| Comedy Playhouse | |
|---|---|
Titlecard for the 1961/1962 series episode "The Offer". This episode was the pilot for Steptoe and Son.
| |
| Created by | Tom Sloan |
| Starring | Various |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of episodes | 137 (95 missing) |
| Production | |
| Running time | Usually 25 minutes, 30 minutes or 35 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | BBC1 |
| Release | 15 December 1961 (1961-12-15) – 9 July 1975 (1975-07-09) |
| Release | 29 April 2014 (2014-04-29) – 15 September 2017 (2017-09-15) |
Comedy Playhouse[1] is a long-running British anthology series of one-off unrelated sitcoms that aired for 128 episodes from 1961 to 1975. Many episodes later graduated to their own series, including Steptoe and Son, Meet the Wife, Till Death Us Do Part, All Gas and Gaiters, Up Pompeii!, Not in Front of the Children, Me Mammy, That's Your Funeral, The Liver Birds, Are You Being Served? and particularly Last of the Summer Wine, which is the world's longest running sitcom, having run from January 1973 to August 2010. In all, 27 sitcoms started from a pilot in the Comedy Playhouse strand.
In March 2014, it was announced that Comedy Playhouse would make a return that year with three new episodes.[2] Two further series each comprising three episodes were broadcast in 2016 and 2017 respectively.[3][4]
The series began in 1961 at the prompting of Tom Sloan, Head of BBC Light Entertainment at the time. Galton and Simpson were no longer writing for Tony Hancock and Sloan asked them to write ten one-offs with the hope that one might become established as a series.[5] Thus, the first two series of Comedy Playhouse were written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, but from the third series onwards, the episodes were written by various writers including the likes of Barry Took, Bernard McKenna, Bob Larbey, Brian Cooke, Carla Lane, Craig Cash, David Croft, Dick Clement, Dick Hills, Doug Naylor, Edwin Apps, George Evans, Graham Chapman, Harry Driver, Jack Docherty, Jack Rosenthal, Jeremy Lloyd, John Esmonde, John T. Chapman, Johnny Speight, Ian La Frenais, Ken Hoare, Kingsley Amis, Jilly Cooper, Marty Feldman, Michael Pertwee, Neil Shand, Pauline Devaney, Peter Jones, P.G. Wodehouse, Richard Harris, Ronald Chesney, Ronald Woolfe, Roy Clarke, Richard Waring, Sid Green and Vince Powell.
The first eight series were made in black and white, with the rest from Up Pompeii! onwards being in colour. Like many television programmes from the time, many of 1960s & 1970s episodes are lost. As a result, 95 episodes are currently missing from the archives, although audio recordings from the soundtracks of 15 missing episodes have been recovered, short extracts survive from Till Death Us Do Part and Thank You Sir, Thank You Madam, and a further episode The Melting Pot survives as a U-Matic video copy.[6]
In Australia the series was broadcast on ABC Television in the early 1960s-late 1970s.
The series itself hasn't been released on home media, although some of the surviving episodes have been repeated on television or included on DVD boxsets as pilot episodes to their respective series. These include Steptoe and Son (The Offer), Meet The Wife (The Bed), All Gas and Gaiters (The Bishop Rides Again), Up Pompeii!, Are You Being Served?, Last of the Summer Wine (Of Funerals and Fish) and Happy Ever After. Clips from the series were also featured in the documentary Comedy Playhouse: Where It All Began, which was broadcast on BBC1 on 29 April 2014,[7] which featured interviews with actors and writers who participated in the series, including Ray Galton, Alan Simpson, June Whitfield, Bernard Cribbins and Keith Barron.[8]
| No. overall | No.in series | Title | Archival Status | Media | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Cliquot et Fils" | Missing | N/A | 15 December 1961 (1961-12-15) | |
|
Starring Eric Sykes and Warren Mitchell.
| ||||||
| 2 | 2 | "Lunch in the Park" | Missing | N/A | 22 December 1961 (1961-12-22) | |
|
Starring Stanley Baxter and Daphne Anderson.
