At Last the 1948 Show

At Last the 1948 Show was a satirical TV show made by David Frost's Paradine Productions in association with Rediffusion London for Britain's ITV network during 1967, bringing Cambridge Footlights type-humour to a broader audience. At Last the 1948 Show starred John Cleese, Graham Chapman (in their pre-Python days), Marty Feldman (in his first screen appearance), Tim Brooke-Taylor (later one of The Goodies), and Aimi MacDonald. It represented an important stage between the radio cult series of I'm Sorry, I'll Read that Again and the television cult series Monty Python's Flying Circus where the conventional light entertainment format in which wacky comedy scenes had seemingly to be interspersed with unchallenging popular songs was finally abandoned. The shows had no relationship to the year 1948; the title simply referred to the BBC's annoying habit of letting new shows sit on the shelves for months at a time before broadcasting them. The cast also recorded an LP of sketches from the show.

Related Topics:
Satirical - David Frost - Rediffusion London - ITV - 1967 - Cambridge Footlights - John Cleese - Graham Chapman - Python - Marty Feldman - Tim Brooke-Taylor - The Goodies - Aimi MacDonald - I'm Sorry, I'll Read that Again - Light entertainment - 1948

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Several of the show's sketches were later revived by the Monty Python team for their two German TV specials (Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus) and their stage shows, including the "Four Yorkshiremen sketch" which was performed on the stage show Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl.

Related Topics:
Monty Python - German - Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus - Four Yorkshiremen sketch - Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl

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The show was made shortly before the introduction of colour on ITV. There were two short series totalling 13 twenty-five minute episodes (six episodes in the first series, and seven episodes in the second series). Some time later Paradine Productions decided to wipe the series and eleven out of the thirteen episodes of the series were destroyed. Much of the missing material still exists in the form of audio recordings from the series or from the LP version, and the surviving video footage has reportedly been restored by the British Film Institute.

Related Topics:
Wipe the series - British Film Institute

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Some surviving sketches from "At Last the 1948 Show" have now been released on DVD, including the "Four Yorkshiremen sketch" with the original cast of John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Tim Brooke-Taylor and Marty Feldman. The compilation DVDs were issued by Pinnacle Vision in the UK (Region 2) and by Tango Entertainment in the US (Region 1).

Related Topics:
Four Yorkshiremen sketch - US

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Another important pre-Python show that fared no better in terms of archival preservation was Do Not Adjust Your Set.

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