At Last the 1948 Show


At Last the 1948 Show is a satirical television show made by David Frost's company, Paradine Productions, in association with Rediffusion London. Transmitted on Britain's ITV network in 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. Chapman and Cleese would later be among the founders of the Monty Python comedy troupe, and several of the sketches first performed in At Last the 1948 Show would later be performed by Monty Python in various formats.
While only two episodes of the show had been thought to survive, efforts to locate missing episodes have been fruitful, with seven episodes being accounted for by 2013. On 23 October 2014, two episodes were recovered by the British Film Institute from the David Frost collection, and a further two episodes were recovered the following year, making the number of complete episodes eleven out of thirteen.

History

Frost approached Cleese, Chapman and Brooke-Taylor to star in a sketch series. They suggested Marty Feldman, until then a comedy writer. 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. The convention of comedy scenes interspersed by songs was abandoned. It still used punchlines, which would often be dispensed with in Monty Python's Flying Circus.
Several sketches came from the 1963 Cambridge Footlights Revue entitled Cambridge Circus, including Graham Chapman's solo routine "One Man Wrestling". Sketches from the show would later be reused in How to Irritate People and Monty Python's Flying Circus, as well as the second episode of Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus. Further sketches were reprised in the Python stage shows, including the "Four Yorkshiremen sketch". The sketches "Top of the Form" and "Beekeeper" were performed in Secret Policeman's Ball stage shows. Another, "The Bookshop Sketch", was recorded in modified form for Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album. "Psychiatrist", "Tea Boy on a Mission", and "Grublian Holidays" were also performed again by The Two Ronnies.
Monty Python's catchphrase, "And now for something completely different," originated in At Last the 1948 Show, and was originally spoken by Aimi MacDonald.
The shows had no relationship to the year 1948; according to Cleese, the title referred to television executives' tendency to dither extensively over commissioning decisions. The series was video-taped at what was later Fountain Studios, Wembley Park, Wembley.
A total of thirteen 25-minute episodes were made within a year, six in the first series and seven in the second.

Survival of episodes

the material once they had acquired the Rediffusion London archive, and all but two episodes were destroyed. John Cleese became aware of tapes from two surviving episodes after Feldman's wife left them to him in her will. Five compilation episodes for Swedish television also survived. Much missing material has been recovered in video, and surviving video has been restored by the British Film Institute.
The majority of a previously missing episode was recovered from a private collector in May 2010. On 23 October 2014, the BFI announced film copies of two previously missing episodes - the first and final episodes of the series - had been recovered from the private collection of the show's executive producer David Frost. A year later, the BFI announced the recovery of another two episodes from a fan's collection, with one of the new recoveries - the third episode of the first series - to be screened at the Radio Times Festival at Hampton Court on 25 September 2015.
Out of an original total of 13 episodes, eleven now exist in complete or near-complete form, while two remain incomplete. While most surviving episodes are from original tapes or telerecordings, two of the complete episodes have been reconstructed from footage recovered from five compilation tapes returned from Sweden. The two incomplete episodes' surviving footage also comes from these compilations. The complete audio of all 13 episodes exist, recorded off air by several fans.
A 1967 LP release featured sketches taken from the soundtrack of the show's first series, accompanied by a 7" single featuring newly recorded versions of "The Ferret Song" and "The Rhubarb Tart Song". These have since been reissued on CD.

Home media

The five Swedish compilation episodes were released on DVD in July 2005 by Tango Entertainment in the US and in January 2007 by Pinnacle Vision in the UK. This includes the Four Yorkshiremen sketch, written and performed by Cleese, Chapman, Brooke-Taylor and Marty Feldman. The DVD incorrectly states these as "recently recovered episodes", presents them as episode numbers 1 through 5, in the wrong compilation-series order, with no mention on the DVD that the content is in fact a compilation. The episodes on all DVD releases are soft, grainy, and generally low picture quality, even considering the material's age. Eric Idle appears in three of the episodes, but never speaks except for a brief line in the teaser of episode 4.
The DVD was re-released in May 2012 by One Media iP, a digital-only label based in the UK, available for free on their OMP YouTube channel. This release has the compilation episodes in the same order, and includes the 2 bonus interview tracks from the original DVD as well. They describe the episodes as compilations, but their description of what original episodes they are taken from is wrong.
In October 2015, One Media iP acquired the rights to 3 original full episodes that had recently been discovered, and released them on their YouTube channel as well. They are the two episodes discovered in David Frost's archives, ep. #1.1 and #2.7, and the episode discovered in a fan collection and screened in 2015, ep. #1.3. The 3 episodes are unfortunately presented in the wrong aspect ratio: the picture is squeezed horizontally to a ratio of 1:1 square.
In recent years, some of the other surviving, original full episodes have been uploaded on YouTube and other video-sharing websites. All of these have since been removed, and new uploads continue to be removed, due to claimed copyright restrictions and new YouTube rules, as well as internet policing by One Media iP. The five compilation episodes plus the 3 original full episodes released by One Media iP are still available for free on YouTube, on the free streaming service Tubi, and on Amazon Prime, the subscription streaming provider. On Tubi and Amazon Prime, the 3 original episodes are numbered 6 through 8 in order of broadcast: ep. #1.1, 1.3, and 2.7 respectively. On these latter two providers, the squeezed 1:1 aspect ratio of episode #7 is corrected.
The British Film Institute released a comprehensive 3-DVD release of the surviving material on 16 September 2019, including audio-only portions for all missing segments.
In July, 2020, the BritBox streaming service has the thirteen episodes available for viewing.