| ||||||
| 3 | 3 | "The Private Lives of Edward Whiteley" | Missing | N/A | 29 December 1961 (1961-12-29) | |
|
Starring Tony Britton and Raymond Huntley.
| ||||||
| 4 | 4 | "The Offer" | Exists | TR16 | 5 January 1962 (1962-01-05) | |
| 5 | 5 | "The Reunion" | Missing | N/A | 12 January 1962 (1962-01-12) | |
|
Starring Lee Montague, J. G. Devlin, Dick Emery, Patrick Cargill, Jerold Wells, Bernard Goldman, David Gregory and Cameron Hall.
| ||||||
| 6 | 6 | "The Telephone Call" | Missing | N/A | 19 January 1962 (1962-01-19) | |
| 7 | 7 | "The Status Symbol" | Missing | N/A | 26 January 1962 (1962-01-26) | |
|
Starring Alfred Marks and Graham Stark.
| ||||||
| 8 | 8 | "Visiting Day" | Missing | N/A | 2 February 1962 (1962-02-02) | |
| 9 | 9 | "Sealed with a Loving Kiss" | Missing | N/A | 9 February 1962 (1962-02-09) | |
| 10 | 10 | "The Channel Swimmer" | Missing | N/A | 16 February 1962 (1962-02-16) | |
| No. overall | No.in series | Title | Archival Status | Media | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | 1 | "Our Man in Moscow" | Exists | TR16 | 1 March 1963 (1963-03-01) | |
| 12 | 2 | "And Here, All the Way From..." | Exists | TR16 | 8 March 1963 (1963-03-08) | |
| 13 | 3 | "Impasse" | Exists | TR16 | 15 March 1963 (1963-03-15) | |
|
Starring Bernard Cribbins, Yootha Joyce, Leslie Phillips, Georgina Cookson, Harry Locke, Duncan Macrae and Campbell Singer.[10]
| ||||||
| 14 | 4 | "Have You Read This Notice?" | Missing | N/A | 29 March 1963 (1963-03-29) | |
|
Starring Frankie Howerd, Bill Kerr, Edwin Apps and Graham Ashley.
| ||||||
| 15 | 5 | "A Clerical Error" | Exists | TR16 | 5 April 1963 (1963-04-05) | |
|
Starring John Le Mesurier, Russell Napier,Yootha Joyce, Blake Butler, Andy Devine and John Caesar.[11]
| ||||||
| 16 | 6 | "The Handyman" | Exists | TR16 | 12 April 1963 (1963-04-12) | |
|
Starring Alfred Marks, Anthony Sharp, Damaris Hayman, Frank Williams, Edwin Apps, Julian Orchard and John Harvey.
| ||||||
| No. overall | No.in series | Title | Archival Status | Media | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 | 1 | "On the Knocker" | Missing | N/A | 28 September 1963 (1963-09-28) | |
|
Starring Ronald Fraser and Alfred Burke.
| ||||||
| 18 | 2 | "Underworld Knights" | Missing | N/A | 5 October 1963 (1963-10-05) | |
| 19 | 3 | "Fools Rush In" | Exists | TR16 | 12 October 1963 (1963-10-12) | |
| 20 | 4 | "Shamrot" | Missing | N/A | 19 October 1963 (1963-10-19) | |
|
Starring Dermot Kelly, Kathleen Harrison, Arthur Mullard, Thomas Baptiste, Tony Doyle and Alan Simpson.
| ||||||
| 21 | 5 | "The Bachelor Girls" | Missing | N/A | 26 October 1963 (1963-10-26) | |
| 22 | 6 | "The Plan" | Missing | N/A | 2 November 1963 (1963-11-02) | |
|
Starring Peter Cushing, P.G. Stephens, Graham Stark and Francis Matthews.
| ||||||
| 23 | 7 | "A Picture of Innocence" | Missing | N/A | 9 November 1963 (1963-11-09) | |
|
Starring Patricia Burke and Frederick Peisley.
