German broadcaster buys British comedy

“Allo, Allo!” is a British comedy but the two main groups of characters are French and German. The French are bumbling members of the resistance, the Germans are dim-witted Nazi officers. In “Allo, Allo!” the double entendre rules. This character, a member of the Gestappo, is instructing his assistant on how to re-inflate a tire on his car in this scene. The writers were doing something a bit risque but pretty harmless. The silliness of “Allo, Allo!” is a world away from the realities of the war. The German government prohibits the glorification of the Third Reich; “Allo, Allo!” ridicules the Nazis. Still for 25 years, the BBC couldn’t sell the show to Germany. All 83 episodes have now been picked up by a German satellite broadcaster. This German comedian thinks Germans will buy it. it counts as a small shift for Germany because the country takes WWII very seriously. One Israeli diplomat recently said that Germany is willing to immortalize its own shame, and that shame has also been the target of British comedy. That’s probably not something you’d hear from a German comedian any time soon.