| At Last the 1948 Show | |
|---|---|
| Format | Sketch comedy |
| Created by | Tim Brooke-Taylor Graham Chapman John Cleese Marty Feldman |
| Starring | Tim Brooke-Taylor Graham Chapman John Cleese Marty Feldman Aimi MacDonald |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of episodes | 13 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 25 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ITV |
| Original run | 15 February 1967 – 7 November 1968[1] |
At Last the 1948 Show is a satirical TV show made by David Frost's company, Paradine Productions (although it was not credited on the programmes), in association with Rediffusion London. Made for Britain's ITV network during 1967, it brought Cambridge Footlights humour to a broader audience.
The show starred Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Marty Feldman and Aimi MacDonald. Cleese and Brooke-Taylor were also the programme editors. The director was Ian Fordyce.
Contents |
Frost approached Cleese, Chapman and Brooke-Taylor to star in a sketch series. They suggested Marty Feldman, until then a comedy writer.[2] The series bridged the radio series I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again and television's Monty Python's Flying Circus and The Goodies. It also led to Feldman's television series Marty (which included Tim Brooke-Taylor). The convention of comedy scenes interspersed by songs was abandoned.
The shows had no relationship to 1948; the title referred to the BBC's habit of letting shows sit for months before broadcasting them. The cast also recorded an LP of sketches from the show, as well as releasing a book of some of the sketches.
The show was made shortly before colour on ITV. There were two short series totalling 13 25-minute episodes (six in the first series, seven in the second). Thames Television wiped the material once they had acquired the Rediffusion London archive, and all but two episodes were destroyed.[3] John Cleese rescued two episodes when he became aware of what was happening. Five compilation episodes for Swedish television also survived. Much missing material has been recovered in video or audio recordings from the series, or from the LP version, and surviving video has reportedly been restored by the British Film Institute.[4]
Out of an original total of 14 episodes, four episodes are currently missing, five exist complete, and five are incomplete.[5] Those that are incomplete consist of footage recovered from five compilation tapes returned from Sweden.[6] Audio recordings of all 14 episodes exist.
The majority of a previously missing episode (tx 31.10.67) was returned to the BFI in May 2010.[7]
Only the five Swedish compilation episodes have been released on DVD. This includes the Four Yorkshiremen sketch, written and performed by Cleese, Chapman, Brooke-Taylor and Feldman.[8] The original sketch can be viewed on Youtube [1] The DVDs were issued by Pinnacle Vision in the UK (Region 2) and by Tango Entertainment in the US (Region 1). The DVD incorrectly states these as "recently recovered episodes", titles them as "episodes [1-5]", and also presents them in the wrong series order. There is no mention on the DVD that the content is a compilation.
Several sketches were revived by Monty Python for two German TV specials (Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus) and for stage shows, including the "Four Yorkshiremen sketch", which was performed on Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl. Another, "Bookshop Sketch," was recorded in modified form for Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album.
The series was filmed at what is now Fountain Studios, Wembley.
Footage of John Cleese and Tim Brooke-Taylor from At Last the 1948 Show was shown on the documentary special Monty Python: Almost the Truth (The Lawyers Cut).
| At Last the 1948 Show |
|---|
| Tim Brooke-Taylor — Graham Chapman — John Cleese — Marty Feldman — Aimi MacDonald |