| ||||||
| 24 | 8 | "Nicked at the Bottle" | Missing | N/A | 16 November 1963 (1963-11-16) | |
| 25 | 9 | "The Chars" | Missing | N/A[12] | 23 November 1963 (1963-11-23) | |
| 26 | 10 | "Comrades in Arms" | Missing | N/A | 30 November 1963 (1963-11-30) | |
|
Starring Ian Brennan, Fenella Fielding, Graham Stark and Elvi Hale.
| ||||||
| 27 | 11 | "The Walrus and the Carpenter" | Missing | N/A | 14 December 1963 (1963-12-14) | |
| 28 | 12 | "The Bed" | Exists | TR35 | 28 December 1963 (1963-12-28) | |
| 29 | 13 | "The Mate Market" | Exists | TR16 | 3 January 1964 (1964-01-03) | |
| 30 | 14 | "The Hen House" | Missing | N/A | 10 January 1964 (1964-01-10) | |
|
Starring Beryl Reid, Barbara Windsor and Dermot Kelly.
| ||||||
| 31 | 15 | "The Siege of Sydney's Street" | Exists | TR16 | 17 January 1964 (1964-01-17) | |
|
Starring Roy Kinnear, Gordon Rollings, George Benson, Arthur Mullard, Eric Dodson and Barbara Keogh.
| ||||||
| 32 | 16 | "The Mascot" | Missing | N/A | 24 January 1964 (1964-01-24) | |
| 33 | 17 | "Good Luck Sir, You've Got a Lucky Face" | Missing | N/A | 31 January 1964 (1964-01-31) | |
|
Starring Graham Stark, Derek Francis and Frank Thornton.
| ||||||
| No. overall | No.in series | Title | Archival Status | Media | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 34 | 1 | "Barnaby Spoot and the Exploding Whoopee Cushion" | Missing | N/A | 28 May 1965 (1965-05-28) | |
|
Starring John Bird, John Le Mesurier, Ronald Lacey, Sheila Steafel, Alister Williamson, Bart Allison, Bill Burridge and Sidney Johnson.
| ||||||
| 35 | 2 | "Mother Came Too" | Missing | N/A | 5 June 1965 (1965-06-05) | |
|
Starring Peggy Mount and Graham Stark.
| ||||||
| 36 | 3 | "Here I Come Whoever I Am" | Missing | N/A | 11 June 1965 (1965-06-11) | |
| 37 | 4 | "Happy Family" | Missing | N/A | 18 June 1965 (1965-06-18) | |
|
Starring Ted Ray, Daphne Anderson and Judy Geeson.
| ||||||
| 38 | 5 | "Memoirs of a Chaise Longue" | Missing | N/A | 2 July 1965 (1965-07-02) | |
|
Starring John Le Mesurier, Betty Marsden, Fenella Fielding, Jack Watling and Shay Gorman.
| ||||||
| 39 | 6 | "Murray and Me" | Missing | N/A | 8 July 1965 (1965-07-08) | |
|
Starring Chic Murray, Alan Baulche and Harry Locke.
| ||||||
| 40 | 7 | "Hudd" | Missing | N/A | 15 July 1965 (1965-07-15) | |
|
Starring Roy Hudd and Noel Dyson.
| ||||||
| 41 | 8 | "Till Death Us Do Part" | Partial[17] | TR16 SEQ | 22 July 1965 (1965-07-22) | |
|
Starring Warren Mitchell, Gretchen Franklin,[15] Anthony Booth, Una Stubbs, Derek Nimmo, Eric Dodson and Colin Welland.[16]
| ||||||
| 42 | 9 | "The Time and the Motion Man" | Missing | N/A | 29 July 1965 (1965-07-29) | |
|
Starring Leslie Phillips and Richard Moore.
| ||||||
| 43 | 10 | "Sam and the Samaritan" | Missing | N/A | 5 August 1965 (1965-08-05) | |
|
Starring Wilfrid Brambell, John Junkin, Roy Kinnear and John Scott Martin.
