 3) – BBC
The lower positions for this category were so close throughout the voting, but there was a very clear winner, who landed more than double the votes of its nearest competitor… The BBC comedy ‘Ghosts‘. From the team behind the beloved ‘Horrible Histories’ and superb Sky puppet comedy ‘Yonderland’, ‘Ghosts’ follows Alison and Mike, a cash-strapped young couple struggling to buy their first home, think their prayers are answered when a distant relative bequeaths them a sprawling country estate… Only to find that it is teeming with an eccentric collection of needy ghosts.
Charlotte Ritchie and Kiell Smith-Bynoe take the roles of Alison and Mike, with the ‘Horrible Histories’ team of Mathew Baynton, Simon Farnaby, Martha Howe-Douglas, Jim Howick, Laurence Rickard and Ben Willbond taking the various ghost roles, alongside Katy Wix and Lolly Adefope.
Much like ‘The League of Gentlemen’ gang, the ‘Horrible Histories’ team are one of those names you look out for now on a comedy, because you know it is going to be something special, and ‘Ghosts’ is no exception. Hilarious and adorably heartwarming, whilst also not afraid to be darkly funny, the brilliant series has only gotten even better throughout the seasons, and is due to return for Season 4 in 2022.
