"At Last the 1948 Show" (1967) TV series

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Writers:

Graham Chapman (writer)
Marty Feldman (writer)

Seasons:

1 | 2

Release Date:

15 February 1967 (UK)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Surreal, sketch based TV comedy series. Two series were produced in 1967 by the commercial company Associated Rediffusion...

Plot Keywords:

Sketch Comedy | Number In Title

Cast

John Cleese	...	Himself - Various Characters (13 episodes, 1967)
Graham Chapman	...	Various Characters (13 episodes, 1967)
Tim Brooke-Taylor	...	Various Characters (13 episodes, 1967)
Marty Feldman	...	Various Characters (13 episodes, 1967)
Jo Kendall	...	Various (13 episodes, 1967)
Aimi MacDonald	...	Herself - Host (13 episodes, 1967)

Runtime:

30 min (13 episodes)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:G | Finland:K-3 (2006)

Company:

Associated-Rediffusion Television

Trivia:

All but three episodes of this show were accidentally erased. By 2003, six complete episodes (of the 13 editions made) now exist. Some film extracts from six of the seven remaining "missing" episodes exist in the form of some "compilation" episodes that were sold to Swedish TV years ago. Complete audio recordings exist for all episodes.

Quotes:

Various Characters: I've got a ferret sticking up my nose. How it got there I can't tell But now it's there it hurts like hell And what is more it radically affects my sense of smell. I've got a ferret sticking up my nose. I can almost stand the noise But at parties it destroys My hard-earned and carefully cultivated social poise...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in What the Pythons Did Next... (2007) (TV)

Tragically only fragments of this pre-Python sketch show survive

Contrary to popular belief, Monty Python's Flying Circus did not spring fully-formed out of thin air. In the heady days of the early sixties lots of young British comic performers were coming up with ideas for shows that, like radio's Goon Show of the fifties, would break the mould of the rather stuffy sitcoms of the time. In 1967, John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Marty Feldman and Tim Brooke-Taylor got together, with "the lovely" Aimee McDonald as presenter, to create 1967's "At Last the 1948 Show" (the title was based on the idea that TV executives would sit on shows for years before finally broadcasting them). The result was a surreal comic sketch show that can hold its own against the best Python material. Indeed, one sketch involving four impoverished Yorkshiremen, was later incorporated into Python's live routine, and some other 1948 Show sketches were used in the Pythons' two German TV specials. Other highlights include a rather strange English-for-beginners playlet in which Cleese refuses to stick to the script, and a Newhart-style single-header in which Cleese plays a neurotic headmaster (shades of Basil Fawlty already!) The show was produced for the commercial ITV Network, and the copyrights were held by David Frost's production company. Sadly after a few years this company decided to wipe the series, and only two complete episodes out of 26 survived. Some best-of-series compilations were later found in an archive in Sweden, of all places. While the loss of the complete series is a tragedy for students of TV comedy, I can only hope that the surviving material will someday be released on video, so we can all have a good laugh at what's left.