| ||||||
| 44 | 11 | "The Vital Spark" | Missing | N/A | 12 August 1965 (1965-08-12) | |
| 45 | 12 | "Betsy Mae" | Missing | N/A | 19 August 1965 (1965-08-19) | |
| No. overall | No.in series | Title | Archival Status | Media | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 46 | 1 | "The Bishop Rides Again" | Exists | TR16 | 17 May 1966 (1966-05-17) | |
|
Starring Robertson Hare, William Mervyn, Derek Nimmo, John Barron, James Beck and Cheryl Molineaux.[19]
| ||||||
| 47 | 2 | "Beggar My Neighbour" | Missing | N/A | 24 May 1966 (1966-05-24) | |
|
Starring Reg Varney, Peter Jones, June Whitfield and Pat Coombs.[20]
| ||||||
| 48 | 3 | "A Little Learning" | Missing | N/A | 31 May 1966 (1966-05-31) | |
| 49 | 4 | "Judgement Day for Elijah Jones" | Missing | N/A | 7 June 1966 (1966-06-07) | |
| 50 | 5 | "Room at the Bottom" | Missing | N/A | 14 June 1966 (1966-06-14) | |
|
Starring Kenneth Connor, Deryck Guyler, Francis Matthews, Brian Wilde, Erik Chitty and Godfrey James.[21]
| ||||||
| 51 | 6 | "The End of the Tunnel" | Missing | N/A | 21 June 1966 (1966-06-21) | |
| 52 | 7 | "Seven Year Hitch" | Missing | N/A[22] | 28 June 1966 (1966-06-28) | |
|
Starring Harry H. Corbett, Joan Sims and John Baskcomb.
| ||||||
| 53 | 8 | "The Mallard Imaginaire" | Missing | N/A | 5 July 1966 (1966-07-05) | |
| 54 | 9 | "The Reluctant Romeo" | Missing | N/A | 2 August 1966 (1966-08-02) | |
| No. overall | No.in series | Title | Archival Status | Media | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 55 | 1 | "Hughie" | Missing | N/A | 19 May 1967 (1967-05-19) | |
|
Starring Hugh Lloyd, Patrick Cargill and Michael Sheard.
| ||||||
| 56 | 2 | "House in a Tree" | Missing | N/A[26] | 26 May 1967 (1967-05-26) | |
| 57 | 3 | "Spanner in the Works" | Missing | N/A[27] | 2 June 1967 (1967-06-02) | |
|
Starring Jimmy Jewel, Norman Rossington, Julian Holloway, Arnold Peters, Eric Dodson, Jon Rollason, Peter Bathurst, Blake Butler and Colin Douglas.
| ||||||
| 58 | 4 | "Heirs on a Shoestring" | Missing | N/A[28] | 9 June 1967 (1967-06-09) | |
| 59 | 5 | "Uncle Fred Flits By" | Missing | N/A | 16 June 1967 (1967-06-16) | |
|
Starring Wilfrid Hyde-White, Ballard Berkeley, Gordon Rollings and Richard McNeff.
| ||||||
| 60 | 6 | "Loitering With Intent" | Missing | N/A | 23 June 1967 (1967-06-23) | |
|
Starring Daphne Anderson, David Tomlinson, Rudolph Walker, John Nettleton, Barry Fantoni and Madeleine Mills.
| ||||||
| 61 | 7 | "To Lucifer: A Son" | Missing | N/A[29] | 29 June 1967 (1967-06-29) | |
|
Starring John Le Mesurier, Jimmy Tarbuck, Pat Coombs and Gábor Baraker.
