Humphrey Barclay became Head of Comedy at LWT in 1977 and supervised various successful series including "No, Honestly", "A Fine Romance" (1981–84). In May 1980 he unveiled "Metal Mickey" as a show "with the appeal of "Star Wars", the Daleks and "Mork and Mindy"" Following criticism at the Edinburgh International Television Festival of what was seen as casual racism the LWT series "Mind Your Language" (1977–79; 1986), Barclay commissioned "No Problem!", transmitted by Channel 4 during 1983–85, the first original black-made sitcom for British TV (an earlier series featuring a black family, "The Fosters" (ITV, 1976–77), had been a remake of a
British sitcom of British sitcom. Well-remembered series include John Cleese and Connie Booth's farcical "Fawlty Towers" (1975, 1979), John Esmonde and Bob Larbey's self-sufficiency comedy "The Good Life" (1975–78). "Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?" (1973–74), a sequel to the earlier show, surpassed the original, while the same writers (Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais) provided Ronnie Barker with his most successful sitcom vehicle, "Porridge" (1974–77). Barker also starred (along with David Jason) in the very popular "Open All Hours" (1973, 1976–85), written by Roy Clarke. Clarke's long-running "Last of the Summer Wine" began in 1973 and ended in 2010, becoming the