"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)

(more)

Series Directed by
Ian Fordyce		(8 episodes, 1967)

Series Writing credits
Tim Brooke-Taylor		(13 episodes, 1967)
John Cleese		(13 episodes, 1967)
Graham Chapman		(unknown episodes)
Marty Feldman		(unknown episodes)

Series Produced by
David Frost	....	executive producer (13 episodes, 1967)

Series Production Design by
John Newton Clarke		(5 episodes, 1967)

Production Companies

• Associated-Rediffusion Television

Distributors

• Dotkom Media (2008) (Hungary) (DVD)
• Epix Media (2007) (Germany) (DVD)
• Pan Vision Oy (2006) (Finland) (DVD)

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: [as undercover policeman] Do I 'ave to be Doris, sir? It's such a mousy name.
Various Characters: Well, what would you prefer?
Various Characters: Bubbles, sir.
Various Characters: Bubbles? Well, Bubbles it is then.

Movie Connections:

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

Worth a Ten just for the 4 Yorkshiremen sketch!

Okay, it is black-and-white, but that is what we had in those days. We considered ourselves lucky to have pictures! We were happier then, despite being poor. BECAUSE we were poor! Not long before The 1948 show, this zany British humour could only be found on the radio, in ISIRTA (I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again) or the Goon Show. (Thinks! Did not mention Telegoons! Thinks again... should not think aloud). Afterwards came Monty Python, admittedly zanier and more polished, but At Last The 1948 Show has some advantages for being early in the learning process of translating weirdness to television: it has a warmer touch to it, partly because the actors are more candid, and partly because they are not trying to out-do what Spike Milligan nor Do Not Adjust Your Sets is up to (in fact there is friendly interaction with DNAYS).

Some of the skits here were re-workings of material from radio or live performances, or would be repeated later, elsewhere. Yet these were often the best, the definitive versions. The acting isn't amateurish, it is more like a live performance; they are obviously comfortable with ad-libbing and everyone works well together. By not taking themselves too seriously, even the "lovely" female link between segments, they break molds and the viewer cannot help feeling this is something revolutionary, even today.

But mostly this series is great because it has plenty of extremely funny moments in it, funnier than Monty Python, in my opinion, and done with great style. Pure, clean, unadulterated fun.