| ||||||
| 62 | 8 | "The Old Campaigner" | Exists | TR16 | 30 June 1967 (1967-06-30) | |
|
Starring Terry-Thomas, Derek Fowlds, Norman Claridge, Brian Cullingford, Susan Jameson and André Maranne.[30]
| ||||||
| No. overall | No.in series | Title | Archival Status | Media | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 63 | 1 | "State of the Union" | Missing | N/A | 26 April 1968 (1968-04-26) | |
| 64 | 2 | "View By Appointment" | Missing | N/A | 3 May 1968 (1968-05-03) | |
| 65 | 3 | "The Family of Fred" | Missing | N/A | 10 May 1968 (1968-05-10) | |
| 66 | 4 | "Stiff Upper Lip" | Missing | N/A | 17 May 1968 (1968-05-17) | |
| 67 | 5 | "Wild, Wild Woman" | Missing | N/A | 24 May 1968 (1968-05-24) | |
|
Starring Barbara Windsor, Derek Francis, Penelope Keith and Colette Gleeson.[33]
| ||||||
| 68 | 6 | "Thank You Sir, Thank You Madam" | Partial[34] | TR16 SEQ | 31 May 1968 (1968-05-31) | |
| 69 | 7 | "B-And-B" | Exists | TR16 | 7 June 1968 (1968-06-07) | |
| 70 | 8 | "Me Mammy" | Missing | N/A | 14 June 1968 (1968-06-14) | |
| 71 | 9 | "The Gold Watch Club" | Missing | N/A | 28 June 1968 (1968-06-28) | |
|
Starring Dennis Price, Peter Bayliss, Bob Todd, Derek Waring, Barbara Leake, Roger Avon and Norman Mitchell.
| ||||||
| NB | NB | "Current Affairs" | Missing | N/A | Untransmitted | |
|
Starring Harold Goodwin, Arthur White, Kenneth Fortescue, Ken Parry, Robert Dorning, Damaris Hayman and Bruce Wightman.[37]
| ||||||
| No. overall | No.in series | Title | Archival Status | Media | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 72 | 1 | "The Liver Birds" | Missing | N/A | 14 April 1969 (1969-04-14) | |
| 73 | 2 | "The Valley Express" | Missing | N/A | 21 April 1969 (1969-04-21) | |
| 74 | 3 | "Tooth and Claw" | Missing | N/A[39] | 28 April 1969 (1969-04-28) | |
|
Starring Warren Mitchell, Marty Feldman, Richard Caldicot, Anthony Dawes, Arnold Diamond, David Rowlands and Harry Brooks Jr.
| ||||||
| 75 | 4 | "As Good Cooks Go" | Missing | N/A | 5 May 1969 (1969-05-05) | |
| 76 | 5 | "The Loves of Larch Hill" | Missing | N/A[41] | 12 May 1969 (1969-05-12) | |
|
Starring Robert Dorning, Gillian Blake and Denis Cleary.
| ||||||
| 77 | 6 | "The Making of Peregrine" | Missing | N/A[43] | 19 May 1969 (1969-05-19) | |
|
Starring Dick Emery, Pat Coombs, Andrew Ray and Sam Kydd.[42]
| ||||||
| 78 | 7 | "Up Pompeii!" | Exists | VT625 | 17 September 1969 (1969-09-17) | |
| No. overall | No.in series | Title | Archival Status | Media | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 79 | 1 | "Joint Account" | Missing | N/A[47] | 19 December 1969 (1969-12-19) | |
|
Starring Keith Barron, Sarah Atkinson and Geoffrey Whitehead.[46]
| ||||||
| 80 | 2 | "The Jugg Brothers" | Missing | N/A | 1 January 1970 (1970-01-01) | |
| 81 | 3 | "An Officer and a Gentleman" | Missing | N/A | 8 January 1970 (1970-01-08) | |
| 82 | 4 | "Who's Your Friend?" | Missing | N/A | 15 January 1970 (1970-01-15) | |
|
Starring Bernard Cribbins, Maggie Fitzgibbon and Frank Thornton.
| ||||||
| No. overall | No.in series | Title | Archival Status | Media | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 83 | 1 | "Keep 'Em Rolling" | Missing | N/A[48] | 11 March 1970 (1970-03-11) | |
|
Starring Derek Nimmo, Timothy Bateson, Gordon Rollings, Michael Collins and Peter Diamond.
