I mean,

apart from OFAH we had The Comic Strip, The Young Ones, Blackadder, Fry & Laurie, Smith & Jones, French & Saunders, The New Statesman...

And a few nice "minors", Happy Families, Filthy, Rich & Catflap, Maid Marian, You Rang, M'Lord...

You can't get much more "classic" than the Young Ones or Blackadder, they're milestones in the history of British comedy, in my not so humble opinion, but it's not only mine, I'd guess...

Yep, he played the Sheriff of Nottingham, and was also the main writer of the series.

Great talent, Tony Robinson, he's done a lot more than "just" Baldrick in Blackadder, but too seldom principal roles like that.

He's also much sought after for voice-overs and audio-books, most notably several of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, and has recently appeared in the "Hogfather" movie, taken from the same series (Recommended viewing, along with the more recent "The Colour of Magic", both also featuring David Jason!).

Well, I don't think it was actually thought as a series from the start.

They (Sky) tried with the X'mas movie first, and decided to produce more after its success.

There is apparently a third one in the making, taken from "Going Postal", while waiting for David Jason to complete some prior working engagement, and then probably a fourth with him again in the part of the bumbling wizard Rincewind.

So, it's turning out to be a series, after all...

And Pratchett fans will of course complain because the episodes are not in chronological order, but they've also been moaning and complaining, and still are, about David Jason, can you believe it?

It's true that Pratchett's original character Rincewind is depicted in the books as a much younger man, somewhere into his thirties, and definitely skinny, but personally I would appreciate David Jason even if he played Huckleberry Finn, me...

Granny Weatherwax = Maggie Smith
Nanny Ogg = Dawn French
Magrat Garlick = Kate Beckinsale

The ideal cast according to various polls and surveys I found around the net on the matter, and I agree in toto

But there doesn't seem to be an actual plan to tackle the witches sub-series yet.
After "Going Postal", which was apparently somewhat delayed in production but should still be completed and out sometimes in 2009, next in line will be the second Rincewind book, "Sourcery", so they're at least following the chronology for the sub-series.

Also, a rumour about director Sam Raimi working at a film version of "The Wee Free Men", the first book in the kiddies series of little witch Tiffany Aching, has been circulating for a few years now, but seems to be still at rumour stage and not much else.

I've got more than a soft spot for Kate Beckinsale, I have in fact a big crush on her...

She's got that same endearing type of charisma, I could call that just "niceness", that was typical of her father, poor Richard, and that's not even beginning to consider how sexy she is, but I guess girls thought the same about Richard, at that... it's only natural

And she's a good actress, I'm sure she could be a convincing Magrat, with adequate makeup, after all she must be quite used to "gothic" setups, by now...

But she can play awkward, too, my favourite movie with her is still the early "Cold Comfort Farm", a little jewel.

One possible downside of the casting above is the relative age of characters and performers: while Maggie Smith would be right on the spot, Dawn French is possibly still a bit young for Nanny Ogg, while Kate Beckinsale is perhaps a bit old for Magrat...

But if David Jason can play a thirty-something wizard, anything's possible...

IF they ever came to actually do the witches series, that is...

By the way, I was beginning to worry a bit about getting too off-topic, here, but then I realised the Discworld IS an 80's classic, after all, and it IS turning into a TV series, too...