Caroline Quentin claims her hit sitcom Men Behaving Badly couldn't be made now - and was even 'past its sell by date' by the final series

Caroline Quentin has said that men really did behave badly – and that the sitcom which was her breakthrough television role would get cancelled now.

The actress starred as long-suffering Dorothy in Men Behaving Badly alongside boorish boozy characters Gary and Tony, played by Martin Clune and Neil Morrissey.

And she believes that ‘there are lots of reasons why we couldn’t make it now’ and added: ‘I think it would stick in one’s craw actually, I really do.’

Caroline, 63, explained: ‘I think it was getting pretty past its sort of sell by date by the last series really.

‘I just think you know, you plough that furrow and there comes a point where you just go, ‘Hmm…I think we’ve done this now…’

Caroline Quentin (seen in May 2022) has said that men really did behave badly – and that the sitcom which was her breakthrough television role would get cancelled now

The actress starred as long-suffering Dorothy in Men Behaving Badly alongside boorish boozy characters Gary and Tony, played by Martin Clune (pictured with Caroline) and Neil Morrissey

‘And the world moved on mercifully… I say that actually, I’ve got two young people, I don’t know if the world has moved on enough probably.

‘I don’t know, we didn’t have social media in those days and I’m not sure, there are lots of reasons why we couldn’t make it now.’

Caroline told the latest edition of the Off Air podcast that the comedy’s vulgar 90s humour would not feel right now.

But she conceded that many viewers found it funny at the time, and some still do.

She continued: ‘I think it would stick in one’s craw actually, I really do. I mean, listen, it’s still funny, I’m not taking that away from it.

‘People still come up to me, young people still come up to me in the street and say they find it funny. Old people come up to me in the street and say they find it funny.

‘So listen, it’s fine, but it was so much of its era.’

However, Caroline claimed she stood up to cast and crew to question aspects of the content right from the start, even if it might have threatened her role.

Caroline believes that ‘there are lots of reasons why we couldn’t make it now’ and added: ‘I think it would stick in one’s craw actually, I really do’

Caroline told the latest edition of the Off Air podcast that the comedy’s vulgar 90s humour would not feel right now (seen are Martin, Caroline, Neil and Leslie Ash)

She added: ‘I was always fighty. I was fighty in the rehearsal room. I remember saying when we did the first pilot, saying very loudly, ‘I am not here to serve up and feed lines to men, I’m just not here to do that.’

‘Which was pretty bold given that no one knew who I was, or cared, but I felt very strongly then, actually there was an opportunity in that scenario to give the women a voice.

‘It was never going to be as loud a voice but at least it could be as funny and actually, what’s really interesting in comedies I think is, if you’re funny you can say almost anything.

‘But if you’re just someone feeding lines to somebody else you don’t exist, and that is still true today I think.’

In 2022, Martin Clunes ruled out another series of Men Behaving Badly, agreeing that it could not return ‘these days’.

Caroline (seen in March 2022), 63, explained: ‘I think it was getting pretty past its sort of sell by date by the last series really’

The 60-year-old made his name as Gary Strang, alongside Neil Morrissey’s Tony Smart in the ‘laddish’ comedy, which began on ITV in 1992 and moved to the BBC for four years from 1994.

The pair played housemates who drink, watch TV and pursue women.

But Martin said another series would not be possible in the modern day due to the conversations the friends had.

‘God, no. Not these days. I mean we talked about things like Kylie Minogue’s buttocks and compared them to a racehorse’s,’ he told Saga magazine.

‘How could we do that now?’