Do you think radio is still important in the continued development of sitcom?

I think that radio played a major part in the development of sitcoms as we know them today and has established writers and actors within the sitcom "community". For example, John Cleese was part of the Monty Python (which originated on the Radio) is now an established comedian and is renounced for his work on the Monty Python show on the radio but also Fawlty Towers a very popular British Sitcom. However, in modern times, Sitcoms have taken on the more popular form of Television programmes. Sitcoms nowadays are rarely influenced by the Radio, due to the many benefits of watching a sitcom on the television rather than the radio. For example, Fawlty Towers, The League Of Gentlemen and Keeping Up Appearances are just some of the many popular British sitcoms that are shown on television. The popularity of Televised sitcoms is due to the advantages that television has over Radio, most noteably the fact that it is visual rather than auditory.

Radio sitcoms are still broadcasted today however. BBC 7 for example, still airs a number of radio sitcoms. For example, Doctor ar Large is an example of a radio sitcom which airs at 17:00 on BBC 7 and lasts for 30 minutes. Whilst probably not as popular as Television sitcoms, Radio sitcoms are still aired today. Radio offers different experiences to that of Television however, as with radio, you have to visualise the jokes more rather than actually watching them play out. This involves the audience more. However with Visual sitcoms, you can have more humour because you can have humourous acts that could not be seen with radio. This offers more diversity when it comes to the type of humour.