Appearing at around the same time as At Last the 1948 Show was another sketch comedy program aimed at children; however it quickly developed a cult following amongst adults, most notably John Cleese and Graham Chapman, due to its unusual style and general silliness. The show was called Do Not Adjust Your Set, at that point a common phrase seen during problematic broadcasts.
The show starred future Pythons Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin; future Granville, Del Boy, Skullion and everything bloody else David Jason; all around character actress Denise Coffey and featured, in every episode, The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band. Reportedly the later episodes would feature animations from Terry Gilliam, but sadly as with At Last the 1948 Show many of the episodes were lost and only nine of the original twenty-six remain in entirety.
The show starred future Pythons Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin; future Granville, Del Boy, Skullion and everything bloody else David Jason; all around character actress Denise Coffey and featured, in every episode, The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band. Reportedly the later episodes would feature animations from Terry Gilliam, but sadly as with At Last the 1948 Show many of the episodes were lost and only nine of the original twenty-six remain in entirety.
The show is fairly typical of any sketch programme; some of the sketches are funny and some of them aren’t. Though personally I feel this show was a lot more miss than hit, much as some gems like the undercover police sketch and people putting things in the face of miss Pickles are hilarious all too much of it is rather forgettable and generally just sort of mediocre. Although I feel like the problems with the sketches come largely from the writing being aimed primarily at children, they weren’t allowed to take the risks that At Last the 1948 Show and Flying Circus could and as such it all comes off as playing it very safe; however the performers give their all and they really do manage to pull through some good moments out of it.
In many ways this feels like more of a predecessor to The Two Ronnies than to Python, the sketches are more conventional, there are musical numbers and each week there’s a continuing serial in the shape of Captain Fantastic; wherein David Jason runs around in a mac and bowler hat chasing after Denis Coffey as Mrs. Black in a series of slapstick routines with narration by the captain running over the top. These were all filmed on location which is a practice that Python regularly made use of.
In many ways this feels like more of a predecessor to The Two Ronnies than to Python, the sketches are more conventional, there are musical numbers and each week there’s a continuing serial in the shape of Captain Fantastic; wherein David Jason runs around in a mac and bowler hat chasing after Denis Coffey as Mrs. Black in a series of slapstick routines with narration by the captain running over the top. These were all filmed on location which is a practice that Python regularly made use of.
Each performer brings something of their own to the table, Denise Coffey adds a lot of over the top silliness to the sketches, Eric Idle adds a youthful energy, David Jason adds a very physical element to the comedy, Terry Jones has a sarcastic indifference, Michael Palin is as charming and likable as always and The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band are just plain odd.
Overall I would only really recommend this show if you’re especially interested in the origins of Monty Python, otherwise I don’t feel the material is good enough to warrant watching by itself, not a bad effort, just not a good show out of it.
Overall I would only really recommend this show if you’re especially interested in the origins of Monty Python, otherwise I don’t feel the material is good enough to warrant watching by itself, not a bad effort, just not a good show out of it.