Listen very carefully, an academic will explain zis only once...

Sitcoms such as 'Allo 'Allo, Dad’s Army and Fawlty Towers could explain Brexit, an academic has claimed.

Historian Gavin Schaffer says the comedies offer a way to understand the political cultures that led to the seismic vote to leave Europe – reflecting the British public’s ambivalence towards Europe and their desire to stand apart from the reset of the continent.

The University of Birmingham  professor says that sitcoms’ lack of seriousness frees both writers and audiences to engage with things that would otherwise not be permissible for discussion.

He said: ‘Many Britons took 'Allo 'Allo to their hearts as it presented a light-hearted reflection of European differences, that ultimately spoke to the core differences between Britain and her European neighbours.

‘The show also tells us something about how British attitudes to Europe were changing and not changing in the late 1980s and early 1990s, as Britain edged closer to her European neighbours. 

‘Despite closer bonds, British voices of Euroscepticism never strayed too far from suspicions rooted in the Second World War.’

The historian made his claims in a new academic tome, British Humour and the Second World War: ‘Keep Smiling Through’.

In it, he argues that  ‘Allo ‘Allo can be read both as a deliberate attempt to put to bed the Germanophobia of the War and work through European war trauma, while illustrating how different the British felt that Europeans were from each other.

He also says: Fawlty Towers’ ‘don’t mention the war’ scene employs Britain’s relationship with Europe as the ‘elephant in the room’. Broadcast months after Britain decided to remain in the Common Market in the 1975 referendum, Basil Fawlty tells his German guests ‘I didn’t vote for it myself quite honestly but now that we’re in I’m determined to make it work’.

And he says that Dad’s Army portrayed the war as a period of national cooperation when even the aged and incompetent characters showed how British spirit could triumph over European foes.

Professor Schaffer said such comedies illustrated ‘the extent to which British people considered their outlook, and principles, different and exceptional’, adding: ‘What lurks in the shadows is a nation deeply ill at ease with its European neighbours and itself. 

‘Listening very carefully to 'Allo 'Allo reveals a story of a nation that remains unready for further European integration.'

'Allo 'Allo is currerntly being aired at 8pm on Sundays on Yesterday and available on UKTV Play

Published: 4 Jul 2023