| ||||||
| 84 | 2 | "Better Than a Man" | Missing | N/A[49] | 18 March 1970 (1970-03-18) | |
| 85 | 3 | "Last Tribute" | Exists | TR16 | 25 March 1970 (1970-03-25) | |
|
Starring Bill Fraser and Raymond Huntley.[50]
| ||||||
| 86 | 4 | "Haven of Rest" | Missing | N/A | 1 April 1970 (1970-04-01) | |
|
Starring Ballard Berkeley, Deryck Guyler, John Le Mesurier, Colin Gordon and Vivienne Bennett.
| ||||||
| 87 | 5 | "Mind Your Own Business" | Missing | N/A[51] | 8 July 1970 (1970-07-08) | |
| 88 | 6 | "The Old Contemptible" | Missing | N/A | 15 July 1970 (1970-07-15) | |
|
Starring Arthur English, Gretchen Franklin, John Sharp, Michael Osborne, Derrick Gilbert and Kenneth Thornett.
| ||||||
| 89 | 7 | "Don't Ring Us...We'll Ring You" | Missing | N/A | 29 July 1970 (1970-07-29) | |
|
Starring John Junkin, Norman Rossington, Colin Welland and Barbara Knox.
| ||||||
| 90 | 8 | "Meter Maids" | Missing | N/A | 5 August 1970 (1970-08-05) | |
| No. overall | No.in series | Title | Archival Status | Media | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 91 | 1 | "Just Harry and Me" | Missing | N/A | 1 April 1971 (1971-04-01) | |
|
Starring Sheila Hancock, Donald Houston and Lynne Frederick.
| ||||||
| 92 | 2 | "Uncle Tulip" | Missing | N/A | 8 April 1971 (1971-04-08) | |
| 93 | 3 | "It's Awfully Bad for Your Eyes, Darling..." | Missing | N/A | 15 April 1971 (1971-04-15) | |
| 94 | 4 | "The Rough with the Smooth" | Exists | VT625 | 22 April 1971 (1971-04-22) | |
| 95 | 5 | "Equal Partners" | Missing | N/A | 29 April 1971 (1971-04-29) | |
|
Starring Nicky Henson and Angela Scoular.
| ||||||
| 96 | 6 | "The Importance of Being Hairy" | Missing | N/A | 6 May 1971 (1971-05-06) | |
| No. overall | No.in series | Title | Archival Status | Media | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 97 | 1 | "Idle at Work" | Missing | N/A | 14 January 1972 (1972-01-14) | |
|
Starring Ronnie Barker, Graham Crowden, Derek Francis, Mary Merall, William Kendall, Roland MacLeod, Angela Leventon and Timothy Carlton.
| ||||||
| 98 | 2 | "And Who's Side Are You On?" | Missing | N/A | 21 January 1972 (1972-01-21) | |
| 99 | 3 | "Born Every Minute" | Exists | VT625 | 28 January 1972 (1972-01-28) | |
|
Starring Ronald Fraser, James Beck, Juliet Harmer, Campbell Singer, Mollie Sugden, Harry Landis and Gordon Peters.
| ||||||
| 100 | 4 | "The Dirtiest Soldier in the World" | Exists | VT625 | 27 March 1972 (1972-03-27) | |
| 101 | 5 | "No Peace on the Western Front" | Exists | VT625 | 30 August 1972 (1972-08-30) | |
|
Starring Ronald Fraser and Warren Mitchell.
| ||||||
| 102 | 6 | "Weren't You Marcia Honeywell?" | Missing | N/A | 7 September 1972 (1972-09-07) | |
|
Starring Hilda Fennemore, Jo Garrity, Betty Marsden, Hugh Paddick and Royce Mills.
| ||||||
| 103 | 7 | "Are You Being Served?" | Exists | TR16[55] | 8 September 1972 (1972-09-08) | |
|
Starring Frank Thornton, Mollie Sugden, John Inman, Trevor Bannister, Wendy Richard, Arthur Brough, Nicholas Smith and Larry Martyn.[54]
| ||||||
| No. overall | No.in series | Title | Archival Status | Media | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 104 | 1 | "Of Funerals and Fish" | Exists | VT625 | 4 January 1973 (1973-01-04) | |
| 105 | 2 | "The Rescue" | Exists | TR16 | 11 January 1973 (1973-01-11) | |
|
Starring Moyra Fraser, Peter Jones, Lucita Lijertwood and Nicholas Parsons.
