'Allo 'Allo!

Allo 'Allo! is a British sitcom television series, created by David Croft and Jeremy Lloyd, starring Gorden Kaye, Carmen Silvera, Guy Siner and Richard Gibson. Originally broadcast on BBC1, the series focuses on the life of a French café owner in the town of Nouvion, during the German occupation of France in the Second World War, in which he deals with problems from a dishonest German officer, local French Resistance, the handling of a stolen painting and a pair of trapped British airmen, all while concealing from his wife the affairs he is having with his waitresses. Croft and Lloyd devised the concept as a parody of BBC wartime drama Secret Army and initially launched the programme with a pilot on 30 December 1982. The sitcom was eventually commissioned following the success of the pilot and ran for nine series between 7 September 1984 until its conclusion on 14 December 1992. Both Lloyd and Croft wrote the scripts for the first six series, while the remainder were handled by Lloyd and Paul Adam. Much like previous sitcoms created by Croft and Lloyd, the programme employed notable elements such as memorable catchphrases and ending credits, cultural clichés, physical humour and visual gags. However, Allo 'Allo! differed from these other sitcoms by featuring overarching plot lines rather than simple stand-alone stories, as well as the device of having actors speaking English but with theatrical foreign accents to distinguish each character's nationality. The sitcom gained respectable ratings during its run, with its success leading to it receiving stage show reproductions. A special entitled The Return of 'Allo 'Allo!, aired on 22 March 2007, featured cast members returning to reprise their original roles to perform in a special story after the conclusion of the programme. It was accompanied by a documentary about the sitcom, including a highlight reel of episodes and interviews with the cast, production team and fans. Premise Allo 'Allo! is set during the Second World War, between the occupation of France by German Axis powers in 1940 and its eventual liberation by Allied forces in September 1944. The story of the sitcom focuses on René Artois, a café owner in Nouvion and a reluctant member of the town's local French Resistance cell who operates under the codename of "Nighthawk".