The BBC’s ‘little man’ in the age of supermen: situation comedy, national character and masculinity in the late-1930s

Abstract

Abstract In November 1936, the BBC premiered its first serialised situation comedy, The Strange Adventures of Mr. Penny. In its use of many of the hallmarks of early situation comedy, the popular fifteen minute comedy is important in understanding the evolution of sitcom on early BBC radio, but also in recognising the ways in which BBC light entertainment sought to participate in, and shape, the interwar rhetorics of national character in the introduction of its own ‘Little Man’. On the surface, the BBC’s ‘Little Man’ might suggest a crisis of masculinity between the wars, but ultimately it was a positive and reassuring version of English masculinity and national character.