Guest stars

Not all ITV regions screened the series, and those that did so on different transmission dates and times, with the series beginning and ending at different times of the year. Unless stated otherwise, the dates below reflect the transmission dates of the series in the London ITV region - Rediffusion's ITV franchise.
Audio recordings exist for all 13 episodes, with only a very few missing segments. These have been used to reconstruct the order of sketches in complete episodes.

Series 1

Series 1 was not shown in the Granada region.
EpisodeOriginal air dateSketchesArchival status
Series 1, Episode 115.02.1967 Opening: Leave Tim Alone - Doctor Sketch - Witch - Self-Wrestling - Secret Service Chief Interview - There's a Man in my Soup -Treasure Trove - Public Opinion Complete except missing end credits; recovered in 2014
Series 1, Episode 222.02.1967 Opening: John in Bath - Foggy Spain Link - The Four Sydney Lotterbys - Lucky Gypsy Clothes Pegs - Judge NotIncomplete; only first 5:45 of video footage and about a minute of 'Judge Not' exists from compilations. Full audio is available commercially.
Series 1, Episode 301.03.1967 Opening: Flying into New York - Bookshop - Visitors for the Use of… - Job Description - Sheepdog Trials - Sleep Starvation - Mice Laugh Softly, Charlotte Complete; recovered in 2015
Series 1, Episode 408.03.1967 Someone Has Stolen the News - Grublian Holidays - Jack the Ripper Song - Memory Training Course - One Man Battalion - Ministerial Breakdown - Engine Driver Spriggs - Plain Clothes Policemen Complete; kinescope recovered in 1994
Series 1, Episode 515.03.1967 Rural Farm - The Wonderful World of the Ant - John and Mary in Malaya - Top of the FormComplete; kinescope recovered in 2003
Series 1, Episode 622.03.1967 Opening: Six Girls and Exhibit A - Televisione Italiano Presenta: Let's Speak-a English - Headmaster - Raid on a Crinolene Frock - Real Life Drama - Chinese Restaurant - Beekeeping - The Ferret SongComplete; kinescope

Series 2

In the Granada region, each episode was shown three days after the dates specified below at 10.30 in the evening.
EpisodeOriginal air dateSketchesArchival status
Series 2, Episode 126.09.1967 Spiv Doctor - Reptile Keeper Swallowed by Snake - Thief Hiding in Public Library - Joke Shop - Come DancingIncomplete; 18:30 of video footage exists from compilations; missing Joke Shop and some of the links
Series 2, Episode 203.10.1967 Opening: Bringing New Meaning to the Word Yech - Shirt Shop - The Nosmo Claphanger Show - Insurance for an Accident Prone Man - Take Your Clothes Off! - Rowdy Scottish Ballet Supporters Complete; kinescope from an almost complete compilation episode, except Clothes Off kinescope recovered from ABC Australia.
Series 2, Episode 310.10.1967 Opening: The Story So Far - Pessimistic Customer - Meek Bouncer - Men's Club - Look at Science - Sydney Lotterby Craves the Test Score - Shop for the Sight and Sound Impaired Complete except missing end credits; kinescope recovered 1994
Series 2, Episode 417.10.1967 Discussion on Pornography - Teach Yourself a Foreign Language Record - Door to Door Undertaker - Uncooperative Burglars - Topic: Freedom of Speech - Programme Announcement - Studio Tour Complete; recovered in 2015
Series 2, Episode 524.10.1967 Opening: Reluctant Choir - Psychiatrist - Secret Service Cleaner - The Pretty Way - Footballer on Trial - Deadly Architectural Model - Misunderstood magazine programmeComplete except missing end credits; recovered 2003
Series 2, Episode 631.10.1967 Police Banquet - Sydney Lotterby's Renewed Acquaintance - The Chartered Accountant Dance - MI5 Banquet - Dentistry with a Difference - The Four YorkshiremenComplete; recovered in 2010
Series 2, Episode 707.11.1967 Current Affairs Programme - Railway Carriage - Pet Shop - The Rhubarb Tart SongComplete except missing Rhubarb Tart Song; recovered in 2014