UK, essex. here. and i didn't know what Netflix was either but it sounds like Love Films to me. I'm guessing though as i haven't used Love Films

Completely understand your reservations about Garth Merenghi, The Mighty Boosh and other programs of that ilk, Karl.  It took me some time to develop a taste for them.  In my case I was focused on certain actors (Matt Berry and Richard Ayoade in Garth Merenghi; Noel Fielding in The Mighty Boosh) in order to stay interested long enough to "get it," so to speak.  It helps to be a girl with an active fantasy life (*blush*).  I did find The Office and Ricky Gervais (I know how you all feel about him) hilarious from the get-go; that was something completely different from anything we'd ever seen before here.

Curb Your Enthusiasm is one of those American shows I just don't care for.  The stridency and basic unlikeability of the characters make me lose patience.  We have a lot of those shows over here, unfortunately. 

My collection of Britcoms is very heavily weighted in favor of the old classics.  I've heard from different sources that Britain has lost a lot of its charm and elegance over the past few decades, and I prefer to see it the way it was.  I hate all the new British police procedurals and gritty crime shows that ape the American ones.  Nobody needs to see the grimy drug culture of the London back streets, or the violence of modern Glasgow.  Nobody, at least, who loves the romance of old Britain, with its cream teas and good manners.