It’s 60 years since the first British sitcom aired on the BBC. Purists will maintain that the genre was launched with Pinwright’s Progress in 1946, but it is with Galton and Simpson’s exquisite Hancock’s Half Hour that we officially mark the birth of this landmark of British culture.

To celebrate the legacy of the sitcom, there will be a season of programmes across BBC One, Two and Four revisiting some of the most memorable shows. I can’t be the only one who is looking forward to, well, looking back; looking back on our rich tradition of sitcom that is, to my mind, a vital part of our national identity. Over the past 60 years, a number of extraordinarily talented writers, performers and producers have toiled away, often putting themselves on the line to make the nation laugh.

When we look back at the classics from the hallowed era of comedy from the Sixties to the early Nineties, I am incredibly grateful to all of my heroes for the joy they have brought me. There’s Hancock, Hi-de-Hi!, ’Allo ’Allo!, and Fawlty Towers. Some Mothers Do ’Ave ’Em, Keeping Up Appearances, Are You Being Served?, Porridge and Up Pompeii; and let’s not forget Dad’s Army, repeats of which continue to rate highly.