| ||||||
| 106 | 3 | "Elementary, My Dear Watson" | Exists | VT625 | 18 January 1973 (1973-01-18) | |
|
Starring John Cleese, Willie Rushton, Bill Maynard, Norman Bird, Larry Martyn, Michael Gover, Ivor Salter, Gordon Faith and Dawn Addams.
| ||||||
| 107 | 4 | "The Birthday" | Exists | VT625 | 25 January 1973 (1973-01-25) | |
|
Starring Gordon Peters, Frank Thornton, Bill Pertwee, Mary Millar and Edward Evans.
| ||||||
| 108 | 5 | "Marry the Girls" | Missing | N/A | 1 February 1973 (1973-02-01) | |
| 109 | 6 | "Home From Home" | Exists | TR16 | 8 February 1973 (1973-02-08) | |
|
Starring Carmel McSharry, Michael Robbins, Yootha Joyce, Tony Selby and Olive Mercer.
| ||||||
| No. overall | No.in series | Title | Archival Status | Media | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 111 | 1 | "No Strings" | Exists | VT625 | 16 April 1974 (1974-04-16) | |
|
Starring Keith Barron and Rita Tushingham.[57]
| ||||||
| 112 | 2 | "Franklyn and Johnnie" | Missing | N/A | 23 April 1974 (1974-04-23) | |
| 113 | 3 | "Howerd's History of England" | Missing | N/A[58] | 30 April 1974 (1974-04-30) | |
|
Starring Frankie Howerd, Patrick Newell, Cyril Appleton and Patrick Holt.
| ||||||
| 114 | 4 | "Happy Ever After" | Exists | VT625 | 7 May 1974 (1974-05-07) | |
|
Starring Terry Scott, June Whitfield, Dave Carter and Philip Ryan.[59]
| ||||||
| 115 | 5 | "The Dobson Donut" | Missing | N/A | 14 May 1974 (1974-05-14) | |
| 116 | 6 | "The Big Job" | Exists | VT625 | 21 May 1974 (1974-05-21) | |
|
Starring Prunella Scales, Peter Jones, Alfred Marks, Andonia Katsaros, Nick Brimble and Aubrey Woods.
| ||||||
| 117 | 7 | "It's Only Me" | Missing | N/A | 28 May 1974 (1974-05-28) | |
|
Starring David Jason, Patricia Hayes, Daphne Heard, Olive Mercer, Edward Burnham, Paul Greenwood, Adrienne Burgess and Bernard Spear.
| ||||||
| 118 | 8 | "The Last Man on Earth" | Exists | VT625 | 4 June 1974 (1974-06-04) | |
|
Starring Ronald Fraser and Dandy Nichols.
| ||||||
| 119 | 9 | "Sitting Pretty" | Missing | N/A | 11 June 1974 (1974-06-11) | |
|
Starring Nicky Henson, Una Stubbs and James Cossins.
| ||||||
| 120 | 10 | "Pygmalion Smith" | Exists | VT625 | 25 June 1974 (1974-06-25) | |
|
Starring Leonard Rossiter and T.P. McKenna.
| ||||||
| 121 | 11 | "A Girl's Best Friend" | Missing | N/A | 3 July 1974 (1974-07-03) | |
| 122 | 12 | "The Reverend Wooing of Archibald" | Missing | N/A | 9 July 1974 (1974-07-09) | |
|
Starring Joan Benham, Julian Holloway, William Mervyn, Madeline Smith, John Leeson and Julian Fox.
| ||||||
| 123 | 13 | "Too Much Monkey Business" | Missing | N/A | 12 December 1974 (1974-12-12) | |
|
Starring Norman Rossington, Pat Heywood, George Innes, John Ringham and Harold Goodwin.
