Sitcom locations may vary, but the vast majority are set in contemporary times. Every so often, however, a show such as ITV2's Plebs arrives on screen ready to face the challenges of both period TV and situation comedy. Set in ancient Rome, Plebs – which began last night – follows Marcus, Stylax and Grumio as they juggle love and work in a city that doesn't care whether they live or die. Coming fresh on the heels of Hunderby, Julia Davis's extended riff on the language and oddness of Victorian period drama, it shows that there still exists an appetite for making funny shows set in the past.

Up Pompeii! is the (literally) classic historical sitcom, originally broadcast in 1969 with Frankie Howerd as Lurcio stealing every scene with his asides to the audience. Then there was Channel 4's Roman-themed sitcom. Chelmsford 123, which started its two series run in 1988 and had the Roman governor Aulus sent to a miserable outpost of the Roman Empire called Britain. While in theory master of all he surveys on these isles, Aulus is persistently outfoxed by Celtic tribal leader Badvoc.

Similar power struggles inform the Blackadder saga, the gold standard of historical sitcom. The periods in Blackadder may change but the dynamic stays the same. A shrewd put-upon operator Blackadder negotiates his way up an absurd hierarchy with privileged lunatics at the top and oppressed idiots at the bottom. The show's loose adherence to history gave it scope for its brilliant reimaginings of historical figures such as Walter Raleigh, the Duke of Wellington, Doctor Johnson and the Prince Regent.

But even Blackadder couldn't match the longevity of 'Allo 'Allo. Nazi-occupied France didn't seem a prime location for laughs but the show found unlikely rich pickingsover its 10-year run. The comedy could be broad but its joyful spoofing of war film tropes was surprisingly sharp, and it consistently produced memorable characters such as the useless master of disguise LeClerc whose utterly redundant refrain "It is I – LeClerc!" became one of the show's many catchphrases.

None of it works, though, without the central character René. He is the Everyman in extraordinary circumstances, directly addressing us each episode with his weekly dilemmas. Venal, cowardly and weak, he has to balance satisfying the Germans and the Resistance, then his wife and his lovers. Whether providing sanctuary for Nazi loot or British soldiers René represents what the modern audience would do in his situation. He looks and sounds like one of us.

That gets to the heart of how a period show can succeed. Finding the contemporary in the past is essential. Blackadder gave its central character a very modern sensibility, allowing him to comment on the insanity of the times. The Plebs may be in Rome, doing as the Romans do, yet any of them could slip out of a toga and into an episode of Skins and fit right in. Marcus and Stylax could be Bob and Terry from The Likely Lads, Mark and Jez from Peep Show or Will and Jay from The Inbetweeners – the yin-yang of male friendship echoes down the ages. If Plebs can maintain that relevance then setting sitcoms in the past still has a future.