Heilsubælið – considered by many Icelanders to be a classic television show, and recently released on DVD – apparently has many comedy skits that bear a striking resemblance to skits from an earlier British series, “Not the Nine O’Clock News”.
Heilsubælið follows the zany hijinx of some wacky folks who work in a hospital. It ran on Stöð 2 in 1986. Not The Nine O’ Clock News ran on BBC2 from 1979 to 1982, and was a launching pad for a number of British comedians, among the Rowan Atkinson.
Well, apparently someone out there has noticed uncanny resemblances between certain sketches from Not the Nine O’ Clock News and Heilsubælið and compiled them into a series of videos, where similar skits are put back to back.
Did Helisubælið borrow routines from an earlier British comedy show, or are the similarities mere coincidence? No one from Heilsubælið has yet commented, but you can watch the videos and decide for yourself: