Why do Britcoms have so few episodes compared to others?

I'm American, so I can only compare them to shows from the U.S. but why do Britcoms have so few episodes compared to others? For ex. the Britcom, "Absolutely Fabulous" only produced 18 episodes throughout its entire initial 3-year run, compared with the US sitcom, "I Love Lucy" which would have produced about 80-plus episodes within the same amount of time; that's a pretty big difference!

So, I am looking for answers to these questions:

*Why do the British produce so few TV episodes? [does it have something to so with a limited budget and small population?]

*With so few episodes being produced over such lengthy periods of time, how to Brit TV stations fill their programing schedules? Do they just air a whole lot of re-runs? Or, is it that while they produce relatively few episodes of a single show, they have a wider variety of shows than average, so that no one has time to miss their favorites? Or, do the stations fill in the gaps with international programing?

I ask these questions because knowing how US TV typically works (new episodes of one's fav show, every single week, except for some seasonal breaks), it boggles my mind how the Brit stations can get by on so few episodes, because it seems that the programing would get redundant and boring very fast.

Yhis has been a real curiosity for me, ever since I became a Bitcom fan. And, it has been driving me crazy wondering how it all works. So, I would appreciate any info on this topic!

As a side-note, I guess American TV has spoiled me, because when I finished "Waiting For God" after just 45 episodes, I got mad and thought something like "We don't even have that few episodes on some of our two-year shows!" I mean no disrespect; I love Britcoms, I just wish their were more of them.

I am the movies I love! (^_^)