Julia Sawalha at the Lamb and Flag, whom Richie tries to woo by boasting of his false adventures in the Falklands. From 1991–94, she starred in the ITV family comedy "Second Thoughts" and continued with her character, Hannah (Lynda Bellingham's daughter), in the British Comedy Award-winning "Faith in the Future" (1995–98). In 1994, she played Mercy (Merry) Pecksniff in the BBC production of "Martin Chuzzlewit". From 1992 to 2012, Sawalha played strait-laced daughter Saffron Monsoon in the BBC sitcom "Absolutely Fabulous" alongside Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley. She appeared in the 1995 BBC adaptation of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" as Lydia
British sitcom consciously avoids traditional situation comedy themes and storylines to branch out into more unusual topics or narrative methods. "Blackadder" (1983–1989) and "Yes Minister" (1980–1988, 2013) moved what is often a domestic or workplace genre into the corridors of power. A later development was the mockumentary in such series as "The Office" (2001–2003). The first British television sitcom was "Pinwright's Progress", broadcast by the BBC from 1946 to 1947, but the form did not take off until the transfer of "Hancock's Half Hour" from BBC radio in 1956. Hancock biographer John Fisher dates the first use of the term 'situation comedy'