Do Not Adjust Your Set

Do Not Adjust Your Set
Starring Denise Coffey
Eric Idle
David Jason
Terry Jones
Michael Palin
Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band
Country of origin United Kingdom
Original language(s) English
No. of series 2
No. of episodes 27
Production
Executive producer(s) Humphrey Barclay (series 1)
Ian Davidson (series 2)
Running time c.25 minutes (excluding commercials)
Distributor Fremantle Media
Release
Original network ITV
Picture format 4:3
Original release 26 December 1967 (1967-12-26) – 14 May 1969 (1969-05-14)
Chronology
Related shows At Last the 1948 Show (1967 – 1968)

Do Not Adjust Your Set (DNAYS) was a television series produced originally by Rediffusion, London, then, by the fledgling Thames Television for British commercial television channel ITV from 26 December 1967 to 14 May 1969. The show took its name from the message (frequently seen on the TV screen in those days) which was displayed when there was a problem with transmission.

It included early appearances of Denise Coffey, David Jason, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin; the last three became members of the Monty Python comedy troupe soon afterwards. Although originally conceived as a children's programme, it quickly acquired a following amongst many adults, including future Pythons John Cleese and Graham Chapman (as mentioned by Cleese himself in the "Paying my ex-wife" stage performance tour, October 2010).

Satirical comedy/art/pop group The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band also performed a song or two in each programme and frequently appeared as extras in sketches. The programme itself comprised a series of frequently satirical sketches, often presented in a bizarre, surreal and disjointed style which anticipates Monty Python's Flying Circus, which followed five months after the last episode of DNAYS. Strange animations between sketches were crafted for the final episodes by the then-unknown Terry Gilliam, who soon graduated to Python with Palin, Jones and Idle – part of Gilliam's "Christmas cards" animation reappeared there in the "Joy to the World" segment.

One long-running feature of the show was Captain Fantastic, a superhero parody featuring David Jason in improbable and even macabre adventures against villainess Mrs. Black (Coffey). These segments were shot entirely on film, on location in London. The feature was so popular with the young audience that after DNAYS itself ended Captain Fantastic briefly continued on its own terms. In 1968, the feature won the show an international award, the Prix Jeunesse, in Munich.

Episodes

In common with another important Monty Python predecessor, At Last the 1948 Show, many episodes were wiped.

DVD release

Nine of the 14 episodes from the first (Rediffusion) series were released on DVD in the UK and the US in August 2005. Both releases use the same NTSC Region 0 discs made from telerecordings of the original videotapes.

The episodes are renumbered 1 to 9, although, in fact they are episodes 1-2, 5-6, and 9-13 (a similar fault was made on the release of At Last the 1948 Show). The sole surviving episode from series 2 and Do Not Adjust Your Stocking were not included.[1]

The packaging further implies that Gilliam's animations appear in these episodes, but they do not. Gilliam does appear as one of the additional writers in the credits for episodes three and four. The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band is seen playing its song "Death Cab for Cutie" (also performed in The Beatles' film Magical Mystery Tour) in the DVD, Episode 7.

References

  1. ↑ Missing Episodes website
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