is a British sitcom television series, created by David Croft and Jeremy Lloyd,[1] starring Gorden Kaye, Carmen Silvera, Guy Siner and Richard Gibson.

Originally broadcast on BBC1,[2] the series focuses on the life of a French café owner in the town of Nouvion,[2] during the German occupation of France in World War II, in which he deals with problems from a dishonest German officer, local French Resistance, the handling of a stolen painting and a pair of trapped British airmen, all while concealing from his wife the affairs he is having with his waitresses.

[3] Croft and Lloyd devised the concept as a parody of BBC wartime drama Secret Army and initially launched the programme with a pilot on 30 December 1982.

[6] Much like previous sitcoms created by Croft and Lloyd, the programme employed notable elements such as memorable catchphrases and ending credits, cultural clichés, physical humour and visual gags.

differed from these other sitcoms by featuring overarching plot lines rather than simple stand-alone stories, as well as the device of having actors speaking English but with theatrical foreign accents to distinguish each character's nationality.

It was accompanied by a documentary about the sitcom, including a highlight reel of episodes and interviews with the cast, production team and fans.

is set during World War II, between the occupation of France by German Axis powers in 1940 and its eventual liberation by Allied forces in September 1944.

[10] The story of the sitcom focuses on René Artois, a café owner in Nouvion and a reluctant member of the town's local French Resistance cell who operates under the codename of "Nighthawk".

[10] Because of the occupation of the town by German forces, led by the dictatorial Major-General Erich von Klinkerhoffen, René finds himself caught up between dealing with four problems – the scheme and plots of the town's corrupt commandant, Colonel Kurt von Strohm; the sabotage plans of the Resistance's leader Michelle Dubois; the efforts by Gestapo agent Herr Otto Flick to find a stolen painting and unmask Resistance members; and the love affairs with his waitresses, particularly Yvette Carte-Blanche, each of which he must conceal from both his wife Edith Artois and each of the other waitresses.

[12][13] As with previous sitcoms created before 'Allo 'Allo!, such as Lloyd and Croft's earlier collaboration Are You Being Served?, much of the humour is derived from classic elements of comedy including classic farce set-ups, physical comedy and visual gags, alongside a large amount of sexual innuendo, and a fast-paced running string of broad cultural clichés.

Like most characters devised for previous sitcoms, the cast for the programme were designed with notable elements to distinguish them throughout the series, be it a catchphrase, gimmick, or saying.

[15] Although the shots appear like a clip from the episode, the production team conduct a separate filming session aimed as a reenactment of a scene the actor was involved in, mostly pertaining to a specific camera angle or action conducted by their character, with the vignette sequence often done in order of their first spoken line; because of Rene's introductory monologues, actor Gorden Kaye is always first in the sequence, except for one episode of series 1 when Edith's background singing caused Carmen Silvera to be credited first.

This device within the sitcom was always conducted by René, who would open an episode by breaking the fourth wall (which Michael Bates did in It Ain't Half Hot Mum) to interact with the audience and provide a brief summary of events that had occurred previously, including notable events that had taken place, and also intermittently during episodes to make comic comments.

An incredible number of forgeries of the Fallen Madonna were made, mostly by Lieutenant Gruber and Monsieur Leclerc, which were hidden in knackwurst sausages in René's kitchen.

series the Fallen Madonna is found long after the war by an elderly René; he and his mistress Yvette quickly elope to Spain with the painting to live happily ever after.

The actors who reprised their roles were: Gorden Kaye, Vicki Michelle, Sue Hodge, Kirsten Cooke, Arthur Bostrom, Guy Siner, Robin Parkinson, John D. Collins and Nicholas Frankau.

[24] On March 10, 2008, ProSieben Sat.1 Media bought the rights to broadcast the series for the first time in Germany, which the channel Sat.1 Comedy began on February 15, 2010.

Many of the elements and characters are directly taken from Secret Army, such as the café owner having an affair in the restaurant under the nose of his wife, a bed-ridden woman in a room above who knocks on the floor for attention, a pianist who is also the forger, and the enmity between the Gestapo and the German military.

The French village setting is reminiscent of 1972's Clochemerle, whilst René's intermediary role between the Germans and the Resistance reflects a comic version of Rick from Casablanca (as well as directly matching the proprietor of the café in Secret Army).

It features a French-style melody performed on an accordion, accompanied by a string quartet and other instruments, in the 34 (waltz) time signature.

[25] The café cabaret music usually took the form of 1930s film and show tunes – reminiscent of the way period songs were also used in Secret Army.

Most popular was "Louise" from the film Innocents of Paris (1929), which featured a number of times and was even sung in the "broken-French" language of Crabtree, who pronounced the title "Loo-woes".

Gruber sang a number such as "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" from Show Boat or "(I Got a Woman Crazy for Me) She's Funny That Way" by Neil Monet and Richard A. Whiting.

The characters of Yvette and René could be heard talking and canoodling in a comic manner whilst the familiar musical "Je t'aime..."' melody played in the background.

[26] In 1985, Gorden Kaye and Carmen Silvera appeared in the Royal Variety Performance in character as René and Edith, and sang "I Remember It Well" from Gigi.

[30] In 2007 Gorden Kaye, Sue Hodge and Guy Siner reprised their roles in a production of the stage show in Brisbane, Australia.

Other cast members included Robin Sebastian as Gruber, James Rossman as Herr Flick, Nell Jerram as Private Helga Geerhart and Claire Andreadis as Mimi Labonq.

In January 2004, BBC Worldwide began releasing the show itself on DVD in North America, distributed by Warner Bros., beginning with Series 1.