| ||||||
| NB | NB | "French Relish" | Missing | N/A | Untransmitted | |
|
Starring Derek Nimmo.[60]
| ||||||
| NB | NB | "Bird Alone" | Missing | N/A | Untransmitted | |
| No. overall | No.in series | Title | Archival Status | Media | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 124 | 1 | "The Melting Pot" | Exists | DV[63] | 11 June 1975 (1975-06-11) | |
|
Starring Spike Milligan, John Bird, Peter Jones, Frank Carson, Harry Fowler, Alister Williamson and Freddie Earlle.[62]
| ||||||
| 125 | 2 | "Only on Sunday" | Missing | N/A | 18 June 1975 (1975-06-18) | |
|
Starring Trevor Bannister and Peter Bowles.
| ||||||
| 126 | 3 | "For Richer...For Poorer" | Missing | N/A | 25 June 1975 (1975-06-25) | |
| 127 | 4 | "Captive Audience" | Missing | N/A[64] | 2 July 1975 (1975-07-02) | |
|
Starring Derek Fowlds, Daphne Heard, Leslie Dwyer, Cheryl Hall and Leon Vitali.
| ||||||
| 128 | 5 | "Going, Going, Gone...Free?" | Exists | VT625 | 9 July 1975 (1975-07-09) | |
| No. overall | No.in series | Title | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 129 | 1 | "Over to Bill" | 29 April 2014 (2014-04-29) | |
|
Starring Shai Ahmed, James Baxter and Hugh Dennis.
| ||||
| 130 | 2 | "Miller's Mountain" | 6 May 2014 (2014-05-06) | |
| 131 | 3 | "Monks" | 13 May 2014 (2014-05-13) | |
| No. overall | No.in series | Title | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 132 | 1 | "Hospital People" | 26 February 2016 (2016-02-26) | |
| 133 | 2 | "Broken Biscuits" | 4 March 2016 (2016-03-04) | |
|
Starring Alison Steadman, Stephanie Cole, Timothy West, Lisa Millet, Alun Armstrong, Brian Compton, Warren Brown and Gemma Whelan.
| ||||
| 134 | 3 | "Stop / Start" | 11 March 2016 (2016-03-11) | |
| No. overall | No.in series | Title | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 135 | 1 | "Tim Vine Travels Through Time" | 1 September 2017 (2017-09-01) | |
|
Starring Tim Vine, Ore Oduba, Sally Phillips, Tim Key, Spencer Jones, Mandeep Dhillon and Marek Larwood.
| ||||
| 136 | 2 | "Mister Winner" | 8 September 2017 (2017-09-08) | |
|
Starring Spencer Jones, Aimee-Ffion Edwards, Dorothy Atkinson, Shaun Williamson, Romesh Ranganathan and Shobu Kapoor.
| ||||
| 137 | 3 | "Static" | 15 September 2017 (2017-09-15) | |
The BBC aired six comedy pilots in 1970 in Scotland only under the title Scottish Comedy Playhouse, none of which developed onto a full series. While these were being aired, Monty Python's Flying Circus was broadcast in the rest of the UK. All episodes from this series were wiped soon after transmission and are currently missing from the archives.[66] The episodes are as follows:
| No. overall | No.in series | Title | Archival Status | Media | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Stand-In For a Hearse" | Missing | N/A | 22 September 1970 (1970-09-22) |
| 2 | 2 | "The Siege of Castle Drumlie" | Missing | N/A | 29 September 1970 (1970-09-29) |
| 3 | 3 | "The Dinner Party" | Missing | N/A | 20 October 1970 (1970-10-20) |
| 4 | 4 | "To Gracie a Son" | Missing | N/A | 28 October 1970 (1970-10-28) |
| 5 | 5 | "Stobo Takes The Chair" | Missing | N/A | 3 November 1970 (1970-11-03) |
| 6 | 6 | "Made in Heaven" | Missing | N/A | 10 November 1970 (1970-11-10) |
