Firstly, old people are often put in the role of nan or grandad, in which they generally hold a certain few qualities. For example, the popular well-known Catherine Tate character playing the role of 'nan'. The sketch always involves her grandson coming over to see her against his own will. He does not enjoy these times but he has to chat to his nan because she is lonely. The character of 'nan' is very insistive such as inisting on turning up the fire heating against her grandsons will before exclaiming how roasting she is. She is also very talkative and often interupts her grandson with stories, objections or opinions. The character is a great overall representation of the stereotypical old person as she is of the hard of hearing, asking questions like, "Wassat?" She is very opinionated and especially critical of people such as the home help woman and she does not care who hears her or what people think with her excessive swearing and limitless complaints about the world. Furthermore, she is forgetful, forgetting the name of the TV show 'You've Been Framed' and also these qualities make her an excellent comedy character.
I will focus on some more detailed aspects of old people who are represented in TV with some further examples of characters.
One type is the hypochondriac obsessive who always turns up to the doctors even if they are not really ill, simply because they have nothing else to do in the day. These can often be the moany or "demented" types. The character, 'Abe Simpson' (Homer's Grandad) in The Simpsons is a good example of this in a clip with 'Doctor Nick' whom he visits. Abe is portrayed as insane and dillusional listing a number of health problems such as being "itchy" and he insists on treatment. The clip is very brief but in the few seconds that Abe talks we see this eternally worried and paranoid side clearly.
Another type is the troubled "mentally ill" type, with which many of the above qualities can stem from. Different old characters deal with this in different ways, such as 'Father Jack' from Father Ted who is almost always asleep in a drunken state except for in the following clip where he is "sober". Without his drink he is portrayed as mentally ill by being outspoken and shouting words with little sense such as "drink!" when he sees a bottle of alchohol. The character has no purpose other than to make these random comments for comedic effect, so old people are often portrayed as useless but extremely funny to the surrounding world.
A further representation of an old person is 'Uncle Albert' from Only Fools and Horses who never does anything right. He is asked by Del to look horrified when Rodney mentions he is going out with a girl, but Albert keeps making his ridiculously obvious screaming act at the wrong time. This shows old people as unhelpful and unpredictable at times when you rely on them either because they are barmy or forgetful. This continues the theme of old people as comedic.
Other types of old people in the past have been represented as traditional, old-fashioned and often offensive or racist in order to stick with these traditions. Others have not had any comedic qualities at all and have been shown as the old-fashioned portrayal of the caring and generous old person who spoils their grandchildren with gifts and is always there for advise and wisdom. Unfortunately, this nicer portrayal is rare in present TV.
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